Too many volts?

[4gionz]

Hey guys small question here so my friend is an electrician and he came and wire me up a nice 20 amp plug and wired everything very clean I'm happy since he told me I wouldn't have to worry about blowing a fuse anymore well my problem comes when I plug in the ballast my friend disconnected the light (the wiring in my tent that connect directly to lightbulb) he tested the live wires and it tested 400v!! Now he's saying that's not normal but as I look online i see people have the same thing with no problems? Is this normal that the wires at the light are giving out 400v? It's plugged to a 120v plug 20a
The ballast is wired to 120v properly I'm just scared to test it with the light in incase it'll BLOW UP WITH 400v

Just wanted to see some opinions of some people online maybe this is normal maybe this isn't but I'd like others opinions

If my post is confusing for you just say so I will try to explain better

 

[Phatlewtz]

It is not normal at all....I would ask your "electrician" to undo whatever nonsense he did and give him a pamphlet on flipping burgers.. but all joking aside adding your own single pole breaker/line for your grow lighting is about as easy as it gets. If you need some guidance I believe there is a sticky in this Forum about basic electrical, give it a read it will give you enough knowledge to know your ballast isn't going to blow up like a nuke. It will more than likely fry however.

 

[4gionz]

Hey thanks for the input however the socket is wired perfectly running my veg box on it with 5 t5s and everything is tested perfectly, the ballast wasn't wired by me or my friend but the guy I bought it from, are u saying there is a problem with the ballast? Because the socket run to the breaker is working perfectly,

Also lol at flipping burgers some people on this site probably do it for a living I might try getting a new ballast and testing that see if its giving out the same volts

Also just in case someone doesn't understand the 400v reading is not at the socket it's at the actual light(the two wires that connect to the metal piece behind the actual light)

 

[Jhhnn]

Verify that the input voltage is correct. If nothing has changed other than the input wiring & the installation was already working, the socket voltage is probably normal. The open circuit (starting) voltage should be listed on the ballast, and is often much higher than loaded (operating) circuit voltage with electronic ballasts.

Or, fire it up, see what happens.

 

[HidingInTheHaze]

It is normal.
Ballasts output much higher voltage then their input.

Bulbs require consistent high voltage to operate, a ballast is transformer that takes in normal household voltage and amplifies it to fire the bulb.

 

[4gionz]

Thanks guys wired everything up and it works perfectly appreciate the help guys

 

[GanjaplantaSTL]

Ok phatlewtz u are obviously not normal. It's only normal that the output is 400 volts from a 1000 watt ballast receiving an input of 120 volts. Maybe you should be flipping burgers.

 

[GanjaplantaSTL]

Hey guys small question here so my friend is an electrician and he came and wire me up a nice 20 amp plug and wired everything very clean I'm happy since he told me I wouldn't have to worry about blowing a fuse anymore well my problem comes when I plug in the ballast my friend disconnected the light (the wiring in my tent that connect directly to lightbulb) he tested the live wires and it tested 400v!! Now he's saying that's not normal but as I look online i see people have the same thing with no problems? Is this normal that the wires at the light are giving out 400v? It's plugged to a 120v plug 20a
The ballast is wired to 120v properly I'm just scared to test it with the light in incase it'll BLOW UP WITH 400v

Just wanted to see some opinions of some people online maybe this is normal maybe this isn't but I'd like others opinions

If my post is confusing for you just say so I will try to explain better

Mr.4gionz GL on ur first grow hope everything goes good .