just got some flouros... wiring???

[Rockin_Da_Ganja]

so i went and picked up for free, two, 4 foot flouros with 3 bulbs in each.

they were torn out of a building and im left with a big metal cord with 4 wires sticking out the end, a red,black,green, and white. i hooked up the red and black to a wall plug and plugged it in, nothing... the white and green wires were left untouched.


can anyone help me out here? thanks

 

[Rockin_Da_Ganja]

nuthin at all...

 

[DeVenT]

Well, you need to look at the ballast inside and see what voltage it is for. Sounds like it has MC cable attached to it. Meaning that it was more than likely that it came out of a commercial building....and they usually use 277volt ballast. ***IF***, it does say 120 volt on it....use the Black(common or hot), the white (netural), and the green (ground). But you have to see how it's wired inside...they might not be using the black....they could use the red instead of the black....but for 277volt, they'd use both black and red....I doubt this will help ya but hopefully some of it will make sense.

 

[Sleepy]

hi, please don't take this the wrong way....

you can really hurt yourself if you don't know what you are doing.

plugging that in was risky.

sometimes 'free' stuff costs you more than money in the long run. (think emergency room, fire department).

seriously, find a wiring diagram, or wait for the answer before plugging it in again.

 

[ogrefugee]

yes, please go find a diagram after you are sure it is <120v, and if it isn't throw it away

 

[DeVenT]

The ballast it's self should have the diagram on it..

 

[Ganoderma]

the green wire is your ground, Green is allways the ground.
The white is the wire that allows the power to flow back to the source.

You will have three wires that you will have to connect to your wires that are coming out of the floros. you have a black(some times red, some times called the common), a white(some times called neutral) and the green wire(your ground)-----in your Floros you have your, Red, black, white, and green.

connect the green and the green wires together with a wire nut,
next connect your white and white together with a wire nut,
next connect your red, black(from the floros), and the other black wire together.

so green to green
white to white
red+black to black

 

[Ganoderma]

I'v never heard of a floro being a 220, UNLESS IF your in Europe.

 

[DeVenT]

I'v never heard of a floro being a 220, UNLESS IF your in Europe.

Trust me,.....I do this stuff every day. Commercial buildings use 277v ballasts in their lights alot of times to cut down on electricity consumption. A 120v ballast will almost use twice the amperage that a 277v ballst will.

But this does not mean that what Rockin_Da_Ganja has is 277volt....he never said what was written on the ballast....that was just my guess from what he stated in his opening post here in this thread. Being that there was metal cord(3 wire MC cable) hanging out of the light fixture.

 

[rr14]

suppose that the light is a 277 volt. How can we get that type of light to work in a home? I have a quick 220 unit, but that's still 57 volts short. Any suggestions or do I need to buy a new ballast?