I have decided to help out a friend in need. To make a long story short he broke up with his wife and she is taking half of everything. In order for him to not loose his house I decided to set him up with a grow to make some money to give to his wife instead of selling his home. Anyways, here is what happened:
We set the room up and I told him not to set up the timer board until I got there the next day. He didn't wait and set it up himself. I believe he set the wires up correctly and took the power from the dryer plug like I told him I ws going to do, but the dumb ass that he is plugged the ballast set for 120 into the 240 volt plug on the timer/board! He said it made a loud humming sound for about 30 seconds and then went off. You think with an odd, almost scary noise such as this he would have unplugged it right away - but no, he waits until it fries the ballast and welds the plug into an unrecognizable lump. So now we have a dead ballast, but that is not the problem.
I get there today and set the other ballast (the non-fried one) to 240 and plug it into the board. Nothing. I checked all the wires and all seem okay. I seem to be only getting 120 from the plugs, but I know it is set up correctly as I have done it before and also 120 wouldn't have fried the ballast like it did the day earlier. It seems everything on the board is wired up correctly, and the timer seems fine too, but the ballasts set for 240 won't lite.
So my question is, could the problem be in his fuse box? He has the older stlye fuse box with glass fuses, but on the dryer plug it is like a regular switch fuse that contains the paper fuse inside. Its a 50 amp fuse for the dryer, so could half of it be burn't out causing only 120 to be getting through, hence not sparking the bulb?
Hope that made sense - any help would be greatly appreciated. I never said the guy was a rocket scientist - I am going to have to be extra careful with him around a grow. His x-wife said he only had half a brain - and now I am beginning to believe her. Thanks in advance!
TGT
We set the room up and I told him not to set up the timer board until I got there the next day. He didn't wait and set it up himself. I believe he set the wires up correctly and took the power from the dryer plug like I told him I ws going to do, but the dumb ass that he is plugged the ballast set for 120 into the 240 volt plug on the timer/board! He said it made a loud humming sound for about 30 seconds and then went off. You think with an odd, almost scary noise such as this he would have unplugged it right away - but no, he waits until it fries the ballast and welds the plug into an unrecognizable lump. So now we have a dead ballast, but that is not the problem.
I get there today and set the other ballast (the non-fried one) to 240 and plug it into the board. Nothing. I checked all the wires and all seem okay. I seem to be only getting 120 from the plugs, but I know it is set up correctly as I have done it before and also 120 wouldn't have fried the ballast like it did the day earlier. It seems everything on the board is wired up correctly, and the timer seems fine too, but the ballasts set for 240 won't lite.
So my question is, could the problem be in his fuse box? He has the older stlye fuse box with glass fuses, but on the dryer plug it is like a regular switch fuse that contains the paper fuse inside. Its a 50 amp fuse for the dryer, so could half of it be burn't out causing only 120 to be getting through, hence not sparking the bulb?
Hope that made sense - any help would be greatly appreciated. I never said the guy was a rocket scientist - I am going to have to be extra careful with him around a grow. His x-wife said he only had half a brain - and now I am beginning to believe her. Thanks in advance!
TGT
