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Got some t5 wiring questions!


gulfsurfer101

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gulfsurfer101

So I have a ballast with two red wires and one yellow coming out the bulb side. Now does anyone have a good diagram showing how to wire four non shunted tombstones in place to run two bulbs. I figure it can't be too difficult but just want to be sure I get this right!

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gulfsurfer101

Looks similar to what I've found. The only thing that confuses me is I've only got three wires coming out the ballast on the bulb sound. Two reds and only one yellow! I don't know how to wire it up without doing some kind of jumper.

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Can you see the ballast? Most of the time there's a wiring diagram on it.

 

I'll see if I can find a picture of the ballast I recently wired up - it was an electronic ballast and I'm pretty sure it had a yellow wire.

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gulfsurfer101

I just replaced two wavepoint 2 bulb ballasts with a Roberts 4 bulb. I followed the diagram on that ballast to rewire the whole thing. The diagrams on top the wavepoint ballasts have been damaged from being epoxied I'm guessing into a canopy. I'll pull a diagram offline. I didn't even think of out till now! Thanks AJ!

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A programmed start ballast designed for 2 bulbs has 6 connectors, 2 blue, 2 red, and 2 yellow. If it doesn't have that many but less then it's not programmed start but rapid. A 4 bulb programmed start ballast doubles that to 12.

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gulfsurfer101

A programmed start ballast designed for 2 bulbs has 6 connectors, 2 blue, 2 red, and 2 yellow. If it doesn't have that many but less then it's not programmed start but rapid. A 4 bulb programmed start ballast doubles that to 12.

I was able to locate a ballast pic with diagram on it. If it is indeed a rapid start then I just replaced this ballast with a program with a program start ballast and reran the entire wire circuitry. Do you see a potential problem with this. I have all four bulbs firing up now. This ballast was to be retrofitted to run two more bulbs.

 

http://www.wave-point.com/images/replace_accessories/4Lamp48inballast_A1_7_1_ENLARGE.jpg

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I was able to locate a ballast pic with diagram on it. If it is indeed a rapid start then I just replaced this ballast with a program with a program start ballast and reran the entire wire circuitry. Do you see a potential problem with this. I have all four bulbs firing up now. This ballast was to be retrofitted to run two more bulbs.http://www.wave-point.com/images/replace_accessories/4Lamp48inballast_A1_7_1_ENLARGE.jpg

Not an issue as long as you are using un shunted end caps vs the shunted that were already there. Also since you had to get more wire I assume you got 18ga 600v rated solid core?

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gulfsurfer101

I haven't changed the endcaps. I do have some non shunted caps that I ordered on hand. Here is the wavepoint fixture with new 4 bulb program starting ballast. I'm kind of skeptical swapping out the endcaps though since the fixture is working fine. I ordered 4 non shunted tombstones under the assumption that the good electronic wavepoint ballast was program start as well.

20160102_001014_zpsfvgzbu8h.jpg

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gulfsurfer101

I haven't switched the sockets and don't think I'll be doing so! I'll pick up some more lumber next week to finish my canopy so I can fit the old wavepoint ballast in and fire up two more bulbs. If the ballast is indeed a rapid start ballast then I'll buy another program starting ballast for two more bulbs. Anymore bulbs and I'll be lighting the floor in front and behind my tank. I'm really in doubt though since the program starting ballast I used to replace both wavepoint ballasts is firing up all bulbs after I rewired the entire fixture and bypassed all the jumper bs that the wavepoint fixture had going on. The end result is holding strong. This leads me to believe that the wavepoint ballast must be program starting since I didn't do anything as far as replacing the endcaps. If it was to trip the ballast I assume would be fried instanstly or at least my gfci and breaker would trip. That has not been the case!

20160106_195248_zpsigvbxtzl.jpg

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gulfsurfer101

I'll be continuing on with my canopy later on next week! I'll try and run that wavepoint two lamp ballast to the tombstones I have. I'll use two phillips bulbs from hd so if the ballast goes or the bulbs fry it won't be a big loss! I have a feeling everything will work out fine though!

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You are sending too much startup voltage to the bulbs by using a shunted end cap. The fact that you have a programmed start ballast is essentially useless.

