I’m unable to get my mars hydro past about 70% brightness due to wires getting concerningly hot. I had it about 85 and had to turn back down due to safety concerns. This is the 6500 model. Anyone able to crank up their light to max and not have the wires hot? I’m not sure this is expected behavior with these lights or not?
Very warm, almost hot wires
- Thread starter blondie
- Start date
goingrey
Well-known member
How hot are they?
The copper inside them can handle like a thousand degrees without problems but the plastic surrounding it cannot.
194f max according to this site... https://www.copper.org/consumers/copperhome/HomePlan/safety/is_your_electrical_wiring_too_hot.html
The copper inside them can handle like a thousand degrees without problems but the plastic surrounding it cannot.
194f max according to this site... https://www.copper.org/consumers/copperhome/HomePlan/safety/is_your_electrical_wiring_too_hot.html
led05
Chasing The Present
Warm to touch is ok, especially at junction points but anything more than that, fire aint fun, though very unlikely
everyone across all spectrums these days likes to gauge up it seems, definitely the wrong direction to go with wiring…. Fact it’s not doing it at lower draw and is at higher, points in that direction to me, or blown diodes / circuit lines blown causing others to overload, no clue if they are wired in series, parallel or both…. This is why I build my own, so easy to fix on rare occasion of issues
You got a heat gun to point at it…?
everyone across all spectrums these days likes to gauge up it seems, definitely the wrong direction to go with wiring…. Fact it’s not doing it at lower draw and is at higher, points in that direction to me, or blown diodes / circuit lines blown causing others to overload, no clue if they are wired in series, parallel or both…. This is why I build my own, so easy to fix on rare occasion of issues
You got a heat gun to point at it…?
I don’t have a heat gun but seems it’s time to get one. The first place I noticed heat was near the light itself. The plug that comes out of box/ballast thing that is essentially a small cylinder shape. The wires into and out of this are a concern. The other place is plugged into an extension cord. The temperature is quite a bit higher with the led wires than my 600 watt hps wires. How hot is hot. Well this is the question. I’m going to look into the infrared light and see I can get a temp value. At 85% I can touch/hold the wires. I’m not going to get burned holding them. However I would not call the temp warm. It’s closer to mild hot. I had wondered if an incorrect gauge wire is standard. If so, I shouldn’t be running this close to max. If others have no trouble near max, then my light is defective somehow. If others have the same issue, incorrect gauge of wire. I’m trying to determine which. I’ve yet to go to 100% but will try tonight under close watch. See if it’s HOT. I’ll check the diodes as well. I have a meter but need to figure how to check the draw. I’m pretty good at 12 volt DC but AC I need to google on.
Also to be fair, I might be over concerned here. Once I get a temp value seems I’ll have a better answer.
Also to be fair, I might be over concerned here. Once I get a temp value seems I’ll have a better answer.
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How about some support from mars hydro..
@Mars Hydro Led .. Mars hydro: As you are well aware from my emails, I want to return the two 6500s I purchased as they are not suitable in a 4x8. I’m disappointed since you had recommended these lights for the tent. I bought them based on your recommendation as to what lights should go in...
www.icmag.com
greyfader
Well-known member
the extension cord should be at least the same gauge as the light's power cord. if it is a long ext cord it should be a larger gauge than the light cord.
i keep an electrician's handheld laser thermometer and check all connections regularly for anomalies.
exoticrobotic
Well-known member
Maybe one of the wires is not rated for the current the unit is pulling.
The wires that come off my 300W Maxibright led unit are a lot thicker than normal kettle wires and they are never hot/warm. The ballasts get hot though and when i use them i run a fan on them constantly.
I would unplug it and take it to an electric shop/hydro shop to get it checked out.
The wires that come off my 300W Maxibright led unit are a lot thicker than normal kettle wires and they are never hot/warm. The ballasts get hot though and when i use them i run a fan on them constantly.
I would unplug it and take it to an electric shop/hydro shop to get it checked out.
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BioSemiosi
Active member
Hey mate, same here with my FCE-6500..disconnect all and check the connector (HOT) between the power supply and the light bars, probably it's burnt like mine.
