Wiring light sockets to cords. Need adv

I'm sorry if this has been answered, I've looked around. I'm wondering if anyone can give me some adv/links for a few electrical questions.

I have two 85 watt CFLs I plan on mounting them side by side with a few 42 watts in a home made reflector. Right now I have one in a plain ceiling socket attached to a cord/plug. My question is how many sockets can I attack to one wire. Is there a rule of thumb for max watts or is it diffrent depending on the wire gage?

Will one cord cover the 170 watts?




..and I gotta throw in some root porn

yeah buddy when worrying about power more or less looking at the amps but for what you want to do. it would be fine ran on one cord.

You want to add up your amp draw and use a cord that is thick enough to handle the draw. The more amp draw, the heavier gauge wire you will want to use. For what you are talking about, I would figure a 18 gauge wire would probably suffice, but a 16 would give you wiggle room. CFL's are not big amp loads and your run would be short.

You total amp draw is probably around 3 amps and so you can figure that as long as your extension run is less than 50 feet, 18 gauge is good.

I only need to run it about 1-3 feet.

I just picked up a 2nd socket/base, 2m of 18 gage wire, and a plug. I'll be hooking it up tonight sometime between 4am, and 4pm when the lights are off. I just can't afford to blow these bulbs. not to mention burn my house down.

haha
can anyone confirm this

..ps they are 80 watt CFLs (160 watts)

18 AWG will be fine. The lights will be using about 1.33 amps, and the wire is rated to 2.3 amps.

Happy wiring!

Awsome.
You guys are the shit!