what to do!!

[mybuickskill6979]

i got the ballast that i'm using to set up a friends lighting. its a NAiS 70w metal halide ballast. now the question is!

The wires are cut short about 3 inches out of the case, so i took the cover off to see if maybe i can solder the new wires to run from the ballast to the socket to keep it clean. but the circuits are potted in a white milky colored stuff. so is it impossible to do this?
or will i have to go with plan B and solder the lead wires to the other wires and just use heat shrink wrap to hide it?

 

[RODALCO]

Ballast

Why were the wires cut short ?

It may have been done because the ballast was defective !

Bear in mind, you are dealing with mains voltage here, and safety is very important.

You don't want to do a botch job and kill someone.

 

[mybuickskill6979]

i bought it from a guy on ebay he said it still functions. i have yet to get back at him yet until i can get the lamp and have a chance to test it. its an m98 ballast so it should be good for HQI i think i'll test it before up and changing anything about it.

if it works how would i go about unpotting the circuitry, or is it possible?

 

[Papabravo]

i bought it from a guy on ebay he said it still functions. i have yet to get back at him yet until i can get the lamp and have a chance to test it. its an m98 ballast so it should be good for HQI i think i'll test it before up and changing anything about it.

if it works how would i go about unpotting the circuitry, or is it possible?

The whole point of potting a circuit is to make what you want to do next to impossible.

 

[Marks256]

Well, if there is SOME wire left, you could just wirenut it.

 

[mybuickskill6979]

i think i'll trim it a little more and solder it together inside the case. cause the point of the aquarium is to have it all visible, wire nuts would look not so good. the pumps and everything is gonna be visible

 

[mybuickskill6979]

The whole point of potting a circuit is to make what you want to do next to impossible.

so very true. i guess that makes sense. plus its kind of hard to copy a circuit you can't see lol!!

 

[Marks256]

plus its kind of hard to copy a circuit you can't see lol!!

Where there is a will there IS a way...

 

[Sceadwian]

I know I shouldn't recommend this to someone that obviously doesn't know what they're doing, but if you really want to do it, you need to identify the exact makeup of the potting compounds, there are oftentimes chemicals which can be used to dissolve the potting compound but leave the circuit intact. Such an undertaking is not a good idea for someone that doesn't know what they're doing. It'd take a lot of research, and likely the chemical involved you wouldn't be able to get a hold of. There are chemicals which can be used to actually remove the plastic package of IC's and expose the internal die. Some companies use it to reverse engineer competitors chips. Not to mention you can find free schematics for ballast circuits on the net without having to take apart yours.

 

[Andy1845c]

How about just using crimp connectors and shrink tube? If your carful stripping and don't make the wires any shorter, 3" should be enough to work with.

 

[Sceadwian]

I've made a solder joint (albeit on an antenna not a mains adapter) on leads as short as 5mm's.

 

[mybuickskill6979]

yeah i found this one to run a 40W HID bulb off of 12v input.
https://members.misty.com/don/ebdc12.html

I agree with you there marks

lol Sceadwian its not something i'll be undertaking any time soon i'm having a problem under standing transistors lol
Probably took a little precision on the part of the solderer(you)!!

i don't think heat is much of an issue with the components. the ballast runs at like 80 deg C

How are though fast hot cordless irons? like shown on tv? they seem pretty cool for quick stuff!!

 

[3v0]

Given that the ballast is going to be used on an aquarium you need to pay more attention to being safe and less to how it looks.

To start make sure that the entire aquarium is feed via a GFI. If you do not have one they are inexpensive protection.

The ballast is potted to protect it from the high humidity the aquarium will generate. If this is a salt tank then the potting is even more important. The ballast will not last long without it.

I you solder it use 3 bit of heat shrink. One over each wire and a 3rd longer bit to cover both. If you do a neat job on the joint it should look OK. Be sure that there are no sharp bits on the joint that will poke through the heat shrink.

 

[mybuickskill6979]

yeah i have a friend you used GFCI to protect his stuff. his heater busted and shorted out killed everything in the tank. the g never popped. i will still use one but also gonna run a ground plug to the main display. the ballast will be mounted below water level and i might seal it up with silicon just in case. not sure yet.

yeah thats about what i was planning on with the heat shrink, if theres any sharps i'll grind it down with my trusty dremel lol.