Fight4urRight
Member
one ballast runs two hoods/light. One light is on from 7pm to 7am then "item x" tells ballast to switch light, which is on from 7am to 7pm.
what do you call it?
- Thread starter Fight4urRight
- Start date
DawgMountain
Active Member
Well, if it were low voltage, low amps I would just use a couple relays... but I don't know about ballasts and their output...
pressDUCK
Active Member
If you are trying to design this, I guess I would use a timer and 1 relay. Plug the timer into an electical recepticle, set it for the 12 hour on/off. The 110 volts from the relay connect to the relay 'switch' When the timer goes on, voltage goes to the relay, activating the magnet and the poles switch from one position to another. The balast wire is cut and and the wires attached to the relay, the poles switch and the voltage goes through the 'closed output' of the relay. You can probably get by with a single pole double throw relay, splice the common wire coming from the ballast to each of the lamps and just flip the hot wire.
If you can follow that. (I'm using open and closed but it's really pole 1 pole 2)The common wire from the ballast (white) is spliced and ran to each bulb. With the relay open or closed (which ever way you wire it) current can only run to 1 bulb socket. When the timer goes on or off (this is what opens or closes the relay contacts) the hot wire from the ballast follows a diffent path and back through the same common wire to the ballast. It isn't all that difficult providing you have a relay to handle the voltage from the ballast. If you don't follow, just rember that a relay is nothing more than an switch that is activated by a seperate voltage - Voltage is applied to the relay which activates a magnet which pulls a contact from where it was connected to the opposite connection- the voltage applied to activate the relay has nothing to do with the voltage that runs through the contacts which are switched when the relay opens or closes. Of course that wasn't actually your question, but hell.
If you can follow that. (I'm using open and closed but it's really pole 1 pole 2)The common wire from the ballast (white) is spliced and ran to each bulb. With the relay open or closed (which ever way you wire it) current can only run to 1 bulb socket. When the timer goes on or off (this is what opens or closes the relay contacts) the hot wire from the ballast follows a diffent path and back through the same common wire to the ballast. It isn't all that difficult providing you have a relay to handle the voltage from the ballast. If you don't follow, just rember that a relay is nothing more than an switch that is activated by a seperate voltage - Voltage is applied to the relay which activates a magnet which pulls a contact from where it was connected to the opposite connection- the voltage applied to activate the relay has nothing to do with the voltage that runs through the contacts which are switched when the relay opens or closes. Of course that wasn't actually your question, but hell.