thelastpirate
Well-Known Member
You can find commercial lighting fixtures just about anywhere they are demolishing warehouses or factories. Call around to some electrical contractors. There is almost always a label or plate that will tell you what type it is:
Besides the light fixture, you are going to need a "pigtail" type power cord and whatever length of wire you wish to put between the reflector/bulb and ballast. In this case, I used 16 ga extension cord. However I ALWAYS recommend that you use only the appropriate guage wire, 14ga minimum, so if you fuck up and it burns up, don't go suing me because I told you to use 16ga!! Do as I say, not as I do!!!
First we remove the reflector and the mogul socket from the ballast housing. You will have to figure out how depending on which kind of light you have.
Once you have done this, remove the ballast and capacitor from the housing. There will be a shitload of wires, half of which you will not use. Almost all ballasts are "multi-tap" meaning that they can be wired for more than one input voltage. In this case we need 120v. All of the wires should be marked appropriately.Ifnot, there should be a wiring diagram somewhere in the unit.
You are going to use the wire marked 120v (in this case it's black/yellow), the 2 yellow wires marked common, the red wire marked CAP, and the bare ground wire (if it has one). You can cut off and cap off the rest of the wires.
First we'll connect the power supply wire. It will have 3 wires, white, black and green. The green wire connects to the bare ground wire (or directly to the housing)
Then connect the white wire to one of the yellow common wires on the ballast (doesn't matter which one), and the black wire to the black/yellow wire (120v) on the ballast. It is now wired for power.
Now lets look at the capacitor. It should have a red wire from the ballast (also marked CAP) connected to one of the wires on it. The other wire from the capacitor will go to the mogul socket, as will the other yellow common wire. It is important to note which wire you connect the capacitor to. That wire needs to go to the center button of the socket. I used the black wire on my extension cord to connect to the capacitor, and I connected the white wire on the ext cord to the remaining yellow common wire on the ballast.
Next, pack the wires and parts back into the housing.
You now have a remote ballast grow light! You can use it either barebulb, or any type of reflector. My next DIY will be on making your own gull wing reflector.
Hope this helps.
Besides the light fixture, you are going to need a "pigtail" type power cord and whatever length of wire you wish to put between the reflector/bulb and ballast. In this case, I used 16 ga extension cord. However I ALWAYS recommend that you use only the appropriate guage wire, 14ga minimum, so if you fuck up and it burns up, don't go suing me because I told you to use 16ga!! Do as I say, not as I do!!!
First we remove the reflector and the mogul socket from the ballast housing. You will have to figure out how depending on which kind of light you have.
Once you have done this, remove the ballast and capacitor from the housing. There will be a shitload of wires, half of which you will not use. Almost all ballasts are "multi-tap" meaning that they can be wired for more than one input voltage. In this case we need 120v. All of the wires should be marked appropriately.Ifnot, there should be a wiring diagram somewhere in the unit.
You are going to use the wire marked 120v (in this case it's black/yellow), the 2 yellow wires marked common, the red wire marked CAP, and the bare ground wire (if it has one). You can cut off and cap off the rest of the wires.
First we'll connect the power supply wire. It will have 3 wires, white, black and green. The green wire connects to the bare ground wire (or directly to the housing)
Then connect the white wire to one of the yellow common wires on the ballast (doesn't matter which one), and the black wire to the black/yellow wire (120v) on the ballast. It is now wired for power.
Now lets look at the capacitor. It should have a red wire from the ballast (also marked CAP) connected to one of the wires on it. The other wire from the capacitor will go to the mogul socket, as will the other yellow common wire. It is important to note which wire you connect the capacitor to. That wire needs to go to the center button of the socket. I used the black wire on my extension cord to connect to the capacitor, and I connected the white wire on the ext cord to the remaining yellow common wire on the ballast.
Next, pack the wires and parts back into the housing.
You now have a remote ballast grow light! You can use it either barebulb, or any type of reflector. My next DIY will be on making your own gull wing reflector.
Hope this helps.
