Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I'd like to add these to the ceiling of my waters new enclosure and have never done any kind of electrical work so any and all input welcome.

Thanks

Cheers
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0.0.1 Varanus Salvator (Gator)
0.1.3 Varanus Exanthematicus (Adisa "long term captive" other 3 "yet to be named hatchlings"
2.0 Ferrets (Chaos & Kasha)
1.0 Cat (George)

Have a qualified electrician do it.

OK, the bronze-colored screw is for the HOT wire. On an AC cord, the hot wire is the one with the smooth finish.

The silver-colored screw is for the NEUTRAL wire. This wire has a slightly ribbed texture on a line cord.

Use a metal junction box to mount the fixture to. Do not mount the fixture directly to the wood ceiling without a junction box. You can use a plastic j-box if the light bulb is not of a real high wattage or doesn't emit high heat.
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Mark

>>Have a qualified electrician do it.
>>
>>OK, the bronze-colored screw is for the HOT wire. On an AC cord, the hot wire is the one with the smooth finish.
>>
>>The silver-colored screw is for the NEUTRAL wire. This wire has a slightly ribbed texture on a line cord.
>>
>>Use a metal junction box to mount the fixture to. Do not mount the fixture directly to the wood ceiling without a junction box. You can use a plastic j-box if the light bulb is not of a real high wattage or doesn't emit high heat.
>>-----
>>Mark
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0.0.1 Varanus Salvator (Gator)
0.1.3 Varanus Exanthematicus (Adisa "long term captive" other 3 "yet to be named hatchlings"
2.0 Ferrets (Chaos & Kasha)
1.0 Cat (George)

They sell cheap plain galvanized steel boxes or more expensive round painted zinc-coated boxes that look nice and fit the ceramic light fixture nicely. They even sell the wire entry inserts for those boxes to provide some strain relief to the cord.
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Mark

are junction boxes those little metal boxes? So if I were going to wire lights into a new cage, I'd get the ceramic fixture thing, the cord, and the junction box?

...and the screws to mount the 4"x4" "metal light box"....

...and a good extension cord to ruin....
The heavier the wire/rating the better("12 gauge" is good).
The ground wire(green one)should be mounted to the box(inside of course)with a "green ground screw".

Mine are getting their power through a standard "recepticle"
which is supplied power from a dimmer("rheostat".
(Linein/rheostat/recepticle/load)

....btw,any loose connections(ie,not tightly screwed)can and will create heat.

Good Luck
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1.1 Thayeri Kings
3.9 Ball Pythons
0.1 Viper Boa
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Looking for 0.2 Phelsuma madagascariensis madagascariensis

Would it be easy to wire a rheostat right in line with the heat lamp then? I'd assume then I'd also need another box (different size), and the actual rheostat part, but would the wiring be much more difficult than just wiring the boxes? Would I be better off just to stick with plugging the heat lamps into pre-made rheostats? The ones I use don't have a ground plug, so the cord for the heat lamp couldn't be a very heavy duty extension cord.

What do you think would be a better idea? Are there any websites or anything that can illustrate these wiring procedures (not like they're that hard to understand though). Oh, and so I have to be careful to tighten the screws well then? Anything else I need to make sure I do?

See my reply about the junction boxes. The more expensive ones are already painted and look very nice in a cage.
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Mark

They probably are better looking .
Mine probably look a little like the sheet rock is missing..lol

What i did was..
Mounted a 4x4 to the side of 2 jewlers cases.
Then mounted 4 metal "switch boxes".Two above and two below the 4x4 box.(These hold the dimmers)

The 4x4 box has two recepticles (4 plugs)as well as being the "firebox" for the two "joints"wirenut connections)needed.

Complete circuit from line to load:

Home recepticle .../to

surge protector .../to

2 twelve gauge extension cord halves (male halves).../to

"joints" in "firebox"2 cuts of wire added to the original line/black only)(total of 3 black wires in wirenut)which split power .../to

two dimmers(upper and lower switch boxes).(Connect the black wires from "line in" "joint" to the dimmers wire labeled "line".) .../to

Connect "load" line from dimmer to recepticle (gold screws)(yes,back into the 4x4 box).(Congruent to relation of the dimmers location,ie,upper or lower plug).

NOTE ! : The recepticles have a small bronze looking connection on either side of them that runs power from the upper and lower plugs.THESE MUST BE REMOVED! ! !
Otherwise both dimmers would wind up being connected to both the top and bottom recepticle plug ins.

What to do with the white wires(neutrals)?
Make a "joint" for them as well but they do not need to run into the switch boxes.They go straight to the recepticles (silver screws)without going to the switch boxes like the "hot" black wires did.
Connect all grounds(green or bare copper wires).

Now anything plugged into any of the 4 recepticles can be independantly controlled.

I am not responsible for any misdirection/miswireing/or anything else.
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1.1 Thayeri Kings
3.9 Ball Pythons
0.1 Viper Boa
----------------------------------------------------------
Looking for 0.2 Phelsuma madagascariensis madagascariensis

Ignore the " they were supposed to be this " and this ) .

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1.1 Thayeri Kings
3.9 Ball Pythons
0.1 Viper Boa
----------------------------------------------------------
Looking for 0.2 Phelsuma madagascariensis madagascariensis

Hmm, I'm a bit confused, but that's because this is all sort of new to me. I was thinking more of having everything in line, so for each light it would be more like this:

Piece of extension cord from the surge protector to a junction box (probably seperate smaller ones for each dimmer switch...the ones that are used for single wall switches and stuff?). This is where the dimmer switch would be, concealed on the left side of the cages. I'm not sure how wiring would go to this, but it seems like it would be similar to just wiring the simple light fixture? Would the ground attach to this junction box, and then use ungrounded wire to go to the light fixture? Anyways, then just connect that to the fixture with whatever wire would be best? I don't know what I'm talking about really, but this is sort of the kind of thing I was thinking and i was wondering about the specifics of this project.

I do believe I will leave the flourescent lights alone pretty much, and just run their cords out of some of those little round things that you can put the plug through and then close off...? Don't know what they're called. I just figured that since I'll be using simple undercabinet flourescent lights (2 per cage, one over the basking spot with a repti sun bulb, and another with a regular bulb for extra light on the cool side), it need not be too elaborate. Then again if I could track down some 3' dual flourescent shoplights, I might opt for those instead.

Thanks for all of the help thus far.

I was browsing on lowes.com and the incandescent fixtures reccomended using 3 or 4" outlet boxes. I looked at them, and I can't figure out how you mount the light to them. Does it mount to the side that's open or the side that's not open and has holes you can punch out? It was confusing me. Then I looked at junction boxes, and there were none that were 4", and they didn't quite look like any of the boxes on the lights in my basement (that are the same style). Is it a junction box or an outlet box I should use? I think a trip to homedepot or lowes is probably necessary.

Does anyone have pictures of how this all looks/goes together.

if you want I can Email you picturs of my set up with dimmers and sockets.

That would be great.

Thanks