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Post by eql on Dec 20, 2007 12:31:25 GMT -5
hey all! i was wondering if anyone knows how to wire a ballast? I wanted to buy a 24" one, but i realized that it didnt have a plug and had to be wired. Does anyone know how to wire it so that it can be plugged into an outlet??? i know the basics - ie how to sauder (sp?) etc, i just dont want to set anything on fire when i use it!! thanks!!! *EQL*
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Post by lloyd on Dec 20, 2007 13:44:52 GMT -5
If you want, I could teach you as you are in Toronto. I guess you have the ballast and the housing that holds the light sockets. The ballast should have a clear picture with labelled coloured wires that tells you what to do. Get a plug attached to a wire from an old lamp or buy lamp wire & plug. Don't solder, use the electrical twists that look like little party hats. If you want a ground, use 3 pronged plug & 3 strand wire and ground to light housing.
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Post by Rug on Dec 20, 2007 17:28:17 GMT -5
Real simple like he said. If you have the entire fixture with the ballast in it already, just buy some electrical wire with 3 wires in it. It should have a black a white and a green. Buy a male plug end also an electrical clamp (this is a clamp that holds the wire into the fixture so it cant move around. It has a threaded end and then a funny looking nut at one end and a clamp with 2 screws at the other end. See the electrical clamp pic in this link. www.builderssquare.com/shop/results.aspx?Kw=romexYou then take the wire and strip off about 1-3 inch of sheathing of the outer covering and to the fixture wire the black to the black, white to white and green to green (green is ground so if you dont see a green then just wire it to the nearest screw in the fixture.) Then wire the plug doing the same but only trim off about a half inch of the sheathing on that end that way it fits in the plug. White is usually the hot so thats the power end on the plug you buy. Make sure u use a 3 prong! And like Lloyd said - don't solder use marrets (the twisty party hat connectors). Using the marrets just twist the 2 or however many wires together clockwise and then screw the marret down ontop of the wires so it won't pull off.
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Post by lloyd on Dec 20, 2007 22:43:20 GMT -5
I never knew they were called marrets. I thought that was the name of a French Revolutionary.
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