Dual M59 wiring problems

[DrBDC]

OK, I traded for a M2X400/dual ballast and I am so lost. I can wire the whole house but this thing has me worried. I'm not sure how to wire it. I would love for someone to double check I'm right.

1st the pics:

Wiring diagram:

Complete Ballast capacitors:

Wires leaving ballast:

Now the questions:

1-Ok, from what I can tell, by the diagram, the bulbs are in series?? Seems wierd.

2-The red wire out of the capacitor that are in series goes one bulb.

3-That bulb goes to the second bulb.

4-the second bulb connects it's remaining wire to one of the white wires. Which one? Are they actually the same connection?

5-That leaves me with white, tank, orange, and black wires. Which 2 go to the 120 power cord? From what I can tell I use the orange with the white for one, and the tan with the black for the other. Then no capping off of any extra wires?

6-The box I install this in gets grounded thus the ballast gets grounded by the mount. How do I ground/attach the capacitors to the box? By a simple stainless steel hose clamp or ??

I'm probably off the most on the #5 question I feel but I may be wrong from the beginning of my reasoning so HELP!!!!!!!

Thanks in advance for any help you can give. I have some Iwasaki's and some corals yelling feed me!

 

[levon15]

The looks of that thing scare me. It looks WWII surplus and was rode hard and put away wet. Good luck with it. I would try to help but wiring my own made me nervous. And I had a simple icecap.

 

[DrBDC]

AHC lighting found my post in another forum and answered for me! :thumbsup: Maybe I'll mount it in a ammo box! :lol:

 

[DrBDC]

Here's the end result. If I go anywhere with this in my car and get pulled over they'll think it's a bomb or something. I better not go near any fedral buildings, power plants, or airports! :lol:

 

[DrBDC]

:eek1: :smokin:

I fired these up with Iwasaki's and I have black spots in my vision. I really didn't even hardly look at them. Par monsters!

 

[sirreal63]

Gonna photoinhibit those corals soon? Will the ammo box get hot enough to make me some english muffins?

 

[DrBDC]

I'll find out today. It's just now kicking on. I cut the hours in half but didn't screen it. I'll probably go out to the garage and get some screen though.

 

[DrBDC]

I wonder how much effect putting glass tops on the aquarium would do for filtering out some. I know they cut the strength but not sure of how much. Provided it doesn't get too hot.

 

[Chelsey]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8919280#post8919280 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by DrBDC
I wonder how much effect putting glass tops on the aquarium would do for filtering out some. I know they cut the strength but not sure of how much. Provided it doesn't get too hot.

the average is 20%

 

[sirreal63]

I would screen it, the glass may get too hot and break.

 

[DrBDC]

I have 312 cfm of air moving over the bulbs so it shouldn't be too bad on the glass. I have the screen but it was falling into the tank and I couldn't get it to stay tucked in places. I'll have to get out some tacks I guess. I'm going from 86 ppfd to 205 ppfd. 20% off would still be 164 which is still almost double per bulb. So maybe I'll do both. The fiji leather looks ticked. My foxface is hanging out under the monti cap in the shade. :lol:

So far at 1 hour the box is just slightly warm. I think it's aluminum but I'm not sure. If so that will help with the ballast heat dissipating but I have a pretty heavy duty fan on it too.

 

[sirreal63]

I would do both...glass over the screen...that is a lot of par!!!

When will the muffins be ready? You could toast them under the lights.