Hi folks.
I moved house a while back and after more than a years break from growing I'm readying my self again.

I've had my equipment stored in a cupboard for well over a year, 400w Ballast + HPS lamp. It was all in working order when packed. I've moved into a new house (brandnew build) and was testing my gear only to find that when I turn on the ballast it trips some fuse/breaker (I'm no electrician by the way) thingy which shutsdown most of the power in the house. I've tried the ballast on it's own without the lamp attached and with/without the contactor connected. I've also tried in various plug sockets around the house but get the same result. It's been suggested to me on another forum that new build houses use much cheaper/safer/more sensitive breakers (I don't know what these are by the way) and it's most likely to be the problem. I have no idea if this could be true, and if it is what I need to do to resolve things.

Is there any electricians around that have any suggestions. I am hopefull that it's a knackered ballast as it's easily replaceable but am unsure how to verify this.

Any help/advice would be greatly appreciated.


tizer.

probably your equipment mate! as things like kettles, irons, hairdryers,etc pull a lot more watts that your light........try and get it tested.,it may be something simple!..................when i need any of my grow gear tested i go to secondhand shops ....they have to have any elecs they sell tested by law and it's easier for them to take a course so they can test there own stuff...........also they dont ask too many questions........... ..........paid £5 last time i went............BB

Hello mate i'm no sparx.
You've been told correctly about the circuit breakers, they can be a real pain in the arse, on the lighting circuit sometimes even when a bulb goes it can sometimes trip the breaker in the consumer unit (fuse board) bastard trying to climb over all the crap in the garage to reset the trip switch in the dark.
Each one of your breakers should have a rating, 16amp 32amp etc. It could be that the incorrect rating breaker has been fitted or the breaker is faulty or the kit has developped a fault or simply that with the initial load of igniting the lamp, along with other appliances which are using the same circuit, actually overloads the breaker causing a trip.
May be try a process of elimination if you can.
sorry i can't be of any more help.
I know from experiance that there are some budding sparx on the boards so hang in there dude someone will be along with more definative help soon i'm sure.
Bilb

Do you have any other big electricals in the house? Electric heater? Electric cooker? Even some hairdryers will pull the same wattage as a hps.
If these aren't tripping the circuit then you need to get your kit checked.
You haven't rewired it and got the live/neutral mixed up have you? Or maybe the cabling has been'pinched' along its length and the live/neutral are in contact.
Could be lots of things though.
If it is your mains supply you need a higher ampage breaker on your grow circuit.

Don't just go straight down the higher breaker route though. They are there for a reason.

Hope you get it sorted.

The devise you are tripping is an earth leakage circuit breaker on a main switch, it means that more than 15 or 30ma is leaking to earth or neutral. This in turn means the light or ballast is potentially lethal and could electrocute you. Its not about the devise drawing to much current but leaking.

The appliance is defiantly faulty, get it fixed.

Ok, thanks all for the advice.
I think I'm not going to take any chances here due to the potential dangers involved in faulty electrical equipment so I'm going to buy a new ballast. I'd try and fix it myself but know very little about these things and don't want to take any chances.


If the same problem occurs with a new one I guess it will be a call to an electrician.



tizer.

Hi mate, If you list all the information written on the breaker, also any colours and the type eg looks like a switch or push button plus any BS codes would also be useful and i'll
have a go at telling you whats up. Also can you confirm it trips when the ballast is swithed on or just plugged in.

Hi Budsucker,

I'll jot down the info in question and also take a picture aswell.

Many thanks.



tizer.

Here's a pic of the thing that trips.
Had to resize a lot but the detail is still clear enough.

The big red thing on the right is the one that switches off.
It only happens when I turn the power to the ballast on at a wall socket, when the switch is off, nothing happens.

There is a similar box to the picture shown that has more things on it like Cooker, lights, central heating etc but that has not tripped. I have a picture of that too if you think it might help.


Thanks.
tizer.

It is an RCD, what ot1 was describing and what he says about the safety of it is correct. Check the cable is in good condition with no kinks or stretches, if that is ok have it checked out by a qualified person

Hi,
Thanks for checking that pic.
I've checked the cable on the Ballast and there in nothing obvious although it was wrapped around the ballast unit while it was in storage for a year so this may have damaged it but it does not look that way.

I've no place local to get it checked. Come to think of it, where do you go to get these things tested anyway.

I'll probably just buy a replacement, are all lamp connections on Ballasts the same type.


tizer.

im no sparky, but if your ballast uses the 3 prong kettle/pc lead, you could switch it for the one in your PC to see if its the cable.

disclaimer
if you take my advise and kill yourself, it not my fault

Hi Bobgeldof,
I did like your disclaimer

The cable is wired into the Ballast unfortunately. I did take the cover off to look inside but it all looked fine. i.e. I had no idea what to look for but all wired were in place and nothing looked burnt.


tizer.

have you wired the plug correctly? wiring the neutral and earth the wrong way round will still work but will trip out an rcd

oops advice already given.

Errm, had a strange thing happen with the ballast.

Was trying a suggestion PM'd to me by Budsucker, so plugged in the Ballast in the kitchen and flicked the power switch - expecting it to trip the breaker instantly. But it didn't, it worked, started up and did it's buzz noise (I assume that is normal as it always did it back in the old days when it was fully operational and in constant use).

So I thought great, it's working. So to try it up in the loft where it will live. However, as I carried it up my metal ladder to my loft, as I got to the top I bumped my arm and hit my wrist off the ladder and gor a weird electrict sort of shock from it.

I'm assuming this is really NOT a good sign. I've not plugged it in again as I'm shit scared of it being really dangerous.

Is there an explanation for what happened or is the ballast seriously dangerous and should be binned immediately?



tizer.

From what youve said I take it the unit wasnt plugged in at the time? If it wasnt it was probably either you touching the one or more of the pins on the plug and/or some earthed metal work (possibly the ladder) causing the capacitor to discharge (never heard of this but I guess its possible) or it is from static or some unearthed metal work in your loft. Either way if it was just a short sharp shock I wouldnt worry.

One other thing, you said you tested it in the kitchen, is that the same circuit you used before and protected by the rcd? Like I mentioned in my PM you may have a latent fault so only test in rcd protected circuits.

Hi
The Ballast wasn't plugged in at the time, I was only just at the top of the ladder to the loft.

It was tested in the same plug socket as last time but didn't trip. Only thing I did differently was to make sure that the cable was pretty straight. I did take the case off lastnight and look inside but I didn't touch anything and just put the case back on again.

I'll test again tomorrow in the loft and see how things go.

I take it I'm probably not in any serious danger as long as the plug socket (all sockets appear to be RCD protected in my house) is RCD protected.


tizer.

No serious danger, as I said in the PM to be safe when testing place on a dry nonconductive surface with nothing touching the casing and no harm can come to you. In the event of a fault your rcd, or if too much current is flowing tour mcbs's (the other trip switches), will operate cutting off the supply.