Need wiring help

okkiedokki

okkiedokki

New member
I have a workhorse 5 ballast that I wired to 2 T5s. I've had it running off a non-gfi outlet and last night switched it over to a GFI outlet since I got the wiring for my 90g done finally. Well after about 5 min of the light running the GFI popped. I tried a different gfi outlet across the room (on a different circuit) because I thought maybe i had a bad gfi. The same thing happend.

I've come to the conclusion that I must have wired the ballast wrong because when I hook my MH lights, and all my tank equipment on the new gfi circuit it doesn't pop the gfi. I've checked and I have the case grounded properly and I followed the wiring diagram 11 on Fulham's website.

Could someone give me advice on what to look for or what I've possibly done wrong? I don't really know where to start beyond checking if everything is grounded properly.
 
The confusing and scary part is there two pairs of red wires that come out of the ballast. You would have to take the 2 red wires from each pair.. and put a wire nut on them to combine them..effectively making 1 red wire. Do the same for the other and you have effectively 2 red wires now instead of 4 red wires.

From each of those red wires you would add 2 short wires to the wire nuts and plug those into the ends of the bulb. The other end is a single yellow wire which you will have to use wire nuts to break out 4 short wires.

You can also do their jumper method but I went with wire nuts.

That's how I have mine wired up. I just went over and checked. 2x T5's 48" long bulbs on a Workhorse 5 ballast. I followed the Linear diagram that you linked.

First time I wired it up, I really hoped the bulbs wouldn't explode on me. Seems weird to wire it up this way.
 
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Here is their wiring diagram I used.
wire11.gif



This is what I did.
wiring.jpg


Now my ballast was replacing a VHO ballast because the ballast when bad. So in the middle of the red and yellow wires and bulbs is a quick disconnect. What I did was I wired two red wires together to one wire going into the disconnect. Then I used the one wire on the other side of the disconnect to wire one bulb and use the jumper method.

It's not possible to mix the red wire combination is it? Also question on grounding the ballast to the case. I have my electrical cord ground attached to the metal case the ballast is in. The ballast is attached through that one screw hole to the metal case. Would that then mean I grounded the ballast properly?
 
I think if you mix the red wire pairs you might go down the path of overdriving one of the bulbs or one bulb not lighting up at all.

Does the GCFI trip if you have nothing hooked up to the ballast?
 
If I hook the MH lighting, the pumps, and my fuge lighting the gfi does not trip. If i hook the T5 lights by themselves on the gfi it trips.

Edit:
Should i cap 2 of the red wires and only use one red wire for each bulb?
 
Yes, the bulbs are seated solidly in the socket.

I've been playing around with the MH lights and the T5s lights for a little while now. If I have all my equipment and my MH lights hooked up to my newly wired circuit and then I plug in my T5 lights to a different circuit and both GFIs are now popping. But like before if I have everything but the T5s running then the GFI does not pop.
 
Maybe that is your problem. Is that new wiring? You only need one GFI per circuit. If you run more than one it has the potential to mess things up. If you had someone install them or did it yourself then you will want to remove the second GFI and replace it with a standard outlet. The wires feeding the second one should come from the "LOAD" screw on the first GFI.

Check it out... you are not alone---> http://en.allexperts.com/q/Electrical-Wiring-Home-1734/GFCI-tripping.htm

HTH
-- Kevin
 
No, the two gfis are on seperate circuits. I ran one 20A breaker to 4 outlets, the first is a 20A GFI. The other one is a 15A GFI on a second circuit that I have run. I plug the T5 into the 15A GFI by itself on that circuit and then run everything else on the other circuit. Once the MH lights cool down and turn on the GFI on both of the two circuits pop.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15142469#post15142469 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by okkiedokki
If I hook the MH lighting, the pumps, and my fuge lighting the gfi does not trip. If i hook the T5 lights by themselves on the gfi it trips.

