In Over My Head With This T5 Retrofit...

[Ty Hamatake]

I bought the T5 retrofit kit from BRS and realized after opening it that I have no idea what I'mean doing. After about an hour of trying to figure it out all but the dimmer cable connection is done. This is where I need help. Through searching online I've found conflicting info for some of my questions and not info for the others, so here they are.

1. Which wires are positive and which are negative?

2. Out of the eight wires total, which actually connect to the ballast?

3. Last, and probably the dumbest of them all, how do I connect the wires to the ballast? The wires that came in the kit are all 18 gauge solid copper which fit nicely into the push fitting and the end caps and ballast. The wires for the dimmer cable are even small and not solid. Will I need to attach some sort of fitting to make the wires rigid enough to push in, or am I making this harder than it needs to be?

 

[Diesel]

Not sure but do they don't have a BRS video for this...........

 

[RMS18]

Contact BRS for help. It's their product.

 

[bblumberg]

To insert wires on that sort of fitting, you depress the slotted area with a small screwdriver. This opens the area where the wire goes and you can just slip it in. Removes the same way. It is sometimes helpful to tin (put solder on) stranded wires so that they stay together when inserting/removing from such connectors.

Does your dimming control have violet and gray wires? If so, then connect them to the ballast as indicated. If they are a different color, simply try it one way first and if the lamps don't light and dim, then switch the connectors.

I'd also yell at BRS for not including instructions with this retrofit kit. DIY is one thing, but instructions are required, particularly where electricity in the proximity of water is involved.

 

[saltnewb]

that's so weird that it came like that. just looking at their website, it doesn't even show the wires you're holding in your hand, but the wires that match the colors according to the dimmer/switch.

 

[Ty Hamatake]

To insert wires on that sort of fitting, you depress the slotted area with a small screwdriver. This opens the area where the wire goes and you can just slip it in. Removes the same way. It is sometimes helpful to tin (put solder on) stranded wires so that they stay together when inserting/removing from such connectors.

Does your dimming control have violet and gray wires? If so, then connect them to the ballast as indicated. If they are a different color, simply try it one way first and if the lamps don't light and dim, then switch the connectors.

I'd also yell at BRS for not including instructions with this retrofit kit. DIY is one thing, but instructions are required, particularly where electricity in the proximity of water is involved.

Thank you! No violet and gray, but red and black. Where I get more confused is that there are also green and yellow and two sets of each. I'll give it a go and see how it works.

 

[Ty Hamatake]

Not sure but do they don't have a BRS video for this...........

I looked and couldn't find one.

 

[bblumberg]

Thank you! No violet and gray, but red and black. Where I get more confused is that there are also green and yellow and two sets of each. I'll give it a go and see how it works.

Hmm. Ok, let's be systematic about this.

Your ballast should have connections for the mains (AC current), dimmer and to the lamps. Your picture above shows the mains and dimmer. These are easy. Mains you connect black to line, white to neutral and green to ground as indicated on the ballast.

If the dimmer wires are red and black, then they are most likely red(+) and black ( -). Attach them this way to the dimming ports on the ballast. The dimmer wires should connect only to the ballast and the dimming control (potentiometer, controller or whatever), although I have no experience with dimmable T5 ballasts.

What colors of wires are attached to the endcaps? Are these the ones you showed above with red black yellow and green? Do you have pictures of the endcaps showing the wires attached to them? Generally speaking for a 2-lamp fluorescent ballast, you have red, blue and yellow wires (at least mine are wired this way). Red goes to one end of the first lamp, blue to one end of the other lamp and yellow wires go to the other ends of both lamps. if you have green and yellow, I'd connect green to one and yellow to the other.

Bruce

 

[bblumberg]

ps. Which retrofit kit did you buy? This information might be helpful in figuring out the wiring.

 

[Ty Hamatake]

ps. Which retrofit kit did you buy? This information might be helpful in figuring out the wiring.

