Need Help Wiring a Ballast

[launch]

*problem solved*

Hey guys, I just purchased my first aquarium so I decided to become a member and I plan on being one for a long time. I've been doing quite a bit of research for the last few months about running aquariums, etc so I'm going to try and not bother everyone with too many beginner questions but I'm sure I'll have plenty.

The aquarium I purchased was used and I got everything up and running last night but I'm having a problem with the lights. It came with 2 6' VHO bulbs and a 440 watt ARO ballast (below is a link to a picture of the ballast, sorry for the quality, i used my phone). It says Model: VHO Fluorescent. All of the wires have been cut so I was wondering if anyone had some kind or wiring diagram for this model ballast or if anyone could help me out. The ballast has 12 wires coming out of it: 2 yellow, 2 orange, 2 red, 2 blue, 2 brown, and 2 grayish color wires. I plan to wire the ballast to the 2 6' VHO bulbs.

Thanks in advance for your help.

[jsoong]

Welcome to AA!!

You might want to email Hellolights. They are supposed to be the Aro dealer & will give you the wiring diagram.

In general, the color wire should be to the lights & the power wire should be one black & one white <hot & neutral> (not gray - unless this is another set of wires for an additional light, and you did not list the black & white ).

The ballast wiring color is pretty standard (FAIK) - This is one universal one:

http://www.skynetpower.com.tw/lighti...NG_DIAGRAM.pdf

[launch]

Thanks for the reply. I already tried contacting hellolights but they couldn’t give me any info, they just told me to buy a wiring harness. Also, there are no black or white wires, but on the other side of the ballast is a three prong power plug so I’m assuming it’s properly grounded and powered through that. I found the below wiring example on another forum, and I think it’s the same one you suggested before editing the post.

Lamp 1, one side blue and blue, other side red and yellow. This a group of wires

Lamp 2 one side brown, brown, other side yellow and orange. This is a group of wires.

Power wires on the other side of ballast.

I tried the above and a few other combinations and they only lit one light. So I thought it may be one of the bulbs or end caps so I went onto hellolights here: http://www.hellolights.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=185&HS=1 and they said to test one bulb, put the reds on one end and the blues on the other end and that did light the bulb that wasn’t firing with the dual wiring combination, so I know everything works.

That made me wonder if maybe I should try the above but switch the red and brown wires or something like that. But I don’t really want to keep trying random combinations because I don’t want to break anything.

Any other ideas?

Thanks.

Originally Posted by jsoong

Welcome to AA!!

You might want to email Hellolights. They are supposed to be the Aro dealer & will give you the wiring diagram.

In general, the color wire should be to the lights & the power wire should be one black & one white <hot & neutral> (not gray - unless this is another set of wires for an additional light, and you did not list the black & white ).

The ballast wiring color is pretty standard (FAIK) - This is one universal one:

http://www.skynetpower.com.tw/lighti...NG_DIAGRAM.pdf

[launch]

what about this? it looks like wiring diagram "B" in your link.

[jsoong]

I changed my post after I looked at my ballasts & thought that the post might be wrong ... me bad! should have looked first before I posted!

Anyway, what you posted is fairly standard on 2 lamp ballasts. Although on some of my shoplights the yellows are split so that each bulb gets connected to both yellows, rather than having the bulbs in series as you have. <I think series vs parallel wiring just determines if one bulb will light if the other is dead/removed.>

However, with your number of wires, yours would be a 4 lamp ballast. I found this icecap diagram:
Reefs.org: Where Reefkeeping Begins on the Internet - IceCap VHO and MH Ballast/Bulb Wiring Diagrams

The Icecap 660 looks to be closed to yours. It is a 2 in series/2 parallel ballast. You can think of that as 2 ballasts in one. The red/yellow/brown belongs to one side, the orange/blue/purple belongs to the other. < I assume that the gray is purple.>

I would try the red/yellow on one bulb & blue/orange on the other & see if it works. Failing that, if you can get one bulb to light & not the other, then try a different wire combo for the non-lighting bulb (in case they use different grouping of wires). Your aim is to wire one bulb to one side of the ballast & the other to the opposite side. <I suppose you can also try in series wiring ... but that will take many more tries if you are working blind .... I would only try that if you suspect that one side of the ballast is bad.>

PS - you need to cap all unused wires ... if any are shorting out, the lamps won't light even if wired correctly.

[launch]

hey, i just wanted to let you know that the red/yellow & blue/orange worked. thanks for all of your help.

Originally Posted by jsoong

I changed my post after I looked at my ballasts & thought that the post might be wrong ... me bad! should have looked first before I posted!

Anyway, what you posted is fairly standard on 2 lamp ballasts. Although on some of my shoplights the yellows are split so that each bulb gets connected to both yellows, rather than having the bulbs in series as you have. <I think series vs parallel wiring just determines if one bulb will light if the other is dead/removed.>

However, with your number of wires, yours would be a 4 lamp ballast. I found this icecap diagram:
Reefs.org: Where Reefkeeping Begins on the Internet - IceCap VHO and MH Ballast/Bulb Wiring Diagrams

The Icecap 660 looks to be closed to yours. It is a 2 in series/2 parallel ballast. You can think of that as 2 ballasts in one. The red/yellow/brown belongs to one side, the orange/blue/purple belongs to the other. < I assume that the gray is purple.>

I would try the red/yellow on one bulb & blue/orange on the other & see if it works. Failing that, if you can get one bulb to light & not the other, then try a different wire combo for the non-lighting bulb (in case they use different grouping of wires). Your aim is to wire one bulb to one side of the ballast & the other to the opposite side. <I suppose you can also try in series wiring ... but that will take many more tries if you are working blind .... I would only try that if you suspect that one side of the ballast is bad.>

PS - you need to cap all unused wires ... if any are shorting out, the lamps won't light even if wired correctly.

[jsoong]

Glad it worked!