REWIRING 400W HPS

[faithless]

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My HPS has the ballast in the hood, which I want to seperate for cool tube purposes.

Theres a blue and a white cord running from the bulb socket to the ballast.
The white one is thicker, or more insulated.

Can I just lengthen those two cords with just ordinary cords or are they both different?

Will I kill myself? I know very little about electricity...

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[faithless]

ttt

[faithless]

I gotz to know people...

[4x5]

use an orange extension cord for the wiring, keep the length under 10ft, I had to box-up my ballasts, all i gotta do now is plug in the bulb sockets to the ballast boxes (which are themselves plugged to the wall, after plugging the sockets in, not before), works damn good.

[faithless]

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Thanks for the reply. Orange? Why is that? Is that color coded to mean its a certain type of cord? The thing is they seem different, the white one is thicker? getting this sorted out while I still have a month left of flowering could mean the difference between me letting live or shooting the dog in my avatar, people.

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[Tokudai]

Don't shoot the Beagle!!

There should be a wiring diagram on the ballast itself. Basically all you need to do is get some 14AWG wire and extend the bulb leads with some wire nuts. I think he mentioned the orange extension cord cause they are generally 15 Amp Hvy Duty cables and are cheap.

The difference in wire size you are seeing is probably only in the insulation, but again, 14 gauge wire will be plenty for a 400W setup, thats what I used to build my lamp leads. Use as short a run from the ballast to the bulb as you can. Make sure the common goes to the threads of the socket, and the hot/power line to the center and you're good to go!

[bejay]

it is common to cut up a heavy duty extension cord and wire the female end to the ballast and the male end to the lamp socket this allows you to just unplug the socket from the ballast if you ever needed to. while you wouldnt want to have an excessivly long cord lengths of 10-15 ft is often used.

[faithless]

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Thanks a lot for all the answers. My head is swimming from technical terms like female/male/common etc...

I don't get how a single strand of wiring can be male/female?

What I want to do, is remove the whole ballast and use the pins that its secured with, to secure it to the removable metal lid instead.
That would give me an empty compartment within the hood to place a fan etc for the cool tube. Is this doable?

I'll upload a pic. The encircled two cords (it's hard to see that there are two, dodgy cam) is where I'd just like two extend those two wires - if I just chop 'em and extend them with some heavy duty wiring, will I be ok?

[faithless]

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Right, that beagle is a goner :mad:

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[Dutch Pimp]

^^^...WAIT.....ask the dog...if he knows anything about electricity..

Thomas Edison...I'm not...I don't trust anything I can't see...and can kill me...

[Tokudai]

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Thanks a lot for all the answers. My head is swimming from technical terms like female/male/common etc...

I don't get how a single strand of wiring can be male/female?

What I want to do, is remove the whole ballast and use the pins that its secured with, to secure it to the removable metal lid instead.
That would give me an empty compartment within the hood to place a fan etc for the cool tube. Is this doable?

I'll upload a pic. The encircled two cords (it's hard to see that there are two, dodgy cam) is where I'd just like two extend those two wires - if I just chop 'em and extend them with some heavy duty wiring, will I be ok?


Thats exactly what I said when I posted - just disconnect, remove everything from the hood and extend the lamp leads (to the socket) w/ 14AWG wire. Then mount the ballast components to something.

[kindprincess]

http://www.onlinepot.org/grow/wiringlights.htm

everything you need to know...

love, kp:p

[faithless]

Great, thanks a lot. This board is a lot of help ;)

[faithless]

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I guess the thing that I haven't been getting is why one wire is thicker than the other. It seems there should be a reason. Could it possibly have anything to do with the 220 volt in Sweden?

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[kindprincess]

possibly...

[Pass That Shit]

My HPS has the ballast in the hood, which I want to seperate for cool tube purposes.

Theres a blue and a white cord running from the bulb socket to the ballast.
The white one is thicker, or more insulated.

Can I just lengthen those two cords with just ordinary cords or are they both different?

Will I kill myself? I know very little about electricity...

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If you're up and running, don't mess with the electrical. If you don't know what you're doing with the wires, you should change your plans about the hood.

Try to find a wiring diagram for your product online. :stoned:
Maybe the blue and white wires are because of component connections in a system? Cause if you only have two wires going to your wall plug, you're not grounded. Keep water away. To extend them, use the same size wire on each of them and screw them together with wire nuts inside a junction box. Don't use any tape. If you have to, cut a little piece of wire from each to match the size at the hardware store.

[faithless]

Oh crap :confused:

[faithless]

Check the avatar.

[faithless]

Cause if you only have two wires going to your wall plug, you're not grounded. Keep water away. To extend them, use the same size wire on each of them and screw them together with wire nuts inside a junction box. Don't use any tape.

My HPS 250 is the same, it has 3 wires going to the wall, but only two from the bulb socket.

I already have the wire nut junctions, but can't I tape around them?


If you have to, cut a little piece of wire from each to match the size at the hardware store.

I was thinking about that but if this means like having to flower under 250HPS for several days because of all the hassle, maybe I don't dare to...

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[Pass That Shit]

LOL :stoned:


Just make sure that doesn't happen to you :smokin:

[kindprincess]

hope all is well, i'm trying to add an x3 line to a mh ballast now...

love, kp:p

[Pass That Shit]

"I already have the wire nut junctions, but can't I tape around them?"

I was referring to using a junction box where the wires connect. The junction box keeps the connection secure. Then inside the junction box, you can screw the wires together with nuts. You don't need any tape.

If you flip over, please provide some pics :stoned:

[truthseeker]

bro the wires going from the socket to the ballest have nothing to do with 220 or 110 you will have no problem extending them if it was either way.you can use any wire that is 14 gauge but does not limit you to 14 as long as its not smaller then that it will be dine i personally strip an extention cord and take out the black and white cords this way it moves easier.My light had 3 wires going from the ballest to socket or bulb.1 green 1 blue 1white i took the green off this was the ground wire but my ballest was already grounded and i know there is no problems there.you then cut the wires and extend them dont be scared be sure to use wire nuts or electric tape or crimps on all your connections the heat that will be removed is worth the risk and i'm telling you i've been wireing since i was 15 its pretty simple if you keep it simple



p.s. there is nothing wrong or diffrent because the one wire is bigger its just your neutral wire other wise known as a common and does not haft to be bigger trust me good luck

[faithless]

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Hmmm, thanks a lot, that sounds reassuring. Now to see if I dare...I went down to a lamp store and tried asking, but the guy looked at me suspiciously and immediately asked if I was talking about a grow lamp...I had a mild freak out and stammered something about my brother wanting to put up a big lamp outside his garage after a number of break-ins, and the guy went into a long lecture about the hazards of extended cords outdoors, which though well intended, didn't help me out at all...

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