# Will this work as a vertical hanger?



## lee1000 (Nov 12, 2019)

Hey guys. I am no electrician and I usually stay well away from electrics, but I thought that this seemed easy.

I knew how to rig the wires but I was just unsure about earthing. I bought these metal (magnetic) plates and screwed it to the plastic electronic housing and then screwed the earth wire to that. The ceramic mogul is just bolted on from the inside of the housing.

The hanger is for a cmh 315w with digiballast. I also have the e40 adapter which has not been screwed onto the mogul socket yet.

Can any sparky's confirm this is good to go for me?


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## happy hobo (Nov 12, 2019)

lee1000 said:


> Hey guys. I am no electrician and I usually stay well away from electrics, but I thought that this seemed easy.
> 
> I knew how to rig the wires but I was just unsure about earthing. I bought these metal (magnetic) plates and screwed it to the plastic electronic housing and then screwed the earth wire to that. The ceramic mogul is just bolted on from the inside of the housing.
> 
> ...


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## lee1000 (Nov 12, 2019)

Here is how it looks from above. There are no wires rubbing and the cable is fed to a gland seal. You can see with the first photo, the chain takes all the weight so there is absolutely no strain on the cable. What would I do to clean it up a little?


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## happy hobo (Nov 12, 2019)

It's where the insulated power cable rubs against the box that I was referring to. 
Normally boxes are closed with the cable passing through a tight & clamped opening. You pass the cable through the opening, make connections, clamp it and put a cover plate on the box. You want to keep water out and prevent wires from rubbing.
It's just part of your craft, keep things neat, tidy and safe.

I understand it's pricey to get the complete package at a grow store, but observe their set-ups. So, between Home Depot & Amazon you should be able to source the stuff.


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## raggyb (Nov 12, 2019)

I second that. I'm not an electrician either, but I don't like the metal chain at all, much less it's going inside the box. I don't like metal for the chain. Try a polyester wratchet type hanger that's adjustable so you can raise and lower the light. They are cheap. It seems you are missing the cover on the box. That should be put on. I think the circles with "20" are the kind you can punch out with a hammer and flathead screw driver. You get the clamp that fits that size at HD. Check which hole will work and punch it out. Put clamp in, run the power cable thru there and clamp it down.


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## raggyb (Nov 12, 2019)

Another thing now that I think of it, you need something to attach the polyester hanger to. Maybe the box cover doesnt have that. Measure the size and screw locations and look in HD for a cover that has something you can tie to. Also is your light ok to hang vertical? I think they have to specify if they are vertical or horizontal or both.


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## lee1000 (Nov 13, 2019)

It's a power outlet box so the only cover for it, is a plug cover. I have added a clamp if you look, it's the light grey one where the cable comes out. That's, where I punched the hole out. The cable needs to come out of there so I can wire the ceramic mogul, the connections are on the side of it so a cable HAS to come out the side of the box as appose into it. The chain is just bolted to the inside. The are no openings for live wires to come through there, it's just plastic. I was just wondering if I got it right with the earth part. I tested it last night and it works fine. The light bulb is also double sleeved so is fine to hang vertically.


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## Jypsy Dog (Nov 13, 2019)

All the connections belong in the box.


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## Jypsy Dog (Nov 13, 2019)

Insurance companies can deny claims for shitty DIY.....


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## lee1000 (Nov 13, 2019)

Here is my Mogul Socket. The connections are on the side. Am I missing something? I don't see how I can keep everything in a box when 2 wires need to come out of the box to enter the mogul socket connections....Maybe shop around for different mogul sockets?

I'm not trying to be a smart a§§ either btw, just confuses the crap outta me. But I gotta get this v-scrog going. I don't live anywhere near a home depot, wallmart, wilkinsons, etc and amazon refuse to ship plenty of things to my country, hell we don't even have Ebay users here, everything needs to get shipped in from Germany which can be awkward when importing things like lighting equiptment, plus there is the border tax. We have places to shop but the prices are incredibly expensive and they don't really have what you would say 'regular items', always somehow a little different and quirky. Even the metric system differences bug me, always converting inches feet yards quarts gallons, etc.

So this is why I need to DIY in a nutshell.


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## printer (Nov 13, 2019)

I am assuming that the rubber cable has three wires, the blue, brown and green. Grounding the plate does not accomplish much as you have a plastic box. could you show a picture of the wires running into the light housing? As far as what I see is that the blue and brown wires should be in the enclosure. If they are in a metal enclosure and they somehow have the insulation damaged and contact a metal box then the box being grounded takes the electric current back to the panel. With a plastic box the wire in the box will not short to the enclosure so no need to ground it.

OK, you just posted a picture. Yeah, the socket where the wires go to it should be in a fixture. The only way I see it being 'right' is if you had a hole in the bottom of your box and the holder go through. But I would be hesitant with it being plastic and the bulb heating it up. I would wrap the base of the holder with electrical tape, you should not be able to see/contact the electrical conductors. 

You really should be going into the side of the box with the cable in one of the holes rather than the top. You can get cover adapter pieces (US/Canada) to use a cover plate with a box made for outlets. Just two strips of metal, two holes that are tapped for screws where the cover plate screws go though and two holes to take screws to go into the box. I made up my own when I needed some. 

I don't think your setup will pass electrical inspection, I don't see it being unsafe unless you get water on it or somehow damage the wires.


