# Electronic ballast killer.



## Black Dog (Oct 16, 2011)

Hello Ash: Welcome to the forum..

You need to check the voltage in the second hole with a meter, not a hot stick.

Make sure your ballasts and lamps have the same ANSI rating.

Make sure the ballast voltage is set to 277 volts.


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## ashsparks (Feb 12, 2015)

Tested hot to ground 280v, hot to neutral 280v, Neutral to ground 2v. Unfortunately the ballast is a completely sealed waterproof box.


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## Black Dog (Oct 16, 2011)

ashsparks said:


> Tested hot to ground 280v, hot to neutral 280v, Neutral to ground 2v. Unfortunately the ballast is a completely sealed waterproof box.


Does the voltage match at the first box?

Do the lamps match the ANSI rating on the ballasts?

Also sometimes metal halide lamps take a minute to strike an arc before the warm up.

Also make sure the lamps are made for the position that they will be burning.


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## ashsparks (Feb 12, 2015)

By the way thank you very much for your quick reply both times, 

I will see if the voltage at the fist and second voltages match some time tomorrow, I do not see it been a problem as these are in the middle of the circuit and there are some existing fittings that are working fine. 

The lamps match up, I have also plugged a old fitting in that has been working for some time with no luck.

These lamps are very quick to warm, what does make me go hmmmmm is the fact that there is power going into the ballast but nothing coming out after they go into this one hole. 

Thanks again 

Ash


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## xpertpc (Oct 11, 2012)

Before blaming it on a poltergeist I would check the hole for any paramagnetic gold left by de Soto which may interfere with the core and coil ballast. If you do find treasure keep it to yourself and send me 10%.


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## Expediter (Mar 12, 2014)

My guess is that you have a broken neutral between the two boxes. Your line voltage is there, but the neutral is broken somehow. I think that the first ballast is still good.

You say that they are in the middle of a circuit, are these possibly t-tapped from a JB somewhere? how many cables are going to each light? 1 or 2?

Use a solenoid tester to test hot to neutral.


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## sbrn33 (Mar 15, 2007)

Check the connector between the ballast and the shell. that goes bad and then you have to replace the shel assembly. 
Talk them into LED.


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## ashsparks (Feb 12, 2015)

Thank you for the input, just checked with a solenoid tester and came out where it should be, there are two wires in each fitting.

On the drawing they are t tapped at some point, but this is right where the JB should be so in theory all the others would be out if there was a bad joint. 

We tried the LED approach and was met with negativity. 

I have also tried fittings I know to be good, it appears that this one enclosure just eats ballasts for some unknown reason.


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## xpertpc (Oct 11, 2012)

How far away is the suspect splice box from the preceding working box? How many working boxes and lamps are powered from the suspects boxes connections?


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## ashsparks (Feb 12, 2015)




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## xpertpc (Oct 11, 2012)

First box in the scheme and all others connect from from it?.


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## Bootss (Dec 30, 2011)

Is this an old install ?You may need to megger wire.


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## btharmy (Jan 17, 2009)

If there is at least one light working in each "island" chances are the circuit is fine. Unless each is fed with a different circuit. Did you replace all lamps in non-working fixtures with new lamps? If so, did you wait long enough for them to come on? Up to 15 minutes sometimes. Don't use the same lamp and try it in each fixture one at a time. Replace them all with new before proceeding. Normally, with at least limited maintenance, I only see a 10 to 1 ratio. 10 lamps for every 1 ballast replaced.


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