EEJaime- Thanks for the input. Correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems to me that it is easier to keep track of which conductors need to be in which conduits if you aren't mixing hot circuits with switchlegs. Also, from an installers perspective it is much easier to As-Built something that was...
davidbeach- NEC doesn't specifically say you must pigtail ungrounded conductors, but it does say terminals will "ensure a thouroughly good connection"(see 110.14(A), 2005 ed.). It is a hell of a lot easier to get 4 wires in a wirenut than it is to get those 4 wires under the single screw...
Possibly. The literature linked above does say they can be used on voltages 108-305, but the thing that makes me leary (without ever having tried it) is the phase/neutral phase/phase difference.
Standard commercial power in the US these days is pretty much all either 480-277 or 208-120 3 phase...
Truthfully, I do not know for sure.
I would be hesitant to put an mVolt ballast on a 208v circuit though, as all of the ones I have seen state 120-277 with no mention of 208v.
From an installers point of view that is incorrect davidbeach. NEC requires "pigtailing" of neutral conductors (see 300.13(B),2005 ed.), and this practice has carried over (at least from my experience)to all conductors where a splice occurs in a box which contains a device. In other words, the...
Errk.
Correction: mVolt ballasts are designed with single phase power in mind (a hot and a neutral). As 208v power is "two phase" I don't think they will function properly.
Here is a link to a GE spec sheet...
To expand on the "new generation" ballasts:
Most major lighting manufacturers (Lithonia, Columbia, etc.) have made the transition to what are known as mVolt (for multi-volt) Ballasts in the last few years. these ballasts can have pretty much any standad voltage up to 277v applied to them and...
First, a bit of background info on myself. I am a 20 year journeyman electrician in Southern California. I was a foreman running jobs for a good part of that time. I recently took a position as an estiamtor for a mid-size electrical contractor.
My question concerns the way lighting systems in...
