Advance 400w hpw ballast kit questions.

Ok I bought an Advance 400w hps ballast kit and have looked on this board for answers, but am not sure how to wire the capacitor up. There is a white clipped end coming from the "short side" of the transformer and an orange clipped end coming form the "long side". Coming from the capacitor there is one wire with writing (friend said was negitive) and one wire that is blank. Right now I have the wire with writing connected to white clipped "short side", but not sure if it matters or if I have it wrong?? Oh yes and the Ignitor I have says the ballast must be 2 ft or less from the bulb?!? Is this true? Because I have a 10' cord right now wired to it.. Waiting on my bulb in the mail (400w ceramic metal halide), so I cant try it yet, but dont want something to go wrong when i do get it. Thanks for any help. Heres couple pics --->>

cut those connectors off & white to common & black to voltage all wires with each connector!

white to light black to gold & use wire nuts

Ok. Im confused. Do I have to have my socket cord 2ft or less because of what it says on may Ignitor? And for the cap you said white to common??? I have two "cap" wires, one from the short side and one from the long side of the trans. The cap has 2 wires, one with writing and one blank. Not sure which is which and if I have it correct.?

i hate building them together ^^

hahaaa...... i allway's get scared... but allway's works out good..

emmm i cant help ya cuz i dont know that board..... neither would i give u info's that would kill ya

hope it goes good dude

bts420 said:

Ok. Im confused. Do I have to have my socket cord 2ft or less because of what it says on may Ignitor? And for the cap you said white to common??? I have two "cap" wires, one from the short side and one from the long side of the trans. The cap has 2 wires, one with writing and one blank. Not sure which is which and if I have it correct.?

Click to expand...

it shouldn't make a difference on the length of the chord AS LONG AS ITS NOT LIKE 30 FT OR SOMTHING LIKE THAT.

Thx. That makes me feel better about the Ignitor. Not sure if I should worry about the cap wiring still. Also I took the ground from the socket cord and connected it to the ground from the power cord. This will work right? I was going to ground it to the box, but I thought the power cord is grounded in the wall so it should work. hmmmm. ballast kits r funnnn

Gray wire on cap side w/white connector goes to base (WHERE BULB SCREWS IN) to white. Other side of cap (orange connector) gray wire goes to base (where bulb screws in) to black. The other wire that comes off the white connector goes to the plug wire white & the other wire that comes off the orange connector gray wire goes to plug wire black. Ground to ground. Any other wires comming off the ignitor (which has to be a hps or conversion ballast) mh ballast do not have seperate ignitor. At least the industrial ones do not. Ignitor wires have to wired in with the base wires (where bulb screws in) same wiring white to light black to volts. Hope this helps!!!

Also if you do not have the same connectors you will have to cut those off & do use wire nuts unless u have a death wish!!!!!!!

hey guys....i am going to grow my first crop and i got virtually everything but the light....i want to start small at 400 w hps and now here is my Q to you....I was searching google for "400 watt high pressure sodium hood and ballast" when i scrolled upon an e-bay sight for just such a thing....well....i never purchased from e-bay and i never bought a hps light before....would this be a bad mistake to purchase this light through e-bay????? especially since it is only marked for $129.00 for the hood, bulb, ballast,cord, and reflective hood.......plz tell me what you think....thnx.

I think u will be alright.

Look on ebay for high tech garden supply or just type in 400w hps and you will find one option for 109.00 + 39.00 ship for the non air coolable kit. Good kit, but if you want to hook up a duct fan to your reflector you'll need to go with the kit that cost 179.00 +39.00 ship. This one has the air coolable reflector for possible heat issues (I just ordered this kit for a friend). Both good kits have solid parts and very cost effective. I built my own ballast from a ballast kit and saved about $40.00. Might just be easier to buy the kit with remote ballast. Good to go. I hope my ballast works.... cant wait to get my bulb, got everything mounted and ready to go I think. =) GL

You started this post so whats up telling me to go TO home garden supply to buY my overpriced light when u asked somebody how to build ur own. WTF?