Power cord "BLOWN"

[wegotjs]

I am a little disappointed that the power wire for the main box is not a much larger guage wire.I understand that a lot of people are using led's on the controller but was shocked when I plugged in the my 2 MH for the first time and a huge puff of black smoke poured out by the power cord. I had (2) 250 watt mh and 2 korralia's plugged into to the relay box. There was a small hole burnt through on the outside of the cord and when I opened it up all 3 wires were burned all the way through.I was supprised that they were a very small guage wire.I guess i will have to go back to the manual plug timers.I either had a bad cord that i have been using for the last 2 months or the power cord will not hold up under heavy wattage uses.I suggest that if there are going to 8 ports then the power cord should be able to hold up to some heavy usage.

[rimai]

The markings on the cables rate them at 10A, just like the relay box is.
What could've happened is that MH ballasts have a huge inrush current in the order of 60A each.
Did you power them both at the same time?

[wegotjs]

No they were on a 5 minute delay. One was on when the other tuned on it blew. Does no one use this controller for mutliple MH .

[Appleseed]

As far a I know you should use a "light switching contactor" as the halides current draw on start up is more than the relays can handle.

[reefcycle]

I have 3 250 watt MH in addition to over 450 more watts of supplemental lighting. Never had problem, plus the side mount breaker should pop before the cable fries. I have held off from hooking up chiller since I think it would be to much for relay box to handle with pop on current but metal halides no problems here.. unless you are using extension cord..*