sfiligoi light fixture

[Bergy]

Well, some of you might know about Sfiligoi, if not, please google it...

high end light fixtures... VERY HIGH END

Anyways, i have the SoleSet 150W pendant, and it is a sharp impressive fixture, BUT, i have had problems with it since day one....

I had to replace the capacitor in the ballast after a month, then things worked well for more then a year..

then the step up transformer blew out.. tripped all the breakers in my house, and that wasnt a good day..

That was back in december...

I have been in contact with sfiligoi an dthier americal reseller to get replacement parts, and finally got them today... whooo hoooo



BUT, after one half hour, CLICK, no more light.. wtf!!!!!!

The new partrs were effing HOT.. too hot to touch for more then a second...

I let them cool and tried again, so far so good, but i have a house fan blowing on it to keep it cool..

the step up tranformer is to convert the 120v to 240v (euro voltage)

If this dont work, i will be gutting the pendant and putting in american parts and ballast and eliminating the need for a 'step up transformer'

I have been reluctant in doing that as although it might end up being a better product, it is surely removing the SFILIGOI price out of the picture...

(btw: for those too lazy to search, this pendant cost about $800 new.. and no, i didnt pay that, i got it used for much MUCH less)

[Just_Greg]

is the step-up wired before the ballast?  (e.g., is it the ballast that requires 240V?)

did those nimrods send you the wrong xfrmr?

[Bergy]

The step up is before the ballast...
but im not sure how they could do it AFTER the ballast???

They could easily replace the ballast to 120v, and save some money and looks...  not sure why they do it this way.....  it adds money and parts and things that can go wrong, as we are witnessing here.... when all they would need to do is replace the ballast transformer...

btw:  this is an hqi ballast, so it also has an IGNITOR as part of the ballast.. (a transformer, capacitor, and ignitor)

So, Im not sure if the ignitor needs to be switched also to make it 120v

the capacitor is fine in either configuration as long as it is rated for the higher voltage.

The guy I have been dealing with, (the middle man), emailed me last night, and asked me to describe how this fixture is wired, i.e.  he has never seen the insides of this fixture, and doesnt now ABNYTHING about step up transformers/converteres...  Im beginning to think he put his little bit of knowledge  to my original requests which is why they sent me a capacitor too,...

Im thinking he ordered  a ballast parts kit...  except the transformer is definately a steop up/converter xfrmr