Giesemann Spectra Setup

[Aaron-A2]

Hello! I'm having a little difficulty setting up my Giesemann Spectra and was hoping I could get some pointers. Here is the setup:

- Giesemann Spectra 72"
- (3) Hamilton 250w 20k MH
- (4) Euroaquatic E5X Blue Pop
- (3) 250w Reefbrite Ballasts

I have only received 1 of the ballasts and was trying to get a single MH booted up. However, whenever I plug the ballast into the wall the MH bulb flickers dimly and doesn't start. Here is the wiring:

Three MH connectors with quick connects:

Reefbrite 250w ballast with a female IEC connector:

I cut the IEC connector, stripped the wire, and connected all 3 wires into the quick-connect side of the fixture:

This is the fixture side of the connection. I have paired the wires up as follows:

Black --> Blue
White --> Brown
Green --> Yellow/Green

It's at this point where I connected both sides of the ballast and fixture, plugged the ballast into the wall, and nothing. Are MH's similar to T5 where you need to have power to all bulbs to complete the circuit? I'm out of my element here, so any suggestions are appreciated!

 

[jda]

It looks like you have positions 1, 3, 4 on the first plug and then 3, 4 and 5 on the second one. Are you sure that those are right and line up OK?

 

[jda]

https://www.allaboutcircuits.com/textbook/reference/chpt-2/wiring-color-codes-infographic/

EU - USA
Brown to Black
Blue to White
Green/Yellow to Green

On the top connector, it looks like you need to move the black all the way to the right (position 5), move the white to position 4 and leave the green alone. This will match the EU plug below.

I do not know how those quick-connects are, but sometimes you have to wire them inverted - left to right on one of them and right to left on the other. Some of them match up just like they look. In any case, it should be easy to see what to do.

 

[Aaron-A2]

I should clarify those pictures don't represent how the wires ended up. I followed this in the end:

Black --> Blue
White --> Brown
Green --> Yellow/Green

looks like they're still mixed up regardless. I'll address it when I get off work. Thanks!

 

[jda]

Look at that link, but I think that you have them mixed up... Black goes to Brown and Blue to White. I don't think that it will matter with a bulb, but still better to get them right.

My apologies if I am looking at this wrong.

 

[jda]

brew12 is the resident electrical guy on the board.

Included him in this thread with the @ sign if you don't get it figured out. He is usually pretty helpful.

 

[Abhishek]

So i followed @ReefBum (Keith's ) blog post as he uses the same and worked great for me .

https://reefbum.com/my-setup/lighting/

You should connect the way he has laid it out in his post .

Regards,
Abhishek

 

[Aaron-A2]

Still no luck. Here's the connection below:

I'm not sure if it matters, but it appears that on the fixture side, they either have solder or some kind of terminal at the end as opposed to my twisted loose wire:

At this point, I'm not too sure what the issue is.

 

[Aaron-A2]

@Abhishek @ReefBum I just saw your post and it seems like I'm getting conflicting statements here. It seems consistent that Green/Yellow --> Green, however for the other not so much.

 

[Abhishek]

@Brew12 - any help ?

 

[jda]

I am at a loss.

The solder on the end of the wires will not matter.

Try a different bulb.
Make sure that you have the bulb seated very well in the socket.

 

[Aaron-A2]

Call off the alarm, it was most likely user error on my part. I tested the connect on another MH slot and it worked. I reseated the original bulb in the problem slot and it worked.

My guess, just not screwed in all the way. Oy vey... thanks all for the help.

 

[Abhishek]

Nice !!!

Well I just rewired my old trusty reeflux cube and then wired it all up to the giesemann to test the connection I told you .

It works for me !! Wish I had asked that question first to you lol !!! Are you testing the right bulb ?

 

[Aaron-A2]

Nice !!!

Well I just rewired my old trusty reeflux cube and then wired it all up to the giesemann to test the connection I told you .

It works for me !! Wish I had asked that question first to you lol !!! Are you testing the right bulb ?

No problem bud! Out of curiosity, what bulbs are you using?

 

[jda]

Looks good. Make sure that you get any fingerprints off of the bulbs, if you did not already.

 

[Aaron-A2]

Looks good. Make sure that you get any fingerprints off of the bulbs, if you did not already.

Thanks for the heads up. I wore latex gloves while handling the bulbs, so they should be good.

 

[Abhishek]

Call off the alarm, it was most likely user error on my part. I tested the connect on another MH slot and it worked. I reseated the original bulb in the problem slot and it worked.

My guess, just not screwed in all the way. Oy vey... thanks all for the help.

No problem bud! Out of curiosity, what bulbs are you using?

Ohhhh touchy topic man especially when so many are radium fans lol !!! I use geisemann crystal 17.5 k bulb , Xm 10k and reeflux 10k .. keep switching between them

Regards,
Abhishek

 

[Aaron-A2]

Ohhhh touchy topic man especially when so many are radium fans lol !!! I use geisemann crystal 17.5 k bulb , Xm 10k and reeflux 10k .. keep switching between them

Regards,
Abhishek

I CANNOT BELIEVE YOU DON'T USE 20k RADIUMS YOU .... /s

I actually picked up both the 15k and 20k hamiltons to see how they looked. I've seen tanks with both of them and liked each

 

[jda]

You might really like the Giesemann 17.5 (or even the 21.5k) on electronic ballasts. It is too bad that XM is not making bulbs anymore, but XM and Hamilton have picked up the slack, IMO. Hamilton 10k is a really nice bulb.

 

[Brew12]

@Brew12 - any help ?

Thanks for the invite! Glad to see you guys got it working!