Ballast wire extension, possible?

maccaisdon · Apr 27, 2012

Hi,

Recently bought a maxibright digital ballast and the cord on the thing (ballast to plug socket) is only about 1m long. I need to shift my light down to as it is currently higher than I want but with its current dimensions this is not possible. Looking at getting an alternative cable, they appear to be a kettle lead and I can obviously source one of these but I am looking to see if this would be safe. Obviously I am not a electrician or anything so this may be obvious to some but would rather be safe than sorry.

Cheers

LT1RX7 Drifter · Apr 27, 2012

match the wire dont make it longer then 8-10ft do at your own risk it will void the warranty on your ballast good luck

bass1014 · Apr 28, 2012

any alterations that you do that is not factory will most likely viod your warranty but you need lengthand as above anything longer than 8-10 ft is kinda pushing it or at the least your starter.. but yes you can extend it .. good luck fyi i have diy lights and the longest ballast to light socket cab;e that i could make was 12' but i used DIY lights and upgraded the starter .. used a 600wt starter in a 400wt ballast (not reccomended) it only lasted like 2years .. i use all home made lights and i can seperate all my ballast to one section of my room. i built a box with 2 fans for cool air intake from an old fridge and an exhaust for heat when i need it like the winter nights..

nuglets · Apr 28, 2012

any hydro store online or at the shop will carry ballast power extension cords or extra long power cords. just get one of those. they cost like $10.

Jack Harer · Apr 28, 2012

bass1014 said:
any alterations that you do that is not factory will most likely viod your warranty but you need lengthand as above anything longer than 8-10 ft is kinda pushing it or at the least your starter.. but yes you can extend it .. good luck fyi i have diy lights and the longest ballast to light socket cab;e that i could make was 12' but i used DIY lights and upgraded the starter .. used a 600wt starter in a 400wt ballast (not reccomended) it only lasted like 2years .. i use all home made lights and i can seperate all my ballast to one section of my room. i built a box with 2 fans for cool air intake from an old fridge and an exhaust for heat when i need it like the winter nights..

I'm with Bass here. I use all converted High Bay lights (commercial lighting) and have had zero problems out of them. Just be sure that if you are going over 8' for the power supply wire, go with 14 ga at a minimum, 12ga preferably! I have less than $500 in a whole shitload of lights.

Hugo Phurst · Apr 28, 2012

maccaisdon said:
ballast to plug socket

Do you mean from ballast, to lamp socket, or wall plug?

I suspect you mean the lamp socket, then do like maccaisdon says, and hit up a hydro store.

nuglets · Apr 28, 2012

Jack Harer said:
I'm with Bass here. I use all converted High Bay lights (commercial lighting) and have had zero problems out of them. Just be sure that if you are going over 8' for the power supply wire, go with 14 ga at a minimum, 12ga preferably! I have less than $500 in a whole shitload of lights.

i think 12 gauge might be a little overkill don't you. even 14 gauge. even with a 20' run your voltage drop is not going to be significant enough to warrant that wire gauge. 12 gauge is rated for 30 amps and 14 gauge is rated for 25 amps. even if you have 1000w ballasts and need a 20' extension you won't have near that kind of voltage drop.

you shgould be fine with the 16 gauge 10' or 20' extensions that they sell.

maccaisdon · Apr 28, 2012

Well took a trip to a new hydro shop near me and as usual was like a kid in a sweetshop. Anyway they did not stock an ice cable which is what I was really after. They did however have a maxi bright parabolic reflector with a 4 metre cable for £40.00 what can I say I could not resist so now can lower my light. LOL.

nuglets · Apr 28, 2012

just be careful, parabolic reflectors are the worst and i have heard some horror stories about them burning plants. plus they offer the worst light spread. keep an eye on it.

Jack Harer · Apr 28, 2012

nuglets said:
i think 12 gauge might be a little overkill don't you. even 14 gauge. even with a 20' run your voltage drop is not going to be significant enough to warrant that wire gauge. 12 gauge is rated for 30 amps and 14 gauge is rated for 25 amps. even if you have 1000w ballasts and need a 20' extension you won't have near that kind of voltage drop.

you shgould be fine with the 16 gauge 10' or 20' extensions that they sell.

