Help getting a light going - I SEE THE LIGHT
 

Success! Not really sure what fixed it.
I redid some of the solderless connections,
seperated the com wires as per a great
"Ballast for dummies" site I found,
and switched the terminals on the cap.
Funny thing is I didn't think any of those
would do the trick, but who cares. It works
real nice. Thanks to all who took the time to help.

(PegLegAlexK)
Date: 12/30/2003 5:13 PM Eastern Standard Time
Message-id:

I'm trying to get a light going for my son. Its my
first attempt at wiring a ballast. I must be doing
something wrong. Picked up a ballast on ebay, 250 mh advance.

wiring diagram
HTTP://members.aol.com/peglegalexk/bal2.jpg/


how I wired it
HTTP://members.aol.com/peglegalexk/bal1.jpg/

Nothing happens. Bulb does not light (tried 2 different new bulbs).
I have the ballast plugged into a kill-a-watt meter. NO watts
being used. OK, I'm stuck. Any ideas. How do I debug this?
I have a cheap multimeter but not a lot of exp using it.

Can anybody tell me how to discharge a capacitor?

Thanks

Help getting a light going - I SEE THE LIGHT
 

Xref: 127.0.0.1 rec.aquaria.freshwater.plants:77663

What we in the communications world call "FM" when a problem seems to fix
itself!


"PegLegAlexK" wrote in message
...
Success! Not really sure what fixed it.
I redid some of the solderless connections,
seperated the com wires as per a great
"Ballast for dummies" site I found,
and switched the terminals on the cap.
Funny thing is I didn't think any of those
would do the trick, but who cares. It works
real nice. Thanks to all who took the time to help.

(PegLegAlexK)
Date: 12/30/2003 5:13 PM Eastern Standard Time
Message-id:

I'm trying to get a light going for my son. Its my
first attempt at wiring a ballast. I must be doing
something wrong. Picked up a ballast on ebay, 250 mh advance.

wiring diagram
HTTP://members.aol.com/peglegalexk/bal2.jpg/


how I wired it
HTTP://members.aol.com/peglegalexk/bal1.jpg/

Nothing happens. Bulb does not light (tried 2 different new bulbs).
I have the ballast plugged into a kill-a-watt meter. NO watts
being used. OK, I'm stuck. Any ideas. How do I debug this?
I have a cheap multimeter but not a lot of exp using it.

Can anybody tell me how to discharge a capacitor?

Thanks