Can you extend the leads on a fluorescent ballast (blown ballast?)

[relaxcraft]

Hi
I got a 20 w t8 fluorescent ballast the other day, the type they have on vivariums. As it happened the leads wern't quite long enough so I did a quick search on the matter and couldn't see much of a problem with lengthening them. Each lead was 1.4m, I wired a 1.1m extension into one of the leads and couldnt get it to light. I've metered the ballast out now and found it has no continuity so I assume this is now dead. Could the lengthening of the lead blown the ballast or would this likely be something else? Would making the length of the leads equal have helped?

 

[(*steve*)]

Could the lengthening of the lead blown the ballast

No.

 

[Bluejets]

What leads ?
What ballast?
What did you try to meter out?
Fluros have various type of ballast, so what type?
Photos would help.
Show also what you hacked.
Just have a difficult time understanding why 2 leads, each 1.4m long are too short for a fluro fitting.

 

[Alec_t]

Post deleted.

 

[relaxcraft]

What leads ?
What ballast?
What did you try to meter out?
Fluros have various type of ballast, so what type?
Photos would help.
Show also what you hacked.
Just have a difficult time understanding why 2 leads, each 1.4m long are too short for a fluro fitting.

Hi thanks for the reply, it's a "hagen glo ho t8" 20w single tube ballast. while I had the case open I wasnt sure if the switch was open/closed so I metered that out between the ballast neutral and the switch and also between the ballast positive and neutral - I thought later on this might have blown the ballast with it being a magnetic one, maybe it went off the scale..??? The leads that go to the tube endcaps are too short as the ballast is going to be outside the vivarium with the leads going into it, I only really need to lengthen one as it's kind of the distance to the tube then plus the length of the tube. I removed one lead then made an extension out of .75mm flex from the starter motor and the negative side of the ballast and patched that to the light tube cable with an inline cable junction box.

 

[Bluejets]

These will have an electronic ballast so mixing up any of the wiring ( and there is normally around 6) will do damage.
Not good to have mains supply floating around with hacked diy wiring.
Think you will find there are manufactured kits available for remote ballast location and I suggest you look for one of those instead.
Your approach is really an electrical safety issue and not advised.

 

[relaxcraft]

These will have an electronic ballast so mixing up any of the wiring ( and there is normally around 6) will do damage.
Not good to have mains supply floating around with hacked diy wiring.
Think you will find there are manufactured kits available for remote ballast location and I suggest you look for one of those instead.
Your approach is really an electrical safety issue and not advised.

It's a magnetic (conventional style) ballast as far as I know, ballasts aren't really my thing. I havent short circuited it or anything like that, it's just an extension of one of the leads to the lamp done with the correct wire and terminations theres no electricity floating around ??? They do seem to be quite standard on the length of the leads but this is for a custom install. It must be a remote start unit as it is, i can't find any details on the particular ballast as it what is the maximum distance tho.

 

[Bluejets]

Magnetic ballast only has 2 wires, no matter which way it connects.
I doubt it would be this type as these are no longer used, unless of course it is an old unit.

it's just an extension of one of the leads to the lamp done with the correct wire and terminations theres no electricity floating around ???

As I understand it, you've taken single insulated cables out of the fitting controller and fed the tube remotely so yes, there will be mains potential on those cables.

I repeat the last section of my previous answer.

 

[relaxcraft]

in case you haven't seen the item it's just a ballast in a plastic box with 2 remote tube connector leads and a plug lead. what I did was remove the flex going into the box and replaced it with double insulated "flex" for 1.1m then joined on the tube led to that with an enclosed cable connector which would be regs for a power supply lead, plus the same spec of flex ie .75mm. It is all insulated ;-) question is why did the ballast blow and how much further can the ballast get from the tube..??

 

[Bluejets]

No I haven't see the item you refer to and I was kind of hoping you would provide some info to save me having to search all over for it.
I did see reference to one type but there are many so I gave up.
It might be "just a ballast" but obviously you've done something wrong somewhere so any help will require more info from you on what you have and explanation of what you've done. The above doesn't help much. You have it all in front of you and you know what you've done but none of us do.
Even a couple of pics might help.

 

[relaxcraft]

Hi sorry I didn't make it clearer earlier,
1st - pic is just the unit with the cover off of the ballast.
2nd - is the 2 wires I removed that go from the starter and the ballast that go down the flex to the tube connector.
3rd - is the flex I did have inbetween the starter and ballast then extended to connect to the tube connector flex.

I don't think it was my wiring that caused the ballast to blow as it was all isolated then and I'm sure the right wire went to the right place. Only thing I could think of was that maybe when I put the meter over the 2 ballast terminals it maybe interferred with the magnetic regulating coil and burnt it out, no smell or bang at the time! lol I've ordered a new ballast now but would like to be a bit more confident that the next ones not going to blow if extended.

 

[relaxcraft]

No.

Do you know what effect extending the wire may have, how much I may be able to extend it??

 

[Bluejets]

Still don't quite get what you have done.
Pics show only sections of the whole layout.
Last photo shows 2 wires leading off to what I imagine is the tube but the tube will require 4 wires if the starter is located at the controller.

I rounded up a wiring layout to show you what I mean.......

 

[relaxcraft]

in the first pic there is the power supply at the top, the first cable to the tube is in the middle and the bottom cable goes to the other end of the tube. Your right in what you've shown me there, it's the exact same circuit. What I did in effect was splice the 2 wires on the left of the pic with an extra 1.1m of cable, one from the ballast and one from the starter.

 

[Bluejets]

No ...cannot follow the explanation of what you have done.
As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words and in this case you are telling me what you want but I am not getting the information I require.
So, post a photo of the complete layout of if you cannot do that, sketch up what cahnges you made on the drawing I provided.
BTW, if you put a multimeter on the ballast it should read around 40 ohms.

 

[relaxcraft]

It's reading infinite so it's well gone... It's easy, I cant sketch it atm bit if you see the wire on the left of the ballast on the diagram, I remove that as it goes to the lamp same as with the wire that goes from the starter to the same end of the tube. I then simply extend these two wires with a length of flex and a cable connector. You then have the exact same circuit as above but the wires on the left would be 1.1m longer than the pair on the right side of the pic going to the oter end of the tube, if you see what I mean

 

[Bluejets]

As I said previously, be aware there is mains potential on all those cables.
Removing from an enclosure and/or modifying any manufactured item could render it dangerous.

Rather unusual that a ballast should go open just the moment you decide to modify the layout.
Wouldn't mind betting you've put mains directly across the ballast at some point.

 

[relaxcraft]

As I said previously, be aware there is mains potential on all those cables.
Removing from an enclosure and/or modifying any manufactured item could render it dangerous.

Rather unusual that a ballast should go open just the moment you decide to modify the layout.
Wouldn't mind betting you've put mains directly across the ballast at some point.

Yh thanks for saying, I have worked in electrical before tho, the case is only open for demonstration and modification, when the jobs done I'll put a gland in or something to secure the modded wire and seal the case up. Yh thats what I thought, i'm not too happy they cost £22 each lol I know I only had the one wireing configuration and it was unplugged while I was modding it so it must have been the meter, the extention of the wire or a duff ballast.???/
Do you have much/any experience of fluorescent ballasts?

 

[duke37]

The old ballasts were nothing more than an inductance. I have used the wire for other purposes. The lead length should be irrelevant
I have no knowledge on modern electronic ballasts.

 

[Bluejets]

52 years as a lecky with several other qualifications, meter will not "blow" the ballast, length of leads on magnetic ballast make no difference, electronic yes, damage caused most likely by yourself.
As I said previously.