Help Help Help Ballast Power Problem!!

[COCOAKUSHXBLUE]

My buddy is currently running 4k at 220v off a cap 4x lighting controller...orange power wire into double 30 breaker...200 amp service....been running it for over a year...the other day he plugged in a space heater into a totally differnt outlet/differnt circuit on the other side of the house when 2 of his ballasts blew and tripped the breaker....he replaced fuse's on ballast and they keep blowing...out of no where!! he order a new nanolux ballast and sadly enough it keeps doing the same thing....it actually sparked inside the ballast and was scary....i narrowed the problem down to either the cap 4x because the 2 that are working are on the left recepticle....or bad bulbs/ or light socket to ballast problem....i tried to plug in the light socket wire to the ballast that was working and it didnt fire...going to get a electrican to look at but any input would help!!thanks farmers...feel free to chime in with questions!!

 

[Lurkin4yrs]

Turn off the breaker, check the socket(unscrew it) you plugged the space heater into and inspect it. Sounds like you have a short, this has happened to me in a rental before but different situation. It was in a kitchen, someone stuffed the garbage disposal and tried to turn it on. It pretty much stalled it and fried a wire nut(causing it to ground out) on one of the outlets. Took me forever to find the problem

-lurkin

 

[COCOAKUSHXBLUE]

Thank you for the fast response lurkin.. I understand what you are saying but how could that effect the cap controller which is on a totally different circuit ....the cap 4 is wired directly into double 30 ....

 

[Natural]

You're gonna find your problem by process of elimination. If those ballasts are 120/220..try plugging them into a regular working outlet(turning the rest of appliances off on that circuit), one at a time check your ballasts, cordsets, and bulbs. My guess is that he somehow shorted the right side outlet in the CAP controller. Make sure he considers his total amp draw for the whole house and check to see if he has a proper earth ground rod.

 

[fishwhistle]

Yeah id bet the cap controller like natural says,Im wondering WTF the space heater has to do with it if its not on that circuit though,maybe coincidence?

 

[Natural]

Yeah id bet the cap controller like natural says,Im wondering WTF the space heater has to do with it if its not on that circuit though,maybe coincidence?

coincidence would be the logical answer. The only connection to these events that I can think of, would be improper grounding at the earth rod (maybe a broken connection?) or inside the panel (damaged ground/neutralbus bar?)..and a surge took the shortest path to his controller. Unlikely, yes..but not impossible. Guys who open a panel and do work without a license should take extra care to place all ground wires carefully to the sides and make sure to have NON-damaged wire sheath all the way to inside the breaker.

 

[COCOAKUSHXBLUE]

Thanks everyone for the fast response...had the electrican run some tests today and guess the space heater was just a coincidence...the problem was the lightsocket to ballast wire was giving a negative feed causing it to blow....thanks again my fellow farmers!!! Farm on!!

 

[Lurkin4yrs]

Glad you got it all sorted!

-lurkin