Fluoro Ballast Help

Alright ya'll....hopefully someone can help me

So i'm building a fluorescent fixture from 2*4's and plywood.
I am using 8 ft T12 bulbs
I initially bought a whole fluorescent kit, but now decided to buy the ballast and sockets separately. I just bought a GE-260-IS-MV-N-DIY ballast for use with two T12 bulbs.

It says on the ballast for residential or commercial use with "wide range 120 to 277V input". Then it gives the amps used for 120v and 277v

Can I wire this bad boy up to my 240v input of my timer box? Or should I stick with 120 since my timer box is not 277 volts?

Also, regarding grounding. It says the ballast should be grounded to the metal fixture via the ballast mounting screw. I am mounting them onto a wooden frame. I would like my lights to be safe, but am no electrician. Should I put a metal strip under my ballasts and screw it in? I can't see how this would even do any good?

Thanks folks.

i think that ballast is for 120 or 277 volt. so therefore it will not work on 240 volt. so stick with the 120.
make sure you have a ground in your feed to power the ballast and connect the ground to the ballast. wrap the ground around one of the ballast mounting screws. you may need to scrape a little paint off the ballast so the ground wire makes good contact with the ballast.

Thanks, I will do 120 and just connect ground to mounting screw and scrape paint. I wish 240 was possible, I got a lot more room on my 240 than I do on my 120.

quote It says on the ballast for residential or commercial use with "wide range 120 to 277V input". Then it gives the amps used for 120v and 277v


show me a pic of the ballast where it shows all the info. maybe it can be 240. i just went by a couple of google sites for the info.

Thanks for the help, I have had a hard time finding an answer about this. Pic!

would like to have seen the whole nameplate data.
it says 120 to 277 so i dont see why you cant use 240. is there different input wires for the different voltages?
there is a phone number to call also.

There are only one set of input wires. 1000v 18awg, i think is whats on the side of them. Ill call the number if necessary, im just sure itll take me an hour to find someone who knows on the phone.

scragelynugz said:

There are only one set of input wires. 1000v 18awg, i think is whats on the side of them. Ill call the number if necessary, im just sure itll take me an hour to find someone who knows on the phone.

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it would be an electronic ballast and would know the voltage and adjust automatically. without seeing the picture and diagram i would say call the number before hooking it to 240.

smoke and coke said:

would like to have seen the whole nameplate data.

Click to expand...

Maybe this could be helpful.. a link to GE's product specifications page for that GE206IS-MV-N-DIY ballast: http://genet.gelighting.com/LightProducts/Dispatcher?REQUEST=BALLASTSPECPAGE&PRODUCTCODE=24776

Below is a screen shot of that page. GE says their Multi-Voltage Technology ballasts handle voltage "from 120 to 277V" which makes it sound like 240V use is possible. You know a phone call to GE might not hurt though. Better safe than sorry, oh and absolutely ground that ballast for your safety.

• Multi-Voltage Technology handles voltage from 120 to 277V

yes it should def. be able to be used on 240 volt.

• Multi-Voltage Technology handles voltage from 120 to 277V

yes it should def. be able to be used on 240 volt.