I bought one of these ballasts today, along with the appropriate igniter and capacitor: http://www.tridonic.com/com/en/products/images/TA_HID_F_OFBIS_250_A001W_r.jpg All the wiring diagrams I can find online show three wires coming from the transformer, but this one, as you can see, doesn't have three terminals, only two. And I have no idea what those are for. Can anybody give me some advice? Inb4 "Hire an electrician." Would really appreciate it. Thanks, Red. Edit: I found a wiring diagram on the manufacturer's site, but I can't really make sense of it. Can anybody help?
Well, without seeing the actual directions, "N" I think would stand for "Neutral" which would be the white wire. "L" would stand for "load" which would be the black wire. Of course, that is standard house wiring (in the US) so, YMMV. I think that the circle with the three dots in it is the connector that will attach your ballast to your lamp. The unused dot may be a ground? The square would be the transformer. "L" and "N" are the plug that goes to the wall. If you pull apart a wall socket, you should be able to tell which side is black and which side is white. I could be wrong and you could still burn down your house so be careful! Once you wire it up, monitor it for a few hours and feel the wires to see if they get excessively hot. Also, shut power off at the breaker before removing a wall socket. Good Luck.
Thanks, man. I appreciate it. I'm going to give it a shot tomorrow and I guess we'll see what happens. In case anybody else encounters similar puzzlement, I found this image very helpful.
OK Red here's what I see. The only 2 ballasts on the mfrs. website that are 60Hz which is what is required for the U.S. are both 220V so I hope you have a 3 wire (1 hot, 1 nuetral, and 1 ground) 220V power source. There is a schematic on the top of the ballast that I can't make out in the picture but it looks like the one from the web site. The black wire from your wall plug goes to one side of the capacitor the other side of the cap goes to the D connection on the ballast. The circle with the 3 dots is yor lamp socket. The La connection goes to the center of your Lamp socket. This would be the black wire on your LAMP cord (not your power cord). The white wire on your power cord connectts to the white wire on your lamp cord and also to the N terminal of the ballast. I don't see the ignitor you mentioned anywhere in the schematic. The ballast looks like you should have a 4 prong connector that plugs into it so you can connect the wiring to it. The fourth pin on the ballast may be for a ground but you would have to verify that with a pin out configuration for the ballast. If 1 of the pins isn.t a ground then you probably are supposed to connect the green wires, one from the supply cord and 1 from the lamp cord to the ballast case. Hope this helps somewhat. If you post a picture that shows the schematic thats printed on the top of the ballast, I can probably tell you how to connect it fer sure dude..good luck.
Hey guys, Thanks for your responses. Yes, we run 220V off three-point plugs where I live. I gave it a shot last night and I was hoping you could take a quick look before I plug it in and tell me if I'm going to blow something up? This is what I did: Let me know if that pic's not clear enough? Red's live, black's neutral. And here's the schematic from the manufacturer: Dudes, it's because of helpful people like you that I love this forum. Thanks again.
sweet, man. Thanks for guinea pig'n it for the rest of us. Need a new ballast myself, may DIY it now.