Johnny Rotten
Member
Any 110v/220v wire should be connected INSIDE a metal box. Can't even make out what wires go where or if they are wire nutted or not.....looks like spaghetti.
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Guest
y1 I wanted to say this yesterday because I had the feeling you were already mounted.Just make sure to use little blue orange or grey wirenuts on the line and common connections,make sure they bond well under the nut and dont get "drawn up" into it.Start a couple inches below the wirenut and wrap with electrical tape securely all the way up to the top of the nut.Thats what I would do to ensure my electrical safety,much smarter than grounding to an insulator washers or not.Rumors of possible fires from not grounding a transformer are simply nonsense.
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Guest
Not safe?Man people come here for real world solutions I've seen dozens of ungounded boards with ballasts and relays,people come here for real world experience bro not aptitude or holding cards..Follow my advice above and your system is safe.Dont get drunk in the growroom with your buddy,punch him in the face knocking him into the line wire and you will be fine.
Johnny Rotten
Member
No use arguing with the ignorant. Do whatever you'd like Yamaha1fan. I'd wait for a few more days to get some more opinions. I've got 5 years of a/c service work doing this exact same thing. But It's your grow. Good Luck. You'll need it.
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yamaha_1fan
The ballasts are mounted but no electrical connections have been made except for a couple on the lower right ballast just to make sure the wires would reach etc. Thats why they look like spaghetti. I need to run wiring from my hoods back to the transformer and run pwer to the transformer before I can complete the wiring.
When the wiring is done it will look much cleaner.
I know I asked this before and I was planning on using the rubber appliance cable. But it is alot of money. I bought some yesterday just to find out its 300V rated and the transformer puts out close to 500V. Can I use 12-2 romex? Its the right gauge and is rated for 600 volts. I just wanted to avoid it since its stiff and wouldnt be as flexible when moving the lights. But I have tons of it already versus dropping $200-250 on another sppool of 600 volt cable
As far as a fire, I guess I am lucky that this is in my boat garage and I already have a fire sprinkler system installed.
When the wiring is done it will look much cleaner.
I know I asked this before and I was planning on using the rubber appliance cable. But it is alot of money. I bought some yesterday just to find out its 300V rated and the transformer puts out close to 500V. Can I use 12-2 romex? Its the right gauge and is rated for 600 volts. I just wanted to avoid it since its stiff and wouldnt be as flexible when moving the lights. But I have tons of it already versus dropping $200-250 on another sppool of 600 volt cable
As far as a fire, I guess I am lucky that this is in my boat garage and I already have a fire sprinkler system installed.
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Guest
Yea I guess you should unmount that impressive board to satisfy a theorist haha
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Guest
You can and must ground/bond them on the board. You just need to screw/bolt your gound connection to the mounting base of the ballast and carry/connect it through to the reflector and do the same there.
THIS IS BULL**** to see someone obviously not qualified or sane claiming that you can go ungrounded or not bonded/earthed!!!! I have literally walked up to a piece of electrical equipment/machinery and got hammered by just touching it because it was left ungronuded and was mounted on 4X4 lumber. The offending electrician was sited and sent for follow-up schooling.
THIS IS BULL**** to see someone obviously not qualified or sane claiming that you can go ungrounded or not bonded/earthed!!!! I have literally walked up to a piece of electrical equipment/machinery and got hammered by just touching it because it was left ungronuded and was mounted on 4X4 lumber. The offending electrician was sited and sent for follow-up schooling.
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Guest
Sorry you seem to get nailed so much,if you feel better using the mounting bracket of the ballast and bolt to plywood go right ahead,I would not waste my time.
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Guest
What I am trying to get accross is that ungrounded electrical devices, especially with capacitors in circuit and amperage draws of the core and coil class can kill. What is so hard to understand about that. I mean I've smoked good shit for many years and still have at least the 3 or 4 brain cells needed to understand basic electrical safety and theory. My god what a ****ing idiot!
Johnny Rotten
Member
Bump for some more opinions. Safety First. Capacitors kill......always discharge capacitors before touching them. Use a good insulated screwdriver and put it across both terminals.
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yamaha_1fan
Azeotrope said:
Well I didnt get much done on it, had other things to do. I got power run to 4 of them and thats it.
So I can ground them by attaching a ground wire to the mounting bracket of the transformer? Does the capacitator need to be grounded as well (dont really see how)
I never did get an answer why mounting in a box was safer or better grounded than on a board with grounds to the brackets. Be nice to know for future builds.
Ganja Guerilla
Member
The reason behind mounting in a metal chassis (box etc...), is to provide a conductive contact point to the transformer, then the chassis gets connected to ground.
You must ground... don't follow TA's advice...you must ground.
Peace & Grow Safe
GG
You must ground... don't follow TA's advice...you must ground.
Peace & Grow Safe
GG
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Guest
The electrical wire you have feeding power to the ballast should have a green or bare copper wire, this is where you need to run your ground to the base of the transformer rails it comes with. You can use it in the same screw as you are mounting to the wood as long as its got metal on teh screw that can make conductivity. You might have to file a treated screw down.
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Guest
If you don't groound it you will notice it will be getting hotter than normal, soon you will trip breakers or failure ballast.
