I need help with lighting issue

[blueorchid]

I bought a 100 watt adjust a wing lamp and a 1000 watt hps digital ballast. i ran 12 gauge wire and used 20 amp breakers i plug everything in it works for about a day then bam my ballast is fried ive gone through 3 damn ballast. im not plugging in another until i know whats up PLEASE HELP

 

[paulycali]

What kind of ballasts? Also how are you turning them on when it's time to shine and why the 20 amp breaker for one light?

 

[sixstring]

are you running a 240volt ballast on 120 volts or vise-versa?that might fry it.

 

[Dunge]

I bought a 100 watt adjust a wing lamp and a 1000 watt hps digital ballast.

I attempted this same trick when first starting out.
I had a 400 W ballast and I thought, "perhaps I only want 150 W of lighting, so I will just put a 150 W bulb in the socket".
Fortunately I had a kilawatt meter in the line and was able to see that the ballast was drawing 400 W through my 150 W bulb and it was taking it.
I turned it off quickly.
Sounds to me like you are pushing 1000 W through a 100 W bulb.
This will fail.

 

[sixstring]

I think he or she just missed a 0 in that first line,i hope lol.

 

[Jalisco Kid]

I attempted this same trick when first starting out.
I had a 400 W ballast and I thought, "perhaps I only want 150 W of lighting, so I will just put a 150 W bulb in the socket".
Fortunately I had a kilawatt meter in the line and was able to see that the ballast was drawing 400 W through my 150 W bulb and it was taking it.
I turned it off quickly.
Sounds to me like you are pushing 1000 W through a 100 W bulb.
This will fail.

That would blow a bulb not the ballast.
Poster take a pic of your wiring. JK

 

[blueorchid]

Ok let me try explain in full so yall can give me the advise I obviously need lol. Iam using a 1000 watt adjust -a- wing hood and socket plugged into a 1000 watt apollo ballast. gfci doest trip nor does the breaker. but the surge proctector does trip every once and awhile. I plugged in a 400 watt mh and everything works fine and dandy no issues. but when I plug in the 1000 wattt lamp and ballast it fries after a day. I first had 2 older magnetic ballast that had seen there use so didnt think anything of it when they fried thought oh well there old shit happens. So I bought a brand new 1000 watt apollo digi ballast. Plugged it in and bam 2 days later its fried now it could be just a shit happens issue and the brand new ballast was defective. But Im not plugging in my other new one until I no lol. the ballast had a adaptor for 220 120 so obviously thats not the issue. I ran 12 gauge wire from a 20 amp breaker and used a gfci 20amp receptacle everything else I plug in works fine.? I used that wire breakers and receptacle because I had it all laying around lol no other reason. So to recap I had used my old magentic ballast for years with the 1000 watt adjust a wing hood and socket and it worked for years and after this season they both blew. metal hilade works fine when plugged into the wall. New apollo ballast lasted 2 days and fried no gfci pop, breaker pop, bulb is fine lamp and hood are fine. I quickly plugged in my last brand new ballast this morning and it fired up just fine. I quickly shut it off fear of my last one burning up. So that is detailed as i know to get if ANYONE NEEDS MORE INFO TO HELP ME SOLVE THIS PLEASE LET ME NO. last thing i turn all of this on by just plugging it in and flipping the swith on my surge protector. the ballast does have a on off switch just has a 50% 75% and 100% switch. i figure it goes to mh or hps automatically lol the ballast was for 1000 watt mh or hps its a purple apollo digi ballast

 

[Dunge]

Bad luck?
Sorry, but it's starting to sound like you know your way around electricity, and you are describing a circuit that should function.
Unless you somehow wired it as 240V.
I'd want to see 120 VAC on a volt meter at the GFI receptical.

 

[Kcar]

Could be you have low voltage at your outlet, and the ballast is pulling a ton of current to make 1k watts.
Check your starting voltage with a meter. Killawatt is best, though. It will show V and A while the ballast is running...

 

[woodsmaneh]

Do you have the wires going to the correct side of the GFI? one side is power in and one is power out.

Do you have the black and white wire switched at the breaker or GFI?

IS anything else on the same line?

Does the line get warm when in use? feel by the GFI, if it's warm you got a problem.

Did you use a line tester to check polarity?

 

[ttystikk]

Reset, retighten and double check all of your connections. An improperly installed wire can fail to provide enough contact through a connection for high amp draw, even if it shows fine with a light load. This ends up making the connection an impromptu resistor and that shit starts fires.

Do this not only in your circuit, but ALSO go up the line and all the way back through your main breaker box, doing the same thing, just in case you have old or faulty wiring behind your recent work.

The CIA has an old saying; 'if it happens once it's an anomaly, twice it's a coincidence- but three times is enemy action.' If it works for them...