ice rink lighting

[tawhuhn]

i have 6 1000 watt MH fixtures with remote ballasts inside a temporary ice rink. the fixture are placed in tubes just outside the batter boards and have a twist plug. 480v so cord connect the fixtures to receptacles fed from the ballast. I have placed all 6 fixtures on double pole gfi breakers. My problem is i get tripping on occasion. The supplier of rink dome and fixtures did not recomment gfi but I'm concerned about 450v ballast output and water

tom

 

[480sparky]

Lights in this application are not required to be GFI protected.

If people are capable of somehow coming in contact with the open voltage of the fixtures, you have defective fixtures and they should be attended to. I would be more concerned with heat/burn issues if they can be reached by the public.

Besides, any fault on the output side of the ballast cannot be detected by a GFI on the line side.