wiring medium base socket?? help please!

[SourDog]

ok, there is a gold treminal that lights the center of the bulb, and a silver that touches the screw-outer ring part of the bulb..

which one does the common connect to??

its for a 150w medium base hps bulb by the way..

 

[bostrom155]

If it's the wrong way, it just won't light, wont hurt anything, then just swap them. Think the common is the middle one

 

[Latitude18]

color of house wire has no meaning , all depends on the curcuit itself , as well as where in the world you are , more then one way to skin a cat and wire a house , get a cheep multimeter
So , say you have three wires from the panel , wht blk and bare , bare is ground easy , blk is usually load , wht is usually nuet (which is hot also ) but is the RETURN to the panel , once you add plugs and lights things get confuse'n



here , yellow , you see top blk comes from panel connects to blk to timer , you see pinky , red , wht comes from timer and powers blk to lights , whts come from lights to wht back to panel , Notice the wire holders and the balasts , all wires are firmly held in , balasts are grounded to the gounded metal box , and sand off a spot if painted to make good contact .

Best I can do for ya , I'm not a lisenced electrician , but i've done alot of work with one and by myself , include'n wire'n whole lighthouses (plural as in 50) for the coast guard in the NE , planes trains autos resturants ect.. hope this helps you out , be careful and be safe

 

[Guest]

am pretty sure "com" hooks to the center and "lamp" hooks to the outside

A silver screw usually means white= com , and brass screw means black = "hot "

 

[Latitude18]

negative , you go by color and you burn , you need to know what wire is what and the hot feeds the center , or Positive , com - neut - ground to the outer ring

 

[Vern Equinox]

Is it from E-conolight, by chance? (Wiring the capacitor in is optional.)

 

[Vern Equinox]

am pretty sure "com" hooks to the center and "lamp" hooks to the outside

A silver screw usually means white= com , and brass screw means black = "hot "

In my experience, common attaches to the screw base and the hot line goes to center of socket, but you are right about the brass screw being hot.

OP, might you have it wrong which screws go where?

 

[SourDog]

thanks for the input dudes. incidentally, i was looking at my ballast and there just happened to be a diagram of how to wire everything, everything lit up!!! damn, hps bulbs are bright and will do a number on your eyes if you look straight at them!

now i just need to get a better medium base socket - the one i got doesnt seem like it will be very easy to mount to anything..

oh
my ballast has the option to be either 120v or 220v, is the extra 220v lead live? i wrapped it up with electrical tape just in case..

how do i know if mine has a built in capacitator?? the ballast case is pretty much seeled. its an advanced ballast by the way..