Ballast wiring strip light problem, help needed please!

[L&L2205]

Hi,

Im new to this forum today, Im not an electrician but was given some advice from an electrician yesterday which has since proven to be wrong, but I urgently need some advice please!

I have a fish tank with a 120cm strip light, basically the old ballast is broken, I yesterday purchased a new ballast and the electrician who sold it to me said it would work if I just rewired it, replacing the old.

However, after trying every combination of wiring possible with the new ballast, I only managed to get a brief flicker of light before the circuit broke again.

There are just three wires to connect. Ive checked everything else works on the unit, Ive also changed the fuse on the plug.

Im boggled as to why I managed to get a brief flicker on the lights but not been able to get one again.

Any ideas? Id be very grateful for any advice as my fish are without light.

Lauren

Attatched are the pictures of the ballast and the wires.

 

[boatnik1]

Your a wire short to the tube ends. there should be two wires to each end cap of the tube. 2 to 11 and 12, and 2 to 13 and 14.

That ballast should also be earthed to 3 with the power to 4&5

 

[Darkwood]

Take a birds eye pic of the old ballast with the info on cant make it out fully need to see connections and rating to see if new one is compatable.

 

[boatnik1]

Looking at the new ballast it seems to be a 20w ballast and 120cm lamps are normally 40w, also thinking about the 3 wires out, could there be a wire from one end cap to the other, if so you should check the old ballast to see if there is a link between any of the output terminals.

 

[Darkwood]

Looking at the new ballast it seems to be a 20w ballast and 120cm lamps are normally 40w, also thinking about the 3 wires out, could there be a wire from one end cap to the other, if so you should check the old ballast to see if there is a link between any of the output terminals.

Take a closer look think you misread ballast its a 38w,i think the 20 in the box under wattage is 2D just coding with 38 after, also the ballast id code has 38 in it which is common for ballasts to have their rating in the id code.

 

[L&L2205]

Ok, Ive attached the pics of the old ballast. Also, there is a pic of the wiring from one end, which is 2 wires into one. The other end is 2 seperate wires, one for each tube.

The bulbs are 38w.

From what I can see there is no link on the old ballast output.

Thanks for your help on this!

Lauren

 

[L&L2205]

Could the problem lie with the output? The old ballast says 320v and the new 240v?

 

[boatnik1]

Take a closer look think you misread ballast its a 38w,i think the 20 in the box under wattage is 2D just coding with 38 after, also the ballast id code has 38 in it which is common for ballasts to have their rating in the id code.

Agreed it's a ballast for a 2D 38w 4pin lamp. Really must get these glasses changed.

There are two lamps and the rating seems to be for a single lamp 1x38 where the old one was for two lamps. 2x38

 

[Darkwood]

Could the problem lie with the output? The old ballast says 320v and the new 240v?

Dont confuse yourself thats the output voltage to the lamps, how many lamps are you connecting and what is the wattage on the lamp(s) as this ballast gives two wiring set-ups.

 

[L&L2205]

Thanks Boatnik1.

When I had a flicker of light it was just the left tube. Makes sense now.

Im gutted because I took the thing apart and couldnt see anything that could be wrong other than the ballast so took the advice of this electrican yesterday and bought the ballast, but obviously he recommended the wrong one.

I cant be without light for the fishes so unless I can get a new ballast tomorrow Im going to have to buy a whole new unit which is a complete rip off, £88!

At least I can say Ive had a go! Not bad for a girl!

Dont confuse yourself thats the output voltage to the lamps, how many lamps are you connecting and what is the wattage on the lamp(s) as this ballast gives two wiring set-ups.

Ok.

2 lamps, 38w each.

But from what Boatnik1 said, its the wrong ballast



Ive just had a look and there is an electrical wholesale place quite near which I could get to tomorrow. What do I need to ask for ballast wise?

Last time I took the whole unit into the shop and the 'electrician' there said it would definately be the right one for the job. If I know what Im after it will help

Lauren

 

[boatnik1]

If you really need the lights urgently you could open up the hood and seperate the two lamps from each other and wire one of them to the ballast with the two wires at one end cap to 11 & 12 and the two wires at the other end cap to 13 & 14 on the ballast. Obviously with the power disconnected.

