electrical experts...

**cocoa_pleco** · 12-11-2008, 02:59 AM

i need your help again :(

to start, the ballast on my 250w halide/2x65w PC crapped out today. when i first fired it up, it made a small noise and after nothing, refired it and its not making any noise or doing anything

store said to open it up, and did but everything looks fine

anyways, i ordered this new IceCap ballast off of ebay. its just got the colored cords, so i have a few questions

- for the power cord, can i use the removable one from my old ballast, and strip a bit of the cover and attach the wires with a wire attacher?

- how do i attach the colored cords from the IceCap to the pendent? my pendent has a 3 prong input, so do i cut it off and attach straight wires, or do i get a connector?

**jimpierce** · 12-11-2008, 04:09 AM

only ballasts I have replaced have been in flourescent lights. What you describe is pretty much it.
To attach the wires you can use wire caps (screw on kind) or crimp connectors for a better look.
If you are lucky the color coding will be the same on both ballasts.

**cocoa_pleco** · 12-11-2008, 04:11 AM

thats what i was hoping, to crimp it.

If worse comes to worse ive got a uncle who knows a bit of electrical and if i run into a snag i can get his help, i spent 30 hours a month ago installing hardwood at his place so he owes me

Never thought of the wire colors being different, that would suck

**cocoa_pleco** · 12-11-2008, 04:20 AM

God im a noob at electrical stuff

i found a pic here. in the red circled part theres the 2 connecting prong pieces. im gonna need to cut off the prong end so i can attach the IceCap ballast.

the cord that the prong end is attached to is full of the colored wires, right?

**jimpierce** · 12-11-2008, 04:31 AM

yes it should be.

**gm72** · 12-11-2008, 10:47 AM

You should indeed be able to use the old power cord, no problem there.

Crimping would be a great way to connect the wires. I would go an extra step and also wrap them heavily in electrical tape. I tend to over-do things when it comes to electrical for fear of a fire.

**cocoa_pleco** · 12-11-2008, 02:32 PM

yeah, fires the first concern, i'll for sure overdo it

**jimpierce** · 12-11-2008, 05:12 PM

maybe instead of tape, use shrink wrap. It can be found at Home Depot and is tube shaped. Put it over the connection and heat it and it will shrink down tight on the wires.

**cocoa_pleco** · 12-11-2008, 07:13 PM

heatwrap is another option, when i got some people to help me install the subwoofers in my car we used alot of those so i know how its done

**korith** · 12-11-2008, 10:33 PM

Originally Posted by cocoa_pleco

heatwrap is another option, when i got some people to help me install the subwoofers in my car we used alot of those so i know how its done

Go with either of those heat shrink things, last thing you need is to short something with connections touching. You might want to test it first to make sure it works before you add the heat shrink tubing to it.