I had 15' from outlet to ballast and the cable got pretty damn warm. A 1K draws about 9 amps or thereabouts. You wanna risk that, I'm good with it, but 14ga is NOT overkill. In fact, for power transmission, you dont get over 9 amps until you hit 12ga. Max power transmission rating for 16ga is 3.7 amps.

http://www.powerstream.com/Wire_Size.htm

phillipchristian · Apr 28, 2012

Jack Harer said:
I had 15' from outlet to ballast and the cable got pretty damn warm. A 1K draws about 9 amps or thereabouts. You wanna risk that, I'm good with it, but 14ga is NOT overkill. In fact, for power transmission, you dont get over 9 amps until you hit 12ga. Max power transmission rating for 16ga is 3.7 amps.

http://www.powerstream.com/Wire_Size.htm

Your not using the wire for power transmission. Google it and you'll see the difference. Why do you think every ballast extension cord sold is either 16 or 14 gauge? Check the hydro stores online.

Jack Harer · Apr 28, 2012

Might be phrasing that wrong there, Scooter, I'm no electrician. But I DO know wire aint supposed to get hot, and every one of My 8 1K lights got real hot. I switched to 12 (for the supply side) and they stayed cool. I use 16 ga on my 400s, I just cut up a cheap 50' extention cord for them. 10 or 15' for power supply, then 20' (or what ever you want) to the mogul socket.

phillipchristian · Apr 28, 2012

Jack Harer said:
Might be phrasing that wrong there, Scooter, I'm no electrician. But I DO know wire aint supposed to get hot, and every one of My 8 1K lights got real hot. I switched to 12 (for the supply side) and they stayed cool. I use 16 ga on my 400s, I just cut up a cheap 50' extention cord for them. 10 or 15' for power supply, then 20' (or what ever you want) to the mogul socket.

You are correct in this. Warm is good. Hot is no no! I have a ton of 1000w lights as well and i'm using 14 gauge power supply cord (came with ballasts) and they aren't hot ever. That's weird but if using 12 gauge fixes the problem then I'd stick with it.

Hugo Phurst · Apr 29, 2012

Hot wires are never good, I don't even like warm wires where the insulation seems to soften up a bit.

That heat means too much resistance, and is pure wasted energy. It's never a bad idea to use a heavier gauge of wire.

fatality · Apr 29, 2012

12 AWG is a guage to live by brother. I am petrified of fire, so spend the lil extra on some pimp 12 gauge, youll sleep better at night.

phillipchristian · Apr 29, 2012

fatality said:
12 AWG is a guage to live by brother. I am petrified of fire, so spend the lil extra on some pimp 12 gauge, youll sleep better at night.

Problem is not a single ballast on the market comes with a 12 gauge power supply cord and I have never even seen one that you can buy. So that means that everyone would need to wire their ballasts themselves. There's a reason those power cords come in 16 gauge.

maccaisdon · Apr 29, 2012

nuglets said:
just be careful, parabolic reflectors are the worst and i have heard some horror stories about them burning plants. plus they offer the worst light spread. keep an eye on it.

Not sure if this is brand dependent but can already see a difference and its been positive after employing the parabolic. Light coverage seems to be pretty pimp and the temps in the tent have lowered quite a bit, the last reflector was a cheap euro reflector knock off but not sure I can put it all down to the reflector mind as the weather has been firkin freezing here. Plants are responding well but that could be that they are getting more lumens due to the drop in light.

Jack Harer · Apr 29, 2012

s

phillipchristian said:
Problem is not a single ballast on the market comes with a 12 gauge power supply cord and I have never even seen one that you can buy. So that means that everyone would need to wire their ballasts themselves. There's a reason those power cords come in 16 gauge.

For the same reason that reflectors/hoods come with standard 1/8th" annealed glass, rather than high light transmisssion coated optical glass. to keep costs down.

phillipchristian · Apr 29, 2012

Jack Harer said:
s

For the same reason that reflectors/hoods come with standard 1/8th" annealed glass, rather than high light transmisssion coated optical glass. to keep costs down.

Hey, but those power cords are rated for twice the amps they would ever carry. 16 gauge wire is rated for 18 amps. You don't have any significant voltage drop even on a 20' run. So even if you were running 1000w ballasts at 120v you'd still only be using about 56% or the rated load for that wire. On a 14 gauge wire it would be 50%. That's well within acceptable code of 75-80%

Jack Harer · Apr 29, 2012

Dude, then by all means use 'em!! Me, I'm comfy with my 12 ga, but to each his own.

Ballast wire extension, possible?

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