# Maplins porcelain bulb holder - do you use them?



## medusa0373 (Mar 18, 2008)

Hi all

Couple of quick questions. Bought 2 of the porcelain bulb holders from Maplins yesterday (SH95D or something, recommended by peeps here instead of the highly expensive T-rex edison holders) but there's no info at all on the packaging. Does anyone know:

What wattage they're rated for?

Can you tell me if you use them and if so, what you use in them (ie 100w ceramic, 250w ceramic, 10000w ceramic!!!) and if you've ever had any problems with overheating etc etc etc?

Thanks all x


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## NT666 & KIZZY (Mar 31, 2008)

you can use up to 150 watt i think,i bought the £9.99 one.as its made of clay it wont melt ,bet thing to do is wire it up out side the tank stick the bulb ur going to use in it an turn it on see how hot the thing gets should be ok


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## odyssey (Oct 23, 2006)

i use these in my viv stack. im using 100w and 150w ceramics in mine for the last year with no problems : victory:


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## lola (Dec 11, 2007)

I've got them, very good value, they are very helpful if you ring them with a query - see what they say about the max wattage if you're at all worried  

Maplin > ES (E27) Porcelain Lampholder


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## medusa0373 (Mar 18, 2008)

I'm still kind of confused though, I had a conversation about this with one of the guys who worked in the shop, who seemed doubtful that a heat-emitter could be used in the holder (apparently something which emits light and heat wouldn't get so hot...!?), and seemed concerned about the screw-part where it connects into the holder overheating. Perhaps he was being overcautious...?! 

I see from the link it's rated at 4A, 250V but I'm still not sure what wattage ceramic I should be able to plug into it..... Oh I'm so thick sometimes!!!!!! :crazy:


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## bev336 (May 10, 2007)

I personnally know the company that used to make these, and they are fine for use upto 250w, as long as the correct wire is used. These lampholders are no longer made however so at some point they will no longer be available.


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## Lotus Nut (Jan 7, 2008)

I sell similar ones and they are rated to 4 amps or 1kw so will easily handle 250w. The lamp holder will get very hot and if you are going to use high wattage try to leave a gap between lamp holder and top of viv. You should also use heat resistant cable as normal mains cable insulation can become brittle crack and burn!.
The screw thread has a much larger contact surface area than a bayonet lamp holder as used in most houses so can dissipate heat better.


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## medusa0373 (Mar 18, 2008)

What fabulous people you are - thank you :no1:

I remember seeing on another post that they would not be available for much longer, and my local store only had 2 in stock, so I bought both.

Thanks all!:notworthy:


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## medusa0373 (Mar 18, 2008)

sorry about multiple posts, it won't seem to let me edit a post once I have left that section of the forum (does anyone know how to do it??!)

Final question: what is the correct cable to use for wiring it all up? Lotus Nut, you've said heat resistant cable, but any particular type, or if I just say that to my OH will he know what to buy?

Thanks :no1:


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## bev336 (May 10, 2007)

These lampholders do not have the screw thread as a contact as this is now illegal, they now have 2 small connectors at the top and there is just a small retaining ring to screw the bulb thread in to.

As for the correct wire make sure it is heat resistant to 95 deg C at least.


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## bev336 (May 10, 2007)

Lotus Nut said:


> I sell similar ones and they are rated to 4 amps or 1kw so will easily handle 250w. The lamp holder will get very hot and if you are going to use high wattage try to leave a gap between lamp holder and top of viv. You should also use heat resistant cable as normal mains cable insulation can become brittle crack and burn!.
> The screw thread has a much larger contact surface area than a bayonet lamp holder as used in most houses so can dissipate heat better.


 
I have used a 500w and 300w ceramic in these but it burns out the live contact after around 10 months.


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## boywonder (Mar 10, 2008)

if the contact burned out it was because there wasn't a propper contact from the bottom of the ceramic heater, this caused the electricity to arc and burn the fitting (or top of the heater contact) you can get sillicone sheathing to go over the wires where they touch the fitting too, i got some from an electrical trade counter


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## splendid (Nov 12, 2007)

The cable you need is three core mains and as stated before heat resistant. I got mine from a local electronics store at 50p per meter.


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## Plutino (Aug 5, 2007)

medusa0373 said:


> I'm still kind of confused though, I had a conversation about this with one of the guys who worked in the shop, who seemed doubtful that a heat-emitter could be used in the holder (apparently something which emits light and heat wouldn't get so hot...!?), and seemed concerned about the screw-part where it connects into the holder overheating. Perhaps he was being overcautious...?!
> :crazy:


they always say it's possible this and that cause they know if they give out the wrong advice and there's ever a problem, even if there's almost no chance of it and it's a freak accident, they can get blamed. Personally I hate the guys at maplins and wont go there unless I absolutely have to and know the exact part I need and there's no where else to get it. To me it seemed they couldn't care less and didn't want to deal with me, but maybe that's just my American accent. Local electrical wholesaler all the way : victory:


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## bev336 (May 10, 2007)

boywonder said:


> if the contact burned out it was because there wasn't a propper contact from the bottom of the ceramic heater, this caused the electricity to arc and burn the fitting (or top of the heater contact) you can get sillicone sheathing to go over the wires where they touch the fitting too, i got some from an electrical trade counter


No it was nothing to do with arcing it was the heat of the ceramic causing the live contact to become brittle, which at 500w has a face temperature of over 550 deg c, it is a common problem in the application that 500w ceramic bulbs are used in and we changed the live contact to a birilium copper one which irradicated the problem.


