Electrical Cords

[Vicki]

I have six T5 fixtures which have built in moon lights in them.

The moon lights are on a separate cord which has one of those 'wall warts' as a plug in.

I really don't need the moon lights and would like to be rid of the extra cords. I've opened up a unit, but it seems to find the end of the cord that plugs into the moon lights, I'd have to dismantle the complete unit. I really don't want to do that as I'd probably never get it back together correctly.

Can I just cut off this cord (with the unit unplugged ) and wrap the end in electrical tape? Once cut and wrapped, is it completely safe to me and my critters?

Thanks for any advice!
Vicki

 

[Scooterman]

Can't you just leave it unplugged? Does it have a transformer at the end of it?

 

[roscoe]

I think it sould be ok I did this to one of my older fixure and just wrapped up the cut end in electrical tape and it never did anything.

 

[james734]

That would be fine in my book. It would be no different than cutting off a cord on a lamp for the house. No real reason to wrap the end with electrical tape as there will be no voltage coming from the light back out these wires. Might be better though to just wrap it all up and zip tie everything up close to the light, that way if you sell them or decide to use the moonlight later it's all there.

 

[Vicki]

Can't you just leave it unplugged? Does it have a transformer at the end of it?

I could just leave them unplugged, but then I'd have six 'wall warts' just hanging in my way. I know ZERO about electrical stuff. Is a 'wall wart' a transformer? I can't see the other end of the cord if the 'wall wart' isn't the transformer. That's why I'd rather just cut it off if it's safe to do.

Thanks,
Vicki

 

[james734]

I know ZERO about electrical stuff. Is a 'wall wart' a transformer?

Yes.. Wall Wart = Transformer.

 

[james734]

I still say wrap it all up and zip tie it up close to the light. This removes the hanging cords and still allows for future use.

 

[Scooterman]

My suspects is the transformer is for the LEDS & your light uses the other normal plug for the main light. My little fixture was like that but the cord was able to be unplugged at the fixture. You can just cut the transformer wire close to the unit & forget about it. Only leave long enough to rewire if you ever wanted to.

Unplug the unit just to be safe.

 

[Vicki]

Thanks Roscoe and James. I just wanted to be sure this was going to be safe. I'll leave a few inches of the cord I cut and wrap it with electrical tape and wrap that to one of the cords that power to T5s. That will make things nice and tidy!

Off to find my scissors!

Thanks again,
Vicki

 

[james734]

Thanks Roscoe and James.

Scooter helped also.....

 

[Vicki]

Scooter helped also.....

Thanks Scooter too! He was replying at the same time I was.

As usual, things are never as easy as they sound. This one hour project will probably take me the rest of the day. What a 'jungle' of cords I have.

I decided to cut the wires to the fans too, as they really don't do to much and three of the six were blocked anyway. I'm removing 12 'wall warts' from my system now which required 4 additional extension cords to accommodate them. Of course, when I initially set all this up, I used twist ties to keep all the cords in order. I'm here to tell you that over a year later there is NO order left to anything. Salt creep everywhere too! Hopefully by this evening I'll have my system back up and running! (Or tomorrow evening depending on how things go!) :badgrin: It should be much safer once I have everything cleaned and plugged in again.

Thanks again everyone for the help!

Vicki

 

[Scooterman]

Just remember to keep drip loops on everything. You can get that flex-tubing that allows you to put your wires in it, sorta like for computers also. It is like a few buks, does a neat job & you don't need to tye wrap everything.