Light fixtures???

[Matt]

Hi,

I bought my bulbs today (100 watt pwersun uvb and 100 watt ceramic heat). My tank is a 55 gal so I got the ceramic just in case the temps aren't hot enough since it is a deeper tank. My question is is can I use the lamp clamps from home depot that are $6 or do I need to buy the $30 ones at petco?

thanks in advance!

 

[Josh]

I use these:

I get them from Home Depot or Lowes. Not sure how much they cost but they definitely do the job. Make sure you get one rated for the equipment you're using which sounds like 100 watts each. It's possible some of the cheaper lamp fixtures will be rated for only 60 or 80 watts - these will NOT be suitable for the items you mentioned above.

 

[Matt]

Those are the $6 dollar ones at home depot. They say 150 watts max... So I should be able to use those for my bulbs correct?

 

[Josh]

Yep - they should work fine!
If you want to be extra safe, check the sticker on the unit itself.

 

[Matt]

I just did. I bought 2 today lol.

 

[joshjack90]

when i found these i bought a few and pot 100w bulbs in them and were on 12 hours a day for a few months and held up great! the only downside is the dome doesnt screw on very well but thats fine for the price.

 

[Meighan]

where did you get those metal ones? I just bought a couple clip on floodlight lamps from the hardware store and put my CHE in it but it seems like it is touching the plastic sides of the part where you screw the bulb in because it is designed for a floodlight and not a CHE. Do CHE's have a slight smell when they are on or could it be melting the plastic fitting?!?! also, do you think this is dangerous or would the fitting be designed to withstand this much heat? it is rated to 150watts but the bulb it came with hung lower and so did not touch the fitting. at the moment i am trying it out but keeping a good eye on it. i don't want to poison my dragon with fumes if it is melting though!!

 

[Meighan]

actually just found the answer to the last question which is that is has to be a ceramic fitting. better go turn it off!!!!

 

[joshjack90]

they do sell the metal ones with ceramic fixtures at homedepot but they are around 12 bucks

 

[ThDude]

150watt max may not mean its ok for the light bulbs, while it has a max power output of 150watts it is not normally ment to stay at 150watts all the time. normally i look at the max power and then cut it in half and thats what is best to use with whatever said product.

so if the max power it 150watts a great watt to use in it is 75watts. (i believe this all falls under the same thing as music amps such as car amps and such where their max power may be 1500watts but the rms power is only 750watts)

 

[Germ]

The max wattage for an incandescent type fixture, Screw in, is aimed more at the heat that it can handle from the type of bulb it was designed for. Different types of bulbs emit more heat than others. Porcelain sockets should be used for all heat bulbs in my opinion, particular for CHEs, a 150W CHE is a very hot bulb, in that it must heat the ceramic itself in order to radiate any heat.