VHO endcaps

Salt Creep · #1 04/10/2006, 11:58 PM

Hi all,

I tried replacing one of my VHO actinics, and the endcap started smoking and basically got partially melted. Now I need to get new endcaps.... I was wondering if the rubber ones work as good or better than the hard plastic ones? I've lost several of the hard plastic ones due to melting, but never the rubber ones, but I don't know if the rubber ones can handle the heat from VHO since I've only used them for regular fluorescents. Any opinions?

Thanks,
Ken

Reefmaniac1 · #2 04/11/2006, 03:11 PM

No...don't use those. Stick with the hard plastic ones. The rubber ones cannot handle the heat and will melt and are more likely to start a fire.

Were you trying to replace the lamp with the power on? If you have had this happen several times, it sounds like either a wiring problem, the lamps weren't installed in the sockets propely, water got into the sockets or you didn't have the sockets mounted.

Salt Creep · #3 04/11/2006, 07:55 PM

No, I stupidly dropped the lamp on end (slid out of the cardboard sleeve) and I thought it was fine, but apparently one of the pins was damaged enough that by the time I pulled it out again (after the smoke and all) it was definitely wiggling like a loose tooth. It was all my fault for not checking first!

Ken