A ballast wiring Question

[Bassman59]

Hiya folks, newbie Bassman here.

I'm getting ready for my 1st grow. In an effort to have more amps available in the spare bedroom where the grow will happen I am thinking of wiring a lumatek 120/240v ballast to a unused dryer outlet. However, the normal 240v dryer outlet uses a nema 10-30r receptacle in the wall. HUBBELL HBL9350 AC Receptacle NEMA 10-30 Female Black 125/250 Volt 30 Amp - Our Item #: 4412, Category: Receptacles / Wall Plate : StayOnline.com
This is the wrong receptacle for the ballast so I was thinking "ok I'll just make a new cord/plug-in for the lumatek to match the dryer outlet".

In the description you will see it says 3 pole, 3 wire non-grounding.
However, BALLASTS MUST BE GROUNDED!

I called the electrical supply house and they claim the said "neutral" is in fact a ground. Basically they're saying I can just change out the cord to this dryer type plug in and no problem.

However, from the lumatek website I reads: 240V ballast wiring: VERY IMPORTANT! It has come to our attention that many customers are using a NEUTRAL wire in their electrical systems. The Lumatek ballast will malfunction if the circuit has a NEUTRAL wire. The input for the ballast is 2 HOT WIRES 1 GROUND WIRE. Some electricians insist on wiring a neutral wire with their 240V. This should not be done when using electronic ballasts. If you are using a light controller bring ONLY a ground wire and two hot leads from your electrical panel.

So now I'm confused.

 

[too old]

I know how I would do it, but it is probably the wrong way. You should NOT do it this way, and if any electrical contractors/engineers tell you how to do it, listen to them, not me. This is what should not be done: rewire the leads from the panel to the receptacle. Keep the two hot leads where they are and change your "neutral" to a ******. No wait. Don't do that.....that's totally wrong and probably get you in trouble. You should never listen to me, I don't know nuthin'.

 

[Bassman59]

Actually an electrician kinda did tell me to do that. I just have to take a look under the main panel cover 1st to see if it's neutral or grounded. But hell I havent even been able to find the receptacle type we with our ballasts in 240v.

Such a pain to do something so simple to reduce amps draw.

 

[TorturedSoul]

A neutral is NOT a ground! They should not be tied together downstream of the main panel. (I think it's a code violation)

 

[Hogdady]

Technically, your neutral circuit is a return path to your main service panel, where it is bonded to your ground circuit. If you could be absolutely certain that you can isolate the neutral wire that goes to your dryer receptacle, you could move the neutral wire in the main panel to the ground buss. THIS IS NOT CODE! If you don't care about that, it will work. You do have to make sure that the neutral wire on the dryer receptacle is not connected to any other circuit. As a reminder, you should tape the last 6 inches of wire at the receptacle with green tape.

 

[TorturedSoul]

Wouldn't it be safer (for a non-electrician who doesn't have complete knowledge in his home's wiring setup) to just run a new circuit?

 

[Hogdady]

Wouldn't it be safer (for a non-electrician who doesn't have complete knowledge in his home's wiring setup) to just run a new circuit?

Without a doubt TS, that would be the safest route!