LED light blew up at the plug

[Mojave96]

Hi guys,

Been stalking this and a couple of other forums for the past month or so. Love the community so decided to join myself.


I have two LED lights for my 2 plants...now just yesterday one of my lights blew up (thank God for the surge protector extension cable) and it killed off the electricity as a safety measure.

Now that's all good as nobody died and my house hasn't burned down, but I'm one light less.

I'm now running a fan on the extension to keep the heat down as I've noticed the plug was really hot for the past few days.

Am I doing anything wrong? Are there better ways to manage the situation? How to prevent it in the future?

TL;DR: LED Light socket blew up, running fan on the extension. Are there better ways to manage the situation? Better ways to prevent it in the future?

Many thanks guys/gals!

 

[415friendly]

Maybe time to replace the surge protector? Those can get old and worn out.

I had a garage fire a few years ago caused by a faulty surge protector. The fire investigator said that those are the number 1 cause of fires.

Don't cheap out on a new one either.

 

[Mojave96]

Thanks for the quick reply

You make a fair point, especially as this particular surge protector is a few years old now. I recently bought a really good (expensive though!) Surge protector for my new TV (just in case lol) so may buy it again for the lights.

 

[OlderGrower]

Also you may want to check to see how big of a load you are putting on your circuit also. Chances are you are using an existing outlet or two to power your grow, these outlets could be connected with other outlets in your home. One way to test which outlets are on the same circuit is to turn off the breakers one at a time until your lights go off, then take lamp and plug it in in various locations. If the light does not light up , that outlet is on your circuit. The amount of power available to each circuit should be 15 amps total, that is combined total of all the outlets on that circuit. Since lights are on for more then 3 hours non-stop they are considered a continuous load so the circuit they are on should never be loaded up to more then 12 amps even though it is on a 15 amp circuit. It is very possible that the computer or video game one or two rooms over are on the same circuit. While LEDs use less power then HIDs it does add up, then throw in fans and air pumps and if your alarm clock, video games, radio. lamps, and other electrical items are all on the same circuit, it adds up very quickly.

 

[Mojave96]

Also you may want to check to see how big of a load you are putting on your circuit also. Chances are you are using an existing outlet or two to power your grow, these outlets could be connected with other outlets in your home. One way to test which outlets are on the same circuit is to turn off the breakers one at a time until your lights go off, then take lamp and plug it in in various locations. If the light does not light up , that outlet is on your circuit. The amount of power available to each circuit should be 15 amps total, that is combined total of all the outlets on that circuit. Since lights are on for more then 3 hours non-stop they are considered a continuous load so the circuit they are on should never be loaded up to more then 12 amps even though it is on a 15 amp circuit. It is very possible that the computer or video game one or two rooms over are on the same circuit. While LEDs use less power then HIDs it does add up, then throw in fans and air pumps and if your alarm clock, video games, radio. lamps, and other electrical items are all on the same circuit, it adds up very quickly.

Much appreciate the reply. Well I do have a LED TV, a games console, PC my grow light and a fan plugged in all at the same time, through two different surge extensions...that's just in one of my rooms.

Now, when the circuit breaker switched off for the sockets (it literally says sockets underneath one of the crabtree switches), everything went in all the bedrooms (at least). This is kind of worrying tbh...if I understood that correctly?

Think I will have to unplug some things or just *internally crying* throw away one of my Blue Dreams if it comes to the worst...

 

[Bud Good]

...throw away one of my Blue Dreams if it comes to the worst...

NO! Don't do that! Do you recall how many amps the circuit breaker is? I've seen a number of older (probably not to current code) wiring jobs that use a 20 amp breaker/wires and powers like half of the 15 amp outlets in a house. You may be good for more than 12A if that's the case. 3 rooms with 15A seems a bit low... but do does 20A for 3 rooms.

I got lucky and the guy who built my house apparently wanted to fill up the giant breaker box (I have at least 60A to my grow room, one of them is 240V 30A :. But I've also seen houses where the chandelier in the dining room needs to be turned off to use a blender in the kitchen.

Short term (I do mean SHORT [but no pun intended] term) you could run an extension cord or two from other circuits to keep the plants alive. Just check them and make sure they don't have any warm spots after 30 min of use or so. And make sure the wire gauge is enough for the amps you're pulling. Also check that plugs aren't warm. Wall outlets wear out just like power strips.

 

[greffon]

so is the lesson here to always have LED plugged in through surge protector?

 

[AKgramma]

so is the lesson here to always have LED plugged in through surge protector?

ALL your electronics should be plugged into surge protectors. One voltage spike and they are fried, otherwise. And I agree, split up your recreational electronics onto other circuits. You want your grow on a separate circuit.

 

[Mojave96]

Thanks for all your replies guys, really appreciate it

Is it going to be enough to unplug some things while I've got the lights?

I'm not very good with electrics tbh so I don't trust myself with any long-term solutions which involves messing around with any electrics so I'm bit stuck in that sense.

I will take your suggestions though and will decide on the best solution available

BTW my pc can go completely as I don't use it as much as I used to, right? Is that going to help with some of the load? This may be a very quick solution while I'm thinking about what to do long-term wise.

 

[AKgramma]

You don't have to be an electrician to use power strips with surge protectors and on-off switches. Just plug them into the wall and plug in your PC and peripherals into the sockets. You do not have to get rid of your computer, either.

If you absolutely MUST have your PC in the grow room, find a good 3-prong extension cord, one of those with the round cord, not the flimsy flat ones. Plug that into a wall socket on another circuit from another room. Plug your power strip/surge protector into that. Plug your PC, printer, and monitor into the sockets on the surge protector.

That should prevent any more burnt plugs and sockets.