Ballast Help................

thegeneral · 02/16/2006, 08:27 PM

Ok. I have been running 3 250 mh bulbs on my tank for about a year. I was using 3 sola 250 w ballast. All was well. last week i came home and the lights werent on. Both gfi's had tripped. i reset them one by one . when i got to the last one, it tripped the gfi again. HHHMMMM.I decided to check the socket with a tester and guess what....240volts. Ibrought home a new one from work( hooked up to the 120 volt lead as they are multi tap)BAM 240 volts. Checked the receptical and have 120, checked at the hookup to the ballast, 120v.But the out put is 240v.So i bring home another one. carefully hooked it up....240 volts.Could i have gotton 2 lemons in a row, or has this happened to anyone b4. thanks

allen

thegeneral · 02/16/2006, 09:02 PM

bump

msmibew683 · 02/16/2006, 09:10 PM

a ballast is basically a transformer so your output voltage probably would not be the same as the input voltage but im not sure why youre getting 240v . i would think that the ballast would raise amperage and lower voltage .

PaulErik · 02/17/2006, 01:52 AM

The ballast works like a transformer. 240 Volts seems a little low. Depending on the model of ballast it should be 280-330V for a Sola 250-watt ANSI M58 ballast without a lamp installed. If you measure the voltage without a lamp operating you are measuring the Open Circuit Voltage (OCV).

The lamp requires high voltage for the lamp to light. Once the lamp (arc) stabilizes the voltage drops below 40 volts. During warm up the voltage increases to the designed spec. For an ANSI M58 lamp the operating voltage (arc voltage) is approximately 130 volts.

02/16/2006, 08:27 PM	#1
thegeneral Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: louisville ky Posts: 63	Ballast Help................ Ok. I have been running 3 250 mh bulbs on my tank for about a year. I was using 3 sola 250 w ballast. All was well. last week i came home and the lights werent on. Both gfi's had tripped. i reset them one by one . when i got to the last one, it tripped the gfi again. HHHMMMM.I decided to check the socket with a tester and guess what....240volts. Ibrought home a new one from work( hooked up to the 120 volt lead as they are multi tap)BAM 240 volts. Checked the receptical and have 120, checked at the hookup to the ballast, 120v.But the out put is 240v.So i bring home another one. carefully hooked it up....240 volts.Could i have gotton 2 lemons in a row, or has this happened to anyone b4. thanks allen

02/16/2006, 09:02 PM	#2
thegeneral Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: louisville ky Posts: 63	bump

02/16/2006, 09:10 PM	#3
msmibew683 Registered Member Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: columbus ohio Posts: 27	a ballast is basically a transformer so your output voltage probably would not be the same as the input voltage but im not sure why youre getting 240v . i would think that the ballast would raise amperage and lower voltage .

02/17/2006, 01:52 AM	#4
PaulErik Premium Member Join Date: Dec 2000 Location: North Charleston, SC Posts: 1,703	The ballast works like a transformer. 240 Volts seems a little low. Depending on the model of ballast it should be 280-330V for a Sola 250-watt ANSI M58 ballast without a lamp installed. If you measure the voltage without a lamp operating you are measuring the Open Circuit Voltage (OCV). The lamp requires high voltage for the lamp to light. Once the lamp (arc) stabilizes the voltage drops below 40 volts. During warm up the voltage increases to the designed spec. For an ANSI M58 lamp the operating voltage (arc voltage) is approximately 130 volts.