HELP!. bad ballast?

[mopar9012]

I bought a retro fit kit from a local guy and the wireing diagram was not the easiest to follow. Ive wired up ballast before but this one was wierd.
Anyways i wired it as the directions said and i grounded it. It sparked.
Before that i took it up to a GOOD LFS because it wouldnt do anything, the owner wired it. He said i had dont a couple things wrong and it smoked there.
is this thing bad?

 

[mech-a-nic]

I need more Info, make, model. Pic of the wiring you did.
But the Term "Smoked it" means it is burned Internaly and probly no good.
Get me the info and Ill try my best to help you

 

[mopar9012]

it is an e vision ballast. i think the IMF C 175 LH? thats what it says on the cover. Its for a 150W fixture or 175W fixture. im running the 150
i could probably try looking up a diagram online. I can get a pic but once i really looked into the directions i was able to follow them directly.
so if it smoked, did i cause it to go bad?
why would it spark?

 

[mech-a-nic]

A spark means you wired a ground to a hot, or it was not insulated internaly correctly. A pic or link to the instructions and a pic of what you got will help a lot. Ill try to find the ballest online.

 

[mech-a-nic]

does it look like this? I think I found it what color are the wires? are there 5 of them? black, white, black/white input. and a blue, and red outputs?

 

[mopar9012]

so what should i ground it to? theres not really a lot of metal around my tank?
it looks similar to that. that one looks bigger.
mine has a red and blue as the output. theres a black AND white wire that is supposed to be tied off. and then theres a black and white to hook it up to an outlet.
then it sits on a piece of metal and thats what i hooked one in of the ground wire up to.

 

[mech-a-nic]

White is common (Ground) on house systems.... most of the time.
the black is hot.
If you put the black to the case then that did it.
There should be 3 wires from you wiring to the Ballast. a white, black and a bare copper wire. The bare copper wire is the one you wire to the ballest case. the white should go to ground, or common and the black should be you hot wire.

 

[reefraff]

If you supplied AC to the Black and White wires meant to be caped you likely sent it to that big scrap heap in the sky, same if you hooked it up to the blue and red.
If you just make your AC connections, black to black, white to white, without the other wires connected to anything does it spark?

 

[mopar9012]

so the cord that i used to plug in the actualy ballast to the outlet must have 3 wires? one consisting of a copper wire?

 

[ibew41]

yes that is the wire you put to the case of the ballast

 

[mech-a-nic]

yes you should have 3 wires.....I would highly recomend it. that being said the grounding the case is for safty. it will work with just 2. jeaving the case out of the circut..... But you could leave yourself open to failure and or danger of shock.
so once again use a 3 wire cord.

 

[mopar9012]

Originally Posted by Mech-a-nic
http:///forum/post/3228719
yes you should have 3 wires.....I would highly recomend it. that being said the grounding the case is for safty. it will work with just 2. jeaving the case out of the circut..... But you could leave yourself open to failure and or danger of shock.
so once again use a 3 wire cord.
but just because i have three wont mean it will work if it is bad correct?
so that third wire must be hooked up to the ballast and then i have a secure ground correct?

 

[mech-a-nic]

but just because i have three wont mean it will work if it is bad correct?
so that third wire must be hooked up to the ballast and then i have a secure ground correct?[/QUOTE/]
white to white black to black.... But make sure on the colors with a meter! Then the bare copper wire to the case. White and copper are both grounds one is the common wire the other is an earth ground. If you have power to the hot and ground to the ground and it does not work then ya it's fried.

 

[mopar9012]

well i bought a new ballast today. i needed a light pretty bad. I appreciate your help, im going to look at your drawings very closely tomorrow and see if i can get it hooked up with your directions.
I would like to run two lamps so it could be a good thing.

 

[mech-a-nic]

cool if you have any questions on this one Ill be glad to help