Need HELP with my wiring

B

bayareaquarist

New member
So I tore apart a 250 Hamilton Tech. pendant (had the ballast in the fixture as one unit).
Rewired the mogul w/ a suitable extension cord. The bulb fires but shuts off at around 30-45 seconds and Im confused as to why... :confused: :confused:
The ballast is a M58 probe start and the bulb is un-identified.
The catch is I had this bulb running on this unit for over 6 months prior to the extension of the mogul...Any thoughts??
 
What size wire did you use to extend it and how far did you go.. also did you reverse the polarity when extending?
 
The polarity at the mogul is the only thing that I can think of...Does it matter which contact on the mogul gets the hot wire??

-The gauge is the same coming from your standard construction extension cord...12 gauge...extended aprox 5'...
 
Dude sorry I forgot all about this thread..
The only thing I can think of is the polarity on the base, it "should" not matter but it's worth a shot.

Did the ballast have any starters on it or capacitors that may have gotten changed or come loose?

Or I'd try another bulb, it could have been damaged in the shuffle??

That's where I'd start....
Let us know, and I'll try to keep a better eye on this thread for answers to those questions..
 
What are the consequences of switching the hot and neutral at the base? Can anything really bad happen to the unit or my house??

Nothing was altered but changing the leads from the orginal wire nuts and extending them with the cord...And I dont think the bulb is damaged as it fires and reaches full color...Pete was mentioning something about bulbs having a half life with certain ballasts?? something along those lines...maybe he will chime in...

It makes sense that it wouldnt but with the mogul it doesnt matter which contact gets the hot??
 
In "most" fixtures it dosen't matter which one gets the hot.
Infact my hello lights ballast only has two yellow wires coming from the ballast to the mogul so you can't even tell which goes to which on the base..
 
So I switched the leads coming from the compacitor and the ballast but left the leads going to the mogul the same...still shuts off...Then I switched the leads from the new cord going to the mogul and it still shuts off...I think thats all the combinations that can be attempted...this is plugged into a power strip with two pumps running on it...Is it just the bulb then?? Im SO confused because it fires, reaches a good color then the bulbs begins to hum a little and turns off...
 
Ok, so Pete and I just tried my bulb on a different ballas and mogul and it fired just fine...tried a different bulb on my ballast and it did the same thing...Im looking at the diagram on the ballast and Im confused as I could ever be...I have two wires coming from the campacitor and two wires coming from the ballast...as I can remember the combo was a three three: One from the capacitor and one from the ballast + one from the cord leading to the mogul...Because I have tried so many combinations I cant remember if the original combination was different than a three three...I attached some pics in hopes that this can be resolved...I cant find and helpful links and Advance doesnt have tech. info for this ballast for some reason...The ballast is a core and coil m58 probe start








 
good luck. I hope Steve, or another electrician, can lead you down the right path. I should have paid more attention in my college EE classes.
 
ok first thing I see wrong is the black power coming in is on the Com.
That should be white on the common and the black should be wired to the 120v line as seen in the diagram.

Then the other com (Common) should go to the outside of the mogul or screw base.

Now the wire from the ballast labeled Cap should go to one side of the capacitor, and the other side of the capacitor should go to the center pin on the mogul base.

Now like we said earlier I don't think it matters really on the mogul but just to wire it as the diagram says do it that way..

Now you can also try this, sometimes the two com (Common) wires get a bad connection between eachother.

So you can wire the white power in, the 2 com (common) wires from the ballast and the outside screw of the mogul base ALL together.. This will make sure they are all common...

If this still does not work, then the Capitor may be toast..
I have TONS of these ballasts kits at work so if you need a used one I can prolly hook ya up..
 
of the two leads coming from the ballast one is marked as the "com" -common- and one is marked as the "cap' capacitor...each one is connected to one of the two black wires coming straight from the compacitor...the third picture shows this..
 
TANKS again Steve~! Im just not worthy...YOU ARE THE MAN~! So for future reference here are some pics of the proper configuration.

The original wiring that was COMPLETELY wrong:



The correct configuration with the common receiving the neutral from the extension cord going to the mogul base, the hot from the extension cord going to the mogul base receiving a wire from the compacitor, and the compacitor wire coming from the ballast receiving the other compacitor wire:



Additional full shot showing compacitor and the two leads:

 
Just not to confuse people, as I was by the pics.
The black cord you see is going to the mogul base on the BULB! This black cord IS NOT power coming in from the wall.
:)

Glad it's all working now, and the capacitor and bulb survived the rouge wiring ;)
 
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