Crossfire Wiring

[chickenhound]

So I'm in the process of building a Crossfire for Porkchop. It's almost done, except for the plexiglass and the wiring, and I'm very confused about the wiring. The instructions don't go into much detail about how this is supposed to work.

I have an outdoor spotlight fixture and a three-prong cable, so I have three wires with caps on them sticking out of the end. There is absolutely no instruction about how I'm supposed to attach this to the tank. Do I just cut a hole and let the wires hang out of the top. I can't imagine this looking very neat or safe. Can anyone go over how they attached their basking light fixture? I'm not interested in cutting a hole in the top with mesh over it--I'd like the light to actually be built in.

 

[Claudiusx]

You need to get a fixture you can mount up on the ceiling such as this:

Cut a hole in the top of your tank (or side, wherever you are mounting the bulb) big enough to feed the wires through it, attach each wire to the correct connection points on the fixture, and then secure the fixture into the tank.

-Brandon

 

[chickenhound]

So you just let the wires hang loose from the hole you'd drilled to guide them through? That's what I'm trying to avoid.

 

[Claudiusx]

I don't really understand what you are saying.

Are you saying the wires are going to be hanging loose on the outside of the tank, or on the inside of the tank?
Doing it how i described leaves no loose wires anywhere besides the wire coming out of the back or top of the tank that plugs into the wall.

-Brandon

 

[chickenhound]

I mean the ground, neutral, and live wires that are connected from the plug to the fixture's equivalent wires hanging outside of the tank. These wires are connected using those orange wire nuts. The fixture I have doesn't have its own plug so I had to use a replacement cord.

 

[Claudiusx]

Did you use part of an extension cord or something?

I'm not sure where you needed to use wire nuts, you should have been able to directly connect the wires to the fixture itself.

If you are worried about your wire nuts being exposed, and the wire outside of the insulation, you can just wrap everything in electrical tape.

Maybe posting a picture or two would help.

-Brandon

 

[chickenhound]

I don't have access to the enclosure right now so I can't post any pictures. Basically I have the same set up as in the Crossfire instructions. There is nowhere to attach the wires to the fixture itself because the fixture has it own wires sticking out of it. The wires from the fixture and the wires from the extension cord are connected using wire nuts. But where are these wires supposed to go when you mount the fixture in the tank?

It looks more or less like this image here, with the connected wires hanging loose with nowhere to go. http://m.instructables.com/id/Torchiere-Light-Misbehaving%3F/step3/Install-the-Lamp-Holder/

 

[Claudiusx]

You could pick up something like this:

Just drill a hole in the lid, slide your wires through into that box, mount the box on the ceiling of your tank, and epoxy your fixture into the hole in the electrical box you drilled. It still would be a good idea to tape the connections so they don't short out in the metal box if they come loose.

Or, you could always just go and buy a different fixture, like the one I posted. That should give you less headache if you can't get this one how you want it.

-Brandon

 

[chickenhound]

Ugh, yeah, looks like it would be much easier to just buy a different fixture. Thanks for your help though.