Metal Halide Circuit Issues

[ab6014]

The background: I'm building a rig for an engineering project to age polymers, using UV radiation and water cycles. The power supply, water pump and actuator (use not relevant) are controlled via an Arduino.
The rig has worked in the past with Infrared bulbs (for a different project). I'm now switching to UV bulbs which require ballast and ignitor to run.

The problem: I wired up one bulb to begin with, the bulb turned on but after I turned the circuit off, the power tripped (large circuit breaker for the entire run of sockets in the laboratory).
Second attempt, checked the wiring and wired up both lamps in series. This time the bulbs did not turn on, but the power tripped again.

Ballast Link: https://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/lighting-ballasts/7840515/
Ignitor Link: https://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/lighting-ignitors/6677268/
UV Bulb Link: https://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/uv-curing-lamps/8298870/
Circuit diagrams for series and single bulbs respectively:

The only issue I can think of causing the trip is that I'm yet to properly earth the circuit. Similarly for the two bulbs not operating at all, I'd guess it was a more fundamental issue with running the lamps in parallel as shown, I've not seen a diagram online like this, I simply assumed it would be okay.

Thanks in advance, Adam

 

[Pete999]

The background: I'm building a rig for an engineering project to age polymers, using UV radiation and water cycles. The power supply, water pump and actuator (use not relevant) are controlled via an Arduino.
The rig has worked in the past with Infrared bulbs (for a different project). I'm now switching to UV bulbs which require ballast and ignitor to run.

The problem: I wired up one bulb to begin with, the bulb turned on but after I turned the circuit off, the power tripped (large circuit breaker for the entire run of sockets in the laboratory).
Second attempt, checked the wiring and wired up both lamps in series. This time the bulbs did not turn on, but the power tripped again.

Ballast Link: https://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/lighting-ballasts/7840515/
Ignitor Link: https://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/lighting-ignitors/6677268/
UV Bulb Link: https://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/uv-curing-lamps/8298870/
Circuit diagrams for series and single bulbs respectively:

The only issue I can think of causing the trip is that I'm yet to properly earth the circuit. Similarly for the two bulbs not operating at all, I'd guess it was a more fundamental issue with running the lamps in parallel as shown, I've not seen a diagram online like this, I simply assumed it would be okay.

Thanks in advance, Adam

What is tripping CB or RCD?

 

[Pete999]

The background: I'm building a rig for an engineering project to age polymers, using UV radiation and water cycles. The power supply, water pump and actuator (use not relevant) are controlled via an Arduino.
The rig has worked in the past with Infrared bulbs (for a different project). I'm now switching to UV bulbs which require ballast and ignitor to run.

The problem: I wired up one bulb to begin with, the bulb turned on but after I turned the circuit off, the power tripped (large circuit breaker for the entire run of sockets in the laboratory).
Second attempt, checked the wiring and wired up both lamps in series. This time the bulbs did not turn on, but the power tripped again.

Ballast Link: https://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/lighting-ballasts/7840515/
Ignitor Link: https://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/lighting-ignitors/6677268/
UV Bulb Link: https://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/uv-curing-lamps/8298870/
Circuit diagrams for series and single bulbs respectively:

The only issue I can think of causing the trip is that I'm yet to properly earth the circuit. Similarly for the two bulbs not operating at all, I'd guess it was a more fundamental issue with running the lamps in parallel as shown, I've not seen a diagram online like this, I simply assumed it would be okay.

Thanks in advance, Adam

What is tripping CB or RCD? Bit silly not earthing your rig

 

[ab6014]

Unfortunately I cant tell, its all locked away and needs to be reset by a technician which takes a few hours, so I cant use it to troubleshoot.
I was getting round to the earthing!, was only provisionally testing it to begin with.
Since posting, I've decided to include the capacitor shown below. https://i.stack.Upload the image directly to the thread.com/4n8i7.gif
But i'm unsure what size it should be and still not sure why the series arrangement didn't work at all.

 

[Pete999]

Not a lot anyone can say until what has tripped

 

[ab6014]

So I've solved the tripping issue with the added capacitor as shown in the previous diagram.
Now that it is all fine with one bulb, any ideas on why it would not start with the 2 bulbs in parallel as per the first image?

 

[telectrix]

tripping probably caused by inrush current, no reason why they should not operate in parallel. in series they won't work as each only gets 120V. maybe a c or d type breaker will cure the tripping, Zs permitting.