Electrician here...If you need advice or help

[letsgofishin]

im not sure which ballast, (Im thinking they are the purple colored ones?) but these also have a 'variable' wattage selector, and if i recall correctly, they are 'over-driving' the bulbs....which will dramatically shorten the life of the bulbs... as well as alter the color....and with the price of bulbs, I am guessing this could be an 'expensive' option... most folks are getting approx 1 year on a bulb, and if you ahve to change them more often, lets say 9-10 months, (conservative estimate), then that is kinda like 10% increase in cost for bulbs... if you have 1 bulb, that maybe 'negligible' but if you have several bulbs, then it could be more painful when it comes time to replace.

not to mention the potential for unexpected blow outs and the need to find quick replacement that may or may not be the right color, or may look funny with 1 bulb being a different color or brightness...

there maybe some negative affects on the ballast as well, but not sure what or how much...

 

[imindtim]

Thats exactly what I was thinking. That these ballasts (purple in color) are overdriving the bulbs. Thank you for all the info.

im not sure which ballast, (Im thinking they are the purple colored ones?) but these also have a 'variable' wattage selector, and if i recall correctly, they are 'over-driving' the bulbs....which will dramatically shorten the life of the bulbs... as well as alter the color....and with the price of bulbs, I am guessing this could be an 'expensive' option... most folks are getting approx 1 year on a bulb, and if you ahve to change them more often, lets say 9-10 months, (conservative estimate), then that is kinda like 10% increase in cost for bulbs... if you have 1 bulb, that maybe 'negligible' but if you have several bulbs, then it could be more painful when it comes time to replace.

not to mention the potential for unexpected blow outs and the need to find quick replacement that may or may not be the right color, or may look funny with 1 bulb being a different color or brightness...

there maybe some negative affects on the ballast as well, but not sure what or how much...

 

[james-lee]

If my breaker keeps tripping from having so many items running from my aquarium can I buy a higher amped breaker and install it to prevent the over loads? If my MH and everything else is on and I tuned on my laser printer the circuit breaker pops. So I have tio either print before the MH comes on or after they are off lol!

 

[Cymaster007]

Dont buy a higher amped breaker, you will most likely end up overloading and heating up the wiring and may cause a fire in the walls.

 

[james-lee]

Good point! So what can I do? Only thing I can do is buy LED syatem that wil cut the power usage by 3/4 but try explaining a 1K upgrade to the wife lol! Unless I just run the lights during the evening and be off during the day.

 

[bigdaddystar]

I recommend for everyone out there that has about 150g and up tank to have dedicated circuits ran to it to prevent this from happening...my 180g has 2 20 circuits going to it....my 120g will have 2 as well...my current problem is similar... wife can't plug in a vacuum in that room when my halides are on...its just going to happen.....tanks need dedicated power.....

Bite the bullet...either run leds or call an electrician to install dedicated circuits...most innstalls I would charge around $200-$300 so it is prolly more cost effective....depending on your location I could help you out....if not am sure the prices would similar in your area

 

[letsgofishin]

be careful... leds do draw a bunch of power.. the issue is tht they convert more power to light then incandescants do... regular bulbs get too hot to touch.. that is 'wasted' power/electricity...

led fixtures are still hot.. too hot to touch.. but that is isolated and is 'wicked away' by the heat sink... that too is wasted power, but it is much smaller... i.e. the heat comes from the back side of the led itself.. if you have a dozen leds, then each one will produce heat...

bottom line is to check the led fixture and it will state how much wattage/amps it consumes...

and regardless, it is still better to have dedicated circuits for exactly the reason stated above...

 

[letsgofishin]

duplicate post, sorry

 

[bigdaddystar]

yeah, regardless you are always better off having dedicated outlets for your tank and any other household equipment that might draw a signifigant amount of amps/watts that will be ran for a prolonged amount of time....who wants to constantly be reseting tripped breakers

 

[Dactylopterus]

Do I have stray voltage?

