Help getting a light going

I'm trying to get a light going for my son. Its my
first attempt at wiring a ballast. I must be doing
something wrong. Picked up a ballast on ebay, 250 mh advance.

wiring diagram
HTTP://members.aol.com/peglegalexk/bal2.jpg/


how I wired it
HTTP://members.aol.com/peglegalexk/bal1.jpg/

Nothing happens. Bulb does not light (tried 2 different new bulbs).
I have the ballast plugged into a kill-a-watt meter. NO watts
being used. OK, I'm stuck. Any ideas. How do I debug this?
I have a cheap multimeter but not a lot of exp using it.

Can anybody tell me how to discharge a capacitor?

Thanks

"PegLegAlexK" wrote in message
...
I'm trying to get a light going for my son. Its my

As your question looks to be extremely technical, you might get a better
answer on any of the sci.electronics.* groups, or just look for a more
suitable group by searching on "electro" in your newsreader.

Marcus

PegLegAlexK said:

Nothing happens. Bulb does not light (tried 2 different new bulbs).
I have the ballast plugged into a kill-a-watt meter. NO watts
being used. OK, I'm stuck. Any ideas. How do I debug this?
I have a cheap multimeter but not a lot of exp using it.

Can anybody tell me how to discharge a capacitor?

Use the ohms scale on your meter to check continuity.
You should have continuity between the common and the 120vac inputs
AND the CAP output.

You discharge a cap by placing the terminals across your tongue. g
Seriously, you discharge a cap by placing a resistance across the
terminals, in this case, a 1k ohm resistor or an old light bulb would
work.

Is this ballast designed for the cap and bulbs you are using?


Greg G.

I realize I'm a little out of my league here but its do or die.
Santa didn't include an electrician nor the cash to aquire one.
I'm not worried because we're doing the testing out in the shed.
I figure it will either burn up, blow up or light up.

Everything came in a kit from a "perfect feedback" seller on ebay.
From his history he sells many ballasts. I asked him but he only
"sells" them doesn't "wire" them.

As far as the cap in the wrong place, there was only one wire marked
cap so I thought it had to be the one.

There are 7 wires running from the ballast.
Visually 6 "come from" one coil,
1- 277
1- 240
1- 208
1- 120
2- Com

1- "comes from" the other coil and is marked cap.

I've done a lot of house wiring but this stuff is a little different.
I'm thinking maybe I need a white and black on that cap.
Of course I could not hold anybody else but myself responsible
should anything go haywire.

"If its gonna sit unused forever on a shelf
its gonna sit there charred and smelly"

I like your attitude, and give yourself some credit for trying....

Is it possible that your ballast is made for a different bulb?

As I recall, there is a screw in MH and a double ended MH, and it sounds
like your ballast is for a double ended ballast, and your bulbs are screw
in....

I could VERY well be wrong, and if so, my advice would be, take it to home
depot or lowes and hope there is someone there that has MH ballast
experience....

Also, there's this group for sal****er tanks, rec.aquaria.marine.misc and
rec.aquaria.marine.reefs

Ask Marc Levenson or Richard Reynolds or even Greg C. they are all known MH
users and helpers....

--

RedForeman ©®





"PegLegAlexK" wrote in message
...
I realize I'm a little out of my league here but its do or die.
Santa didn't include an electrician nor the cash to aquire one.
I'm not worried because we're doing the testing out in the shed.
I figure it will either burn up, blow up or light up.

Everything came in a kit from a "perfect feedback" seller on ebay.
From his history he sells many ballasts. I asked him but he only
"sells" them doesn't "wire" them.

As far as the cap in the wrong place, there was only one wire marked
cap so I thought it had to be the one.

There are 7 wires running from the ballast.
Visually 6 "come from" one coil,
1- 277
1- 240
1- 208
1- 120
2- Com

1- "comes from" the other coil and is marked cap.

I've done a lot of house wiring but this stuff is a little different.
I'm thinking maybe I need a white and black on that cap.
Of course I could not hold anybody else but myself responsible
should anything go haywire.

"If its gonna sit unused forever on a shelf
its gonna sit there charred and smelly"

never mind my posts, I see that you already DID post on the marine groups...
good luck with it...

--

RedForeman ©®





"RedForeman ©®" wrote in message
...
I like your attitude, and give yourself some credit for trying....

Is it possible that your ballast is made for a different bulb?

