Is your panel wired right? If you have a sub panel in a seperate building, and this panel receives power from the main panel in your house, it may not be wired right.
There are two ways it could be wired. 3, and 4 wire service.
If you have 3 wires going to your sub panel they are 2 hot wires and a neutral. So you MUST provide a ground at the sub panel. Which is a rod in the ground connected to your panel using copper wire. The building CANNOT be connected to the house by any other wiring at all. IE: phone line.
If you have 4 wires feeding your sub panel then one of them is the ground. So you have 2 hots, 1 neutral and a ground. THIS IS IMPORTANT!!! THIS GETS OVERLOOKED A LOT BY DIY. Your neutral and ground coming into your sub panel must be connected in different places. There might be an extra rail down the side of the panel to connect the ground, and/or there is a bar connecting the left and right rails together. You must take it out, or use the side rail. The reason for this is, the neutral and ground in the sub panel must be "unbonded". So all the plugs and lights that are fed by your sub panel must have their grounds and neutrals separated. They each go to their own respective places, never mixing the two. You have to have a racist panel when running 4 wires to it.
Now maybe your ballasts will last longer than 6 months...
There are two ways it could be wired. 3, and 4 wire service.
If you have 3 wires going to your sub panel they are 2 hot wires and a neutral. So you MUST provide a ground at the sub panel. Which is a rod in the ground connected to your panel using copper wire. The building CANNOT be connected to the house by any other wiring at all. IE: phone line.
If you have 4 wires feeding your sub panel then one of them is the ground. So you have 2 hots, 1 neutral and a ground. THIS IS IMPORTANT!!! THIS GETS OVERLOOKED A LOT BY DIY. Your neutral and ground coming into your sub panel must be connected in different places. There might be an extra rail down the side of the panel to connect the ground, and/or there is a bar connecting the left and right rails together. You must take it out, or use the side rail. The reason for this is, the neutral and ground in the sub panel must be "unbonded". So all the plugs and lights that are fed by your sub panel must have their grounds and neutrals separated. They each go to their own respective places, never mixing the two. You have to have a racist panel when running 4 wires to it.
Now maybe your ballasts will last longer than 6 months...
