There are many many complaints coming from a wide swath of people who have noticed that many products coming in from China, Pakistan, et al are questionable in quality or over rated. Like you my strategy is to over spec (overkill) to avoid failures that could get me killed. For example I bought a piston jack a few months ago, I could have gotten a 12 ton and been fine. I changed my mind at the last moment and got a 20 ton instead.
Great point to bring up. Should definitely have an understanding of electrical if your keeping monitors. It’s funny you brought this up I just had my monitors bulbs die this morning. So I’m going through my extra bulbs to switch the dead one out and 3 of my brand new 150w basking bulbs didn’t even work so I was tempted to put in one of my 250watt bulbs but didn’t want to take the chance of a fire. The lamps I have are rated for 250w but still a scary thought of having a fire. So I ended up just running 3 80w halogen bulbs temporarily instead. Definitely don’t want or need a fire in my life right now 🤦♂️. Stay safe and check your lamps and outlets regularly
There's certainly nothing wrong with being conservative, but note that *it was the switch not the wire* that had a problem with your other light fixture. Both of those wires are plenty big enough for that amount of current, and will have no problem with overheating, I can pretty much guarantee it. The problem you encountered was almost certainly because somebody used the wrong kind of switch, which was not rated to handle the same current that the rest of the light fixture was. (You didn't mention whether the switch was part of the original product or added on by somebody after the fact. In any case, those sorts of inline cord switches are rarely designed to be able to handle any kind of high-power load, so probably should not have been used there in the first place.) 250W for a 120V device is basically only 2.1 amps of current. According to UL guidelines, 18 gauge wire cords (up to 50 feet long) are rated to handle up to 10 amps, so if that's what those power cords are, then they're both plenty big enough (really *5 times as much* as necessary) for that sort of application. Also, the one wire might *look* beefier than the other, but quite often that's just cosmetic. If you're concerned about current carrying capacity, you always want to check the actual conductor size (wire gauge) instead (which is usually printed on the cable somewhere). That's what actually matters, not what it looks like. Also, the amount of heat generated is always a factor of the amount of *current,* not the wattage. You should always divide the watts by the voltage (usually 120V, for this sort of thing) to find out the current (amps), then look up the rated current for the wire gauge/type you're using (or it's sometimes actually printed on the wire too).
Fantastic comment. This is exactly why I ask for input. The light came from the factory with the switch. The cheap switch was my main concern, but I've also seen quite a few of these lights that didn't have a switch and it looked like the wires shorted. A few times a year someone will post about it happening in a reptile group. It's hard to get all the info from them about the situation but it normally looks like the wiring failed. My guess is the fixture was inside an enclosure where the wiring got extremely hot, the insulation deteriorated over time from the heat exposure and the wires shorted. I'm aware the current is what's important. I talked about wattage because that's what's printed on boxes and it's what the average reptile person understands, so it makes it easier to get the point across.
250W at 120V is just over 2 amps. Even the smallest sizes of appliance cord should easilly handle that. The main difference between the two cords seem to be that one of them is a "shotgun" style with probablly only a single layer of insulation, while the other has an overall sheath independent of the individual conductors.
If i had as many enclosures as you do running temps as high as you are i would replace my normal breakers in those dedicated circuits with Arc Fault Circuit Interrupters.
@@Zaku186 I ran multiple dedicated circuits for them with 12/2 and 20amp breakers. Each circuit only has a 14 amp draw at absolute max. Normal load on them is 10-12 amps. I'm not sure what those are but I'll look into them.
I don't know about the switch. But the 250w bulb is about 2 amps. 18ga wire is useful for 14 amps if 90C but probably your wires there are only 60c. Your 14ga is NEC rated for 15 amps at 60C.
There are many many complaints coming from a wide swath of people who have noticed that many products coming in from China, Pakistan, et al are questionable in quality or over rated. Like you my strategy is to over spec (overkill) to avoid failures that could get me killed. For example I bought a piston jack a few months ago, I could have gotten a 12 ton and been fine. I changed my mind at the last moment and got a 20 ton instead.
Great point to bring up. Should definitely have an understanding of electrical if your keeping monitors. It’s funny you brought this up I just had my monitors bulbs die this morning. So I’m going through my extra bulbs to switch the dead one out and 3 of my brand new 150w basking bulbs didn’t even work so I was tempted to put in one of my 250watt bulbs but didn’t want to take the chance of a fire. The lamps I have are rated for 250w but still a scary thought of having a fire. So I ended up just running 3 80w halogen bulbs temporarily instead. Definitely don’t want or need a fire in my life right now 🤦♂️. Stay safe and check your lamps and outlets regularly
Absolutely agree. Safety is the most important thing
There's certainly nothing wrong with being conservative, but note that *it was the switch not the wire* that had a problem with your other light fixture. Both of those wires are plenty big enough for that amount of current, and will have no problem with overheating, I can pretty much guarantee it. The problem you encountered was almost certainly because somebody used the wrong kind of switch, which was not rated to handle the same current that the rest of the light fixture was. (You didn't mention whether the switch was part of the original product or added on by somebody after the fact. In any case, those sorts of inline cord switches are rarely designed to be able to handle any kind of high-power load, so probably should not have been used there in the first place.)
250W for a 120V device is basically only 2.1 amps of current. According to UL guidelines, 18 gauge wire cords (up to 50 feet long) are rated to handle up to 10 amps, so if that's what those power cords are, then they're both plenty big enough (really *5 times as much* as necessary) for that sort of application.
Also, the one wire might *look* beefier than the other, but quite often that's just cosmetic. If you're concerned about current carrying capacity, you always want to check the actual conductor size (wire gauge) instead (which is usually printed on the cable somewhere). That's what actually matters, not what it looks like. Also, the amount of heat generated is always a factor of the amount of *current,* not the wattage. You should always divide the watts by the voltage (usually 120V, for this sort of thing) to find out the current (amps), then look up the rated current for the wire gauge/type you're using (or it's sometimes actually printed on the wire too).
Fantastic comment. This is exactly why I ask for input.
The light came from the factory with the switch. The cheap switch was my main concern, but I've also seen quite a few of these lights that didn't have a switch and it looked like the wires shorted. A few times a year someone will post about it happening in a reptile group. It's hard to get all the info from them about the situation but it normally looks like the wiring failed. My guess is the fixture was inside an enclosure where the wiring got extremely hot, the insulation deteriorated over time from the heat exposure and the wires shorted.
I'm aware the current is what's important. I talked about wattage because that's what's printed on boxes and it's what the average reptile person understands, so it makes it easier to get the point across.
250W at 120V is just over 2 amps. Even the smallest sizes of appliance cord should easilly handle that.
The main difference between the two cords seem to be that one of them is a "shotgun" style with probablly only a single layer of insulation, while the other has an overall sheath independent of the individual conductors.
You're right about the insulation. I just assumed the the chicken light was a heavier gauge wire because of the size and the rating.
If i had as many enclosures as you do running temps as high as you are i would replace my normal breakers in those dedicated circuits with Arc Fault Circuit Interrupters.
@@Zaku186 I ran multiple dedicated circuits for them with 12/2 and 20amp breakers. Each circuit only has a 14 amp draw at absolute max. Normal load on them is 10-12 amps.
I'm not sure what those are but I'll look into them.
I don't know about the switch. But the 250w bulb is about 2 amps. 18ga wire is useful for 14 amps if 90C but probably your wires there are only 60c. Your 14ga is NEC rated for 15 amps at 60C.