Wire For Retrofit Kit

[manny]

I bought some 18 gauge wire at Lowes for my 250 watt MH retrofit kit to be able to place my ballast away from my tank. It seems kinda flimsy, it looks like regular wire that you would see on a small lamp. Will it be ok to use?

[::pete::]

Its strands? The wires you are going to connect to are also, just tinned on the end.

[manny]

yeah, just strands. I was just wondering about the insulation cause it's kinda wimpy. does it matter?

[shellback]

Manny if you know the amp draw for your lamp it shouldn't be that much between 1and 3 amps. If you dont feel comfertable by all means upgrade. Why did you go with a single wire instead of the power cord 9ft type. Wait is it the two wire only if so don't use it, if something happens like it falls in the tank someone could get hurt You need to make sure and grond your lamp.

[manny]

I think I'm gonna upgrade by doing what Josh has suggested. I dunno why I didn't just do that in the first place. That's what OldSalty has done to his in this thread? (http://www.maast.org/index.php?name=PNphpBB2&file=viewtopic&p=27718&hig hlight=#27718)
Chuck, the two wires I'm extending are the ones from the mogul to the ballast. From the ballast it has a ground and will be grounded. That's what your talking about, right?

[matt]

At Lowes they have a good selection of heavy duty wire. I think you want some of the heavy duty 3 conductor stuff so you can ground the sockets, right? It's got a black, white, and green conductor wrapped in a nice thick black insulator.

[manny]

yeah, that's exactly what I'm lookin for Matt. The stuff used for heavy duty plugs.

[shellback]

Manny once you wire your white and black put on a eye connecter on the green and screw it to your reflector. By doing this it will ground the assembly incase some thing happens.