277V is the line to neutral voltage in a 3Φ 480V WYE system and is commonly used to power trios of 277V single phase lighting loads in buildings with the aforementioned 480V WYE system.Is a ballast labeled 277V just mean max of 277 and household 220-240V range is the intended application, or is 277 some kind of industrial voltage level not found in homes?
Finished the sentence for yaThe 277 ones will not work. The ballasts you see that say 120-277 may just mean 120 or 277 volts. Either way with any ballast or any appliance for that matter will consume the same power higher volatage or not, it will pull less amps SO THAT YOU CAN RUN MORE LIGHT FIXTURES ON A 20A CIRCUIT IN A WAREHOUSE, OFFICE BUILDING, STORE, ETC.
I checked the spec sheet and it lists specs for 120,230,277 input voltage broken out separately, so it seems these should work for for my setup. Just need to pick up a dual pole 15A breaker...The 277 ones will not work. The ballasts you see that say 120-277 may just mean 120 or 277 volts. Either way with any ballast or any appliance for that matter will consume the same power higher volatage or not, it will pull less amps
I'm confused. If my garage supbpanel is fed by a dual-pole 30 amp breaker, you're saying I could use a 120V device pulling 59.9 amps before it tripped? This doesn't make sense to me. I thought 30 amps was 30 amps.You won't be saving any amps on your panel, since your panel has 30 amps of 240 or 60 amps of 120.
The only savings you would see is that you could run 2x as many fixtures on one circuit of 240, so that could save you the cost of the conductors.
Correct me if I am wrong, but doesn't wye and delta just refer to how 3ph motors are wound?277V is the line to neutral voltage in a 3Φ 480V WYE system and is commonly used to power trios of 277V single phase lighting loads in buildings with the aforementioned 480V WYE system.
Delta vs. Wye Power
Wye connected power has two different voltages available. The Phase to Phase voltage is the main system voltage (typically 208 VAC or 480 VAC in the United States). The Phase to Neutral voltage is also available, and is typically used for small single phase loads (120 VAC or 277 VAC).
Delta connected power only has a single voltage level available: the Phase to Phase voltages. Other voltages can be obtained only by using step-up or step-down transformers.
Equipment designed to operate from Delta connected power, such as air conditioners or motors, can also operate from Wye connected power without a problem, since the Phase to Phase voltages are available in both systems. However, equipment that requires Wye connected power cannot operate from a Delta connected source. The Phase to Neutral voltages are not available. A special isolation transformer, designed to convert Delta to Wye, is used in this case.
This isn't the deal. The deal is you have two 120V hot wires 180 out of phase with each other (240 volts between them) and a neutral. With a 30A 2 pole breaker each phase can be loaded up to 30 amps without tripping the breaker. If you loaded up both phases with only 120 volt loads, you'd have a total of 60 amps at 120v or 7200va. If you loaded both phases with the same 240v equipment you'd still have 30A on each phase and 7200va power used, but you'd run half (for the sake of conversation) as much copper to connect the loads.I'm confused. If my garage supbpanel is fed by a dual-pole 30 amp breaker, you're saying I could use a 120V device pulling 59.9 amps before it tripped? This doesn't make sense to me. I thought 30 amps was 30 amps.
It has to do with the efficiency of the ballast. The lamps run on about 575volts. The ballast is more efficient when it changes 240 to 575 than when it changes 120 to 575. Less IsquaredR losses in the transformer, less heat.If these consume 1 amp at 120V, and .45 amps at 240V, 4 of these ballasts should save me 2 amps if I run them all off 240V power right? That is the 2 amps savings, not in the electric costs, but in current usage.
You were doing pretty well, until you tried to run the calc...watts = amps x volts is the key to everything.
now you can only load a breaker up to 80% of its rating so with 30 amps you actually only have 24 amps to work with for lighting.
At 240 volt you say the ballast you are looking at is rated at .45 amps. So 24/.45=53 light you can put in.
At 120 volt you figure 24/1=24 lights you can put in.
Now the thing to remember is that no matter you use 120 or 240 a 4 lamp T8 uses roughly 120 watts. You get billed in kW/hr. So if you have 53 lights vs. 24 lights it will cost you twice as much.
As for Wye and Delta that is more about how the power is supplied to you. Quick little blurb I found that sums it up pretty well.
^ As for this well it doesn't make any sense to me. You put 1 x 60 watt keyless on a 20 amp circuit vs. 10 x 60 watt keyless on a 20 amp circuit, the 10 will cost 10x as much as the 1. If you turn all but 1 of the 10 off then it will be equal to the one. The number of lights does make a difference. Or are you trying to say something different?In short, the number of lights on a circuit isn't going to affect your KWH consumption.
Below is what it says in the spec sheet. I think it is exactly what it says, a ballast that can handle input voltage between 120-277V and between 50-60Hz, irrespective of each other. The garage isn't wired yet so I'm going to try the 230V lighting circuit.the 230V on those ballasts refers to 50Hz which is more common in Europe. You can leave your existing 120V circuit alone, and just retrofit the ballasts.
2.1 Ballast shall operate from 50/60 Hz input source of 120
through 277V AC/DC with sustained variations of +/- 10%
(voltage and frequency with no damage to the ballast).