why do my ballasts trip GFI?

[E-A-G-L-E-S]

strips?...no, i'm using two different receptacles on different circuits. then i have one strip for pumps and sucjh and the AC Jr. with DC8 for lights, one heater and one desk fan. no strips....i'm just trying to understand as i am a little lost

 

[crumbletop]

My bust, I thought you had GFI strips. The basic thing I am trying to do is break the problem down into smaller problems. Problem #1 -- the GFI is tripping. Problem #2 -- how can you control all the lights once you solve problem #1.

So to solve problem #1 you could plug in two separate power strips to your GFI recepticles and see what combination of lights trip the GFI. It may be that a mix of some ballasts on one recepticle and other ballasts on the other would work fine. If you figure that out, then you would need to figure out how to control all the lights across the two recepticles. The DC4 would allow you to do that.

I hope I'm not adding further confusion...

Jack

 

[E-A-G-L-E-S]

nope...but this stinks , lol
i'm going testing, thanks for the help

 

[Philwd]

I eventually also had to stagger my lights turning on. I stagger every 30 min to sort of simulate dawn/dusk. When I split my eballasts across 2 different GFI circuits the one with the last light turning on would always trip. When I put them all on one no problem. As Jack said the trouble shooting is a real PITA.

 

[crumbletop]

An update for my GFI. Yesterday I switched everything over to a new power strip. The program on my AC Jr. kicked in and all the lights came on at the same time and _bam_ the GFI tripped. I normally have them staggered at 1 hour intervals to simulate a surise/midday/sunset kind of thing. When I turned on the first two ballasts and then turned on my third an hour later everything worked fine. Today, with the lights back on the normal schedule, everything is fine. So this makes sense that is wasn't my bulb in the socket, but was the electronic ballasts and the RFI circuitry.

E-A-G-L-E-S, any update on your troubleshooting?

Jack

 

[Aquaduck]

I'm interrested in seeing where this thread is going. I have a Maxkor e-ballast that is sooo noisy it makes the RF filter in my microwave buzz and it's 15 feet away. Turn off the ballast and my microwave stops buzzing. The ballast is also royally screwing with my DC4. I cannot control any device while this ballast is plugged into it.