Friday we had the main service (277/480V) shut down on a job I am finishing up. I took that opportunity to pull the neutral disconnect link and check for neutral to ground connections. Sure enough, there were some. We traced them down to a couple of pinched neutral ballast wires in the ReLock lighting system. The last one we found was (is) in the exterior metal halide wall packs. Since these fixtures were not in our scope of work (installed by core and shell contractor, powered by us) we left it alone and today I wrote a letter to the owner via the General Contractor notifying them of the problem.
I am a little worried that I may have opened up a can of worms. I am now being told by my PM that he had a lot of trouble in getting clear readings with HID fixtures in the past. (This was in the infamous Huntington Beach area for those of you from around here) They have a connection or leakage that gives you the impression there is a bad connection.
Is this common with HID fixtures? I have always thought the neutral to ground reading should be clear no matter what. Does the circuitry in these fixtures not allow this? [Linked Image]
Posted on: Mike Holt & Electrical-Contractor.net