Do I have stray voltage?

I've used two methods to measure stray voltage:

-AC V reads 24,3 Volts, 50 V with the heater ON
-mA- even µA, reads 00,0 mA

Which one of the two methods is correct to know if I have stray voltage?

Do I have a problem when the meter reads 50 V?

Can anyone explain me?

Thanks,

 

[bigdaddystar]

You would want to read for volts...It is less likely that you will find any amps since it is just voltage (no load) so there shouldnt be any amps present

But, here is the issue 50 volts reading is not stray voltage. That is pretty substanial. That should be enough voltage to feel a little jolt in the water.

I would make it clear that stray voltage and defective equipment are 2 different things.

My understanding of stray voltage would be our tanks themselves creating the voltage and then having no where to go hence why some incorporate a ground probe.

Its a tricky subject without much articles on it. At least not that I could find.

Your best bet would be to unplug one by one until the volts read 0. Then inspect the equipment. If its cheap or old replace it.

 

[bigdaddystar]

Well I stand corrected. I witnessed a tank with 70 stray volts, it was enough to give you a good jolt. Once ground probes were introduced the stray voltage went away and there was no faulty equipment. So I have personally seen a benefit and neccesary needs for a ground probe.

 

[Dactylopterus]

Maybe I don't receive a shock because I'm not grounded? I read 50 V with the heater ON and 25 V with the heater OFF. I have a spare heater (the same Eheim-Jager 150 W) to test if the heater is leaking.

The equipment is 9 months old. I'm gonna do some tests as you advised. So far nothing seems to be affected but you never know how it is affecting your livestock.

Thanks,

 

[bigdaddystar]

Sorry been busy....

So here is my conclusion....there is no such thing as stray voltage (for the most part per say) it can exist but the term stray is misinterpreted...it is not stray it is deliberate. Caused by faulty equipment that can be easily fixed by identifying the source. The heater sounds like half the problem and again a ground probe does not fix a problem it masks it for one and safeguards it temporarily....anyone using a ground probe should first make sure there is no voltage present and then periodically unplug it and check there is no voltage present

 

[bigdaddystar]

How to test for stray voltage
Make sure everything is running as it normally would and make sure to turn ON anything that is off like heaters, chillers, lights, pumps

What you will need:

a Voltmeter capable of reading A/C voltage (almost all do) and digital is preferred (some will look like mine, others will be in the shape of a rectangle) both do the job

A Voltmeter
Set it to Volts A/C

Insert the black probe into a ground hole on a plug or if not available find a good ground source like metal that is connected to the earth somewhere.

Insert the red probe into any part of the tanks water. In my case I used the sump.

While you have both leads in the water/ground source read your meter. If it reads 0 volts you are good. If you get a reading see part 2 of this demonstration

Part 2

What to do if you do have stray voltage

Unplug one at a time each thing you have plugged in and retest between unplugging them until the voltage is gone.

You may even find you have multiple things causing it so make sure to take note if the stray voltage drops slightly

The worst readings and most typical I have seen usually are around 70v
Good luck!

 

[Travis L. Stevens]

Awesome! An electrician AND a mostly-active thread!

bigdaddystar, I need your input and advice. I'm needing to add a fan to my hood. This has been quite simple in the past as I just wire together the right AC Adapter, plug it in, and I'm good to go. But there is a small exception in this setup. My new tank has my American DJ PC-100A mounted up underneath my the top of my stand. I didn't realize it at the time, but I'm not able to fit any adapters or other objects that hang down from an outlet. Do you know of a way to hook up a DC 12v 0.18a fan to either a regular cord, know of an adapter that has an end like a regular cord, or even a way to hook it up to my existing T5HO Retrofit kit (powered by 2x Workhorse 3's). If you need it, the fan is a Dynex DX-FAN101.

Thank you in advance *crosses fingers that this is still an active thread with a real electrician*

 

[bigdaddystar]

Yes, quite simple.

