Reptile & Amphibian Forums

im a bit confused how to do the wiring for my ceramic light fixture in my melamine cages. i was told at lowes to get the fixture and 14-2 wire, mount a metal box to the roof of cage and fixture to that, then connect wire then run all wires from all 3 cages i plan on stacking, to an electrical outlet box he told me to buy. that way it would be grounded. then run a male/male extension cord from that to the wall. now this sounds fine to me but after thinking about it i dont want all cages being wired into one box incase i decide to sell cages down the road or when moving them into a new house soon. it means id have to undo all wiring then wire it back up later, inconvinience to me.

soooooo, id like to ask what the best and easiest way to do this will be.
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Beach Beardies

3.4.11 bearded dragons
1.0.0 Turquoise x Sunburst Veiled Chameleon
1.1.0 Sugar Gliders
0.1.0 Miss Queen Athena (Cat)

Make each cage independent. That is, each has its own power cord to the light fixture.

You don't need 14 AWG wire. The 16 AWG extension cords work fine.

Remember that the ribbed wire on a zip cord goes to the silver screw on the fixture, and the smooth wire goes to the gold screw. The gold screw is the HOT connection.

so should i just cut the female end off of a 16awg cord and wire it to the socket, not having it grounded??? and just plug it in directly to the wall?
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Beach Beardies

3.4.11 bearded dragons
1.0.0 Turquoise x Sunburst Veiled Chameleon
1.1.0 Sugar Gliders
0.1.0 Miss Queen Athena (Cat)

>>so should i just cut the female end off of a 16awg cord and wire it to the socket, not having it grounded??? and just plug it in directly to the wall?
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I like to run wires from the socket into the utility box, then use wire nuts to connect those wires to your 16AWG line cord (with the female end cut off.) Use a black wire for the gold screw on the socket = HOT/LIVE wire, and a white wire from the silver screw on the socket=NEUTRAL wire.

On a 2-prong polarized line cord, the WIDE spade on the plug is the NEUTRAL (and the insulation is ribbed slightly) while the NARROW spade is the HOT/LIVE (and the insulation is smooth.) Make sure you hook it up correctly. If you don't, then that metal shell in the socket will be HOT/LIVE and easily shock you or the snake because it is exposed.

Once you have the above wired correctly, yes, you can plug it into the wall or through a dimmer or into a thermostat. I recommend at least a dimmer for each cage's incandescent light fixture. They make plug-in types for the electrically impaired. They are called "tabletop dimmers" and are good for up to 300 watts. Or you could plug all three cage cords into an outlet strip and run the outlet strip through a dimmer. So one dimmer controls all 3 cages. Just make sure the lights don't total more than the dimmer's rating.

like you said, electronically impaired, which i am. all i want to do is connect a power cord to my ceramic fixture so i am able to plug it into a wall outlet. these cages are for bearded dragons so temps do need to be around 110. i have no experience in wiring this at all, haha so what u are telling me is like a foreign language. anyway to explain it so i can understand haha?
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Beach Beardies

3.4.11 bearded dragons
1.0.0 Turquoise x Sunburst Veiled Chameleon
1.1.0 Sugar Gliders
0.1.0 Miss Queen Athena (Cat)

I realize that my electrical subject posts are often difficult to understand if you're not experienced in this sort of thing (but as you see, I still write them )

Way better if I do a picture. I can draw something up easy enough and try to get it in JPEG format to post here (that last part is the harder part for me.)

Hope this helps

thanks for the help, that diagram does help alot. i appreciate it
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Beach Beardies

3.4.11 bearded dragons
1.0.0 Turquoise x Sunburst Veiled Chameleon
1.1.0 Sugar Gliders
0.1.0 Miss Queen Athena (Cat)

DO NOT MAKE A MALE - MALE EXTENSION CORD, that can be very dangerous, when one end plugged into wall, the other end has exposed metal prongs, one of which is HOT and can shock anyone touching it!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm surprised the Lowes guy recommended it. Well, not really (the big box stores don't always hire the cream o the crop) but if you were to get hurt, they'd be somewhat liable.