Mars hydro assistance are kind to replace it because i'm still in warranty but..
I'm very disappointed, did I risk burning everything because of a cheap connector ?
Mars hydro assistance apologize for that but..
A "professional" 700 euros grow light shouldn't give you this problems in my opinion.
So now i'm waiting the connector to change it myself in 3 weeks..
That's good ? Not for me
I'm sorry to say that, i'm a big fan of mars hydro, still have some ts1000, tsl2000 and fc3000 working fine and I hope to solve the issue with FCE-6500 soon.
Mars hydro assistance are kind to replace it because i'm still in warranty but..
I'm very disappointed, did I risk burning everything because of a cheap connector ?
Mars hydro assistance apologize for that but..
A "professional" 700 euros grow light shouldn't give you this problems in my opinion.
So now i'm waiting the connector to change it myself in 3 weeks..
That's good ? Not for me
I'm sorry to say that, i'm a big fan of mars hydro, still have some ts1000, tsl2000 and fc3000 working fine and I hope to solve the issue with FCE-6500 soon.
BioSemiosi
Active member
Wow. That is crazy...I literally put down the iPad and checked this. Upon closer inspection, there are some arrows on the connector. A vertical one pointing down, hardly visible on the black part. There is a corresponding vertical arrow on the colored connection, in my case blue, pointing up. On the blue connector are arrows and images showing twist to unlock. The two vertical arrows line up to lock the connection in place. Mine was locked but not pushed in all the way. Roughly out a quarter inch. I didn’t see any melted or browned connections luckily. I didn’t take apart to the level posted above though. I’m hoping pushing mine in totally will do the trick. Keeping monitoring.
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Three Berries
Active member
That could have been a loose screw there too.
Yeah thats usually the problem. But given they are self locking connectors I didn't think is possible to not push it all the way.
The melting insulation on the wire could be from same reason, sparks create heat and heat travels through the metal pin to the wire easily.
The melting insulation on the wire could be from same reason, sparks create heat and heat travels through the metal pin to the wire easily.
BioSemiosi
Active member
Yes crazy, and i feel myself lucky at this point because still alive !
Don't be paranoid like me but you have the same symptoms i had 1 month a go,
my connector seems to be perfect outside as you can see on the photo and the
light panel is 8 months old, i never used at 100% in the summer because is too hot here
till december when i tried to excluding the dimmer with the black button (on/off)..
Of course when you exclude the dimmer the lamp should play at 100%.
This has been my first issue, the lamp don't work at 100% because start flicking/flashing only at 100% dimming or excluding the dimmer but i never noticed that before..
Meanwhile the lamp work fine at 50/75% so not a big issue but i decided to contact the assistance to understand what to do.
I told to assistance about my cables too HOT and the flicking at 100%, and this is the best in my opinion, the assistance suggest me to "SHAKE THE CABLES and do a video"
I'm not an electricians but honestly shaking the cables is good only to be fried.
So I tested the driver (powew supply) and i see the lamp works fine till 640 watt (around 75%) and start flicking only over, i can push the dimmer till 100% or 750 watt but the light bars go dark totally..
So i started testing the only way of communication beetween power and light bars, the wires !
After a long communication Mars hydro assistance decided it's just a connector issue,
and i don't have to replace the other parts, i will see with the new connector if all works or not
but i'm still in doubt, i would replace also all the wires to be safe.
So i Suggest you to check all the parts of the cable inside because the hot you feel it's ABNORMAL
Good luck !
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BioSemiosi
Active member
Yes you are right, but as you can imagine i just plugged and played the lamp when received without checking any screw
BioSemiosi
Active member
Exactly i hope this thread don't make flames (in all senses) just help us to be more safe, i'm a bit paranoid about fire and short circuit.
BioSemiosi
Active member
Honestly all was well connected, as other lamp i've still working, 2 ventilators are allways on and a prima klima 480 m3 allways on, temp and humidity checked by a wireless thermohygrometer everyday..
so not my fault believe me, I took it ironically because I was at week 8 of flowering otherwise i'd be furious.
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