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View Full Version : Metal halide lighting "Need re-wiring help"


ashish
03/27/2013, 07:49 AM
Hey guys,

For the past few years my Icecap ballast has been sitting on a ledge next to my aquarium!! The MH fixture's original ballast had a long cord coming from the ballast and Icecap has a long wire going into the main power supply leaving with me with only 2' of wiring.

After research I figured the best bet is to just buy a C13 to C14 coupler online. This way there is no need to have to do any sloppy rewiring jobs.
However, when I try to google advice on Metal halide awg ratings, etc. I don't get any good feedback. Though few weeks ago I did write down someones recommendation and he said make sure the wire is 18 awg/250volt/10amps for 250 watt mh lamps.

The 2 websites I plan on ordering from are either cables.com and stayonline.com. Both have the 6ft wire for around $9. After searching some more on cables.com (getting ready to close), I found the exact say wire for $12 (instead of $9). I stopped and figured let me go on RC. The only thing different about the $12 cable was the gauge which was 14! I am pretty sure the wires will be fine but would like to know if these wires (designed for computers) can have problems if wired wrong with the wrong Amgs (which I cant find at 18 awg which was recommend)

jerpa
03/27/2013, 07:56 AM
Going to a lower gauge, which is actually a thicker wire, is fine as it will handle more current than the 18 gauge wire. Whether the original recommendation is correct, that I am unsure of.

ashish
03/27/2013, 08:06 AM
Going to a lower gauge, which is actually a thicker wire, is fine as it will handle more current than the 18 gauge wire. Whether the original recommendation is correct, that I am unsure of.


Ok got you. So I guess that's why this one is cheaper than the onces with less gauge. I found the one that was recommended by another reefer online! Would this work? I need 2 for 250watt HQI Icecap ballast
http://www.stayonline.com/c14-c13-white.aspx

or this one which is $5 less with 14 gauge
http://www.stayonline.com/iec-c13-to-c14-15-amp.aspx