What happens if you wire a ballast on the wrong input voltage tapping? « on: October 17, 2020, 03:37:14 AM » Author: WorldwideHIDCollectorUSA
I am interested in knowing what happens to ballasts if the wrong voltage tapping is used? For example, what will happen to a ballast if it is connected to 120v on the 277v tapping?
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Desire to collect various light bulbs (especially HID), control gear, and fixtures from around the world.

DISCLAIMER: THE EXPERIMENTS THAT I CONDUCT INVOLVING UNUSUAL LAMP/BALLAST COMBINATIONS SHOULD NOT BE ATTEMPTED UNLESS YOU HAVE THE PROPER KNOWLEDGE. I AM NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY INJURIES.

	Re: What happens if you wire a ballast on the wrong input voltage tapping? « Reply #1 on: October 17, 2020, 04:02:58 AM » Author: dor123
It will overheat and burn out and even catch fire.
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I"m don't speak English well, and rely on online translating to write in this site.
Please forgive me if my choice of my words looks like offensive, while that isn't my intention.

I only working with the international date format (dd.mm.yyyy).

I lives in Israel, which is a 220-240V, 50hz country.

	Re: What happens if you wire a ballast on the wrong input voltage tapping? « Reply #2 on: October 17, 2020, 05:13:23 AM » Author: Medved
Quote from: WorldwideHIDCollectorUSA on October 17, 2020, 03:37:14 AM I am interested in knowing what happens to ballasts if the wrong voltage tapping is used? For example, what will happen to a ballast if it is connected to 120v on the 277v tapping? If you connect a 277V tap on 120V mains, the ballast will have way lower OCV (in that ratio) than the lamp needs, so it wont start. And if it starts, it will underpower the lamp, way more than the voltage ratio suggest. If you connect a 120V tap on 277V, you will likely either fry the ballast or at least trip the protection. With series reactor ballast it may blow the lamp as well...
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No more selfballasted c***

	Re: What happens if you wire a ballast on the wrong input voltage tapping? « Reply #3 on: October 17, 2020, 02:05:35 PM » Author: wide-lite 1000
Years ago , I tried running a 480v H-33 encapsulated ballast on 120v all it did was trip the breaker within 1 second.  NOW , our idiot maintenance morons at work wired a 400w MH wall pack to 277v on the 120v lead and totally incinerated the ballast!
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Collector,Hoarder,Pack-rat! Clear mercury Rules!!

	Re: What happens if you wire a ballast on the wrong input voltage tapping? « Reply #7 on: October 18, 2020, 01:17:28 AM » Author: Medved
Quote from: Mandolin Girl on October 17, 2020, 02:46:35 PM So they let the magic smoke out.??  You mean the smoke everything electrical runs on? Which once escapes, everything stops working...
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No more selfballasted c***

	Re: What happens if you wire a ballast on the wrong input voltage tapping? « Reply #8 on: October 18, 2020, 10:58:23 AM » Author: wide-lite 1000
Yep ! That magic smoke ! They actually melted some of the windings in the ballast !
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Collector,Hoarder,Pack-rat! Clear mercury Rules!!