Whatsup with this gear? I obtained it a while back from the junkyard... not sure why theres two coils... what gives?? also how do i wire this stuff up??? seems a bit over complicated in my opinion ... came from an old HPS lowbay

The 250W lamp arc voltage is higher than 120V, so if it is to be used on 120V, there are 2 "magnetic" actions to be done :

1. Step up the voltage to something in the range of 200V..400V

2. Ballast the lamp

The functions can be combined in the same core (as in HX or CW ballast), but this requires shunts to be present in the magnetic circuit. If the "magnetic device" does not contain shunts, it can be either one of the functions but not both, and then 2 "magnetic devices" are required - One step up transfromer, one ballast

If neither of the devices contains shunts, and the highbay was fed with 120V, that is a likely answer...

If the highbay was fed with 208V or higher, then there is no need in anything except a simple 2-wire ballast, then it is odd that 2 cores were used. Maybe they were connected in parallel or series. Maybe one jsut came from another lantern, or one is a replacement and the other is an old broken unit that was disconnected but not removed from the lantern

The 250W lamp arc voltage is higher than 120V, so if it is to be used on 120V, there are 2 "magnetic" actions to be done :

1. Step up the voltage to something in the range of 200V..400V

2. Ballast the lamp

The functions can be combined in the same core (as in HX or CW ballast), but this requires shunts to be present in the magnetic circuit. If the "magnetic device" does not contain shunts, it can be either one of the functions but not both, and then 2 "magnetic devices" are required - One step up transfromer, one ballast

If neither of the devices contains shunts, and the highbay was fed with 120V, that is a likely answer...

If the highbay was fed with 208V or higher, then there is no need in anything except a simple 2-wire ballast, then it is odd that 2 cores were used. Maybe they were connected in parallel or series. Maybe one jsut came from another lantern, or one is a replacement and the other is an old broken unit that was disconnected but not removed from the lantern

I can confirm that they were both connected... and i'm not to sure of the parallel or series thing... if you look closely you can see they are two different types of cores.... i feel stupid for not taking note of how they were connected...

I'm assuming you've tried googling the numbers on all the different pieces of gear? Usually that can give you a foothold into finding a spec sheet or a picture of one wired up somewhere else.

If it's got two coils then it's probably a CWA/CWI ballast.

If it's got two coils then it's probably a CWA/CWI ballast.

If one coil is totally isolated from the other it's a CWI otherwise if there is wires or a cap going between the two it's a CWA, both run the lamp nicely and will handle more line voltage problems then a simple reactor ballast, so they like to use them in highbays where line voltage problems can exist because of other loads running and they might even be SCWI which will take a 45% line voltage drop before extinguishing the lamp..