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gulfsurfer101

I didn't realize they would still fire up. I'll go ahead and order more endcaps and replace them when I install the reflector into my canopy! Thanks again man. That's why I need you.

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I didn't realize they would still fire up. I'll go ahead and order more endcaps and replace them when I install the reflector into my canopy! Thanks again man. That's why I need you.

I didn't realize they would still fire up. I'll go ahead and order more endcaps and replace them when I install the reflector into my canopy! Thanks again man. That's why I need you.

Yeah a T5 bulb will start in many different ways. It is actually quite hard to blow one up. A bulb can receive as much as a 600v burst when starting up with an instant start ballast. Rapid start uses less voltage but it's still a big burst. That's why they need shunted end caps so the bulb can receive the extra voltage.

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gulfsurfer101

Ok I thought it was all good because the bulbs would start up dim then brighten up! I just ordered all new non shunted endcaps to replace the water proof endcaps.

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Dammit I wish I would have taken a picture or something when I re-wired mine. Great thread.

 

I don't believe my end caps were internally shunted because there was a small piece of wire connecting both sides...

 

I put a Philips Advance ICN-2S54-T in an old Current Nova T5-HO and followed the wiring diagram on the ballast - just not sure if I put the shunts back in or not though... If I followed the wiring diagram I shouldn't have - but I might have considered a small wire like that to be part of the endcap design...

 

Will running it shunted harm the bulbs or ballast? Could it cause a safety hazard? What about efficiency? It seems to start up and operate normally so I didn't think there was an issue.

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gulfsurfer101

Dammit I wish I would have taken a picture or something when I re-wired mine. Great thread.

 

I don't believe my end caps were internally shunted because there was a small piece of wire connecting both sides...

 

I put a Philips Advance ICN-2S54-T in an old Current Nova T5-HO and followed the wiring diagram on the ballast - just not sure if I put the shunts back in or not though... If I followed the wiring diagram I shouldn't have - but I might have considered a small wire like that to be part of the endcap design...

 

Will running it shunted harm the bulbs or ballast? Could it cause a safety hazard? What about efficiency? It seems to start up and operate normally so I didn't think there was an issue.

This was my initial thought as well!

I replaced the old blown ballast that was used for firing up two bulbs with a 4 bulb ballast. The way that wavepoint had the bulbs jumpered in had me scratching my head. I cut out all the nonsense leaving only the endcaps with about a 2" pig tail sticking up for me to make my connections. After following the diagram I got all bulbs firing up. The best part is that I am able to wire in another switch allowing me to disrupt the circuit and run only two bulbs at a time. I'll be doing this to fire up two then two then the last two with the wavepoint ballast I stripped out the retrofit kit I replaced the 4 bulb ballast with. I thought that since my bulbs were firing using my programmed starting ballast that everything was fine. I'll be working more on my canopy next week and I'll start replacing tombstones and use the ones that came in my retrofit for the rapid starting ballast from wavepoint for the last two! Hope this makes sense and works out better in the long run.

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Dammit I wish I would have taken a picture or something when I re-wired mine. Great thread.

 

I don't believe my end caps were internally shunted because there was a small piece of wire connecting both sides...

 

I put a Philips Advance ICN-2S54-T in an old Current Nova T5-HO and followed the wiring diagram on the ballast - just not sure if I put the shunts back in or not though... If I followed the wiring diagram I shouldn't have - but I might have considered a small wire like that to be part of the endcap design...

 

Will running it shunted harm the bulbs or ballast? Could it cause a safety hazard? What about efficiency? It seems to start up and operate normally so I didn't think there was an issue.

 

You had to remove the internal wire connecting the sides on the tombstone. That wire was shunting the end cap. Your bulb is not going to blow up if you leave it but it means you are sending too much startup voltage by leaving the shunt on. This means you are reducing the bulb life more every time you start it vs a normal programmed startup.

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gulfsurfer101

You know this makes a lot of sense! The jumpers that were ran on the endcaps were the shunts providing electrical current to both sides of the tombstones! Since I tore them all out and rewired them properly I believe they are operating as should be! Just to be sure I'll gut a tombstone open and see if infact they are shunted!

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