Signal interference when connecting a T5 Dual ballast

Hey guys, have any of you experienced a signal interference when connecting a T5 Dual ballast. Im experiencing this, it affect my electricity box. I cant load more electricity when i have my lights on? Should i get a different ballast?

 

Have you double checked the wiring diagram on the ballast ?

 

Hey guys, i have connected as follows, 1 power supply, 1black+1White to one bulb, and the other black and white to the second bulb.

 

Im gonna check in the morning, my connection is as per the ballast, but you confuse me when saying one should be to the ballast. Let me try explaining. 1 black and white cord on each end. I connected black and white from one end to a bulb and similarly the other.

 

I managed to swap the wires, it runs from black wire in one ballast plug, white on the other side running back into the ballast. Then similar on the second set of wires. This interference is on my electricity box with the number 30 displayed. Municipality said its just a signal interference. Could it be the ballast?

Currently on the one tank i have 4 ballast - 1 x LED, 2 x T8, 1 x dual T5. Could the amount of ballast create the inteference?

 

Make 100% sure you've followed the diagram on the ballast. Black, white, red, blue, pink, it makes no difference - just check the diagram and use logic. If it's correct it would not affect your metre box. It could not produce interference in my opinion, so even if wrong either your lights would not have worked or the bulbs would have blown.

Have you made any other changes recently, anywhere else in the house?

 

No changes anywhere thus leading me to think about the ballast. Could it be that the ballast is old, bought it second hand. And i also would suspect if it was connected incorrectly it would not work or have blown the bulbs.

 

Thanks alot for the help guys, im unplugging and taking the ballast to an electrician. What is the price range for a new t5 ho ballast more or less?

 

Depends on the size. Check out RS Components.

 

Thanks Adrian, before taking the ballast in i decided to swap the bulb wires and its been a while now with no interference. Hope it lasts.

 

You are using solid core cable, aren't you? That gives best results. I'm not saying it will help your interference, but solid core (ie. not those twisted copper strands you usually see in cables) should be used on all fluorescent lighting ballasts.

 

The power supply is solid core cable, but the bulb wires are flexi cable, similar to the ones already coming from the ballast.

 

what brand is the ballast ? I had endless issues with some vossloh schwabe ballasts (like 2 from 10), switched to osram and everything was fine.

 

You should have solid cable from the ballast to the tubes... And "normal" cable is fine to power the ballast. But I think that's splitting hairs, I could be wrong.

Another even more important consideration is the distance from your ballast to the tubes. It's not like 3 or 4 metres is it?

 

I think i may swap my ballast, not sure what brand but ill check later. I need a 30cm bulb to fit in the canopy and those are 8watts, where can i look for a dual ballast to run these. Went to AC/DC and they only had 39w ballasts.

 

Hi Adrian, i managed to change the wiring too but no luck. It certainly looks like a faulty ballast. Where to buy a new one?? Im done struggling with this second hand thing.

 

http://za.rs-online.com/web/p/light...47420666C756F72657363656E742062616C6C61737426