Metal Halide & GFCI

[Bill S]

OK, I'm working on the lighting for this beast. I have 4 Coralvue 400W ballasts, and 4 400W fixtures - they are about a year old (they were mikeyboy's). I'm only going to use 3 of them, at least for now. I've put outlets in that are protected by GFCI. However, here's what happens when I plug them in:

1 ballast works fine, but the fan(s) don't kick on
2 ballasts blow the GFCI. They work if I plug them into a non-protected outlet. I do notice that the fans are a bit loud...

The GFCI is rated for 15 amps - and the ballasts are 3.5 amps each.

Any ideas?

[Richard]

If I remember correctly the cv 400w DE ballasts initially draw around 10 amps to fire the bulb. That is what is probably tripping the gfci.

Contact cv for exact amperage draw for your ballast at support@coralvue.com

[alton]

This is nothing new. I think someone last year had a light that was doing the same thing. HID and Fluorescent lighting along with computers mess with the AC Sine Wave. If you have 13.5 amps on the Line side you can have as much as 27 amps on the Neutral. You need to test with an amprobe because you could be overloading your grounded conductor(White wire).That's why when you design electrical systems for these items panel boards should have a 200% neutral and wiring should be #12 on the Ungrounded (Black)and #10 for the Grounded Conductor(White). What I think is when you plug only one light in the imbalance isn't great enough to trip the GFCI, but as you add load the imbalance increases until it trips. I suggest adding two more GFCI's, one for each light in parallel. My CV's do not have fans, I would guess they realized that they couldn't last because of the heat of the lights?

[ratboy]

I had to run my 2 400W coralvue ballasts on an upstairs circuit because with all my pumps and other equipment it was too much. It actually turned out to be nice because the CV fans are rather loud and there is no additional heat in the fish room.

[Bill S]

Thanks for the tip on emailing them. Here's there response:

"Please do not use a GFCI with these ballast. You will have problems with electrical interference. They draw about 6 amps on start up and when you have 3 they exceed 15amps. I recommend putting them on there own circuit. Do not use cheap power strips as well. I recommend you getting a 4 foot power strip that home depot sells that will allow you to put timers on each plug in. "

Got some more wiring to do (redo)! Not a big deal - that time and $$ can't solve, I just "feel" better with them on GFCIs.

[Ping]

Would a GFCI breaker work?

[Bill S]

Same technology, I believe. I've only seen the breakers used in new construction for smoke alarms. They always had GFCI outlets.

[jroescher]

I used a GFCI circuit breaker and regular plugs for mine. But I ran whole new circuit dedicated to the tank. The only drawback to using a GFCI circuit breaker instead of independent GFCI plugs, is that if the breaker trips I lose power to EVERYTHING.

It's only tripped once, when I plugged a pump in. I cleaned the plug and socket, reset the breaker and everythings worked fine since.

My whirlpool bath has a GFCI breaker also.