Wiring question

[Anonymous]

I bought a retro kit for a 96 watt PC light. I wired the light up, but now I have to wire a plug to the negative and positive wires out of the ballast.

Since there is no ground wire attached to the ballast, and since the position of the tank would make it difficult for me to run a direct ground from the metal socket frame to the ballast, I would like to use a three pronged plug, wire the positive and negative wires as usual, and then use the third ground wire from the plug by attaching it to a screw mounting the metal ballast frame to the tank stand.

Does this sound Kosher, or is there something wrong with doing that?



Thanks

 

[Anonymous]

For alternative current, there is no positive or negative wire.... Not an electrician, but they call one of them the hot wire...

Are you grounding the metal ballast case with the ground wire? I think that is how most people do it if there is not explicit ground.

About the tank stand... is it make out of metal or something? :? Are you saying you try to ground device by connect the ground wire the the stand? :?

 

[Anonymous]

For alternative current, there is no positive or negative wire.... Not an electrician, but they call one of them the hot wire...

Are you grounding the metal ballast case with the ground wire? I think that is how most people do it if there is not explicit ground.

About the tank stand... is it make out of metal or something? :? Are you saying you try to ground device by connect the ground wire the the stand? :?

I want to ground the wire to the metal frame of the ballast itself by securing it to the ballast by wrapping it around one of the mounting screws. The usual method.


I know I can ground the ballast directly to the screws in the frame of the wall socket with a simple wire, but I want to use the ground wire from a three pronged plug. That way the ground wire will be insulated inside the plug wire, and I can move the thing and just plug it into another plug, or even into a surge protector, and it should always stay grounded.

I think it will work, but I'm wondering if anyone here with experience will say otherwise.

 

[The_Big_Fish]

It will be fine. Just as long as the outcome means the case is grounded to the frame too.

 

[Anonymous]

I think your plan will work fine, Manny.

Ground that sucker.

I hate electrical devices that don't come with a grounding connection point. Especially things that are going to be used around water, like an aquarium light.

Louey

 

[Anonymous]

I think your plan will work fine, Manny.

Ground that sucker.

I hate electrical devices that don't come with a grounding connection point. Especially things that are going to be used around water, like an aquarium light.

Louey

Do you ground reflectors?

I get a nice zap if I touch the reflector while sticking my hand in my 75 gallon tank. I usually take the canopy off to work on the tank because of that. :lol:

 

[The_Big_Fish]

No need usualy. The sockets are insulated. If your talking about an all in one hood with the balast built in then your built in balast has a faulty ground wire or a posetive ground.

 

[Anonymous]

My Lumenarc III reflectors came with a three wire cord. So I assume that they are grounded, but I never inspected them to see exactly how they are wired.

I know that if you ordered a mogal base socket, it would come with only a hot and neutral wire. They don't come with a ground wire, so obviously the manufacturer doesn't think they need to be grounded.

If you have any doubts, just go ahead and ground your reflectors.

Louey

 

[martin808hil]

Hi,
It all sounds ok to me. Your reflectors are probably screwed to the metal frame of your fittings so once you have 'grounded' your light fitting you should be ok. Try to use a crimp lug instead of just twisting the wires round a screw. You will get a much better connection.
You can test your earth connection by using a simple multimeter on the ohms settings on a low range and testing between your hood and anything that is earthed like a light switch , socket or even a radiator if you can get through the paint. You should get a very low reading ( very close to zero ohms ) if its done proprly , if the readings over 1 ohm then I would look at the quality of your connections and if the reading is way over 1 ohm then its probably not earthed.
Hope that helps.