If you plugged you 3 pronged male plug into a female receptacle, your panel is grounded and your receptacle has 3 wires going to it or you have GFCI in the kitchen or bathrooms, then your ballast is grounded. You're fine. It is mandatory that the manf. ground the whole casing for your transformer or it could not PASS the UL (Underwriters Lab) inspections. If it was not grounded, you would have been shocked by now or your light would not operate correctly.

__________________
Anything that I state here should not be taken seriously. It is intended as purely fictional. Any misrepresentation of these facts will be considered slander.

Right on indo,thats what I was trying to say. I don't use use ballast boxes personally,but still ground components as per specs. I would suggest that unless experienced in electrics you use the assembled systems. Much less chance of error.Peace.

__________________
www.ThePotLawHasFallen.ca
What,Me Worry??

Exactly. Otherwise F The Plant.....you're Dead.

__________________
Anything that I state here should not be taken seriously. It is intended as purely fictional. Any misrepresentation of these facts will be considered slander.

right on guys, here let me explain simpler. I have the ballast components (ignitor, capacitor, socket for lamp and ballast itsele (no housing). All is wired correctly. the thing that worries me, is that the power cord only wires to the 120V wire and the COM wire, leaving no connection for the ground wire of the power cord. There has to be a terminal that connects the ballast itself to the ground right? or should i just try to ground the capacitor? It only has two connections, both used...

__________________
Jackie Treehorn... treats objects... like women... man..

Ground the iron core of the ballast. *DO* scrape off any varnish at the point you are going to ground it. I'd bet it has a hole in each corner? Just run a bolt through there and attach it to your ground.

If you want to ground the cap, (not sure if ya need to) if its a 'can' style, use a hose clamp; clamp a wire under it and run to the *same* spot you grounded the ballast.

One is supposed to use an noncorrosive bolt/hardware for grounding. ie: cadmium plated, SS, etc.

aw, no shit huh? at first i thought grounding it would be that easy, but then i figured id best not make any assumption, you know? word, easy enough.. i just dont see how it works.. i guess in the event that theres a voltage drop or some kind of potential across the ballast core itself (not necessarily the working part(s)) then the ground is an outlet for it? it just seems to me like connecting a ground to an arbitrary point on the core wouldnt work... then again, i really have no idea.. but thanks

__________________
Jackie Treehorn... treats objects... like women... man..