As I recall, there is a screw in MH and a double ended MH, and it sounds
like your ballast is for a double ended ballast, and your bulbs are screw
in....

I could VERY well be wrong, and if so, my advice would be, take it to home
depot or lowes and hope there is someone there that has MH ballast
experience....

Also, there's this group for sal****er tanks, rec.aquaria.marine.misc and
rec.aquaria.marine.reefs

Ask Marc Levenson or Richard Reynolds or even Greg C. they are all known
MH
users and helpers....

--

RedForeman ©®





"PegLegAlexK" wrote in message
...
I realize I'm a little out of my league here but its do or die.
Santa didn't include an electrician nor the cash to aquire one.
I'm not worried because we're doing the testing out in the shed.
I figure it will either burn up, blow up or light up.

Everything came in a kit from a "perfect feedback" seller on ebay.
From his history he sells many ballasts. I asked him but he only
"sells" them doesn't "wire" them.

As far as the cap in the wrong place, there was only one wire marked
cap so I thought it had to be the one.

There are 7 wires running from the ballast.
Visually 6 "come from" one coil,
1- 277
1- 240
1- 208
1- 120
2- Com

1- "comes from" the other coil and is marked cap.

I've done a lot of house wiring but this stuff is a little different.
I'm thinking maybe I need a white and black on that cap.
Of course I could not hold anybody else but myself responsible
should anything go haywire.

"If its gonna sit unused forever on a shelf
its gonna sit there charred and smelly"

Since the CAP is passing AC it shouldn't be polarity sensitive. Have you
tried to reverse the leads?

DJay

"PegLegAlexK" wrote in message
...
I'm trying to get a light going for my son. Its my
first attempt at wiring a ballast. I must be doing
something wrong. Picked up a ballast on ebay, 250 mh advance.

wiring diagram
HTTP://members.aol.com/peglegalexk/bal2.jpg/


how I wired it
HTTP://members.aol.com/peglegalexk/bal1.jpg/

Nothing happens. Bulb does not light (tried 2 different new bulbs).
I have the ballast plugged into a kill-a-watt meter. NO watts
being used. OK, I'm stuck. Any ideas. How do I debug this?
I have a cheap multimeter but not a lot of exp using it.

Can anybody tell me how to discharge a capacitor?

Thanks

Success! Not really sure what fixed it.
I redid some of the solderless connections,
seperated the com wires as per a great
"Ballast for dummies" site I found,
and switched the terminals on the cap.
Funny thing is I didn't think any of those
would do the trick, but who cares. It works
real nice. Thanks to all who took the time to help.

(PegLegAlexK)
Date: 12/30/2003 5:13 PM Eastern Standard Time
Message-id:

I'm trying to get a light going for my son. Its my
first attempt at wiring a ballast. I must be doing
something wrong. Picked up a ballast on ebay, 250 mh advance.

wiring diagram
HTTP://members.aol.com/peglegalexk/bal2.jpg/


how I wired it
HTTP://members.aol.com/peglegalexk/bal1.jpg/

Nothing happens. Bulb does not light (tried 2 different new bulbs).
I have the ballast plugged into a kill-a-watt meter. NO watts
being used. OK, I'm stuck. Any ideas. How do I debug this?
I have a cheap multimeter but not a lot of exp using it.

Can anybody tell me how to discharge a capacitor?

Thanks

What we in the communications world call "FM" when a problem seems to fix
itself!


"PegLegAlexK" wrote in message
...
Success! Not really sure what fixed it.
I redid some of the solderless connections,
seperated the com wires as per a great
"Ballast for dummies" site I found,
and switched the terminals on the cap.
Funny thing is I didn't think any of those
would do the trick, but who cares. It works
real nice. Thanks to all who took the time to help.

(PegLegAlexK)
Date: 12/30/2003 5:13 PM Eastern Standard Time
Message-id:

I'm trying to get a light going for my son. Its my
first attempt at wiring a ballast. I must be doing
something wrong. Picked up a ballast on ebay, 250 mh advance.

wiring diagram
HTTP://members.aol.com/peglegalexk/bal2.jpg/


how I wired it
HTTP://members.aol.com/peglegalexk/bal1.jpg/

Nothing happens. Bulb does not light (tried 2 different new bulbs).
I have the ballast plugged into a kill-a-watt meter. NO watts
being used. OK, I'm stuck. Any ideas. How do I debug this?
I have a cheap multimeter but not a lot of exp using it.

Can anybody tell me how to discharge a capacitor?

Thanks