wiring problem??

southflsti

southflsti

New Member
I'm setting up some cages and having a problem with the lights. I went to home depot and picked up a T12 20 watt fixture. it didnt come with a cord so I also bought a extension cord. I got home and realized the cord was a two prong. so I wired it black to black, white to white, plugged it in with a reptisun 5 blub and it doesnt do anything. I thought maybe a bad bulb and exchanged it and still nothing. has anyone ran into the same problem or should I get a three wire cord and ground the housing???

the other problem I had was with zoo med heat bulb. I bought two, one worked one didnt. so I returned it, came home and tried the new one. as soon as I plugged it in it lit up and started smoking inside worked maybe 5 seconds then burned out!!! is this common with reptile bulbs or what, I asked the guy at petco if people return bulbs alot and he said no.
 
Dont wire things up yourself Unqualified! :D

bad_hair_day.jpg
 
lol. I'm a mechanic with ase certification in electrical. I also used to do building maintenance at an airport!! Wiring a cord to a fluorescent fixture should be simple but I haven't messed with 110v lately.
 
Most likely you have a bad fixture. You shouldn't need that stupid 3rd plug. I rip those out all the time with no ill effects. White to white black to black is what I would do, but this being AC it really doesn't matter. Positive and negative constantly swap on AC, hens the name "alternating current".

The 3rd plug is more of a safety device. It gives the current a better source for ground than your hand should there be a short.
 
black is hot, white is neutral, green is ground , neutral and ground (white/green) go to the same spot on the electrical panel and preform basically the same function , the green ground is just a redundent safety measure, your fixture should work with just the two (black/white)wires, and adding the third (green/ground) is not likely to make any difference. my guess is that the transformer in your fixture does not have enough power to fire a t-12 bulb , smaller fixtures commonly found a home depot etc. are most commonly used with t8-t10 bulbs, so it may not have enough power, also i dont know if reptisun5.0 are a rapid start bulb (because i dont currently use/have reptisun) but if they are a rapid start bulb, they would need a fixture that has a rapid start transformer (vice -versa) either way the fixture should operate on just the hot (black) and neutral (white) wires. first verify that there is power to the outlet (by plugging something else into it, then verify that your cord is getting power at both ends by wiring something else to it , then check your connections , verify that the bulb is properly inserted (make sure the pins are in the little indentations at both ends), try leaving it plugged in for a while , under some circumstances they may take a couple of minutes to start, then try stroking the bulbs with your hand lengthwise several times, sometimes the static electricity is enough to excite a difficult to start bulb. if it still doesnt work then you probably need a fixture with a rapid start transformer (ballast), you can tell if your transformer / ballast is rapid start by whether or not it has a starter, if it doesnt have a starter, it will just be a sealed metal box, if it does have a starter, then the starter will be visible and look like a little metal can slightly smaller than a 35mm film can and will twist out with about 1/4 turn , if it has a starter make sure it is inserted properly, if you had a volt meter you could test the fixture, the ballast, and the starter for continuity to determine if the fixture /ballast was good, but i am afraid that would just confuse the issue farther , in all likely hood you need a fixture with a rapid start ballast, / there is a picture of a starter in another recent thread entitled "whats wrong light dont work" if it doesnt have a starter then in all likely hood it is not a rapid start ballast, which is probably the issue, if it does have a starter then it may just need a new starter
 
thanks for the info guys. the fixture takes t12 bulbs, its commerical grade and I think I saw on the website that it was instant start but not sure. I bought 2 of the same brand fixtures in different lengths but only had one size bulb. today I recieved the other bulb so I'll try that one, maybe I just got a bad fixture. I have a outlet tester and I checked it as soon as the light didnt work. no problem there.
 
Sometimes UVB lamps don't always work... it just happens. If you find that another lamp works in the fixture then just call Zoo Med and tell them you have a bonk lamp... they'll ask for a copy of the receipt and if you fax them a copy, they'll ship your lamp that day (if its early enough to...) and if ya don't have a receipt they'll ask you to ship in the bad lamp and will send you one the day they get yours. I have done this a few times and they are very fast at getting these turned around. I shipped a lamp on Monday and had my new one back on Wednesday :cool:..... of course I live in the same state... hahahah

this is all asuming this is a Zoo Med.. lamp I am just noticing that you didn't mention what brand of lamp.....
 
southflsti said:
thanks for the info guys. the fixture takes t12 bulbs, its commerical grade and I think I saw on the website that it was instant start but not sure. I bought 2 of the same brand fixtures in different lengths but only had one size bulb. today I recieved the other bulb so I'll try that one, maybe I just got a bad fixture. I have a outlet tester and I checked it as soon as the light didnt work. no problem there.
Click to expand...

just to be clear, if it is a double bulb fixture, both bulbs would need to be in the fixture, in order for it to work
 
It depends on the how that particular fixture is wired. I've worked on both. Ones that will work with one tube and ones that need both. Usually the ones that will run with just one have dual ballasts. But for the one's that only have one ballast, it depends on if the tubes are wired from that ballast in parallel or in series.

In this case the OP didn't say if he has a dual tube fixture or not. But if he does and is running only one bulb, he needs to try putting the other bulb in. Least that would be my first step in trouble shooting this. Much easier than opening the fixture to see how it's wired.
 
Ryan Jarosek said:
I have 20 2 bulb fixtures at home that are only running one bulb.
Click to expand...
the references made , were made in reference to a single, doulble bulb fixture, i am assuming that your fixtures are wired together? if multiple fixtures were wired together in SERIES , then each fixture would act as a second bulb to the fixture next to it , circut wise, it woud be the same as 10 fixtures, each with two bulbs in it. / if they were wired independently (each with their own plug) or wired in PARALELL , then i would be baffled as to how that would work , but if it did, you may be risking premature ballast failure .
 
xanthoman said:
the references made , were made in reference to a single, doulble bulb fixture, i am assuming that your fixtures are wired together? if multiple fixtures were wired together in SERIES , then each fixture would act as a second bulb to the fixture next to it , circut wise, it woud be the same as 10 fixtures, each with two bulbs in it. / if they were wired independently (each with their own plug) or wired in PARALELL , then i would be baffled as to how that would work , but if it did, you may be risking premature ballast failure .
Click to expand...


Nope , they are independent of eachother. All came wired with a plug already and are designed to be run with a single bulb. 48" 2 bulb fixture from HD $9.99
 
I'm assuming its a bad fixture. Both are single bulb from the same manufacturer. I wired the other one the same as the first and it's working no problem. So back to home depot I go.

Does anybody have suggestions for heat bulbs. I was going to use zoo med 60 watt but I need 3 bulbs. I purchased two the first trip to the petstore, one worked one didnt. So I exchanged the bad one got home and this one worked 5 seconds and burned out. Right now I got 1 good out of 3 and I still need 2 more bulbs. What do you use??
 
For heat, use regular house incandescent bulbs. Why do you need 3 is this a big cage or an easy bake oven?
 
3 lights=3 cages. By the way I bought two exo terra bulbs worked!!!!! yeah. These bulbs look like they are very well made next to the other brand.
 
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