getting a ballast... in Sweden/Europe

[Peritus]

Hello, I'm a Swedish newbie who has been lurking around a few diyforums for a couple of days. I'm thinking about doing a 17" LCD projector with a UHI-S400DD Ushio lamp or something like that. Getting the parts doesn't seem that hard, EXCEPT for that "#¤%" ballast.

I've tried searching the diy forums and the web along with all the usual trading sites. But to no avail... I still haven't find the holy grail... a cheap 400W ballast from a store that ships to Sweden.

How about the rest of you Swedes/Europeans? How did you get ahold of a ballast?

I'm tired of searching and I'd really appreciate some help.

 

[renan]

hi,

in france you have izzotek.com and in germany you have exclusiv-online.com.

I don't know if they ship to sweden, you'll have to email them. You might find some in aquarium shop.
Other possibility your local shop for electric pro. Usually this is more expensive but have a try

 

[Lufox]

Bought mine from China, about 130sek for a kit of 150W MH

Here is two shops who ships to Europe/Sweden.

http://www.exclusiv-online.com
http://www.izzotek.com/ (They got pretty cheap ballast/lamp kits)

I havent bought anything from exclusiv, but from izzotek, takes about 1 week for them to ship to Sweden.

 

[Guy Grotke]

buy one locally

I'm sure you can find one in any large city. This is the ballast for a standard 400 Watt High Pressure Sodium bulb. These are the pink bulbs used in parking lots and street lamps, because they are very efficient. (The light quality is very bad, but not as bad as the orange Low Pressure Sodium bulbs.)

Your city government or maybe a big local factory or shopping center buys them someplace! You just need to find out where that is. Try looking up industrial lighting, or ask a local electrical contractor. The US standard is "S51", but I don't know the EU equivalent. Make sure you get a ballast that will work with your standard house power. Some only work with 440 VAC, others 270 VAC, "multitap" versions will have a 240-250 VAC connection you can use.

Remember: Don't ask for a ballast for a MH bulb. You need a ballast for a 400 Watt HPS bulb.

Don't buy one from across the world: The shipping will be very expensive because they are so heavy.

 

[The_gnu]

I bought all the stuff from http://www.exclusiv-online.com and i recieved it one week later. The shipping wasn't to expensive either....ca 160sek i think.
In the begining i was going to buy lamp and ballast from different places in sweden...but it turned out much easier to buy the whole kit from germany. And it felt "safer" because the ballast was all pre-wired and i knew all the parts was compatible, since i wasn't 100% shure of what i was looking for....

by the way: where do you get fresnels in sweden??
good luck

 

[tothal]

I bought mine (400W) on german ebay for 9,99 Eur + P&P 17 Eur to Sweden.Good luck!

 

[Danielb]

Excuse my ignorance if i bought one from france or germany will i be able to use it on UK's 240volt mains???

 

[renan]

well the plug in your wall is different i think so you just have to cut the wire a put a UK plug or to buy an adaptator (few euros).

 

[Danielb]

bloody euros, should be francs

 

[Danielb]

http://users.pandora.be/worldstandards/electricity.htm

Useful and intresting

 

[renan]

in fact my mistake, the plug is not included in the kit ballast and starter. Then you just have to put your 3 wire on the ballast with the plug from your country. Then almost no cost

 

[realmadrid]

Hej Peritus!
I have a new Electronic Ballast from Lumenlab + a HID Mogul Base. Intresserad? Jag bor i Linköping

Juan

 

[EtoH]

just a quick question. I've got an izzotek ballast set up. I've checked the wiring diagram on the site and i think i understand that ok... but where does the earth wire from the 3-pin plug go??

 

[Guy Grotke]

earth wire

Generally, the earth wire (or ground wire) goes to the metal chassis that surrounds all of the powered components. That way, a short inside one of those components will make a fuse blow or a circuit breaker trip.

If you failed to connect the chassis to the earth wire, then an internal short could give you a "hot chassis". Then touching the chassis and anything that is grounded could kill you!

If you are not putting all of the ballast components in a metal box, then you can just connect a round terminal to the earth wire and put that on one of your ballast mounting bolts. That way a short inside the ballast will blow the fuse.

 

[EtoH]

wow. thanks for the reply. i definitly dont want to kill myself..

ok so heres the way i understand it. please correct me if i'm wrong

looking at the diagram at the bottom of

http://www.izzotek.com/ballasts.htm

i was going to run the live wire from a 3 pin plug to a switch then on to a wire joining block( i dont know what theyre called properly - the plastic blocks with a screw in the top for joining wires). from there i was going to connect the wire from the capcitor and a wire going to the ballast in the same joining block.. is that ok?

basically i was going to follow the rest of the diagram placing 2 more blocks - one at the bottom left of the diagram for the capacitor and one inbetween the ignitor and the light.

i was then going to take the ground wire from the 3 pin and connect it to the ballast casing.


does this sound ok?

thanks