Hey wassup guys, ive got a question so mabe you could help me out here: ive got an extension cord hanging which is attached to a light bulb socket which is attached to a light bulb socket spliter (so i have 2 bulbs). The extension cord, and fixtures are getting very hot. Should i be worried about this? -thanks
Yeah the extension cord itself should not be getting hot. That means you need to get a thicker gauge. What is the wattage of the lights ur using? Is the cord one of the cheap thin wal-mart pieces of crap? You prolly just need a thicker cord. Forgot to ask. Do you have a fan blowing over any of this?
The cords are fairly old and about 1/4 in. thick. on one extension cord theres about 50 w. other about 125 w. they both seem to be getting hotter though lol EDit: no fan yet, i figured dont need one until about 2 weeks cos their too weak when seedlings, but i didnt think about heat problems ;/
yeah thats not a lot of watts at all. The extension cord should be able to handle it but apparantly cant for some reason. I would just get a thicker extension cord from home depot or lowes. hope it works out
You can run an unlimited amount of watts through a cord without it getting hot. The part that makes it heat up is Amps. How many amps are your bulb sockets and cords rated for? Like Pnut said the thicker the wire less heat will be generated. You might also look into a sub-panel breaker box to run you grow off of, Much safer, IMHO. Good luck with your grow.