Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi All,

I have a question on connecting a dimmer control to Flexwatt heat tape. The connection they sell (to connect the clips to the heat tape) is a polarized male which I attach my polarized extension cord. Now I bought a dimmer control, which has three wires. Two black, which I am to connect on the live or "hot" wire and a green for ground. Now which prong of a polarized extension cord is the live or "hot" wire? Secondly, Since there is no ground in the extension cord, do I need to connect the green ground wire on the dimmer or do I just tape it off and do not use it? Electricity is not my strong suit.

Thanks for the help,

Dave

I don't pay any attention to what side to wire(ignoring the polarized issue) ....just splice it into one of the sides of the cord. I put the ground to the box on over the switch.

One thing I did this last time was put the dimmer into a 3 outlet extension cord and then put a cord with plug on the flexwatts and now I can plug in two (or three) different tapes on one switch. The catch is that they all have to have the same setting obviously, but that is cool for what I needed it for.
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Sonya

A few years ago I had a similar question. I went to the library and picked up a book with a title something like the Better Homes and Gardens home fixit book. Many of the do-it-yourself books have a section on wiring in a dimmer switch. Unfortunately I don't remember how I did mine. I'd have to check the book if I needed another.

Paul Hollander