Edit:
Should i cap 2 of the red wires and only use one red wire for each bulb?
Click to expand...

I think you need both.

Since you have disconnects, I would disconnect all the bulbs/sockets and plug in the ballast by itself and see if it still trips. Maybe you have a bad ballast.

If it does not trip, plug in only 1 bulb. This ballast is will fire 1 bulb at a time with no issues.

If that still does not trip, plug in your second bulb. If it does, unplug the other and try again.

I just checked mine... you guys will give me a badge of shame but mine's not grounded at all. :eek2:
 
That is weird. I don't really have any other advice but I hope you get it figured out.

When you say "The ballast is attached through that one screw hole to the metal case. Would that then mean I grounded the ballast properly?" does that mean that you don't have a green wire from the ballast to the metal housing on the inside but you do have the wire from the outlet to the housing? Your ballast only has black and white wires coming out? If so you have done it properly but you may need to scrape some paint under the mounting screw so the screw actually touches the ballast's metal frame.

I don't think you would want to cap of one of the red wires from each line since they show them both going to one end of the bulb.

jiriki had a good troubleshooting question. If you disconnect the bulbs and just plug the ballast in does it trip the GFI? If so I would try unwiring the bulb end and try again. If it still trips, check your wiring from the outlet to the ballast and if it trips still I would suggest a call to Fulham to find out what they suggest. If the ballast with no wiring trips the GFI then it seems like an internal problem.

Good luck! Let us know what happens.

EDIT: Looks like he posted a msg with good advice on it while I was typing ;)
 
Yes, about the ballast grounding, the ballast didn't come with a green wire for grounding. What I did was attach the ballast to the metal case, obviously with a metal screw, 2 washers, and a nut. The power cord has a green ground, obviously, and it's attached to the metal case.

Something I just tried, and now feel like a fool, I attached a green ground wire directly to the ground from the plug in the metal case to the ballast. So far the MH lights, T5 lights, and all the equipment for my tank is running off one circuit and the gfi hasn't popped. Apparently having the ground from the plug attached to the metal case and not ballast was not properly grounded.

Edit:
ok it just popped again; I'm going to try what jiriki suggested now.
 
Ok, with the MH bulbs and T5 bulbs pulled from the socket the GFI did not pop. With the MH bulbs back in the socket and the T5 bulbs still out of the socket the GFI popped.

Now, I started looking through all the wires and noticed a wire nut that was chard black. I traced it back and it was coming from one of the MH ballasts. I cut all the wires that were spliced and respliced them. I'm going to retest the lighting and see what happens.
 
You are using the wrong wiring diagram. You should not join 2 red wires into one. You are actually running twice the amount of electricity through the bulb by doing that. You need to cap two of the red wires and only use the other two wires. I spoke to the manufacturer and they said I should be using this diagram:

wire22.gif


Call me if you have questions.
 
For T5 HO 2x 54w, the website wizard points to diagram 11....

Diagram 22 is for a Workhorse 8. Seems like they are contradicting their website? Or I am missing some info.
 
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Well, either way it still made my GFI pop today. I called a friend who owns an electric company. He told me what's probably happening is the ballast is pulling more amps and the GFI is tripping because it thinks there's a problem. He told me since it's working fine on a non-gfi protected outlet I should just plug it in there. I think that's what I'm just going to do because I took the entire thing apart, traced all the wires and it's wired correctly.
 
If you have a Kill-a-watt meter, maybe that can give you some more clues. Shouldn't pull too much past the total wattage of your bulbs. I think (I would have to double check), it will give you amps too.

If the ballast is really hot, that would give you another clue. Mine is fairly warm to the touch but not scorching hot.

-Jon
 
I'll have to see if i can find one I could borrow. The MH ballast gets scorching hot. But the workhorse ballast has just gotten warm. Maybe my MH ballast is causing the issue then? Its an old hamilton ballast I believe.
 
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