Indoor Electrical Question - Ballast

[The Medicine Man]

Hey all,

So, I was gifted a couple 1000w ballasts knowing each didn't work. One that I'm having trouble diagnosing was wired with a 120v plug, but actually wired for 240v. Electrically it's possible to make this happen (240v going to a 120v outlet) but its against code and generally not safe. So, I wired back a 240v plug, plugged it into my 240v timer... it made a wicked loud buzz and tripped the breaker.

I haven't tried it again 'cause I don't want to blow out a bulb and figured I might check in with some folks who know more than I do about what might cause a ballast to make a super loud hum and then trip a breaker.

Any thoughts? Could I have wired the 240v plug backwards? There's only 3 wires and it seems like the only one that should matter is the ground wire.

 

[bobjob4u]

well black and white wire should both be 120v each and the remaining green or bare copper should be the ground.I dont think it would matter as long as both feeds are 120v.Might be a ballast problem.

 

[Cave Dirt Cody]

Un hook the wires coming off the load side of the ballast going to the lamp cap etc. then supply 240 to the ballast with no load. See if it trips. You cannot hook up the black and red 240 volt supply backwards, you are correct.

 

[The Medicine Man]

Cool, I'll give that a shot later this afternoon. 70 degrees today and Im playing in the sunshine! Thanks guys!

 

[Cave Dirt Cody]

You are supplying with a 240v breaker and not 2 120v?

 

[Cave Dirt Cody]

Cool, I'll give that a shot later this afternoon. 70 degrees today and Im playing in the sunshine! Thanks guys!

Heard that. I'm off to do a little fishing today. Nice here too.

 

[The Medicine Man]

Right. I have another 240v ballast that runs just fine off that outlet. Just this one that was known to be a maybe/maybe not thing isn't working. Have fun fishin!

 

[BamaGrow]

You are correct, the only one that does matter is the ground wire. Most ballasts are designed to work with dual voltage and some are quad so you shouldn't have a problem switching to 120.

Only two things are going to cause a breaker trip, too much current draw or a short circuit. A wicked loud buzz sounds like too much current draw. Normally short circuits result in a pop. I assume this is a magnetic ballast we are talking about? Can you provide the model information and I will try to get some better troubleshooting info for you. In the meantime try this if you have a good multimeter:

MAKE SURE YOU ARE DISCONNECTED FROM ALL ELECTRICAL SUPPLY!!!

1. Test the capacitor: Take a screwdriver and short the two terminals together thus discharging and stored energy. Take a multimeter and set it to the highest resistance your meter will allow. If the meter reads a low impedance and then begins to climb higher then the capacitor is probably good, if it reads a low resistance and sits there it is probably shorted and is bad, if it reads a high resistance and does not go down it is probably bad.

You may have an ignitor which could also be bad. There is no way to test it.

Ignitors and capacitors are relatively cheap, if you aren't on a tight budget I would try replacing both and see what that does for you. If you can give me a model number and manufacturer I will try to tell you how to test the ballast itself but that may be a little difficult via message board.

Best of luck MM.

Bama