To replace the ballast you need one rated for 2 x 38w lamps.
You haven't mentioned a starter in the circuit. Is there one? if not then ask for a ballast which doesn't require one. If there are starters then a standard 2x38 ballast with new starters.

 

[L&L2205]

If you really need the lights urgently you could open up the hood and seperate the two lamps from each other and wire one of them to the ballast with the two wires at one end cap to 11 & 12 and the two wires at the other end cap to 13 & 14 on the ballast. Obviously with the power disconnected.

Thankyou!

Will try this as my guppies look a little peed off! Am being very safety conscious, what with all the water and electrics! Im nowhere near the tank while Im doing this

The only things I can see in the unit are the 2 tubes, 3 wires, the ballast, and an on off switch on a wire.

If there were starters should I see them?

 

[boatnik1]

Lauren If starters are present they should be fairly obvious as small plug in units about 20mm+ diameter and about 35-40mm long. If you have flourescent fittings anywhere else they will normally be sticking out the side of the fittings. In the last pic you posted I was wondering if the fitting where the wires joined two into one was the back of a starter holder or just a connector.
If you look at the tube ends there will be connectors which have two wires each ( how they're connected after that in your tank I donn't know) If you can find the two wires at each end and seperate them from everything else then extend them to fit in the ballast then everything should work.
If that's all too complicated you could try connecting the fitting the way you had it when one tube flickered and remove the tube that didn't flcker and see what happens.

 

[L&L2205]

Ok, there are definatey no starters.

Im going to have a cuppa then see if I can get it working temporarily tonight, then call and see if they have a 2x38w ballast early tomorrow morning (hopefully!).

Im very reluctant to pay out for a new unit as you can probably tell!

I'll report back tomorrow with an update.

Thanks again for all the help, it has been brilliant!

Lauren

 

[Darkwood]

Dont you all be confusing the lad now, the old ballast is obviously an electronic one so no starters he just needs to ask for an electronic ballast what will do 2 x 38watt lamps but worse case he may need to alter the endcap wiring to suit as we dont live in an ideal world

 

[boatnik1]

Dont you all be confusing the lad now, the old ballast is obviously an electronic one so no starters he just needs to ask for an electronic ballast what will do 2 x 38watt lamps but worse case he may need to alter the endcap wiring to suit as we dont live in an ideal world

"HE" is called Lauren and says "he" is a girl.
We didn't know what the old ballast was, just the new one so had to ask if there was starters in the mix.

 

[Darkwood]

"HE" is called Lauren and says "he" is a girl.
We didn't know what the old ballast was, just the new one so had to ask if there was starters in the mix.

Oops Sorry Lauren i just changed your gender without realising hope its wasnt too painful, please forgive me

 

[L&L2205]

Oops Sorry Lauren i just changed your gender without realising hope its wasnt too painful, please forgive me

Dont worry, Im fine!

The saga ended today, here's what happened.....

I went to the electrical wholesalers at 9am and purchased the 2 tube 36w ballast. Brought it home, very excited, fixed it up but it would only light the tube for 2 seconds then go out. I managed to change the wiring around so that one tube would stay lit but obviously that isnt ideal for my tank. So I called the wholesalers again and the man said its unusual for a 36w ballast to not light a 38w ballast, but that he didnt have a 38w for me to swap it for instead, he didnt know what was wrong

So I phoned around some other electrical wholesalers, and they all gave me the same answer, no 38w ballasts. So I had to go with some more advice from a man in another shop, (my internet went down too so I couldnt ask here! ) and got a 40w 4 tube ballast and a 58w2 tube ballast to try. Unfortunately these did the same as before, all lit up for 2 seconds but the light could not be sustained, I even split the 2 in 1 wire to make 4 wires in the hope that would work, but no!

At this point I was tearing my hair out, but my husband came home after being away on business since thursday and saw how much trouble Ive been having with it, and was rather impressed Id got this far! But we both agreed after going through everything again that we should get a new unit. They obviously make it as difficult as possible to fix yourself!

So the unit is ordered, £81 for some plastic, wires and a bloody ballast and it will be here tomorrow. In the meantime I have 1 light for the fishes up and running but the shop says I can return all of the ballasts tomorrow luckily.

So thankyou again for all your help with this, Ive learnt more about electrics in these 4 days than I did in my lifetime!

If I ever need advice again I'll pop back.

Thanks again!