How to wire up an 400w or 600w ETI class 2 ballast? On this occasion, we’ll explain how to install the cables to make sure this type of ballast, suitable for 400w or 600w bulbs works properly in indoor home-growing situations.
More information at:
Alchimia Growing Happiness
Hello. Today I’m going to show you how to connect an ETI Class 2 Ballast to two kinds of reflectors: one with a Plug & Play cable, and another with a simple terminal strip connection.
Let’s open the box of the Class 2 ETI, in this case it’s 400w, but there’s also a 600w model. So carefully, we open and take out the ballast, mind, it’s fairly heavy. The instructions to one side, the transformer on the other side, which comes with, look… a supply cable and a male Plug & Play.
In this case, we’re going to connect to a Stuco, a reflector that already has the male Plug & Play to connect to the ballast, which as you can see also has a female Plug & Play. It’s as easy as connecting the male to the female and we’ve connected the ballast to the reflector.
The second step, which we can also do before connecting, is to take the bulb and fit it in the reflector. Taking care, always holding it by the metal parts. If you have to hold the glass, then use some paper to protect the bulb, this will mean the bulb lasts much longer… and firmly but without forcing it too much, we screw the bulb into the socket.
Perfect, now we simply have to connect the supply cable to the mains electricity so that the ballast switches on, as you can see…
We’ve disconnected the Stuco Plug & Play reflector. We’ll leave the cable loose, and what we’re going to do now is connect it with a smooth reflector, which as you can see comes without cables, it simply has a terminal strip connection. We’re going to use a Plug & Play cable, in this case a male, and wire it into the reflector.
We’re going to follow the colour coded wires. The blue to blue, on the terminal strip… the green/yellow to the green/yellow, which in this case is the Earth connection, and the brown to the brown, also in the terminal strip. Try to tighten them firmly, and take care that no wires are protruding, that could cause a short-circuit.
It’s also important important to have the Earth connection, to avoid these things. The domestic circuit-breaker will trip the fuses in the case of any problems like crossed wires or short-circuits…
Very good, let’s tighten the brown cable, firmly, so it doesn’t come out. I’ll leave it like this, so you can see it, and all that’s left is to connect the Plug & Play to the ballast.
Step two, we take hold of the bulb, and take it out of the box, as I mentioned earlier, taking care not to touch the glass with our fingers, we screw it into the reflector and now all we need to do is connect the supply cable. Simply fit the plug into the mains socket and we can see that the light is already working.
So, we’ve seen that it’s not complicated to connect the ETI Class 2 Ballast to a reflector, whether it’s Plug & Play or direct cable. Also, this ETI Class 2 Ballast is worth mentioning as it features anti-splash and anti-dust protection.
Well, that’s all for today, see you soon at www.alchimiaweb.com
