grassi Posted March 19, 2011 Share Posted March 19, 2011 Amperes, Volts and Watts are a mystery for me, but I'm sure someone can help me. So I have this dual 250w Galaxy (which is probably possessed by some unknown entity) which is connected to my controller. The controller has a temp probe. A couple of days ago the temp probe started to go down 10 degrees when the ballast is on. I contacted Neptune and they suggested to ground the ballast. I did (a wire from one bolt of the ballast to... another bolt on another ballast!) and it is working well now. My question is: why before it was working? I didn't change anything why the ballast is not grounded? Could be that not being properly grounded can generate other problems? I mean, other than being electrocuted: could it be that randomly not firing one lamp or burning a bulb can be an effect of not being "grounded"? there is another ballast on that controller (250w bluewave). Why this one is not giving problems? Could it be because one is an e-ballast and the other isn't? I have no clue and probably what I wrote does not make sense at all Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
finch6013 Posted March 19, 2011 Share Posted March 19, 2011 The grounding conductor in the 3 wire cord could have went bad, or the connection inside the ballast may have come loose or gotten corroded. Its also possible that the plug has a bad ground, or in your age of house may not have a ground at all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grassi Posted March 19, 2011 Author Share Posted March 19, 2011 I just put a ghetto wire from one ballast to another and now it is grounded, so I guess the house is grounded? It was working properly just a few days ago. There is a way to check if the ballast has no ground with a multimeter? For the cord, I think I can just check the conductivity on the round pole... Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
finch6013 Posted March 19, 2011 Share Posted March 19, 2011 check continuity between ground prong on the cord end to the ballast metal frame. That should tell you if there is a ground problem there. But take the ghetto wire off first. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pnkrcklives Posted March 19, 2011 Share Posted March 19, 2011 I am by no means an electrical guru. But electricity always takes the path of least resistance. So if a ground inside the ballast went bad could back feed into the controller and cause erratic readings. I have had it happen plenty of times on cars. It causes all kinds of weird glitches. Like finch said unplug every thing and take an ohm meter and test the grounds. As a rule of thumb in the auto industry if things act weird you have a bad ground. But that is all DC application. Sorry for a not so precise answer. I will run this by my electrician buddy as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick Posted March 19, 2011 Share Posted March 19, 2011 The ballast itself is probably grounded internally to the case. Then the power cord is probably also grounded to the case. At that connection it is probably corroded or loose causing it to look for another path (which appears to be through the temp probe). Running a ground from one to another ballast causes the ground to flow through the other ballast and out the power cord on it instead. Yes, this can be checked with an ohmmeter provided you understand how the power should flow. I.E. You will be checking for resistance between each connection. The only catch is that the problem is probably enclosed inside the ballast case meaning it probably will need to be taken apart to fully diagnose and repair. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grassi Posted March 19, 2011 Author Share Posted March 19, 2011 Thanks for all your suggestions. I will just check the continuity from outside the case and then send it for repair. It is still under guarantee so I don't want to open it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grassi Posted March 19, 2011 Author Share Posted March 19, 2011 So I did the conductivity test without the ghetto wire and it seems to be grounded. Not to the body itself, but to the screws (probably for the paint). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick Posted March 20, 2011 Share Posted March 20, 2011 So I did the conductivity test without the ghetto wire and it seems to be grounded. Not to the body itself' date=' but to the screws (probably for the paint).[/quote'] The ballast itself might not be grounded to the case inside. (Or it might be a poor connection) Moving it around also may have temporarily fixed it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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