craigh Posted August 2, 2011 Share Posted August 2, 2011 I several SPT female plugs (1's and 2's) that have cracks in them, some are a year old and some are 2 years old. They crack from the plug hole then up each side from that hole. I am just plugging in LED light strings, not forcing the male plugs, and they are standard male plug ends.It is so bad that I am almost having to replace 20 or more female plugs.Is anyone else having this problem?Craig Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest wbottomley Posted August 2, 2011 Share Posted August 2, 2011 I haven't found any cracks in mine but two holes do appear. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
craigh Posted August 2, 2011 Author Share Posted August 2, 2011 Funny, you have holes in yours and I have cracks in mine!!!Here are some pictures of the cracked plugs, these are SPT2 female plugs with one light string plugged into it. Attached files Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted August 3, 2011 Share Posted August 3, 2011 i'll ask the obvious...its a polarized female plug? it looks like what might result with a polarized plug being forced into a non-polarized (female) socket... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
craigh Posted August 3, 2011 Author Share Posted August 3, 2011 The male end of the light string is not polarized. The Female plug end is polarized. The male end of the light string plugs in easliy to the female end and does not have to be forced. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caniac Posted August 3, 2011 Share Posted August 3, 2011 craigh wrote: The male end of the light string is not polarized. The Female plug end is polarized. The male end of the light string plugs in easily to the female end and does not have to be forced.I won't go there but this thread is ripe for derailing!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
craigh Posted August 3, 2011 Author Share Posted August 3, 2011 let's keep this thread clean!!!I have emailed the vendor to see if they have had any other customers with this problem....Craig Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caniac Posted August 3, 2011 Share Posted August 3, 2011 craigh wrote: let's keep this thread clean!!!I have emailed the vendor to see if they have had any other customers with this problem....CraigI am not the one you have to worry about. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted August 3, 2011 Share Posted August 3, 2011 craigh wrote: let's keep this thread clean!!!I have emailed the vendor to see if they have had any other customers with this problem....Craigwho's the vendor?...guessing someone here has ordered from them and can speak to whether they ever had any issues.Are all the plugs out of the same order?Would seem like a lot of force required to make one crack like that...and if it is happening to a bunch, it would point to a mfg defect, or an installation error.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
craigh Posted August 3, 2011 Author Share Posted August 3, 2011 The vendor is Action lighting. The plugs on my light poles all came from the same order. I have other plugs that also have this problem but they are from a different order and year.Maybe I did something wrong when I put the plugs together... but not sure what that would be! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donny M. Carter Posted August 3, 2011 Share Posted August 3, 2011 Not saying you did or didn't do anything wrong, but last year I forced a few polarized plugs into my spt ends and they did the same thing.Donny Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
craigh Posted August 3, 2011 Author Share Posted August 3, 2011 When putting the SPT plug together, sliding the top on them sometimes requires some force to get the top on all the way. Maybe the extra squeezing started a crack. I checked all the plugs after I put them together, and no cracks. But it is possible that I caused my own problem!How does everyone slide the tops onto the SPT plugs? just squeeze really hard with your fingers, use channel lock pilers, use a vice, use a hammer!?!?! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Surfing4Dough Posted August 3, 2011 Share Posted August 3, 2011 craigh wrote: When putting the SPT plug together, sliding the top on them sometimes requires some force to get the top on all the way. Maybe the extra squeezing started a crack. I checked all the plugs after I put them together, and no cracks. But it is possible that I caused my own problem!How does everyone slide the tops onto the SPT plugs? just squeeze really hard with your fingers, use channel lock pilers, use a vice, use a hammer!?!?!Just slide on tightly with fingers. Rarely have to push one on the cement ground to get it go all the way, but that is usually if my fingers are getting too cold while making one during winter setup. If you have to work at it that hard, it make me wonder if you are using SPT1 plugs with SPT2 wire, which might be why they then crack. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted August 3, 2011 Share Posted August 3, 2011 craigh wrote: When putting the SPT plug together, sliding the top on them sometimes requires some force to get the top on all the way. Maybe the extra squeezing started a crack. I checked all the plugs after I put them together, and no cracks. But it is possible that I caused my own problem!How does everyone slide the tops onto the SPT plugs? just squeeze really hard with your fingers, use channel lock pilers, use a vice, use a hammer!?!?!For the ones that won't slide easy with fingers (small number..), use channel-locks to slide the cap on.You mentioned spt-1s and 2s..could you have gotten them mixed, and hence, wrong plug on wire? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
craigh Posted August 3, 2011 Author Share Posted August 3, 2011 I checked the plugs and the wire, they match - SPT1 plugs with SPT1 wire and so on- I am really careful about that! Most of my problems are SPT2 plugs, but I will check again. Sliding the cap on top of a SPT2 plug has always required the use of pliers, at least for me. I am able to just use my finger s for the SPT1 caps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Surfing4Dough Posted August 3, 2011 Share Posted August 3, 2011 craigh wrote: I checked the plugs and the wire, they match - SPT1 plugs with SPT1 wire and so on- I am really careful about that! Most of my problems are SPT2 plugs, but I will check again. Sliding the cap on top of a SPT2 plug has always required the use of pliers, at least for me. I am able to just use my finger s for the SPT1 caps.Maybe something like this will solve your problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
craigh Posted August 3, 2011 Author Share Posted August 3, 2011 lol....if I use that thing, my hands will be to strong and I wll crush the SPT plugs in my hands! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
craigh Posted August 4, 2011 Author Share Posted August 4, 2011 Thanks everyone for the help.Checked all the cords that I have made, it turns out that I have 26 cracked SPT2 plugs, and no cracks in the SPT1 plugs. I am going to say that I got a bad batch, and replace them.Thanks again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greg Young Posted August 4, 2011 Share Posted August 4, 2011 I have 100's of SPT1s (not 2's) - both male and female and have never experienced this. Sounds like you may have received a bad batch - one that couldn't hold up well to the local elements (sun/uv/heat perhaps?)! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
craigh Posted August 4, 2011 Author Share Posted August 4, 2011 I used SPT2 on all the power cords for my light poles and my LOR controllers. The majority of the cracked plugs are on the light poles, and some cracks are severe and some not to bad. I am going to replace all the bad plugs, funny thing is even with the cracks they still work!! But I don't want to have any other problems.ThanksCraig Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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