That said, I have 6" one I use for power outages to connect my house to the generator in my motorhome. Definately not SAFE but I only use it occasionally and am knowledgable about wiring/electricity.

For your cages if you want a ceramic light fixture inside, I've used surface mount ones I found at a local Orchard Supply Hardware. Eliminates the need for the electrical box. Cost maybe a little bit more but way cleaner installation. Each one can be powered with lamp cord and squeeze on lamp cord connectors. without metal boxes grounding is not an issue.

Pic worth a thousand words, you can see one in the top right section:

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Thanks,

Dave Colling

www.rainbows-r-us-reptiles.com

0.1 Wife (WC)
0.2 kids (CBB)

LOL, to many snakes to list, last count:
10.22 BRB
10.15 BCI
And those are only the breeders

lots.lots.lots feeder mice and rats

thanks for the advice, i was kinda thinking the same thing that is why i checked with people on here before doing so.

this is what the guy gave me to mount to the cage itself them attach the ceramic fixture to this so the wiring would be inside the box and away from the animals and myself.

http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=productDetail&productId=116049-1571-55505-CC&lpage=none

like i said before, all i want is basically to make a light socket with a cord, just like a clamp lamp but without the dome.
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Beach Beardies

3.4.11 bearded dragons
1.0.0 Turquoise x Sunburst Veiled Chameleon
1.1.0 Sugar Gliders
0.1.0 Miss Queen Athena (Cat)

I used, just googled it

www.doityourself.com/invt/u248583#
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Thanks,

Dave Colling

www.rainbows-r-us-reptiles.com

0.1 Wife (WC)
0.2 kids (CBB)

LOL, to many snakes to list, last count:
10.22 BRB
10.15 BCI
And those are only the breeders

lots.lots.lots feeder mice and rats

>>
>>That said, I have 6" one I use for power outages to connect my house to the generator in my motorhome. Definately not SAFE but I only use it occasionally and am knowledgable about wiring/electricity.
>>

And, hopefully, you disconnect your house wiring from the power line before doing this. Otherwise you can electrify those lines and give a lineman a nasty surprise.

deg

not to mention my lil ol 7K watt genny isn't nearly enough to power the grid.

Standard procedure is:

1. Shut off main house breaker at meter panel.
2. Connect a special 220V plug I made that crosses both phases of AC. My Genny is 110 V and this way all the 110V circuits work. The 220V won't since they have the same phase but I already know that and don't even try to use them.
3. Connect my male/male pigtail to a 20A garage circuit.
4. Connect a heavy extension cord to the pigtail.
5. Connect the extension cord to my motorhome.
6. Fire up the genny.

Note: The key steps are 1 and 6, they have to be first and last, the others don't really matter since after 1 and before 6 all circuits are cold.

Then while my neighbors are using candles, my herps are happy and I'm watching TV etc. The only house on the block with lights.

To Disconnect, I reverse the steps.
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Thanks,

Dave Colling

www.rainbows-r-us-reptiles.com

0.1 Wife (WC)
0.2 kids (CBB)

LOL, to many snakes to list, last count:
10.22 BRB
10.15 BCI
And those are only the breeders

lots.lots.lots feeder mice and rats

to have a "break before make" main switch to switch over house source power from grid to alternate supply. And a male connector box. The male plug would be connected to one side of the switch and would never be energized by the grid. so would never be hot except when connected to external power source.

There are systems which will automatically switch over to backup genny when grid power is lost, way to expensive for the average homeowner.
-----
Thanks,

Dave Colling

www.rainbows-r-us-reptiles.com

0.1 Wife (WC)
0.2 kids (CBB)

LOL, to many snakes to list, last count:
10.22 BRB
10.15 BCI
And those are only the breeders

lots.lots.lots feeder mice and rats