Re: [APD] One bulb on a two bulb ballast

["S. Hieber" <shieber at yahoo_com>]

--- krisa at demilune_net wrote:

> 
> Thanks guys.  It's an AH Supply ballast with two separate
> wires for the
> bulbs.  

The Ballasts from AHS are Fulham Workhorse ballasts. Very
nice ballast at a good price.

Any one or more of the red wires from the ballast can be
used exclusive of the other red wires.  How many red wires
go to a bulb pin depends on the particualr model ballast
and the bulb. Any unused red wires should be separately
capped.

Running one bulb, provided it was wired per the
manufacturers instructions, won't shorten the ballast life.
In your case, assuming you have a ballast for two 55w
bulbs, working across from side of the pin end to the
other, corect wiring should be two red wires connected
together and *then* to one pin of the bulb; a jumper wire
to the adjoining pin; the yellow wire one of the remaining
pins; and ajump from the yellow-pin to the last pin. The
two remaining red wires should be capped/insulated.  If you
connected 3 red wires together and left only one red wire
uncapped, you could use the ballast to run a 96W PC.

sh

> I was just concerned because I had been running a
> single new bulb
> and it died on me after only about a month and I wasn't
> sure if that was
> good practice.  So does anyone know how to run
> diagnostics on a ballast to
> make sure it is still working within specs?
> 
> BTW, here's a point of discussion:  Are they lamps or
> bulbs? ;)
> 
> 
> >
> > Message: 2
> > Date: Wed, 07 Sep 2005 08:58:19 -0700
> > From: Jerry Baker <jerry at bakerweb_biz>
> > Subject: Re: [APD] One bulb on a two bulb ballast
> > To: aquatic plants digest <aquatic-plants at actwin_com>
> >
> > S. Hieber wrote:
> >> If the balast does not require the bulbs to be wired
> in
> >> series, then it should not matter. But it's best to
> check
> >> with the wiring diagrams if they are avaialble from
> the
> >> ballast manufacturer.
> >
> > Very true. Good point. If you aren't familiar with what
> it means to be
> > wired in series (original poster), you can just check
> to see if there is
> > a wire going from one lamp socket to the other. In
> general, if it is not
> > wired in series, each lamp will have a separate set of
> wires to the
> > ballast and none connecting each other.
> >
> > So, in conclusion:
> >
> > 1) If there is a wire running from one lamp socket to
> the other, then it
> > might be bad to run only one light.
> >
> > 2) If there is not a wire between lamp sockets, and
> each socket has its
> > own exclusive set of wires running to the ballast, then
> it's probably OK.
> >
> > HTH.
> >
> > --
> > Jerry Baker
> >
> >
> > ------------------------------
> >
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> >
> >
> > End of Aquatic-Plants Digest, Vol 25, Issue 18
> > **********************************************
> >
> 
> 
> Kristian Anderson
> _______________________________________________
> Aquatic-Plants mailing list
> Aquatic-Plants at actwin_com
> http://www.actwin.com/mailman/listinfo/aquatic-plants
> 


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