When I decided to make a PJ, I wanted to have an e-ballast because they sound like they are better than the older types, but the $150 price tag was making me hesitate.
After looking around, I found a coralvue E-ballast on Ebay for 19.50, the only bad thing is that it was a 220v instead of a 110. I figured no big deal- I am in the processs of rewiring the house anyways, all I will have to do is run a 220 line to power it, so I bought it and felt all smug with my superior shopping skills.
I figured i would run a 14/3 w/ground line to the spot for the PJ, with a 4 prong outlet and a 4 wire dryer cord to go into the box. The power cord is about an inch around with a plug the size of my fist and a lot more expensive than a regular 100 cord would have been, but hey I'm still saving a ton of money, right?
Now came time to figure out the wiring for the PJ itself.
Now, since the 220 has 2 hot legs, I was able to do the jumper over the switch with a thermostat for the fan pretty much the normal way, so I was fine there.
The tricky part was the hi-temp shutoff. I really wanted to have the PJ shut itself off if it got too hot. Wth a 110 I could have just put the snap disc in the positive wire and been done with it, but with 2 hot legs it was a little tougher. I finally decided to go with a snap disc on one leg and a N.O. relay on the other withn a wire from the disc to the coil on the relay. when it gets hot, the snap disc should cut the power to both the leg it is on and to the coil on the relay, cutting the power to the other leg. Of course that means a lot more wiring, and the added expense of the relay, but I'm still saving- at least some money.
Well, the parts came in and it is time to quit thinking and start wiring it up. I notice then that the cord that came with the ballast is a regular 110 type cord. Something doesn't seem right here.
I called the coralvue and the very nice lady on the phone told me that that was normal. They put the same cord with every ballast, since they sell all over the world and every country takes a different plug. The end user is supposed to cut the cord and wire in the right plug for their country. Seemed a little odd to me that they would use a cord that doesn't work ANYWHERE instead of just putting in an US type 220 plug and then only the other countries would have to change the plug. It also strikes me as odd that there is no wiring diagram in the box if everybody is supposed to rewire the cord, but whatever.
Since verified that the ballast I got was indeed a 220 ballast, I went ahead and spent all the extra money to run a 220 outlet and the extra wiring and parts for the 2 hot legs inside the box.
Finished wiring it up about 12:00 last night and tried it out.
Plug it in, hit the switch and boom! there go my fuses.
I turn off the breaker and go over my wiring for about the thousandth time- I don't see anything wrong.
I run to the nearest truck stop and puck up some more fuses. Before I put them back in I figure I better make sure that the switch is off (I can never remember whether "O" is on or if "l" is on). That is when I realise that the poles are wired parallel to the switch and not across it. I had hot legs wired direct to each other.
I put in the new fuses and rehook my leads the right way. Flip the breaker on, this time the fuses don't blow
I take a deep breath and turn on the switch.
No light.
OK, maybe it needs to be wired hot, hot, neutral and not hot, hot, ground. So I move the ground wire to neutral. Still nothing.
I get out the tester and yup, I have 220 going in, but nothing coming out. I try every combination that I can think of- no dice.
Now, it is pushing 4AM and I’ve decided that there has to be something wrong with the ballast, or the pin configuration on the cord is different than I think, so I pull the end cover off the ballast. I’m checking continuity on all the pins when I notice that the one pin goes to a spot on the circuit board labeled “Ground”. I know I at least got that right, Which tells me that I must have the hot right wires, too.
So, I start looking around in there with the flashlight to see if there are any obvious burnt out resistors or something.
I notice that one of the other wires from the plug goes to a spot on the circuit board marked “N”. I think to myself “I wonder what that stands for?” and keep looking around. About 5 minutes later DUH! How about “Nuetral”, ya moron!
I pull one of the hot wires and wire it to neutral, and Bingo! I have light!
So, the gal I talked to at the manufacturer was giving me a load of BS. I got a mislabeled 110 ballast. I also spent about an extra $75 on electrical parts that I wouldn’t have needed to.
On the bright side, (no pun intended) it all works, and I have a nice bright picture on the blackout cloth temporarily hanging over a line. I also probably have about the most overengineered electrical system in the history of DIY projectors.
I should just rewire the dang thing back to 110, but it works now and I don’t want to start over.