Electrician here...If you need advice or help

[bigdaddystar]

No adapter this is going to require retrofitting on your part...The transformer is available at radioshack and the wiring will be done by you by means of cutting stripping and wire nutting the wires together.

The ballast will have a black and white wire on one side (most likely, yellow,blue or red on the side, stay away from those wires)

The cord will have a black and white wire and the transformer might just have to black wires or a black and white...all the black go together under a wirenut and all the whites go together.

Here is a crude drawing of how it should be done...

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.

 

[Travis L. Stevens]

bigdaddystar, I happened to have found something that might work lying around the house. It's an inline adapter like I was looking for, but before chopping it all up I wanted to run it by you. It's a 12v DC 750 mA (I'm assuming milliamp?). Would that 2x fans that are DC 12V 0.18A. If I understand correctly, the adapter powers up to 0.75 amps, and both of them combined would only be 0.36 amps. Is there anything I need to worry about for the other 0.39 amps? It's not going to blow up the fans or anything, will it?

 

[bigdaddystar]

You are correct, should work just fine...If you open up an adapter you will find it is nothing more than a small transformer inside most of the time.

And like all things electrical. Amps never matter so long as it is at least the required amount to run the load. It could be capable of 10 amps for all it matters...the important part is the voltage, you always want to match the voltages

So you are good

 

[slick6669]

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

Right now I have 2 groundless adapters connected to my surge and rklite, so is it ok to plug my Pc4 into one of the surge protectors? If that's the case il just pick up a dj powerstrip and only have those 2 surge protectors in the wall and then my pc4 connected to my surge instead of the wall

 

[bigdaddystar]

Yup sounds good, So long as you dont pop the breaker it will be just fine in either a dj strip or piggy backed off a surge strip....Most strips are rated for 15 amps and most dj strips are rated for 20 amps...so it should be just fine

Of course I would recommend changing that plug anyway its older than time and subject to failure...so you are just asking for it...man I am always in shock when I run across those old plugs...60 years old and still working and more amazing nobody swapped it out at any point...crazy

Right now I have 2 groundless adapters connected to my surge and rklite, so is it ok to plug my Pc4 into one of the surge protectors? If that's the case il just pick up a dj powerstrip and only have those 2 surge protectors in the wall and then my pc4 connected to my surge instead of the wall

 

[slick6669]

Yup sounds good, So long as you dont pop the breaker it will be just fine in either a dj strip or piggy backed off a surge strip....Most strips are rated for 15 amps and most dj strips are rated for 20 amps...so it should be just fine

Of course I would recommend changing that plug anyway its older than time and subject to failure...so you are just asking for it...man I am always in shock when I run across those old plugs...60 years old and still working and more amazing nobody swapped it out at any point...crazy

Dj powerstrips it is! And yeah We had to replace a few around the house because they were groundless do il still replace it!

Thanks!

 

[bigdaddystar]

I would replace it if you can get back i there and do it easily....Might save you a headache down the line...90% of the time I get a call to fix plugs because they are no working it always comes back to 1 old plug that either a wire popped off it, the thing just fell apart internally, or it fried up and they didnt notice...Like I said save yourself a headache and just go around and replace them all, Plus you will be able to plug in anything you want...

If you are comfortable doing it it will cost you all of $30 worth of plugs to do the whole house

 

[sneaton]

i have a retrofit t5 system in my canopy.....when i open and close the canopy it bends the wires back and forth and a few finally broke....is it ok to twist the wires back together and electical tape them? i did that a few months ago and everything is working fine,i just want to know if theres anything wrong with doing it like that.....thanks in advance for your help

 

[bigdaddystar]

Its best to wirenut it and then tape them up for rustproofing/waterproofing a little, It will probably happen again since it happened once but yeah thats probably your best bet if you cant reroute the wires away from the canopy

 

[oigimsar]

How do I convert a 2 prong outlet to a 3 prong grounded outlet?

Thanks.

