wiring question

The friendliest place on the web for anyone with an interest in aquariums or fish keeping!
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.

ohio reefer

Aquarium Advice Freak
Joined
Oct 15, 2003
Messages
427
Location
dayton ohio
alright i bought a mogul base from hellolights, which only has black and white wires, and i just got the correct chords for my ballast from Darin today (thanks darin for the fast delivery). the problem is that the new chord has a ground wire (green) on it how do i wire it to my mogul?

thanks for the help

mark
 
you wire it to the reflector I beleive since the reflector is grounded to the ballast
 
I thought you wire the ground to the ground wire in the power cord.
My ballast only has 5 wires, a black white and green for the power cord, and 2 reds that go to the mogul.
 
Be more specific about what you are wiring. You definitely do not attach a ground to the reflector, the reflector is not grounded unless you have grounded it. The only ground you have near an aquarium is the ground in your outlet (or a cold water pipe if there is one nearby), or a steel grounding rod driven 6ft into the earth. I have the hellolights electronic ballast and reflector/socket setup and the wiring is as follows...from the socket...black and white wire attach to 2 yellow wires coming out of the ballast. From the ballast is a black, white and green...these wires go to the plug/outlet...black is one blade, white the other blade and green the ground or rounded prong. If you have any other questions I would contact Hellolights or whoever made/sold your ballast. You get it wired wrong and especially grounded wrong and death could result.
 
When I built my canopy, I made one ground point for the entire unit. Basically everything was grounded to the the fluorescent ballast. I also made an extra ground point to the reflector since fluorescent reflectors must be grounded in order for the bulbs to fire properly. I then grounded the ballast and reflector by attaching the green conductor of the power cords to it.
 
I've never heard that the reflector has to be grounded for the lamp to fire? My hellolights setup never mentions this...is this something particular to another brand of ballast?
 
I've never heard that the reflector has to be grounded for the lamp to fire?

http://members.misty.com/don/f-lamp.html#wgf

Rather than explain it, I'll let you read it. :) If you get a change, read the entire page. Lots of good information there.

My hellolights setup never mentions this

Hellolights is definitely not an authoritative source of information. Everytime I have called to check on an order, it is like they have 12 yr olds working the phones...
 
from the socket...black and white wire attach to 2 yellow wires coming out of the ballast. From the ballast is a black, white and green...these wires go to the plug/outlet...black is one blade, white the other blade and green the ground or rounded prong. If you have any other questions I would contact Hellolights or whoever made/sold your ballast. You get it wired wrong and especially grounded wrong and death could result.


For wiring on your mogul base. The two wires coming from the ballast marked "lamp" in most cases will be connected, one to the shell of the base and the other to the center of the base. If the wires are marked "lamp" and "Common", then the common will go to the shell (or the outside part of the base).

As for grounding, unless the reflector is ("bonded") to your system ground, connecting the green ground wire to the reflector will do nothing.

Now if the ballast comes with 2 grounding wires, one for the ballast supply and one for the base and (or) reflector, then connect it to the shield and it will be grounded through the ballast.

As for the "plug"...your supply for the ballast will probably have 3 wires. Green (ground), Black (hot), and White (neutral). If you haven't noticed this already, most outlets today have three holes in them. Round one is for ground, a skinny blade and a wide blade.

The skinny blade is for the Black wire (hot)
The wide blade is the White wire (neutral)

It is very important to connect them this way. Your electrical system in your house is connected with the White wires (neutral) connected to Earth ground (ground rod outside your house.) This in essence sets up polarity in your electrical system. You should observe this when connecting your stuff to the outlets.

I hope this helps. I hope I did not confuse anyone. This is my living. At least I can help in that respect. If you need anymore information I will be glad to help.

Sparky
 
Great advice, Sparky!!

Where were you when I had trouble wiring my Workhorse to my 2X55W PC's??

;)
 
i was told told that MH doesn't need a ground to fire. so wouldn't it be ok, since my mogul base doesn't have a ground anyway, to connect the plug ground wire(green) to the metal reflector. the only reason in my mind why this would'nt work is if your house got struck by lightening and your ballast wasn't plugged into a surge protector

i may be way off base, but it makes sense to me.

mark
 
the only reason in my mind why this would'nt work is if your house got struck by lightening and your ballast wasn't plugged into a surge protector

Most surge protectors on the market (ones that we can afford) really won't help much in the event of a lightning strike. It all depends on rating of the protector and the amount of current from the strike. The good ones cost $75.00 or more. But most everyday surge strips will absorb the occasional power spike.

Here is a side note.....with some of the "older" flourecscent ballasts, if when you hook it up and it don't work (start), try swapping the feed wires around. It has been my experience in the past to do this and the fixture would fire. Really don't know why. I do know that it was usually with the older ballasts that I have had to do this with. I really never paid attention to what type of ballast they were. But I will now. LOL

Sparky
 
Back
Top Bottom