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## lee1000 (Nov 13, 2019)

This would be so much easier if I had a good hydro store in my area. I would simply buy a pendant and hook it up to the ballast.

Anyway, I was looking for covers for the box/holder but I can't really find anything except a plug socket cover. I can put some insulation sleeves on the blue and brown wires for now. The ballast cable comes with a grounding wire already so I didn't want to simply cut it off, which is why it is where it is now. I think I will try and buy something online 'ready made' for a little further down the line.

I won't be doing any kind of foliage spraying during the grow and I also have a dehumidifier. Any watering will be just into the buckets on the floor in separate trays, only six plants so unless I start throwing water around the place, I don't see how it would get wet.

I don't plan on being in the tent during lights on, what I am going to do though, is have a regular light on in the tent for half an hour, this should give me time to defoliate and water when needed. The 315W cmh lights will all be raised each time for this and then turned on and lowered for the remaining 11.5 hours. I have four of these in a 6.5 x 6.5 x 6.5 tent.

I also reckon my set up will definitely not pass an inspection anytime soon


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## happy hobo (Nov 13, 2019)

We're not trying to be smart asses either. Growing weed still has to be done safely as possible.
There is protective eye wear to protect your eyes from glare, no need to turn lights off.


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## lee1000 (Nov 13, 2019)

I was looking into that, I can get some method seven glasses but they are almost 200 dollars a pop here. I have some normal sunglasses, uv, polarized but I know I would need stronger to be in the same tent when they are on.


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## happy hobo (Nov 13, 2019)

Just a comment, many grow lights include glasses with purchase.


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## raggyb (Nov 13, 2019)

Yeah I agree a lot with printer and I am still a little confused. i'm not sure why the mogul socket would not call for a ground connection when the ballast has one. I guess they did not come together. I missed that you said the box was plastic. Whether it is or isn't I agree grounding is not helping much and it is better in some situations and worse in others. For example, you are standing in water with wet feet and touch shorted metal on the unit. If water is grounded and unit is not you should get zapped. If water is charged and unit is grounded you should get zapped. So I think it's almost 50/50. Maybe slightly better grounded as you did in cases of a lightning surge. Again I just think so and not trying to be a smart a either. I guess it makes it seem to me like an entirely plastic box is better since yours is only grounded if power is plugged in.

But I reiterate I don't like using a metal chain or the open box. The metal chain is a conductor. But realizing a plastic chain might break and crash the light down which wouldn't be good either. So it's got to be something strong and preferably 2 per in case 1 breaks. I would prefer non-conductive, so think probably nylon is ok. And maybe open boxes are bad in general because something could fly in there, a moth, or something flammable drop in catch fire or cause a short. So like printer says I like punch another hole so that wire goes in the box and back out and you can cover it. It still will look funny but I hope it's a little better


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## raggyb (Nov 13, 2019)

What a rat hole I climbed down into investigating insulators. Some more info

Nylon (polyamide) ropes...Dry polyamide is a good electrical insulator, however because it absorbs water, the electrical conduction properties of Nylon can change when it is wet...

Polyester ropes have excellent abrasion resistance and are electrically non conductive..
Disadvantages of Polyester Ropes:Some braids of polyester are quite stiff and don't work very well in blocks.

https://www.ags-industrial.com/plastic-synthetic-ropes-cables

Wood is widely regarded as an extremely good insulator, but its resistivity is sensitively dependent on moisture content, with damp wood being a factor of at least 1010 worse insulator than oven-dry.[38] In any case, a sufficiently high voltage – such as that in lightning strikes or some high-tension power lines – can lead to insulation breakdown and electrocution risk even with apparently dry wood.


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## happy hobo (Nov 15, 2019)

The moral of the story is that you should buy pre-assembled and properly sized components. I bet an electrician would focus on between the breaker panel and receptacle(s). Why would anyone cobble something together that is not ULC, NEC. NFTA, etc. ? 
Penny wise, pound foolish....


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## printer (Nov 16, 2019)

happy hobo said:


> The moral of the story is that you should buy pre-assembled and properly sized components. I bet an electrician would focus on between the breaker panel and receptacle(s). Why would anyone cobble something together that is not ULC, NEC. NFTA, etc. ?
> Penny wise, pound foolish....


There actually are people that can figure out what is the right way to do things rather than buy pre-assembled components.


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## happy hobo (Nov 16, 2019)

That is also true, but I'm feeding off the example that started the thread. 
Take care.


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## lee1000 (Nov 19, 2019)

Well I have had it running now for a few days, 2 of them in fact, both with the same hook-up. The Ceramic Mogul has side connectors so the wires have to go in somehow. Forget about the box. It's just something I can hang the Ceramic Mogul from but I know it can look confusing because of the box. It doesn't necessarily need to be a socket box. Just something I could bolt the Mogul to. I was just scared because of the grounding but I connected it anyway because that is the cable that came with the reflector kit. As for the chain, it's just a chain (bolted through the mogul and screwed down with wingnuts to the inside of the box) and it's nowhere near any wiring, except for the ground of course, and from what I have read in this post, the ground is pretty much useless connected to a plastic box anyway. Anyway, the answer to my post question is....... Yes, it works fine. I will be watering with the Blumat system so all water will stay ground level.

Thanks for looking out for me though guys, I really appreciate it.


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