very close call - don't trust labels

Pactivist

Active member

• Sep 1, 2008

• #1

I came very close to a house fire this weekend, I am telling you all right now that electricity is nothing to take lightly. I had two 400w HPS lights plugged into the timer and power strip in the photos that follow. the timer was rated at 1200w, 10amp, at 120 volts; the power strip was rated at 1800w, 15amp, at 120 volts. The lights are rated at 400w, 3.33amp, at 120 volts. I assume that having both lights attached to one timer was too much for it causing the meltdown that you see, even though it had been working fine for some time (about 6 months). Inrush current is usually higher than operating current, however there seems to be little data about inrush current on HID lights,at least accurate data. anyone have an idea what the rate of inrush is on an HID (150% of operating, maybe 200%) until I get this all figured out I have seperated the lights to individual timers, and am planning to build a contactor relay which will be hard wired to my house panel to prevent future timer meltdowns.

All in all I'd say I was very lucky to be standing there when this happened, and this incident totally justifies the smoke detectors, and (2)fire extinguishers located mere inches from the ballasts. Be safe - be careful - and check your timers regularly.
peAce,
pacT

 

AndreNicky

Member

• Sep 1, 2008

• #2

Glad to hear your still safe pac! wierd how it worked fine for 6 months then randomly blew

 

Pactivist

Active member

• Sep 1, 2008

• #3

I agree - very strange, I bought this timer on ebay, it is manufactured by a company called Ningbo Bainian Electric Appliance Co., Ltd. so I plan on avoiding all appliances from this company in the future, especially timers

 

imnotcrazy

There is ALWAYS meaning to my madness ®

Veteran

• Sep 1, 2008

• #4

looks more like the cord strip failed to me. More than likely it's a cheaply made strip and they did not use metal contacts that were built well enough to consistently return to a tight grip on the plug. This causes a high resistance connection which creates a lot of heat.......

 

Pactivist

Active member

• Sep 1, 2008

• #5

I am about to take these things apart, we'll see where the problem truly lies, pics soon

 

B

bigghead

Member

• Sep 1, 2008

• #6

cheap power strip and timer. intermatic timer recomended.

 

G

Guest

• Sep 1, 2008

• #7

Glad everythings o.k. Pac. I'm using 2 of these timers, one purchased from htgsupply (high-yield lighting label) that runs on a 24-hour time schedule and is working fine. The other I purchased recently from my local hydro store (hydrofarm label), runs on a 12 hour schedule and has only worked on one occasion, even though it's programmed accordingly to the 7 day schedule.

Can anyone recommend a good digital timer? I hate having to re-sync manual timers after the occasional winter power outage etc.

 

Last edited: Sep 1, 2008

B

Bigtimer7

• Sep 1, 2008

• #8

this is very weird i saw this because this JUST HAPPENED TO ME!!

Like str8 up but it was the actual timer that fucked up and the power strip burned to because it was plugged in the timer.

It was a big scare lucky i noticed the lights dimming and i had just gotten a new bulb. Went in and BAM this shit is happening!!

Crazy and very scary... Makes you think a lot about your situation, finally got a fire extinguisher thou so thats the good that came out of it!!

 

G

gdawg

• Sep 1, 2008

• #9

i cant say it enuff go with a mechanical timer i personnally would not plug any ballast larger than a 250 into anything less but just my 2 cents and never worry bout fire. glad you safe and no harm done. oh ya 50bucks for the timer and it will live longer than you

 

S

straight reggie

Member

• Sep 1, 2008

• #10

looks like a cheap power cord, how much did you pay for that?

 

G

gdawg

• Sep 1, 2008

• #11

ima say the strip was 3 bucks and the timer 10 tops....

 

K

KIEFrSutherland

• Sep 1, 2008

• #12

Pactivist said:

Be safe - be careful - and check your timers regularly.

Click to expand...

Hey bro,

Is this the same timer that has no way to remove it from 24 hour time, to conventional am/pm? If so, I have the same timer, with its mongoloid composed "engrish" manual. I have a 150w HPS running from it, and the thing (timer) has almost been too hot to touch in the last two weeks. I've only had the thing for a little over a month.

 

Last edited: Sep 1, 2008

DIGITALHIPPY

Active member

Veteran

• Sep 1, 2008

• #13

dude thats a $3 outlet strip. it wasnt the timer that broke. thoes things are made in china, probably not even UL rated, or using big enough wire. get a $15+ outlet strip and you want have issues.
glad you house didnt burn down, thats not the way to learn a lesson.

 

R

rightwingblazer

Member

• Sep 1, 2008

• #14

scared

scared

holy shit bro. im scared to go to sleep now. i run my shit at night.

 

tequila_sunrise

Active member

• Sep 1, 2008

• #15

man... you can never go wrong with a good power strip. Think about it, is that $25 you saved by getting a cheapo really worth losing your cab, plants, house?

 

JohnnyToke

Member

• Sep 1, 2008

• #16

as others have stated, upgrade your power strip to a heavy duty. those strips are good for running a 60w lamp and thats about it.

JT

 

G

gdawg

• Sep 1, 2008

• #17

KIEFrSutherland said:

I have a 150w HPS running from it, and the thing (timer) has almost been too hot to touch in the last two weeks. I've only had the thing for a little over a month.

Click to expand...

well....is it still plugged in

 

K

KIEFrSutherland

• Sep 2, 2008

• #18

gdawg said:

well....is it still plugged in

Click to expand...

Yeah, It's now happily plugged into the ass of the growshop's owner. I went down there today, and after he wouldn't take it back, I put it in a pillow case and beat the fuck out of him with it.

Say "no" to shoddy Chinese garbage!

 

G

green_tea

Member

• Sep 2, 2008

• #19

get one of those outdoor timers.

usually rated a lot higher, and they are made to attach to outdoor light sets... so they need to actually be within spec.

not to mention they are water proof I believe

 

Pactivist

Active member

• Sep 2, 2008

• #20

results of teardown

results of teardown

well I tore these things apart and I got some interesting results. Oh KIEFr - yes this is on of those timers with the "engrish" manual, that only has the 24 hour setting, no way to change to 12 hour display. well the results are as follows;
first off - as melted as it is, it seems that the timer is still working, not that I would ever use it again, but after testing it with a multi-meter - it is still switching on/off. (note that the display is still on in the previous photos)
second - cheap power strips aren't worth risking your life, livelyhood, or your freedom. The power strip is definitely the culprit as you can see in the photos that follow.









This power strip was not in my room previously, but was recently added, basically as a short extension cord ( I thought that a power strip would be safer than an extension cord ) when I moved my ballasts to a more out of the way location.

johnny, tequila, DIGITALHIPPY, gdawg, straight reggie, and the rest of you who were betting on the strip, well you were absolutely right. I am off to buy brand new, heavy duty, power strips to replace every single one that is currently in use around here. Damn! we have a lot of these cheapo strips that we use on our sound equipment (dj/live band) and now that I see what these cheap pieces of crap can and cannot do, I am replacing all of them! Ok, last count was 9 of these things, damn that IS risky. So I am off to the store to buy all new ones.
peAce, and stay safe,
pacT