I have a cap and coil ballast that I want to use with the Philips CDM150/TD/942 bulb (the double-ended one). Here is the state of the ballast as I received it.

Next to the wires are the words printed on the wires.



Now, do I connect the lamp into the circuit like this:



Or like this:



Here's the label on the ballast, which seems to support the third diagram above:



Here's the ballast, capacitor, and ignitor:



I am so clueless. Can anyone tell me for sure which way to wire this thing up? I would like to stay alive.

Thank you.

Hey man,
I'm using a cap and coil ballast also! I couldn't find any help really, so I ended up finding a perfect explanation on, of all things, a recreational marijuana-growers' site.
Here's the link:

http://www.onlinepot.org/grow/wiringlights.htm

It got my light up and running!

Sweet, I saw your plea for help in the other thread, and noticed it got no replies. THANK YOU for showing me those instructions, I should be able to follow them easily. I mean, if a pot-head can do it, then...

Wait, your website is called "shitmate.com"? I love it.

Hehe, yep. Shitmate.com was my pet project for a little while, but I'm thinking about dropping that URL. Most people don't get it, or find it offensive. I might just host a PLOG on there instead!

Well, I ended up wiring it as shown in the third diagram in my original post, and ran it for about 5.5 hours, so I guess that was the right way.

Good to see the potheads pulled through for ya! ;P

I as well am having trouble gettin me bulb to work. I have an M59 Coil Ballast with a UHI-S400DD bulb that I bought at Atlantabulbs.com. When I received the ballast the ignitor, coil, and capacitator where already wired together. All I had to do was wire it to the mogul and power source. I have done that, and I cant get my bulb to start up when I turn everything on, but everything else(LCD and fans) do turn on. I have rewired twice just to make sure there were not any bad connections. But I'm still confuse as to why it is not starting up. I've attached some picture..please help!

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The "cocked" bulb indicates that it may not be all the way in and the brand new mogul may have some resistance where you think it's in all the way. Put some vaseline on the bulb and mogul threads (not the end contact point). Then screw in the bulb with a back-and-forth motion until it really gets seated.

You say you have a M59 ballast and a S400dd lamp but a M59 ballast does not have a ignitor. Here is a M59 sheat.

http://www.solaballast.com/pdf/E-871-WDD-411.pdf

I can see that the ballest lookes like a M135 ballast which is the wrong one for a S400dd lamp. It should say S51 on the ballast and the cap will be a 48uf or 55uf.

A M135 should still start the lamp but it will not run at full brightness so if everything is wired right you should still have light.

If the ballast is a S51 Then I would make sure the input wires are the 120v and COM wire. I would by pass the swtich stuff and just wire it straight to the plug to see if you get a strike up.

Does the ballast make a hum now? If not then it is not geting any power. They always make some noise even with no lamp. Stay away from the wires when the lamp is not lit and the power is on.

Find out what lamp and ballast you really have. The ballast has a lable on it that tells all, so does the lamp.

The bulb is a USHIO S-440DD bulb with an S51 ballast. So they should be workin good together. I talked to the guy at the engineering department for the manufacturer of the ballast and I asked him about the wires, you know how you have a COM(which is neutral), and the like four other wires where 3 are taped off and one is left exposed, the one they left exposed was the 227V, he said that I should be using this one, but should I really be using the 120V?

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If you live in the USA the in house voltage is 110v so If you are using the 270v tap that is the wrong one. hookto the 110v wire on the ballast (there is only one) and you good to go. The coil ballast almost never break so it will work if the lamp is OK.