250watt mag ballast - Wiring

O

Oleta

[Hey folks,

I'm currently eyeballing the MH ballast I got from Hellolights with a little trepidation.. The little diagram they have on the side of the ballast isn't quite doing it for me..

I was hoping that stuff would be color coded or something, and if it is, I'm not seeing it.. All the wires coming from the ballast are brown and the fear of burning up my ballast and bulb or burning down my house is foremost in my thoughts..

Does anybody have any experience wiring it up that they'd be willing to share before I go pester my neighbor (electrician)?? I was hoping that someone here on the boards has ordered this light kit in the past.. It's the 250watt retrofit and I have pictures of everything if just knowing that it's the M58 ballast isn't enough information..

Thanks for any help that comes my way..]
 
["You can clearly see all of the components you will be dealing with and how they will be wired together. Let's examine some of the more important points.

If you look at the transformer, you can see it is labeled as having a "short side" and a "Long side". These are my descriptions for the two different areas of the transformer. If you look carefully you will see that the transformer has two protuberances where wires come out. One of them is thicker than the other. That is the "long side". It is important to know the difference when you’re wiring it. The capacitor is a simple affair with just 2 wires.

The ignitor has 3 wires. Look closely at the wires running from the socket. You can see that each of them comes to a junction with two other wires. All 3 wires at a junction(and at all junction points for all wires) are held together using a "wire nut". This is just a plastic cap which screws onto wires to hold them together. Make all the wire connections using wire nuts, do not use tape.

Although you can't see it, all wires have something printed on them so you can identify them. It is going to be something numerical("X1","120") or alphabetical ("lamp", "com"). In my example, wires are noted with X1 or X2 or X3, other ballast kits may have wires which simply say "one" or "Two" and "volts"(instead of "120"). Sometimes wires are colored ( the ignitor wires in my example are red blue and white) sometimes not. When wiring a ballast, don't get mislead by the color of wires on the ignitor, capacitor or transformer. These wires are connected according to what is written on them, not by color. Color will only come into play when dealing with wires coming from your power cord and socket. These are going to simply be black, white and green with no labeling."


"Metal Halide (MH)
If you want a metal halide light, your task is even easier because now you only have the transformer and capacitor to work with and no ignitor. This is for standard metal halide ballasts. On occasion, you run into a MH ballast which has an ignitor. Try not to get this kind if you can. If this is the only option, then follow the instructions for HPS ballasts.

Connect the wire labeled "cap" coming from the transformer's long side to the capacitor. Connect the other wire coming from the capacitor (labeled "lamp") to the black socket wire.

The transformers short side will either have 1 or 2 wires coming from it labeled "com". If there is only one, then connect that wire with both the socket's white wire and the power cord's white wire. If there are 2 "com" wires, then pick one and connect it to the socket's white wire. Then connect the other "com" wire to the power cord's white wire. Connect the power cord's black wire to the transformer's short side wire labeled "volts" or "120"(or whatever voltage you have). "

Check out http://www.completecareaquatics.com/HID_wiring.jpg
http://www.completecareaquatics.com/HID_wiring2.jpg]
 
[Thanks guys.. I really appreciate the help.. If the diagram can't help my husband, I'll pm you Chris and setup a time that won't be inconvenient for you, okay??]
 
[there are 4 wires you need to worry about
two commons capacitor and 120v

120v goes to black on your power cord...

one common goes to white on your power cord...ground the transformer

capacitor goes to black on mogul
common goes to white on mogul

done]
 
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