Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Just had a question for some of you that have built your own enclosures. It's not for a kingsnake, but this is the forum I visit most and I know some of you have a wealth of knowledge to offer. I am wanting to wire a ceramic light fixture ( the kind you put on the ceiling) into my Argentine black and white tegu's cage. I have been using a clamp lamp, but he tripods and pulls it down. Here's my question.....

Is it possible to safely wire a light fixture to a 110 cord?
I asked the people at lowes, they were less than helpful. (like, i have no idea dude....lol)
thanks in advance

Hey Dave, I have a couple of PVC cages I purchased for my bearded dragons and the ceramic light fixtures are just wired with what appears to be simple extension cords. Nothing magical. I planned to buy some two-wire/prong extension cords myself and cut the receptacle end off, and screw into the two connections of the ceramic fixture. I would think it would be pretty easy. From there you can just bolt the fixture to the top of the cage. You may want to do that first and drill a hole just big enough to run the wires through before screwing onto the fixture.

Yes you can wire a ceramic light fixture to the top of you cage. I've done it with iguanas. You can use the female end of an extension cord. Just cut the female end off, pull about 2" of the sheathing off, strip all three wires so about 3/4" of copper is exposed, twist each wire seperatly and wrap them around the screws. Black goes to the gold screw, white to the silver screw and green (ground) to the green screw. Another thing you could try is cut a hole in the top of your cage about 1" bigger than the diameter of your clamp lamp and get 1/4" mesh chicken wire and screw that to the top of the cage and put your clamp lamp on top. This will prevent the potential for burns or even a broken bulb. Hope that helps. Steve.

Yeah putting the fixture outside the cage is probably the best way!
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King Snakes! Who can make a better mouse trap?
J Sierra

The fact that the lizard "tripods" (btw, I like that description!!) and can pull down a clip lamp makes me wary about putting a fixture inside the cage unless you cover it with a bulb-guard of some sort. I don't know anything about keeping lizards like that - will they try to climb onto a bulb?

In any case, seems that a screened hole with a dome on top of the cage is the safest alternative, followed by mounting a ceramic fixture in the cage covered by a hardware cloth bulb guard.

On a common household cord, the Ribbed wire is Neutral (goes to the Silver screw) and the Smooth wire is Hot (goes to the Gold screw.)

Of course I do things differently. I mount a ceramic piece like the pic to a piece of aluminum channel, then fix the channel to the cage ceiling. The aluminum acts as a heatsink and mounting bracket in one.

Pic to follow.
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Mark

One screw can be used to mount this to a piece of aluminum bar.

Black wire goes to Hot (smooth wire on a household cord) and the White wire goes to Neutral (ribbed wire on a household cord).

Best to splice the connections in a plastic outlet box either in or on top of the cage.

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Mark

The safest bet would be the cut out for sure, but I use the cage as a tv stand (its 7ftx4ftx3ft). I need to just figure out a good bulb guard. Should be pretty easy....

wiring wont really matter since it's Alternating Current (AC), I have also seen some adapters that are basically a socket with two prongs that plug right into an extension chord, then you screw the bulb right on that. Just secure the extension chord and there you go. Keep in mind bulbs can get very hot and can burn animals.
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King Snakes! Who can make a better mouse trap?
J Sierra

Wiring does matter. Know why? Because part of the bulb - the silvery threaded area - is partially exposed when you screw a light bulb into a socket. And if you have the HOT connection going to that part of the socket, well, that is a shock going to happen.

The only part of a light bulb that should see the HOT connection is the gold tip at the bottom. That is why lamp cords are polarized now.
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Mark

Isn't the polarity switching at 60 cyles per minute? So they change polarities. That's what I was always told anyway. It's not like DC current where you have a positive and a Negative. But you have a point they do make most plugs with one larger than the other? Scratching my head...
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King Snakes! Who can make a better mouse trap?
J Sierra

One signal - the Hot wire - changes from positive to negative. The neutral is always at 0v (roughly).

So, the neutral is always neutral in a complete circuit. The hot goes from plus 170 V at its peak to minus 170V at its lowest, which averaged over the sine wave at 60Hz is calculated to be 115-120VAC RMS voltage. Either the positive or negative voltage will shock you when over something like 45V or whatever that threshold is.

You don't need to scratch your head, it is the way it is. You can test it if you want. Use a voltmeter set to AC and measure the silver screw part of a light bulb that is ON, with the other lead of the voltmeter touching a ground somewhere. You will read hardly any voltage, not enough to feel if you touched it. Well, unless it is one you wired

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Mark

I've leaned something new yet again here. That makes sense. I have always heard the two wires alternated. I believe you now, lol.

(*note to self; go back and check all my wireings)
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King Snakes! Who can make a better mouse trap?
J Sierra