Thanks for all the help. It was the dimmable LET Lighting kit. The wiring for the end caps was fairly simple, pairs of yellow, blue, and red and a single gray. Per the instructions I have the blues to one end cap, reds to the one next to it, the yellows running down to either cap on the opposite side of the red and blue, the gray into a three way connector, and finally an extra bit of yellow wiring from the cap already wired with yellow (this piece came pre-cut) into the three way with the gray. I can send pictures ha ha, I get confused just talking about it. The instructions for that portion were fairly simple, it's mainly the dining that I'm having trouble with...

The attached picture of the two wire bundles is the wiring end for the APEX adaptor. I guess my main confusion with this is, do I tie both sets of reds and blacks together and plug them into the + and - respectively? Do I just use one wire bundle? And finally, do I do nothing with the green and yellow?

Again, sorry if I'm making this harder than it needs to be, and thank you for all the help.

 

[bblumberg]

OK, now I get it. The confusion is that the Apex adapter is for four channels, i.e., each RJ45 plug feeds 2 cables with 4 channels of control, total. One cable is V1/V2 and the other is V3/V4 on the Apex base unit. This way, you can dim as many as 4 ballasts (or 4 LED channels, or 4 pump channels, etc). I would use one pair of one Apex cable per ballast since it appears to only have a single dimming input. If you have more than one T5 retrofit kit with a ballast, then connect one pair to each one.

If you have a multimeter this is easy. Plug the RJ-45 end of the cable into your Apex. Pick the channel you want to use (V1,2,3 or 4) and set it at some %, e.g., 50%. Test the black and red first and then the green and yellow in voltage mode on your meter. Look for a pairing that shows you ~5v (or a voltage that corresponds to your %). Label those. Do the other one the same way.

If you don't have a multimeter, you can do this by trial and error to find which wires in what cable correspond to port 1/2 and 3/4 on your apex cable to see which one controls your lights.

Bruce

 

[Ty Hamatake]

OK, now I get it. The confusion is that the Apex adapter is for four channels, i.e., each RJ45 plug feeds 2 cables with 4 channels of control, total. One cable is V1/V2 and the other is V3/V4 on the Apex base unit. This way, you can dim as many as 4 ballasts (or 4 LED channels, or 4 pump channels, etc). I would use one pair of one Apex cable per ballast since it appears to only have a single dimming input. If you have more than one T5 retrofit kit with a ballast, then connect one pair to each one.

If you have a multimeter this is easy. Plug the RJ-45 end of the cable into your Apex. Pick the channel you want to use (V1,2,3 or 4) and set it at some %, e.g., 50%. Test the black and red first and then the green and yellow in voltage mode on your meter. Look for a pairing that shows you ~5v (or a voltage that corresponds to your %). Label those. Do the other one the same way.

If you don't have a multimeter, you can do this by trial and error to find which wires in what cable correspond to port 1/2 and 3/4 on your apex cable to see which one controls your lights.

Bruce

Ok, that clears a lot up. It is marketed as a dimmer cable for LED but BRS recommends it use with the retrofit kit. I think you may have solved my problem. Thank you for your input.

 

[bblumberg]

You are welcome. Let me know if it works for you.

 

[Bj’s Reef]

How did it work out for you? I'm looking at the same problem.

 

[Ty Hamatake]

How did it work out for you? I'm looking at the same problem.

I think I was making it harder than it needed to be. Lights are up and running, but I can't try the dimmer yet because I am still in the "burn-in" phase. I ended up just connecting the red wire to the (+) and black to the (-) on the ballast from one wire bundle (so the other is unused at this time).

 

[Ty Hamatake]

Update pic.

 

[reefruss]

I hate to revive an old thread but I have the same retrofit kit and when my Apex tries to turn the lights off they blink on and off. It works just fine on 100% but is a problem when off. I haven't tried to set up any dimming as it is in the first 50 hour burn in period. I did use the black wire on the Apex cable as + and the red wire as the - lead.

 

[reefruss]

I ended up just connecting the red wire to the (+) and black to the (-) on the ballast from one wire bundle (so the other is unused at this time).

I just saw this part of the post, the Apex guide says that black is + and red is -, maybe this is my problem.