120/240 digital ballast

[vernonsupreme]

I have a coupleof digital ballasts (600w) sitting idle at my house right now. I wanted to get them up and going but the prob is that one is 240 while the rest are 120. I took the power cord from the 120 and plugged it into the 240 and the ballast came on and ignited the bulb and it ran fine for about 20 minutes till I unplugged.

I tried taking apart the 240 ballast to see if I could just switch some wires like on a magnetic coil one to get it to 120 but couldn't do much due to the little sticker that says "warranty void if removed" I got fucked into buying the one 240 ballast and can't return or exchange it. I have a plan to order another 120v and just say they sent me a 240 accidently and ship them the 240 back for another 120 as i need it anyways.

but in the short term I would like to just run it. it says I will void the waranty if I do this but I don't think they will be any the wiser unless it blows up. and at around 400 bucks I'm not sure if I want to risk it or not. what damage if any am I going to cause by doing this? (running a 240 on 120) I'm sure this might be a stupid question for someone who has been growing for 5 years but these new digital ballasts are, well; new. and expensive.

thanks for the help to anyone that knows...

[midwestbluntman]

vernon
Are you 100% sure its 240?normally a 240 volt plug wont plug in to a 120 without some engineering.240 has 2 live wires and a common and the 120 has 2 wires and a ground.But either way, it cant be good to run that ballast at 1/2 power for you or it.Im not familair with the digital ballast,in may or may not have a built in regulator makin it a self adjusting multitap,purhaps ya need to pull out the paper work that came with it and investagate a bit.

[Cranky]

well vernon,i know alittle about electrics but not enough to comment on im afraid.:(

all i can say is,be carefull when messing with electrics..if ya not sure then dont take the risks i say....dont want ya burning you and ya house down like;)


cranky

[vernonsupreme]

it came with a power cord that looks normal except the 2 large prongs are horizontal. plugs right into my air conditioning's 240 plug. you can unplug that and plug in a computer power cord into its place.

but i guess that is a moot point, i will leave it unplugged till I can get it swapped out with a new 120v

[Mr Burns]

Westy.

240 has 2 live wires and a common and the 120 has 2 wires and a ground

We have one live, one negative and a ground just like you. Some don't have a ground and will have a very small embossed diagram of a square inside a square on them, or the plug.

The only multiple live system I know off is 3 phase wiring which is three lives (in fact they are all positive and negatives but jolt back and forth sharing the load) and an earth/ground. It's why we see three wires on pylons. To earth you stick a rod in the ground, so carrying an earth cable across country on a pylon is needless and costly. The three wires are 3 phase and go through a street transformer or in the US those bins you tie to telegraph poles :D Then you get house grade electric and the live and negative. The ground here is a copper rod driven into the ground at each property and connected to your consumer unit.

I wouldn't use it. If you fuck it up to the extent of irremovable burn marks they'll suss you, as I doubt they'll send on the new unit before recieving the other?
Bulbs and things are different. If I broke one within a week of getting it I'd say it was broke in the post and they probably wouldn't sniff at it considering the mark up they put on wholesale lamps. But something they won't simply throw in the bin?

You imagine recieving it Vernon. Would you look at it? :rolleyes:

Your call dude but good luck with it.

[arnold layne]

I have a plan to order another 120v and just say they sent me a 240 accidently and ship them the 240 back for another 120 as i need it anyways.

say bro-
i read this and had to make a suggestion....
throw the 240v on ebay, and buy your 120v from the same place. should work out close to an even swap.
to do anything sneaky with the exchange might just empty your karma jar.
given the legal status of our beloved hobby, we need to keep them karma jars as full as possible. it might be that if you contacted the company and told them you accidentally got a 240 instead of a 120, they might work with ya....maybe just charge you a restocking and shipping fee. if not, try the ebay thing.
point is, keep it honest, and know that your karma is clear, and a few bucks spent doing it the right way is worth it's weight in golden rule.
:2cents:
peace-
arnold layne

[vernonsupreme]

prob is, there is a guy on ebay selling them for about 75 bucks cheaper than what I paid for it. I talked to my retailer and they were kinda bitches about it, but i guess if all else fails i'll slap it on ebay.

[WilliamClarkeQuantrill]

with half the voltage you get twice the amperage. DO NOT DO IT.snap crackle pop fizz fizz :smokin:

[WilliamClarkeQuantrill]

going back over all this, I was curious, you say the power cords are interchangable?