MH wiring

[30mini]

Okay, got a 175 W MH bare ballast to wire up. So, there are 2 common yellow wires coming off the ballast. Which one get's hooked up to where? On the socket, there are three wires, white, blue, and yellow. Which is ground? Hot? I know that from the cap the red wire goes to the bulb, but which wire does it go to? I don't wanna fry my brand new bulb with wrong wiring. Help is appreciated and gladly taken!

 

[30mini]

Bump... anyone?

 

[little_squid]

only 2 yellow wired out of the ballast?

 

[30mini]

Yea, there are 2 yellow ones, the red one going to the bulb, and the others for the 240, 208, and the 120 volt

 

[orlenz]

the confusing thing is the color of your socket wires, the rest is easy,

the white wire goes to the white wire on your power cord, and also to one of the socket wires.

the wire marked 110 or 120 will connect to the black from your power cord.

the red wire should go to your cap and then from the other cap teminal to your other socket wire.

all ground wires tie together.

it doesn't matter wich wires you use to connect your socket it will work either way, but obviously you do need to figure out witch one is ground first.

the problem is figuring out witch socket wire is your ground, do you have anyway to test and see whitch wire goes to ground on your socket?

 

[30mini]

No, I don't really have a way to test it out. I did wire a 150W HQI ballast and socket, and found that the bulb didn't fire the first time, then switched wires, and it fired. Will it be okay if I were to have wires switched at first?

 

[orlenz]

yeah that wont hurt anything, we have guys at work wire them wrong sometimes , and after we find the problem and correct it I havn't seen any damage.

I would try using the white and blue wires from your socket first, I would almost be willing to bet that the yellow is your ground.

 

[30mini]

Yea, That is what I was thinking. Now, the white wire from the socket goes to one of the yellow on the ballast, and to the white wire on my plug end, right? So then the blue wire goes to the other yellow wire on the ballast, and the bulb wire from the cap? I think I understand

 

[cannarella]

Is there not a diagram on the ballest? Do you know what brand it is? There is usually not a ground on a ballast, You just ground the body. Are the wires not labled?

Andy

 

[30mini]

The diagram is on the ballast, but it's hard to understand. I got some more readable diagrams off the net. I understand it better now

 

[cannarella]

Ok good luck.

Andy

 

[george81]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7742806#post7742806 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by 30mini
Now, the white wire from the socket goes to one of the yellow on the ballast, and to the white wire on my plug end, right? So then the blue wire goes to the other yellow wire on the ballast, and the bulb wire from the cap? I think I understand

and it goes BANG......

you re white wire from you socket does NOT go on with the white wire from you re feed end. you have to power you re ballast, the ballast should have a black white green....

connect the white with the white of you re feed end.
green to green
black to the 120 wire.

two wires comming from you re socket get connect to the yellow wires. find out which is ground first..get a continuity tester or

 

[cannarella]

OK so this is a mogul socket? If it is a Universal multitap ballast the one yellow goes to the white common from your power and the other goes to the threaded part of the bulb. The red to the capacitor and then to the tip of the bulb and the black with yellow stripe is the 110V hot lead. If you have 3 wires in your socket, you will not user one of them. Does the wiring diagram look like this?

Do what george81 said and use a continuity tester to find out which wire is the threaded are and which one is the tip. No need to use the other. No need to ground the socket.

Andy