Attention Ice Cap VHO owners/electrical wonders

[christyf5]

Ok, I've done everything but stand on my head to get this damned thing working.

Some background: I bought an icecap 660 used and it came wired to a solar 1000 dimmer. Pretty neat, however I can't get it to work. It worked before I got it (several people saw it in action). And the very first time I plugged it in there was about 2 seconds of wimpy light (not even the full 40W) emanating from the bulbs before the whole thing went kaput.

Its blown the original fuse plus 5 others so far while trying various wiring combinations. I have attempted to use the original wiring in my lighting hood as I previously had normal output fluorescent bulbs (40W) with the waterproof endcaps. I have followed the Icecap wiring diagram to the letter. Checked and rechecked and I still can't figure it out. I mean I knew I was a bit electrically challenged but this is getting ridiculous. The bulbs were working fine, I just swapped out the ballasts, suddenly nothing. The fuse blows immediately upon plugging the ballast in.

So now I'm wondering if its my wiring that I had previously? Do you have to use special wiring on this thing?? Right now I am using the wiring harness connected to my original wiring which is many little thin wires put together to make one big wire. Stranded wire??. Sheesh I sound stupid. Its non-solid core wire.

Thats about all I can think of. I've checked all the wire connections and they're all good.

Any suggestions at this point would be appreciated

Christy