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## cbmark (Feb 23, 2008)

ive just purchased some of these to run with 250w ceramics are they ok or not?


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## Valkyrie1 (May 14, 2008)

I've resurrected this as I have just checked my fitting when preparing for a new viv. Is this the problem one you're talking about? It is a heat-resistant cable and a 100w ceramic.

Can anyone suggest a better fitting??

Alex


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## Jim2109 (Mar 30, 2009)

try and get hold of some high temperature heat shrink tubing. use that over the cables (its a tube that when you heat it with a heat gun (or even a cigarette lighter!) it shrinks to 1/2 (or sometimes less) of its original size. you can get high temperature stuff that will withstand anything a ceramic bulb can throw at it! ive used it on racing cars (totally unrelated to reptiles lol) for shielding cable that runs near exhaust pipes and it withstands far more heat there than your bulb can ever produce!

might be one way to solve your issue. it looks like the bulb holder itself has held up fine. think im going to get me a few from Maplins later


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## philipniceguy (Mar 31, 2008)

i have never used the maplin ones as i found a cheaper one --|1080700000|E27 LAMPHOLDER | CPC i buy alot of electric stuff from there for my reptiles eg bulbs bulb fittings cable so on. i buy r80 100W bulbs from there which last longer than bnqs which cost 2x the price but i always order a few si think its still 40.00 for free postage. anyways as for the ceramic holders i only use 100w bulbs in mine max so no idea upto 250w but sure they will. i used to use plastic holders but even though they say rated at 100W max they seem to get very brittle and within a year crack when you try to change a bulb so changed to the ceramic ones as above no problems since


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## Sprocket (Apr 21, 2008)

philipniceguy said:


> i have never used the maplin ones as i found a cheaper one --|1080700000|E27 LAMPHOLDER | CPC i buy alot of electric stuff from there for my reptiles eg bulbs bulb fittings cable so on. i buy r80 100W bulbs from there which last longer than bnqs which cost 2x the price but i always order a few si think its still 40.00 for free postage. anyways as for the ceramic holders i only use 100w bulbs in mine max so no idea upto 250w but sure they will. i used to use plastic holders but even though they say rated at 100W max they seem to get very brittle and within a year crack when you try to change a bulb so changed to the ceramic ones as above no problems since


These look exactly the same as the maplin ones !


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## Freaky Rubber (Apr 7, 2009)

yeah its quite usual for maplin to sell something for 2-3x the price of a whole saler i used to work for them even with staff discount it would most of the time work out cheaper to get it from rs components or cpc/farnell's the holders them selfs are rated at 4 amps @ 230v so that means it should handle (4ax230w=920va) so to run safe with it between 800 and 900 watts as long as the other components used can handle it and there is no fire issue with surroundings i.e that fake plant you have leaning on it =oP


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## ratking (Mar 4, 2008)

philipniceguy said:


> i have never used the maplin ones as i found a cheaper one --|1080700000|E27 LAMPHOLDER | CPC i buy alot of electric stuff from there for my reptiles eg bulbs bulb fittings cable so on. i buy r80 100W bulbs from there which last longer than bnqs which cost 2x the price but i always order a few si think its still 40.00 for free postage. anyways as for the ceramic holders i only use 100w bulbs in mine max so no idea upto 250w but sure they will. i used to use plastic holders but even though they say rated at 100W max they seem to get very brittle and within a year crack when you try to change a bulb so changed to the ceramic ones as above no problems since


it works out £8.05 for 1 from that site mate with the postage so dont get how you work out its cheaper


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## Jim2109 (Mar 30, 2009)

back in the day Maplin used to be awesome. were going back about 5 years here. they were as cheap as RS and CPC and awesome to deal with. i used to order everything electrical from them.

then they started opening shops all over the place. which at first was cool because it meant i could get stuff locally and still really cheap. and then their prices just doubled overnight, literally. and now their prices are absolutely ridiculous on some stuff, massively overpriced. but they are still a good source for unusual electrical items and because they have a store 2 miles from my house, often they work out cheaper by the time postage is factored in.

however CPC are where i place any bulk orders. you have to spend at least £50 there though for the shipping price to be offset! hence il probably still get these bulb holders from Maplin


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## Freaky Rubber (Apr 7, 2009)

ratking said:


> it works out £8.05 for 1 from that site mate with the postage so dont get how you work out its cheaper


yeah factoring in the postage thats try but it depends on how much you order and get delivery freeeee :lol2: and I always think about how much the fuel costs as well :2thumb:


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## philipniceguy (Mar 31, 2008)

ratking said:


> it works out £8.05 for 1 from that site mate with the postage so dont get how you work out its cheaper


Easy i got 15 of them last time and as i also got 20ish bulbs it cost 43. Ish and so postage is free making them less than maplin by more than half price


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