Metal Halides, Electronic ballasts, and GFCI problems

[boobookitty]

Howdy...

I did a search on RC regarding this topic and came up empty (a rarity for RC); if there is an existing thread I'll gladly tag along if someone can point it out.

To make a long story short, I swapped out a PFO magnetic ballast on one of my 400W MHs after it finally crapped out (5+ years). I love the way the Radium looks with the new Vertex electronic ballats I bought, but the dang thing keeps tripping the GFCI, usually while starting but sometimes just while operating (or even when I turn it off). Took me a while to figure it out, too, since I keep the ballasts under the house (several crawls later...)

The wiring is the same as for the PFO; I only swapped out the end connector. I checked all of the grounds, all the way back to the mogul/bulb, and found no issue.

I did a web search and found some discussions regarding electronic ballasts and gfci's (but again, nothing on RC, whcih surprised me). In fact, one of the Coralvue manuals actually says not to use their electronic ballasts on a GFCI because it'll cause this issue.

I can rewire non-GFCI plugs specifically for my 4 MH power sockets, but I like having the entire tank on GFCI and would prefer not to do this.

Anyone else see this issue? Anyone have a fix for it?

Arthur

 

[bjhubb]

I just got a JBJ Viper 150w for my wifes frag tank and every now and then it trips the GFCI during start up. It only does it when I manually turn on the ballast, but if I reset the GFCI while the ballast is on it does fine. I think that I might try to put the ballast on a timer while leaving it on and see if that works.

 

[boobookitty]

Thanks. I'm hoping there is a long-term solution, like a higher-quality GFCI that someone has found.

Do you have a fair amount of cable between the ballast and the mogul? I have around 20 feet (by necessity), wondering if that has anything to do with it (e.g. generating magnetic field with the coiled cable)...

Arthur

 

[boobookitty]

Anyone? Anyone? No one has seen this besides me and bjhubb?

 

[biger]

What type of GFCI are you using? IE, the outlet type or the circuit breaker type?

 

[biger]

The reason I asked is because I was having the same problem with my Icecap 250W electronic ballasts. I had a square D circuit breaker type GFCI for the entire circuit that the ballast was on and it kept tripping every time on start up. I replaced it with a regular circuit breaker and installed an outlet type GFCI and it has been working now with no problems for a year.

 

[boobookitty]

Interesting. Mine is in the outlet, but I'm wondering if it's just a weak gfci (home depot). Also wondering if the length ofthe cable from ballast to bulb is causing a slight current generation which the gfci is interpreting as a current leO. I'm not an expert of any sort in electrical...

Arthur

 

[sl-atl]

I had the same problem off and on. I think it is due to the inrush of current being close to the threshold of the GFCI device. I "solved" the problem myself by plugging the ballast into a non-protected circuit, but will eventually try to find a plug-in GFCI that won't trip.

I'd speculate that plugging the ballast into a UPS or other kind of power conditioner that itself is plugged into a GFCI protected outlet might work. Haven't tried that though.

 

[boobookitty]

Interesting...I'll try a UPS if I can find one...