ah supply wiring question

[tyler]

this might be more appropriate in the diy forums, but it's for my nano reef, so i'm posting here.

my question is do i have to wire this in series or parallel or will either work?

here is a diagram of how i currently have it wired, but this can easily be changed.

 

[maiceman]

God.. .don't plug it in if that is how you have it wired...... It looks like you have 2 ballasts feeding 1 tube between the 2 sockets..... Is that right?

You can wire the 2 ballasts to a single cord without any problem but I hope you are not feeding 2 separate ballasts into the same tube.

I have my ballasts set up with 3 plugs so I can disonnect them and remove the hood easily. 1 plug carries the neuteral wires that are shared with both tubes. 1 carries the hot wires for a single tube and the last one carries the hot wires for the other tube.

 

[fishfreek]

If you cut the connection between the two light sockets you should be OK.

Each ballast must be connected to their respected bulbs independant so also make sure if you have two ballasts you have two plugs for the electric.

I am guessing what is labled as the light socket is acually the endcap for the bulbs.

If your ballast can drive two bulbs then you can wire two endcaps to one ballst but dont connect two ballasts to two bulbs like you have diagramed below.

 

[tyler]

better?

 

[fishfreek]

Yep.

Personally i would wire two power cords vs wiring one powercord two ways.

 

[Anemoneman]

do i have to wire this in series or parallel or will either work?

You will wire the two ballasts to the 110v plug in PARALLEL, not series.

 

[tyler]

why would you wire it to two cords?

 

[fishfreek]

For safety.

Having two ballasts connect to one outlet would in effect draw twice as much current thru the electtrical plug and wiring. While the electrical cord and wires inside that cord are probably of a gauge that the extra current would be ok I personally would not want to run the risk of a short circuit.

If your sort on plugs you could get a good heavy duity outlet strip and plut the two cords into one socket that way but I would still wire up them totally independant.

 

[maiceman]

The number of devices do not increase the chances of short circuits through a cord. A single 40 watt lamp only draws .33 amps so the current is not even close to an issue (P=IxV). Always use 3 wire cords & GFCI outlets, they are your only true protection. If you have room do your wire splicing in a water tight box and use compression type connectors... not wire nuts.

I am still concerned with your lighting drawing and will refer you to the drawing on the ballasts itself. I think you will find that a ballasts will supply 2 end caps (1 tube), and most will supply 4 end caps (2 tubes). I have read about driving a single VHO with a 2 tube ballasts but I have never seen a wireing set up like you have drawn.

I will try and find a way to draw a detailed wiring schematic for you that I can load as a jpeg... I only have ACAD & paintbrush.... neither of which I can load onto this site.

Are your ballasts single lamp or 2 lamp type? Are they electronic?

 

[fishfreek]

Maceman, these ballasts are driving power compact florecents. There is only one end cap per bulb.

I know they are power compact cause thats all ahsupply sells.

They also market depending on wattage differnt size ballasts. They have one that is rated at 110W I think and then they have a much smaller one they use for the low wattage bulbs like their 13W bulbs.

For example they have a single 36W, a single 55W, a dual 36W and a dual 55W and a single 96W lighting kits and they all ship with the exact same ballast. But if you get a dual 96W kit you get two ballasts.

Im no electrican so I was not up on the whole guage vs amp thing.

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[Anemoneman]

For example they have a single 36W, a single 55W, a dual 36W and a dual 55W and a single 96W lighting kits and they all ship with the exact same ballast.

FF, what do you mean by the same exact ballast? A ballast for a 36W single will light 2 55W PCs? I think I misunderstood your post.

 

[fishfreek]

Mark,

Thats my understanding. I have a dual 36W kit on my 20 gal tank. Last year I contacted them about wanting to up my lights to 55W and I asked them if I needed to get a new ballast and they told me NO. They said the ballast I had would lamp the two 55W bulbs just as good as it fired the 36W bulbs.

Then last summer when I got my 4 X 96W kit for the 80 I got 4 ballasts that where of the same type as I have on my dual 36W kit. The labling says they can output a max of 110W. So that is what lead me to belive that they ship the same ballast for any light kit that uses a sum of less than 110W.

Course these statments are just comming from observation. I think we are lucky to have a real electrican as a member so hopefuly he can clarify all this.

Or maybe we should e-mail ahsupply and ask if they could clarrify it for us...

 

[Anemoneman]

I think we are lucky to have a real electrican as a member

Who is that?

 

[fishfreek]

Not sure but I was just guessing that maiceman was one or at least had more electrical background than I.

 

[maiceman]

Mark knows who it is... LOL. He was my lead man for 3 years. Although I have not been working as an electrician since before that... what 10 years ago now I think.

As for power compacts I have zero experience but the single end cap makes sense now. I am surprised that the same ballasts is being shipped for different wattage lamps though. I would expect that there is some change in performance and life depending on which end of the range you are running. The lower wattage lamps are probably being overdriven and the life of the lamp would be shorter which is what I expect they are doing rather then under driving the higher wattage and getting a longer life out of them.

The hole power compact lighting is pretty new to me so there is probably much more to the ballasts & lamp design then the old standard that I learned on. There may be some sort of soft start circuit integrated in them to protect from blowing lower wattage lamps... Who knows.

 

[tyler]

well, it's fully functional now. i tested it out with a bulb from a desk lamp some guy down the hall picked up at wal-mart. i could only test out one endcap at a time, but even still, it was way brighter (with just one bulb) than the screw in 13 watts i have over the nano for the time being. now all i have to do is wait for my bulbs (hellolights 50/50's), and wait for the tank to cycle, and do something about that horribly ugly aptasia.

 

[fishfreek]

Maiceman, DId not know you knew mark. Either way I think (note this is once again me and my observations) that the only real difference between a 36W and a 55W and a 96W PC bulb is its lenght.

Now there are suttle differences when it relates to the pin configs and all but overall a 36W bulb is about 18" in lenght and a 55W bulb is just under 24" and a 96W bulb is 36" long.

tyler, it sounds like your talking about a 13W PC kit then. If thats the case then yes each ballast goes to its own bulb. I have a 2 X 13 W kit from them for when I had my 45 gal up and running. I used 2 X 13W actinic bulbs. Back then the ballast was just a small white square with some wires comming out if it. No real diagram on it.

 

[tyler]

sounds exactly like the ballasts that came with my kit. my friend picked up the 2x36 ah delux brightkit. a bit fancier than mine, i'd say, but i have more light than i know what to do with now, so all is good.