What is this? Naked Ballast?

Means "I took the covers off". probably to fuck with them, I wouldn't go near that. Especially ballasts, buy new.

 

It said "naked box" which probably means the boxes they come in are blank because he probably bought them in bulk for that massive setup he has. Ballasts sold by themselves don't typically have housings unless they are bought at a grow store. He probably got the ballasts from an electrical supply house. Ballasts alone without a housing are normally used as replacements for industrial HID lighting since when the lights are on all day as they normally are at warehouses and the like they go bad after a little while. The purpose of a ballast is to stabilize the voltage and current to the lamp in order to keep temperature down and prevent lamp burnout or explosion. Since he has all of these parts listed separately my guess is that he built and wired his own fixtures.

I would buy the ballasts new though. Hope this helps.

 

Basically all HID light fixtures consist of a lamp, lampholder (socket), igniter, capacitor, ballast, and of course a reflector. You can do a search online for different wiring diagrams for different types of ballasts and connections. Some ballasts are multi-tap and some are not. Make sure you connect each component correctly and with a good connection. Otherwise basically your shit will blow up. Most ballasts have their attached wires identified. Here is a link with some lighting diagrams that should help you. Additional Ballast Wiring Diagrams - HPS ballasts

 

You just need to know what your hooking up and to have the power off when doing it.

The open frames are for doing it on the cheap (lack of enclosure).

I wouldn't put them anywhere rodents could chew on the exposed wiring.

Come to think of it, maybe I would!

 

Rodents are more likely to chew on the exposed wiring beneath your house than inside a hot ass, bright ass, loud lighting fixture. If you have a basic knowledge of how to make wiring connections and consult the diagram and hook it all up de-energized then you'll be fine. That system looks like there's a pretty straightforward connection. Looks like they've made it so all you have to do is strip your wires back a little bit, put em in, screw em down, and power it up.

 

Having multiple ballasts in my house I have had quite a bit of fun with open ballasts (no sarcasm!) Once the transformer in my 1,000 watt MH ballasts rattled itself loose due to a faulty lock washer.

It was easier than hell to fix, took literally minuets.

Although I would never buy an open ballast used, new ones work just as well as closed systems, and in my honest opinion they stay cooler and as previous stated, are easier to maintain.

 

Well, did you buy a kit to make one? or did you buy a brand new naked ballast?

If its already put together, just use it...For wiring it, I'm not exactly comfortable with helping someone wire something that can hurt you, or burn down your house.

A couple parts I'd familiarize yourself with prior to wiring.

This is an ignitor


This is a capacitor- WARNING! DO NOT TOUCH THESE WHILE THE LIGHT IS PLUGGED IN WITHOUT DISCHARGING IT SAFELY! You can do this by simply taking an insulated screw driver and touching the two ends. Once again, don't touch it at all when plugged in.

This provides the light with a quick and powerful jolt of electricity to kick start the light.
I made the mistake of touching one large one like this once...I literally made my knees buckle and I was on the ground.



This is the "core and coil" its technically a transformer, just like the cylinder shaped objects you see hanging on telephone poles throughout the US.
Its job is to reduce voltage and regulate it through induction, that is to say the larger coil vibrates quicker than the smaller core, which is producing electricity through induction due to the larger coil moving over the smaller one...its all electromagnetic.



The short and skinny about wiring high amperage items is that you can die, cause a fire, or ruin your ballast parts by doing it yourself.

 

"The short and skinny about wiring high amperage items is that you can die, cause a fire, or ruin your ballast parts by doing it yourself."


The truth is that even low amperage items can kill you. It only takes about a half an amp or less to stop your heart. Most household vacuums pull 12 amps. That's 24 times the amount that can kill you. Due to the fact that in the picture we cannot clearly see the markings on the terminals we cannot exactly tell you how to hook it up unless you can take a picture and post it on here. It's probably just a ground, neutral, and hot if it's a 120v system. Ground is green, hook it up first. White is neutral, hook it up second. Black or maybe even red depending on the circuit is the hot. If the system is new it should come with a diagram or instructions of what you need to hook up to make it work.

 

moke, I recommend the utmost precautions for any and all even slightly dangerous items involved for growing.

A really good rule of thumb is "if you dont know what you're doing, ASK!"

 

I'm aware of that. I'm not the one who doesn't know what I am doing. You're basically repeating what I have been saying. You said high amperage items can kill you. What I said is that even low amperage items can kill you. I've seen some fucked up shit from people not hooking things up correctly. The problem is that they fear it instead of respecting it. Next time read what I was saying before you try to attack me.