Ballast to Hood Cord Browning from Heat????

[thekingofNY]

Here are a few pictures.... my g/f just noticed this last night, normally there is a small fan blowing over the canopy/light 24/7, however that fan broke the other day, so i just raised the light up about a foot so the canopy temp was in the mid 80's... not perfect, but it worked till I got a new fan. However I am concerned. Anyone else ever experience this? I assumed these cords were made to withstand the heat of the bulbs that plug into them?

thats a 400 MH conversion bulb in a Magnetic HPS ballast... if it matters? Its the one HTG makes/sells for $150 for everything, last time i buy a cheap veg light, unless its a Fluro.

The first picture shows the browning the best... the 2nd make it look not as bad as it really is, however i included it to show how i added a "support" string to pull the wire so it wasnt hanging strait down.

edit; forgot to mention... what would you do? Would you be worried? I'm getting a new fan today, so it will blow lots of the heat off.

 

[madpenguin]

Yea, that's a poorly designed reflector. The cord should come out the back or top of that housing. What your doing is about all you can do, short of rewiring the socket assembly and taking the cord out the top or back.

You might want to find some thermal tape and wrap it around that cord a tad. Not too much, just one layer.

That cord is still going to get blasted at the very top, regardless of what your doing, so I'd probably do the tape or rewire idea anyway. The fan was the only thing dispersing the heat before.

 

[FreezerBoy]

Gotta vote with Mad. From what I can see, rotating the socket 180º shouldn't take more than a minute.

 

[Philosophelon]

You might not have to rewire it. You may be able to rotate the entire socket assembly 180 degrees, and still be able to attach it. I'm not familiar with your reflector, but I know it works with Sunlight reflectors, and your socket assembly seems to have the same mounting hardware (4 bolts with wing-nuts).

 

[Eminem]

now that you have moved it, I would feel it and see if its warm/hot. I have a CMH and dont remember it being that hot, that it would brown the cord. Something tells me the cord is heating up from the inside

 

[Philosophelon]

Shit, that is a really good point. I've never had a cord turn brown from being near a bulb, even MH. If it's still warm to the touch you should take the cord and socket set in to the shop where you got it, and have them take a look. They'll probably just give you a new one.

 

[FreezerBoy]

It is a good point. Obviously a white cord is more suceptible to discoloration but, it only takes 5 minutes to pull it all apart and put it back together to check connections. Be sure the wire is 16 gauge minimum, I use 14, the same as interior wall wiring.

 

[PeteWeedSeed]

That's not just brown, those are the first signs of the cord catching fire. Any more and you might get ignition.
Consider yourself lucky that thing didn't fire up!

Just like others said, replace the wire, and flip the box around so the wire goes up. Personally I would dump that eco grade reflector, not safe equipment.

 

[madpenguin]

I doubt it's actual overheating of the wire. I thought about it but the discoloration/location makes it an improbability... Sure looks like external heat.

 

[PeteWeedSeed]

That's what I meant, the heat from the bulb was really warming up the wire. Nothing internal
Same thing happens when you take a lighter to a white wire and slowly heat up the wire.

 

[thekingofNY]

its damn amazing how much a difference that fan makes.... got the new fan running, and that area is cool to the touch. Without the fan on, i couldnt keep my hand there for more than 10 or 15 seconds, it was way too hot. However the new fan has brought that down to way more managable levels.

Whoever said take the thing back to my local shop... it was ordered online from HTG. Learned my lesson buying a cheap veg light.

 

[Haps]

Same situation is much worse with a 1000w, you look OK as long as you keep the fan on, and a spare on the shelf.

 

[Sloppy Seconds]

Any chance this discoloration could be caused by dirt? I mean could this just be dirt/oil or whatever going past the hood? the heat from the bulb makes air rise toward it and would go past the edge of the hood maybe staining the white cord.
Try wiping off the cord with a damp cloth and see if any comes off. just a thought.
If not, then you have a problem with over heating of this wire and that always bad.
Good luck.

 

[DonkDBZ]

Its a cheap ass cord. Look to see what the UL listing is on the Cord Jacket. Just replace it with some 16/3 or 14/3 SO cord from home depot.

When you read the jacket it tells you its specs. How many wires, what gauge, temp, if its sunlight resistant, oil resistant and so on.

SO cord is great it has Oil resistant thermoset insulation and is designed for extra Hard use and in damp locations.