All you need to do is either a get a small extension cord like 6' and plug it first into your DJ strip then into your adapter for the fans

Or, Go to radio shcak and get yourself a 120vac/12vdc transformer (probably about $5-$10) If your ballasts are in your hood on the 120v cord going to the ballasts cut and splice the 120v side of the cord and install the transformer in line with it...Then on the secondary side (12vdc) wire it to your fan(s)

Awesome! An electrician AND a mostly-active thread!

bigdaddystar, I need your input and advice. I'm needing to add a fan to my hood. This has been quite simple in the past as I just wire together the right AC Adapter, plug it in, and I'm good to go. But there is a small exception in this setup. My new tank has my American DJ PC-100A mounted up underneath my the top of my stand. I didn't realize it at the time, but I'm not able to fit any adapters or other objects that hang down from an outlet. Do you know of a way to hook up a DC 12v 0.18a fan to either a regular cord, know of an adapter that has an end like a regular cord, or even a way to hook it up to my existing T5HO Retrofit kit (powered by 2x Workhorse 3's). If you need it, the fan is a Dynex DX-FAN101.

Thank you in advance *crosses fingers that this is still an active thread with a real electrician*

 

[slick6669]

Might be a dumb question but I'm clueless when it comes to electrical stuff, so I'm running 2 tanks a nano and my cube setup. So the socket in my wall is only for 2 devices my main issue is safety and that I need to connect more devices.

Issue 1, they don't have a ground. So on my Reefkeeper its suppose to be grounded do I just bought the adapter to make it a 2 prong.

Issue 2, I need to plug in more devices but I'm running a surge protector with 8 devices connect so everything is maxed out.
My understand is I either hav to replace the original wall socket thing but of course turn off all the power from the circuit box outside.
Or is it possible to safely swap it out to a wall socket with ground already on it and then use some type of splitter?

My whole description is dumbed down because I'm not much a handyman and don't know the proper terminology lol so excuse the horrible 12 year old descriptions

 

[Travis L. Stevens]

Thank you, bigdaddystar. I'll try the second option as I'm trying to avoid as many extra connections as possible. Is there a keyword I should be googling to find an adapter that's located in the middle of the cord? All I seem to find are where the adapter is still the one that connects in the wall.

 

[bigdaddystar]

Best thing to do would be to swap out the plug if you feel confident at all doing it.Obviously you dont have ground wires so just dont wire anything to the ground screw on the new plug..The groundless plugs are always a hassle. It will cost you 88 cents.

The plug 2 surge protectors in one in each plug then plug your DC4 from your reefkeeper into that and everything else of course.

Next option, They do sell adapters for the groundless plug so you can plug a grounded cord into a groundless plug...You will find them at home depot..little tricky to find sometimes though.

last option (not recommended but perfectly fine) Break off the ground prong from your cord and just plug it in. You dont have any ground anyway so it doesnt really matter

Its a pain dealing with those ungrounded plugs, I would change them all out...if you do it it would only cost about $30-$60 to do your whole house.
And I only charge usually around $300-$500 to do it so it relatively inexpensive either way

Might be a dumb question but I'm clueless when it comes to electrical stuff, so I'm running 2 tanks a nano and my cube setup. So the socket in my wall is only for 2 devices my main issue is safety and that I need to connect more devices.

Issue 1, they don't have a ground. So on my Reefkeeper its suppose to be grounded do I just bought the adapter to make it a 2 prong.

Issue 2, I need to plug in more devices but I'm running a surge protector with 8 devices connect so everything is maxed out.
My understand is I either hav to replace the original wall socket thing but of course turn off all the power from the circuit box outside.
Or is it possible to safely swap it out to a wall socket with ground already on it and then use some type of splitter?

My whole description is dumbed down because I'm not much a handyman and don't know the proper terminology lol so excuse the horrible 12 year old descriptions