help asap room down

i have a 1000 w ballast and cap and a home made hood grow room is sourrounded in that metal insulating material...was in buggerin around my room and the hood was wedged into the metal side wll tied there with peice of wire i moved the hood and seen a spark out of the corner of my eye and the light went out. sooo i took the wire that had the hood wedged into the wll off nothing happened just then. | I noticed that the hood hd embedded itself into the side of the wall sooooo i took it out of the wall and then big assed pop. i check the panel it didnt flip the breaker next i looked t the ballast seemed fine no scorching next i check the cap it was lying on its side touching the metl shelf it was sitting on one of the top cap thingies was ctually touching the metal shelf i stood the cap back up...
\\now as to how i grounded it i grounded the incoming line to the neutral on the buld itself but the hood itself is not grounded...should i have grounded the hood also becuse of the close metal walls? and should i try plugging the unit back in to test and should the hood also be grounded before i do this

it sounds like you are going to blow yourself up and should just purchase a ballast thats self contained...no offense man

whoa dude.
Sparks = bad.

Grounding is good. but its to keep your house/whatever from burning down. when a current flows thru the ground wire, you have a short circuit = bad. if you have a spark, that means the short circuit is smaller then the circuit (or loop) of current that includes the ground wire. You need to take it all down. check all your wiring, cables, etc. 1 spark means you could have melted a wire, lost some of the insulation (the plastic sheath around the separate wires) and run a risk of another short circuit.

DIY is great, but you run a risk of making a stoner mistake. happens to the best of us. but you gotta step back when you make a mistake and try to locate it, simplify the set up, and prevent the ground wire from ever being used.(still have it there for safety of course)

Its one thing to lose a crop cuz the power cuts out, but to lose house/life due to electrical fire ----> not ok.

Icemaiden buy a reflector. I got a new deep radiant hydrofarm the other day on amazon for 120 bucks. Why burn to the ground over a hundred bucks?

If your hood is energised, you could have reverse polarity (hot and comon reversed.) very dangerous.

Sometimes homemade stuff just isn't worth the risk.

Good Luck

icemaiden said:

.....next i check the cap it was lying on its side touching the metal shelf it was sitting on one of the top cap thingies was actually touching the metal shelf i stood the cap back up......i grounded the incoming line to the neutral on the buld itself but the hood itself is not grounded...

Click to expand...

not to be a dick but,......wait you need a dick to tell you off.
you are a hazard to anyone who lives in the house!!!!
not sure if you are going to electrocute yourself or burn the place down but you are headed for trouble!!
that cap holds over 600 volts even after it is unplugged. and you leave it so it can fall over on a metal shelf?? go down and touch the 2 wires coming off it. when it knocks you on your ass, maybe you will learn a little respect for electricty.
if you dont know why you dont use the neutral wire as a ground,you should not ever touch anything electrical again!!
I Hope you live alone & far away from ant other houses.
at least get a life insurance plan so your family doesn't have to pay to bury your sorry ass

sorry to be a dick about it but I am trying to set you straight b4 you KILL someone!