New digital ballast...no instructions....help!

[ItsGrowTime]

Hi all,
My MDHydro 600w digital w/ cooltube arrived today but there are no instructions on any of it. I got the cooltube set up with the eyebolt hooks so Im ok there. Eventhough it did come with some extra pieces that Im not sure what they are? Some U shaped hangers I assume but no idea how to use them.

Anyway, the ballast is plug and play and has three wires from the cord but the socket has only two connector screws. The wires from the ballast cord are black, white, and green (gray maybe? Im partially color-blind). I assume I crimp the spade-like connectors onto the wires and connect them to the socket but no idea which color goes where...and whats the third wire for?

Help!

EDIT: Just saw the U shaped things are clamps for cooling ducts.

 

[ItsGrowTime]

OK so Im scouring the net and slowly figuring it out. The green wire is the ground to the reflector and the black and white wires go to the socket.

The socket does not label which is black or white though. One screw is a silver color and the other is a gold color. Anybody know which is which?

 

[ItsGrowTime]

Ok last post. Looks like I got it. Apparently the black and whites are interchangable so it doesnt matter which screw they are attached to.

 

[ElDust]

So where exactly did you put your ground wire?

 

[clowntown]

http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=45042
http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=49818

Black wire to bronze, white wire to silver, teal / green to ground (typically your reflector).

The "U shaped hangers" are for the side reflection panels. Did it come with two narrow strips of embossed, reflective aluminum? (Make sure to peel that pink protective cover off.) Attach it one way to create a wide footprint, another way for a narrow, straight-down footprint.

I've found the 19" CoolTube to be a tad bit short for my liking; a longer tube would ensure less light loss through the ends. In an attempt to keep as much light from being lost at the ends, I centered the bulb's arc tube with the glass. I don't have a camera so it's difficult for me to illustrate. But what I did was replace the bolt in the socket with a longer one, and used a section of 2" OD pipe as a spacer between the socket mount bar and the socket. I suppose just some longer bolts and an extra 2 pairs of nuts might be more efficient. (One extra pair of nuts right behind the socket, and one extra pair on the other side of the socket mounting bar. Does that make any sense?

 

[ItsGrowTime]

I screwed the green ground (with eye shaped wire terminator) to the bottom hole on the socket bracket. After all my issues got ironed out, except the baked on plastic which Im just living with for now, its been great.

 

[clowntown]

Wow I didn't even realize this thread was a month old, bumped by ElDust!