High bay lights

[Mike in Ohio]

Bought some lights at an auction , I got them cheap (i think) but I may be in over my head with them There is a sticker on them that says 120v, 220v, 277v 480v. The 277v is circled. I took the side cover off and there are 3 wires coming out 1 is very obviosly a ground, it is screwed directly to the case. The other 2 go into a transformer then 2 come out of the transformer 1 goes to the bulb the other goes to a small canister looking thing about 3-4 inches tall and 1 inch thick then to the bulb. The bulb says GE R175 multi vapor on it. Can any of you guys tell from this info what I have and whether I can use them or not? I've got a 100 amp panel in the new shop, I'm pretty good at basic wiring but I try not to get in over my head and I might be with these. The wires inside the fixtures are all black, the wires coming out are green for the grounds and the other 2 seem to be whatever they had. A couple of the lights have white and yellow. A couple have white and red, so I'm not sure what the colors mean. Thanks alot, Mike

 

[Torque1st]

Those lights are for 277V, they will not work on your residential service.

 

[GDA]

Timely post. I just got all mine hung tonight. 4 450 watt metal halides and 2 1000 watt metal halide all ultra wide dispersion.

I believe you might have some multi tap high bays. Take the cover off and there should be several extra wires and each should be labeled with its appropriate voltage for the proper wiring of the lights given your situation. Since yours are colored you will probably have to get the specs from your manufacturer to be safe. Thats how I made sure mine were correctly installed and wired.

On mine I got I had to undo the 277 wire and rewire the 120V marked wire to the black (hot) wire. All the other wires in the ballast were white (which is different from yours) but each was individually marked for it respective voltage mutliple times on the wire. Mine draw 4 amps each at 120 so instead of spending more money running a couple 220 outlets I just wired each of them on individual switches on 120.

It just takes 10 minutes top to rewire them and you should be good to go.

EDIT - please post a pic of the lights or the model # and manufacturer and we might be able to help more.

 

[Torque1st]

He already said what wires he had under the cover.

 

[Charles (in GA)]

He already said what wires he had under the cover.

The remainder of the wires for the different voltages may be shoved down inside the ballast housing out of sight. Its possible that he may have to split the housings open so see if there are wires for other voltage taps inside there. Many times the light colored wires have the voltage imprinted on them, sometimes they have little flags attached to the wires with the voltage on the flag.

Charles

 

[Aceman]

Personally, I don't really care for high bays unless you have a very tall ceiling height, maybe 25'+. We put them in a large 100 x 700 warehouse where the ceiling height was around 20-25' if I remember right and they didn't disperse the light nearly as well as a low bay would of. They're almost like a spotlight, you can try them, but your best bet is to find a different reflector/lense or just a different light altogether.

Since the fixture is marked multi-tap, I willing to bet the ballast has the extra wires in it for different voltages. Just like Charles said, look for the markings on the wire or the tags. You don't need to change the "com" wire, only the wire marked "277" to either "240" or "120" depending on which voltage your tapping them up at.

 

[dwilliams35]

It's more than just not caring for the light pattern on a too-low hibay: I've seen a worker hospitalized with a major sunburn from working too close to a MH highbay: the reflector geometry is completely different. The 175 MV's won't of course present a danger like that, but if it's a real highbay, it'll be completely unsuited for any ceiling height below 24' or so.

 

[Charles (in GA)]

I suppose the big questions are, how big of an area are you trying to light up, and how high off the floor will the bottom of the light fixtures be when they are hung.

Your lights, if as the bulb indicates, are 175 watt, will not provide alot of light. Some high-bay lights say to be mounted above 15 ft, some above 20 ft., etc, but as Aceman noted, they will seem like spot lights, with lots of dark areas in between. Usually, the difference between high bay and low bay is the reflector and the reflector mounting. Low bay lights will usually have either a metal reflector and a lens that is designed to disperse the light, or a clear or semi clear polycarbonate reflector, with or without a bottom lens. Currently, low bay lights, to be installed in public places must have a bottom lens, this is for safety if the outer glass of the bulb shatters, the glass will be extremely hot, and the inner bulb will continue to burn, emitting large amounts of UV which can give people a sunburn just sitting under one for a few minutes.

I got my lights when Sams and Wal-Mart converted from MH lights to T8 fluorescent in the Atlanta area stores. The seller had acquired pallet loads of bulbs, reflectors, and ballast/housings. All 400 watt, and all were 120v.

Here is the link to the thread on my lighting installation.

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=21048

Charles

Here are some pics of a spare ballast with wires marked for 120v. If there were wires for additional voltages, they could very well be shoved down thru the hole in the ballast housing. You may have to split the housing apart (if this type) to get access to them. Notice from the data tag that this is a 120v ONLY ballast. Some wires have little flags taped on them to label the voltage. Be sure and heed the 90°C min requirement for supply wires. I used flex cord rated for 105°C on mine