help with Icecap 660

[rusty18]

I have a 660 and the wiring harness that I bought from another member.
I an setting it up with (2) 6' VHO actinics. I have the (4) caps wired to the colors according to the Icecap manual. (red to orange and yellow to blue) I also grounded one of the black wires coming from the plug to the heat shield the ballast sits on.
I can't get this thing to work. I plug it in and I get a flicker of light and then nothing.
Any one who uses a 660 with (2) 6' vhos have any idea what I am doing wrong?
Any help would be appreciated, I am pretty frustrated with this thing at this point.....
TIA

 

[Liam]

they are pretty sensitive about connections at the bulb ends and were the wires push into the end caps(if you have the german end caps)
If there is one bad connection it is possible for the whole lot to go out.
however from your description it seems like the ballast is trying to fire the bulbs and then shutting down because it realizes there is a problem.
The icecap 430's and 660's have a failsafe circuit which shuts the ballast down which is what sounds like is happening here.

If your wiring checks out the fault may be in the ballast but triple check those connections in the end caps all the sdame.


p.s remind next time i see you i owe you $5

 

[delta]

Green is the ground wire, not the black

And it is red to yellow and blue to orange

 

[Jim Tansey]

Rusty,

The only suggestion I could make is wiring diagrams can be found at the web site if you want to double check, after that move bulbs around, if that does not work likely you have a bad ballast.

Jim

 

[rusty18]

Liam, np on the $5 not a big deal.
I am using the water proof end caps and have moved the bulbs around but still no dice.

Greg, I thought the green would be the ground to but I was told by the previous owner to ground the loose black wire. the gree is connected to the wiring harness and then the plug, should I splice it some how?

Jim, I set it up according to the manual on the site, and stil am getting this flicker. not sure why

would a pic help?

 

[Liam]

is the black wire on the power supply side like greg is mentioning

 

[rusty18]

Greg, tried the blue to orange and yellow to red but it didn't eve flicker this time, I thought it was the other way around?

Liam,
There are two black wires two white wires and 1 green. one of each is connected to the harness and the plug, there is a white and black wire coming from the plug that are not connected to anything. I grounded that black wire to the heat shield.

I will take some pics that might help, back in a few......

 

[delta]

Save yourself some trouble and ask on the icecap forum on RC
should get a correct answer from icecap rep fairly quick.

Should anything be wrong they take care of you. I had a bad ballast
I had a new one in 2 days. It was still under warranty. That way you have
covered your butt should there be something wrong.

 

[Liam]

are'nt the three power related wires seperate from the molex connector.
I can't picture it/remember

 

[wrassefan]

also make sure the purple and brown wires are capped off and not touching anything. Those are used for 3 or 4 bulb configurations.

 

[delta]

Just attach a 3 prong plug to the harness power wires or splice in a cord. The power wires are the black (hot) white (neutral) and green (ground. If you are referring to the 4 pin square I/O port that is NOT for power, but an optional dimming system.

Straight from the RC icecap forum and the icecap rep

 

[rusty18]

some pics,
I attached a small piece green wire to the black "ground" because it had a ground/washer attachment, so ignore that small green and assume it to be black...

 

[rusty18]

Greg, from the sounds of what the rep is saying that's how mine is set up, there are 2 "extra wires" a white and black coming from the 3 prong plug, of the (2) I grounded the black one. (this is what the guy i bought it from told me to do.)
so does this mean the ballast is bad?
if bad, any idea why it will flicker the bulbs when initially plugged into an outlet?

 

[delta]

There should only be 3 power wires

Here these 3, in photo, I pointed to them make sure your black is hot white is neutral and green ground and remove all the additional wiring the green is already attached to the ballast body and is grounded

 

[Liam]

i don't understand how there are so many black wires.
are you sure 2 of them are not brown because i thought there was only one black wire

 

[S Hunter]

i just checked my harness, i have 1 Blk 2 Brown

 

[delta]

What is all that white and black wiring wrapped in with the lighting wiring?

Is that all hot wired off the plug?

 

[rusty18]

ok so I pulled out the extra wires so now the green, black and white wires are running to the plug only. (wires from the ballast)
I plugged it in and one light flickered followed by the other than nothing....
I am not sure where o what the additional black and white were from, that's the way it came from the guy.

 

[rusty18]

The additional brown (2) and purple (2) are not connected to anything. The ends are separated and not touching anything else.

 

[S Hunter]

are the endcaps used?