How do you wire a ballast?

Is wiring a ballast difficult?

I can't seem to find any "how-to's" on the internet on how to rig up a ballast. I have zero electrical training, but I'm a reasonably bright person and I know I can do it if it's not terribly complex. I just don't want to spend hundreds of dollars on something that is totally useless because I don't know how to install it.

Also, calling an electrician to wire it for me is completely out of the question. I either do it myself or I don't set-up the grow room at all.

Any comments are greatly appreciated!

 

There are no "how-to's" because each ballast manufacturer is slightly different. The ballast will include a wiring diagram and instructions. Essentially, the incoming power connects to 2 wires, and the lamp socket connects to 2 others. Depending on ballast and lamp type, you may have a capacitor and/or igniter module to deal with, as well. If you can post the diagram or ballast/lamp type, maybe you can get a more specific answer.

Bear in mind that fires caused by half-assed electrical wiring are a MAJOR cause of growroom busts. Unless you know exactly what you are doing, you are putting your life (and those of anyone who lives with you) at risk by playing around with electrical wiring. All connections need to be properly made, the wiring must be properly sized, and circuit breakers or fuses must be used. Read a few books on wiring before attempting to do this stuff yourself.

 

If you're not an electrician or have basic schooling in such field, you'd be on par with trying to adjust a timing chain in an automobile engine when your experience in auto mechanics does not go beyond checking the oil! The ballast is a device that takes incoming electricity, stores it and allows it to be build up to a degree of tension (voltage) and quantity (amperage) higher then what can be gotten off the wires (outlets) in your house. And those higher energies are necessary to push the electricity thru some gas inside the bulb from one end to the other. And the resistance of the gas and the distance from one electrode to the other determine the amount of electrical push needed. Now you don't need to be a Nikola Tesla to do all of that but since all these factors are quite specific for your bulb you'd be better off buying a matching pair (bulb/ballast). And you'd just plug it in without fear of malfunction. I'll prolly get a few responds to this from some geniuses who will argue the exact opposite. b1

 

Not quite.

You cannot obtain both more voltage and more current than you put into the ballast. If you did that, you would get more power out than you put in, which is impossible.

The function of the ballast (and the igniter module if used) is to provide a short high voltage pulse to ionize the gas in the lamp to get it started, and then to limit the current through the lamp once the arc is struck.

 

Yah, I phrased that wrong, the current is used to jack up the voltage. Thanks EDT! That's how I stay so smart: I post all my thinking as it occurs and then watch how it went wrong and then, hopefully, apply the lessons. b1

 

To show how many different variations on bulb/ballast wiring there can be, have a look at:

http://www.venturelighting.com/BallastHTMLDocuments/wiring_diagrams-Add.html

 

alright highblueskies, now you can see it all on that page. Looks like you might want to give it a try, doesnt' seem all that deep.
My 250w ballasts produce a lot of heat. are there more efficient types out there or is there always a significant amount of heat, regardless? b1

 

Well, all you guys have managed to do is scare me out of wanting to wire my own ballast. I don't really feel like setting my house on fire....

But, what is this that you mentioned about ballast "sets" that you can just plug-in, no wiring needed???? Where do you find those at? That sounds much safer and easier for a non-electrician such as myself.

 

You can buy ready-made bulb/ballast/socket/reflector packages from greenhouse or lighting/electrical suppliers.

Depending on how many lights and what wattages you intend to run, you still might need to run new wiring to them. Many high wattage HID lights run on 240 volts, and a standard 120 V circuit will only supply around 1500 watts total.

 

Well, all I have is a standard 120 v socket (or plug, whatever its called that the lightbulb is screwed into) to work with.

Ideally, I would like to have a 250w HPS lighting system. Just one bulb. I only want to grow three plants at a time. I wish I could find a ready made package like this where all you had to do was plug it in to the electrical socket.

I found a good kit at insidesun.com for like $80, but I can't tell if it needs any wiring or not

 

250W is no problem at all on a standard circuit. Things get a bit more involved when you start talking about banks of 400 or 1000W lights in a serious growroom....

 

So, if I ordered this kit below:

http://www.insidesun.com/index.php?...vaction=category&previd=specials&prevstart=60

Will I have to wire anything? Or just set it up and plug it in?

 

Should be ready to go out of the box...

 

Yeah, I emailed insidesun.com and they said it comes fully wired, just hang it up and plug it in. I think I am might order it.

 

their
lights
i
hearwork well
but they have bad service.
might take three weeks before you get it going.

 

I got some ballasts off ebay awhile ago. The came with all the components wired together, just had to do the plug end, and the light end. they were dirt cheap, and work great. I would suggest build if your on a budget. If you use verticle lighting it is by far the best way to go.

 

I didn't read all the posts did you ever get an answer, I'd need more input to help!