I purchased a ballast online that claims it works with the UHI-s400D bulb, the ballast is a HID HPS 400W, as I look at the wiring diagram it shows two different ways to wire the lamp, one with just a cap and the second it shows the igniter/cap. Any clarificaton would be great!

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First of all, what says HPS on it?

I am sorry was reading the instructions. the coils actually says its a CW AUTOTRANSFORER BALLAST 400W S51 SODIUM LAMP, HIGH PRESSURE SODIUM LAMP. Made by Westrim Products

The S400DD should be wired with an ignitor.

Thank you DeathRay64, I really hate to have wired it incorrectly and see smoke rolling!

I've wired many HPS (High Pressure Sodium) fixture and all of them needed the ignitor to work but when it comes to using a HPS ballast for a MH (Metal Halide) lamp I'm not sure but I've also serviced MH fixture that had ignitors in the but the ballast was for a MH lamp, are you having trouble because the wires color don't match what on the digram or you don't know which diagram to use.
I would contact the seller or you can try an electrical supply store and see if they sell that model if so ask if it will work with your lamp and if you need to istall the ignitor, did your ballast kit come in its original box with instrution if so it should state what lamps will work and which diagram to use.
If you know which diagram to use but having problems with making the right connection let me know and I post the proper connection for each diagram

HPS ballastes can be confusing because of the ignitor I hope this helps I'll take you from the lamp socket back,but lets make sure you understand the lamp socket first.

Lamp socket: white wire from socket is com it will make contact to the outer part of your bulb once it is screwed in.

Lamp socket: black wire from socket will be label as (LAMP) on your wire diagram, this will make contact to the base of your lamp once it is screwed in

1. OK lets begen BLACK wire from socket will have all wire connected to it that says LAMP (you should have 3 wires total, one from the ballast, one from the ignitor and black from the socket)

2. White wire from the socket will have two other wires connected to it( you should have three total, com from ignitor, only only one com from ballast and white wire from lamp socket.)

3. At this point you should only have one wire left on your ignitor that is not connected it should be label 3x, this wire will connect to the only other wire that is label 3x which will be coming off of the ballast.

4. Lets move on to the capacitor there should be two wires coming off of the ballast marked cap,that should be two connection.

At this point your secondary side should be completed all the way to the lamp socket

5. We are at the stage now to connect our fuse then voltage, you should only have one com wire left that is not connected this connects to the neutral (white wire) if your using 120v to supply your ballast .

6. Place your fuse on the wire marked 120v coming off of your ballast and your power will connect to the other end of the fuse.

Completed

MAKE SURE ALL WIRES THAT ARE NOT BEING USED ARE CAP OFF ,277,240,208 BECAUSE IF THEY TOUCH ANY GROUNDED SOURCE IT WILL DESTRY YOUR BALLAST.

If your wire are not marked I would suggest that you get one that is or get help from an electrician .

And if you stll can't do it go and by a commercial projector good luck

Thank you all for your support and answers. the bulb is wired and glowing bright!!

Nice explaination of the wiring of these ballasts. One question though. The instructions on ballast say I need to ground it, but does not explain how. Do I just connect a ground wire to the casing of the ballast or ? Also, do I need to ground the capacitor as well?

Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks.

LoL what a coincidence! i'm wiring up this ballast right now! I'm using these instructions:

http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/showthread....=&pagenumber=10


I've got everything wired up except for the switch and 3 Prong power supply.


The switch I have has 3 prongs extending from it (Ground, power, load) do I just connect the 120v to the power and then have that lead to my power outlet? what about ground and load?

I'm not an expert - but I believe that the ground should connect to the rails (L brackets) that hold the ballast down - at least that is how I wired mine. The ignitor also need to be grounded I believe... can someone validate that?

Dave

The red wire coming from the ignitor is plugged into the the red of the ballast. The blue is connected to the blue of the ballast. The white is connected to the Common wire of the outlet along with the ballast common.



Thats how I have mine wired, I thought that the Grounds needed to be on the L brackets, thats what I was going to do, thanks for the reassurance

I'll try to snap a picture here in a few seconds on my setup

Wahoo! I just tested my lamp(S400DD) and it fired up in about 1 second and grew to full brightness within a minute or two(guess, was'nt timing it). These things are BRIGHT. Even sitting in my box it lit my whole garage well enough to see pretty good. I also accidentally glanced at the bulb for about 1/8th of a second and WOAH, I bet these things can make you go blind FAST. I was also pleased that I got a nice, pure white rather than the green tint that I have read many people get. The bulb was only greenish for about 2 minutes and then shone beautifully white.

Now I just need to get the rest of the PJ done(and install flashing for my wiring...smokey smokey ). I'm excited now.

did you end up grounding your ballast? if so where? I tried a few differant methods and couldn't even get my switch to light up

GOT IT! I'm letting it burn in right now! I tried it w/out the switch and realized that this mogul had an on/off switch so i turned it and its BRIGHT!!!


It seemed like it plused a little bit, started out kind of green, then worked its way up and is getting brighter and brigher by the second! How long should I let it burn in for? anyone have a time frame?

I unplugged it once while it was really bright, and when I plugged it back in the second time it started out kind of dim, and worked its way back up to brightness again is this normal?

It takes something like 5 minutes to get to full brightness.
Need to run bulb for a while, should shut down too quickly.
Should wait 10 minutes for bulb to cool before restarting.