need electricians assistance, GVRD [bby]

[smokinreefer]

hey,

a while back i was looking for some quick connect fittings to make extension cords for my MH ballasts.

well i found some, and tried to put them together myself, and well... i did a hack job.

plugging them in trips the GFCI.

was wondering if there was an electrician among us that could help me out putting these extensions together.

of course i would compensate you, some pocket change for an easy job, or frags if i have something you want.

just let me know, thanks!

[reefermadness]

I'm not an electrician but what are the colours you are trying to match up?

[wingedfish]

white to the silver screw, black to the copper one and green to the green one

[reefermadness]

white to the silver screw, black to the copper one and green to the green one

You just explained an outlet...he is trying to put two cables together I believe.

If they have the same colour wires (ie.black,white,green) than simple logic is to just match them up.....if they have different colours well than its a little more complicated.

[davefrombc]

It depends on the fixture but normally the colours coming from a unit are black , white and green. If you are tripping a GFI, I suspect you have the neutral wire ( normally white and to the silver screw on a plug or socket ) and the safety ground ( normally green , but may be a bare wire in some fixtures with wires meant to go to a box rather than an extension cord) switched. Power wire goes to the bronze screw in a plug or socket on an extension cord or wall socket .

[smokinreefer]

yes, the cord has black, white and green.
it's been a couple weeks since i attempted this, i'll open them up and take a look at what mess i gone done! lol.

thanks for the input. i'll get back to you guys!

[smokinreefer]

so i finally had a chance to check out my wiring, and noticed that i had some wires inverted... because when you put the male and female ends together they were opposite.

so i switched those and thought that i had solved my problems.

they still trip the GFCI. please tell me what i've done wrong!

heres a pic of the wiring, male and female connected together, but with the covers off.

http://i690.photobucket.com/albums/vv267/shaong/IMG_1613.jpg

[Deaner]

There is nothing wrong with that, the question might be, what are you plugging in?

[Magma]

The MH probably draw to much amperage when you first turn them on, which cause the GFCI to pop just as if you had a short, water in it etc. It happens to me all the time when I use HOT5's on my GFCI plug.

[cyberdude47]

I'm a electrician. You can pm me with what your trying and I can try to help u out. Gfci's can trip for numerous reasons. Some ballasts leak current and can cause a premature trip. It only takes 7 thousands of a amp to trip when it sees a difference in current between the hot and neutral.

[smokinreefer]

hey all,

i'm basically trying to move my MH ballasts further away.

i have 3 250W vertex ballast hooked up to a fixture. but the quick connect cords on them are pretty short, so the ballasts are sitting on a fold out sidetable right beside the tank.

to me, its a hazard, and a wiring mess. so i wanted to make these quick connect extension cords to go inbetween the fixture and ballasts so i can place them further away from the tank, and in a neat fashion.

they currently work fine connected to the GFCI with only the original cords.

[cyberdude47]

What type of cable are you using to extend the wiring, you have to be careful because standard nmd90 (loomex) is only rated for 300 volts and with hid lighting te strike voltage can run upwards of 400 Volts. The cable you use has the be 600volt rated sow cable (aka cabtire) would be a appropriate choice also the connectors that you use need the same voltage rating, note this is only for the secondary side of the transformer. The primary side would be ok

[cyberdude47]

So in a nutshell if your not using the appropriate rated cable and connectors the conductor insulation could be leaking and causing the GFCI to sense the loss in current and trip

[smokinreefer]

What type of cable are you using to extend the wiring, you have to be careful because standard nmd90 (loomex) is only rated for 300 volts and with hid lighting te strike voltage can run upwards of 400 Volts. The cable you use has the be 600volt rated sow cable (aka cabtire) would be a appropriate choice also the connectors that you use need the same voltage rating, note this is only for the secondary side of the transformer. The primary side would be ok

just to clarify...
is the primary side from the wall to the ballast? secondary being from ballast to fixture?

so this is the cable i used...http://i690.photobucket.com/albums/vv267/shaong/IMG_1625.jpg
300V only... so this is my problem, and the connectors might be suspect too.

oh well, learn something new everyday. there goes $50! lol.

[davefrombc]

Yes.. Primary is wall to ballast , secondary is ballast output to the fixture.
Primary = First ( input )... Secondary = second , (output )

[cyberdude47]

correct