Powersun and Active, etc.

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Posted by Ig Chick on November 05, 2001 at 12:15:47:

In Reply to: New questions about Active UV posted by Michelle B on November 05, 2001 at 08:12:18:

:First of all, is the "Power Sun UV" (I think it's by Zoo Med) the same? These are big bulbs, right? Do they hang out of a conventional dome fixture?

The PowerSun bulbs have a shorter neck on them which allows them to fit inside a 10 inch ceramic dowe with no problem. The old Active bulb does not fit insite a dome and you have to add feet to the fixture if you want the bulb to sit on top of somehting (like hardware cloth). I haven't seen the new version of the Active that T-Rex is putting out but I have heard that they also have shortened the neck. We have 1 PowerSun, I have to say that design wise we like it better than the Active, unfortunatly it only comes in a 160 flood. Not a big problem there as very few home users will ever have call for the larger wattages.

: What I was wanting to do was put it right over JJ's basking site. I was going to cut a hole right in the top of his cage (It is plywood), so the dome could rest on the cage top, but the bulb could shine down in. If I did this, it would be about 24" or so from JJ. What wattage should I get?

The size of the bulb you will get will depend on how large your total enclosure is. In a 4x4x8 tall, we a re running a 160 flood. We've tried the spot lights and in my opinion they don't work as well for an iguana as they do for some other reptiles. The way you are planning on setting it up is just fine.

: Also, these put off a lot of heat, right? Should I be concerned about the setup I have described as far as fire hazard? I would cut the wood away as much as possible, but I do not know how MUCH heat these put out.

They don't put off "a lot of heat" as described in some places. True, they put off more heat than a flourescent tube but no more heat than a basking bulb. We've been running them for a while now in different enclosures under different setups and have never encountered an issue where that heat was too much.

: Also, if the bulb is large and extends slightly down ito the cut out area, how can I protect it from JJ getting up there and burning himself

Cut some wooden blocks and screw them to the lip of the dome fixture. If you can't do that then just lay the dome fixture on top of some wooden blocks or strips -just make sure that you're not setting the bulb on the weed -only the metal dish of the fixture. This way you will be able to put down some hardware cloth and light will set above that.

If you have any more questions, plese feel free drop us an email! We've been using the bulbs for ahwile now and have probably encountered many of the problems that others will find when they first switch over.

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Re: Powersun and Active, etc. Michelle B 11/06/01 (0)
oopppps forgot to add our email Ig Chick 11/05/01 (0)

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: :First of all, is the "Power Sun UV" (I think it's by Zoo Med) the same? These are big bulbs, right? Do they hang out of a conventional dome fixture? : The PowerSun bulbs have a shorter neck on them which allows them to fit inside a 10 inch ceramic dowe with no problem. The old Active bulb does not fit insite a dome and you have to add feet to the fixture if you want the bulb to sit on top of somehting (like hardware cloth). I haven't seen the new version of the Active that T-Rex is putting out but I have heard that they also have shortened the neck. We have 1 PowerSun, I have to say that design wise we like it better than the Active, unfortunatly it only comes in a 160 flood. Not a big problem there as very few home users will ever have call for the larger wattages. : : What I was wanting to do was put it right over JJ's basking site. I was going to cut a hole right in the top of his cage (It is plywood), so the dome could rest on the cage top, but the bulb could shine down in. If I did this, it would be about 24" or so from JJ. What wattage should I get? : The size of the bulb you will get will depend on how large your total enclosure is. In a 4x4x8 tall, we a re running a 160 flood. We've tried the spot lights and in my opinion they don't work as well for an iguana as they do for some other reptiles. The way you are planning on setting it up is just fine. : : : Also, these put off a lot of heat, right? Should I be concerned about the setup I have described as far as fire hazard? I would cut the wood away as much as possible, but I do not know how MUCH heat these put out. : They don't put off "a lot of heat" as described in some places. True, they put off more heat than a flourescent tube but no more heat than a basking bulb. We've been running them for a while now in different enclosures under different setups and have never encountered an issue where that heat was too much. : : : Also, if the bulb is large and extends slightly down ito the cut out area, how can I protect it from JJ getting up there and burning himself : Cut some wooden blocks and screw them to the lip of the dome fixture. If you can't do that then just lay the dome fixture on top of some wooden blocks or strips -just make sure that you're not setting the bulb on the weed -only the metal dish of the fixture. This way you will be able to put down some hardware cloth and light will set above that. : If you have any more questions, plese feel free drop us an email! We've been using the bulbs for ahwile now and have probably encountered many of the problems that others will find when they first switch over.

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