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electricians please ! need wiring advice - 150 HPS

sugabear_II

Active member
Veteran
Ok here's the question... most 150 watt HPS lamps come without a capacitor leading to poor power factor. While this is not too much of a concern with a single lamp adding a capacitor becomes a must when running a bunch of these lamps. So here's the basic color coded easy to follow diagram;





And here's a less easy to follow diagram showing the position of the capacitor in the same circuit;





So translating to the color coded diagram I think this is what it should look like;




Can someone please confirm if this is correct or wrong and if so how should it look?

Thanks

-suga
 
GeneralHydro said:
By jove, homie, you've got it. Good call. Good job.


So GeneralHydro,

Thanks for your info. Do you know, would the same capacitor work for two ballasts, given the second ballast was wired in series (I think is the term; both ballasts on the same plug is what I mean)? Based on another detailed post, the desired "capaticance" should be @ 61 milliFarads (mFarads) to correct the draw problem (which made us want to add the capacitors in the first place!). If wiring two or more in a series, does this mFarads figure need to be adjusted, or will the same 61 mFarads cap be sufficient?

Going for the triple, do you know where you can get the capacitors needed locally, or even online? I can find one here, but they tell me I need to know if it is a "start" or "run" capacitor. I must admit this is new to me, but I thought it was the same thing... If it helps, the guy locally said one type is a straight capacitance (like 61 mFarads) and the other is a range of capacitance (like 90-115 mFarads). I assume the former, but I really dunno.

Thanks again, all, for your future input. There's more than a few people interested over at the 150 watt club.
 
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