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Here is probably a simple one to answer (1 Viewer)

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Guest

I have inlaws from Norway in town. I had my father in law look at my magnetic ballast to see the voltage going into the ballasts. It was 350volts. I think that explained the dull lights. He re-wired it to 120volts and put the bulb back in. The bulb burned for a bit and now it is dead. He has a question: If everything in the house is 120Volts, why do we need a ballast to operate these light bulbs that are 175, 250 etc? He is saying we can just get a plug and wire it up to the mogul and it should work. Is this true? Thanks for your replies.

Eric
 
J

jamesw

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No, that's not true.

See that big coil of wire? That's a transformer to take your 110v up to whatever is needed to run the lamp. The can looking thing is a capacitor needed to provide 4,000v to start the lamp.

HTH
James
 
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G

Guest

Thanks James. And oh yeah, dont touch the ballasts! Holy crap. It wasnt hot but I was stupid enough to touch it and get the crud shocked out of me. My father in law kept touching it and nothing. I think it was my wedding ring. I am still in pain. Idiot!

Eric
 
B

BrianPlankis

Dude be careful! We need everyone we can get in this club to survive so we can all talk about our addiction :)
 
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G

Guest

yea, be glad that our lights are high voltage and low ampage. If it builds up above 2 amps and you touch it, you're dead.
 
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G

Guest

Reefed-out said:
And oh yeah, dont touch the ballasts! Holy crap. It wasnt hot but I was stupid enough to touch it and get the crud shocked out of me. Eric
Click to expand...

Where exactly did you TOUCH this thing?
 
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G

Guest

I touched the top of the ballast, usually if we mess around with it we unplug everything, but since he is an electrician we had it open and running it. Dont know why I decided to touch it. I didnt touch any wires or the coil things. Just the top. I think I am sterile now. That hurt like hell. I unplugged it, not going to mess with Magnetic ballasts anymore, will save up and get an electronic one or two.

Eric
 
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Guest

yea, i imagine it hurt. voluntarily touching a 100v capacitor between 2 ppl is enough to make your muscles flex spontaneously.
 
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G

Guest

My wife was there and said that she saw me touch some of the wires too that were uncapped. My father in law touched just the top of the ballast 3 or 4 times after I shocked the crap out of myself and nothing happened to him, so either it was my wedding ring or I touched wires too or something. Either way, it is very easy to get careless when you are working on stuff I have found out. cparka23, I have no idea, I am just having bad luck this year with lighting I guess :) This was enough for me to just wait and get an electronic ballast or 2. My MHs are not running and my corals are like, what the heck! Rememeber the Eric electronic ballast foundation is going on still, I need 115.00 more dollars... :D
 
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G

Guest

I kinda know how you feel. I accidentally touched an electric catfish while I was cleaning a tank once.
 
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