How to switch ballast to 240v

qballizhere

qballizhere

Well-Known Member
sixstring2112 said:
did ya see how they had the 2 x 30 amp sides tied together though? not that its a good way to do things,,,,but its a way haha.
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I have seen and done all kinds of things in a pinch. Yes I have done the tin foil breaker to get by for a hour or two
You can use singles like that and tie them together as long as they are on different poles you will have 240 if its wired correctly and the breakers are good you have 15a and 30a@ 240v

durantson said:
That's why I think the green ones are 240. The sticker says 120 240 vacView attachment 3913544
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In the USA we use 110 in the rest of the world they use 240 for them 240 is on 1 hot wire not 2 like for the usa that is why for 240 you have to have a double pole breaker
The breaker can be used in the usa for 120v or eu for 240v all still 1 hot 1 neutral and 1 ground
The 2 30A would be on the same pole so you only have 120v
Start at the 16 min mark and watch until the 22 min mark


Edit= granted using 2 single pole breakers is not the best idea but it can work
 
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sixstring2112

sixstring2112

Well-Known Member
im not gunna watch that video because its nothing like his box nor have i ever seen his box lol.without seeing inside the box we are guessing at best.i didnt see where he said he was notbin the usa and based on the outlets he showed i assume he is in fact in the usa.he has a electrician coming so its all good.this is what im working on today,peace
20170326_111947.jpg

Not as tidy or anal as your setup but i get by lol
 
qballizhere

qballizhere

Well-Known Member
sixstring2112 said:
im not gunna watch that video because its nothing like his box nor have i ever seen his box lol.without seeing inside the box we are guessing at best.i didnt see where he said he was notbin the usa and based on the outlets he showed i assume he is in fact in the usa.he has a electrician coming so its all good.this is what im working on today,peace
View attachment 3913560

Not as tidy or anal as your setup but i get by lol
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IT doesnt matter what the box really looks like or the different styles of breakers the principle is all the same it doesnt change. It just takes a multimeter to figure out where the issue is.
A new 40 breaker box you have plenty of room for anything you need. The only difference is the style of breakers
The panel I showed a pic of yesterday I am building is a sub panel not the main and with over 100 wires it gets messy really quick in a 16" x 20" box
 
CobKits

CobKits

Well-Known Member
durantson said:
That's why I think the green ones are 240. The sticker says 120 240 vacView attachment 3913544
Click to expand...
well theyre 240 because theyre ganged. if you look at any panel board like sixstrings pic above the busses are staggered

leg 1 = +120V
neutral = 0V
leg 2 = -120V

a one pole breaker pulls off of leg 1 or 2 and returns to neutral, which is 120V in either case

a two pole breaker pulls off of leg 1 and returns to leg 2 which is 240V

any 2 pole breaker is always going to hook onto both legs. in a full size breaker it takes up both slots fully. for the slimline breakers, you get the advantage of 240V off the two green ganged breakers plus the additional 120V circuits (blue levers). technically you could wire 240V across those two outside green breakerd but its not prioperly protected if the breakers arent ganged. contrast that with the black slimline double breaker with the blue 15A and red 20A circuits- both of those are on the same leg so if you tried to wire between those youd have zero volts.

the slimlines in that pic are what i was describing in this post:

https://www.rollitup.org/t/powering-on-10-x-250w-at-once-from-one-socket.937042/page-4#post-13433950
 
durantson

durantson

Member
So. When I put in my junction box, I didn't attach my red wire properly. We also replaced the outlets to accommodate the horizontal 240v plugs from the ballasts. All of which work great now. The ground didn't need to be run to the outlets boxes because the metal connecting all of them act as a ground. The electrician tested everything with his fancy meter and gave me the thumbs up. Thanks for all the help. I'll be back to ask for something else in the future I'm sure.
 
CobKits

CobKits

Well-Known Member
sixstring2112 said:
did ya see how they had the 2 x 30 amp sides tied together though? not that its a good way to do things,,,,but its a way haha.
Click to expand...
thats legit, while that looks like 2 breakers its one piece
see the bar over the two 30s on the sticker indicating its ganged from the factory

while that breaker is obviously old, these are still in use today and a lifesaver if your box doesnt have enough slots

http://www.midlandhardware.com/216623.html?gclid=COe78Mv89NICFVNqfgods64OGA
 
durantson

durantson

Member
I still have some fine tuning to do based on all of your recommendations. But as it stands, I was given the thumbs up by this electrician as to there being no major issues. After he fixed it of course. I know the setup isn't perfect but it's better than the extension cords run across the house like before. I'll get anal over the coming weeks and fine tune everything.
 
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