I got some mettle halide lights with the 120 I got from bigman and I tryed plugging one of them in to see how hot they get and the balisc got too hot to keep my hand on for more then a couple of seconds. the cord was not hot leading from the wall or too the light but the ballistic was sure hot. Is that normal? and can I run 12 feet of extension cord after the balasic to the light fixture so I can keep the hot ballistics in my garage and out from under my tank? also one of the balisic has a little of the wire showing because the (tape?) that is raped around it from the factory dyed out and flacked off, can I paint this with liquid electrical tape or will it get too hot for the liquid electrical tape and burn it. It comes with something clear painted on it from the factory but I don"t know what it is? Thanks Glen
Here a Bump... never had MH  but to much heat... seems it could = fire  maybe some member can advise
The ballast that you have will get very hot even when brand new I have had them before and and put them in electrical boxes and had no problem with them
We've got 2 MH's on our 135 and the ballast's get very very hot but we've never had an issue with them. I think that's fairly normal. Ours are wired on top of the cabinet beside our tank and they've been fine there for two years. So far. As for the wire showing, I'd probably use real electric tape. I'm not sure how the liquid stuff would hold up over time.
I think the regular electoral tape will melt, wounder if they make high heat tape, or maybe high heat encapsulating epoxy? Thanks Glen
can you post a picture of the part where the wire is showing? And a shot of the entire thing with the bad spot showing as well.
If it is getting so hot that it might melt electrical tape than I would have an electrician or someone look at it. Ballast do get hot but shouldn't melt tape. I have a fan set on a timer that comes on when my lights come on to help with heat.Â
heres the worse looking one that has the wire showing the rest are like it but there coating is in tacked with no wire showing. I think a heat sink and fan may help I am also thinking of mounting them on top of the caniopy so that it will not heatup the tank from underneath. Thanks Glen
The electronic ballast are way more energy efficient and they don't hum like magnetic ones do. Thay also can be repaired if needed. Icecap is about the best. I have ARO and they get warm but not real hot. Got them through Blake they were not that costly.
Re: MH metallic ballistic getting hot is that normal? Can I use the bulb holders I have and wire it to a new ballistic they look new?? Or would it be cheaper to get a total fixture that is already put together? Sorry new to this MH fixture part of reefing? I know that one looks ruff but like I said it is the worst looking one. I got them for free with alot of other stuff I bought so I am still relly happy with the deal I made. Thay were just being nice and helping me out until I could get better lights.  I know they are ment for the job because they have factory sticker on them that say mettle halides bulbs 150-175 or 150-250 bulbs with alot of other words I cant remember exactly. oh well it's going to be awhile before I can set it up because I am going to get a bit to drill it. I can wait and save up for ballistics too. Thanks for you guys help I have no idea when it come to MH. Glen
Most MH ballast you can buy a plug kit that will let you wire the ballast and fixture with a plug so you can seperate them if needed. Talk with Blake he got my ballast. All I had to do is plug in my fixtures it was easy.
