Electrical wiring help??
Question:i have a ballast that says it needs two hot wires and a grounding wire. it says digital ballasts should never have a neutral wire. from what i understand, a standard american outlet contains 1hot 1neutral and 1grounding wire. do i have to rewire my outlet in order to use the ballast?
Answers:
A standard 120 volt outlet has 1 hot, 1 neutral and a ground.
A 240 volt outlet has 2 hots and a ground. A neutral may be used as well, depending upon the application. Your ballast requires a 240 volt outlet without a neutral.
If you have an existing 240 volt circuit that does have a neutral, the neutral can safely be capped with a wire nut. If you have only 120 volt outlets, you will need to have a new 240 volt circuit added.
I was watching our electrician at the school where I am custodian rewire ballasts. He said it was taking him longer because the wiring on the new ones were different from our ancient ones. Probably what you're saying. He didn't change the wiring outside the ballasts, so just call an electrician or go in and have a chat. Most are more than happy to explain things, or go onto diynet.com and see if you can find it there. Be careful! Also note: A lot of that kind of work is supposed to be done by a licensed electrician.
I wire ballasts almost everyday in the USA and other than 208V, 240V, and 480V ballasts they all have a neutral sometimes called the common conductor labeled (com)
Yes, you need to re-wire with 240 V, with ground but without the neutral. The new digital ballasts will fail if wired otherwise.
There are a couple ways this can be done but you should probably have an electrician perform the work for you to insure you are in compliance with your local codes etc.
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