 

[bigdaddystar]

Quite simple,

You just replace your existing outlet with a new grounded outlet, I am assuming your house has no grounds so the new plug will still have no ground just don't wire anything on the green screw...or just buy a small splitter they usually are not grounded but have a ground hole on the face of it.

In order to get grounds throughout the house requires re-wiring the entire house.

How do I convert a 2 prong outlet to a 3 prong grounded outlet?

Thanks.

 

[oigimsar]

That is what I was wondering. I have several grounded outlets in the house and several that aren't. I just discovered tonight that the place I am planning on putting my new set up does not have a grounded outlet. Are there any precautions I should take after changing out the plug?

 

[bigdaddystar]

No. not really, of course the house should be re-wired just because it's outdated but for the means of convenience I would certainly just replace all the plugs with new ones with a ground prong hole even if it isnt a grounded home. Makes life easier when you want to plug something in. Re-wiring a house can be expensive, usually between $5000 and up so it's a easy thing just to replace an $0.89 plug

 

[oigimsar]

Thank you. I want to follow up to clarify. I have been reading through this thread and you recommend the use of GFI plugs. Obviously, there is no ground so it would do me no good. Do I need to ground the tank somehow? Grounding probe?

 

[bigdaddystar]

You cant use a GFCi usually if you dont have a grounded home they will just trip. And like I have stated I do not use ground probes but that does not mean i dont recommend them. I just test my water regularly to ensure there is no need for them. and since you dont haves grounds they would do you little good.

Unfortunately, unless you want to re-wire your house or at least have a dedicated grounded circuit installed there is nothing you can do about it. I wouldnt be to concerned though but of course there is a danger but ensuring all your equipment is in good working order will minimize that danger. Checking for stray voltage from time to time will help

 

[oigimsar]

OK. Thank you for the help. I do have GFI plugs installed in my bathrooms and kitchen. Maybe I will do the same thing for the tank. Thanks.

 

[bigdaddystar]

Thought I would add this piece of mind.....

Recently heard of a tank crash that could have been avoided sadly.

A Belkin plug strip went bad and shut off the entire tank. By the time it was realized almost all the fish were dead.

Now, the best route to avoid this would have been to have a back-up system. However, alot of us wont spend the bucks for one.

The next best thing would have been to have at least 2 plug strips with important circulating pumps plugged into each to avoid a complete shut down on the tank. I myself use a timered plug strip for my lights, the dc4 from my RKL for a few things, and a DJ strip with the fuse permanently linked since I dont want a surprise. They are all plugged into 2 different 20 amp dedicated circuits from my panel.

Just food for thought....This mistake cost him over $1000, but more importantly his fish which to me are second to my wife and kids and could have been avoided

 

[CarlitosReef]

If you could get back at me ASAP or someone! I have the electrician coming in a couple of hours! My room is being build so I am putting in mind that my fish tank will be in my room with me as well!

I am also a PC nerd so being said that I do run a lot of electronic somethimes at once I was thinking in dedicating 2 seperate circuit breakers for my room. One being for the fish tank system and the other for the rest of the room!

Would this idea be smart? or what do you guys suggest I run my electrical layout?

My tank system will be a 55g with a 30g sump. My system has been on hold so I haven't work on it much and I am still brain storming my system.

I have decided to go with T5 light system. Will be running a skimmer that may need a Mag 9 pump to run not sure yet.

I was thinking in dedicating a 15A circuit for my tank system

and a 15A for my PC, TV, and possibly a ceiling fan! and miscellaneous stuff left nothing to do with my fish tank.

Someone please get back at me with ideas ASAP!!!

 

[bigdaddystar]

Do 20 amp circuit, dont waste your time with 15a, which will be 12 guage wire.

I run 2 20a circuit dedicated to each of my tanks but they are larger have big heaters and chillers...1 is usually fine but it should cost much more than material to put a second circuit there so I always just reccomend doing it.

As for the rest of the room, if you feel your house has inadequate electrical for your needs I usually recommend splitting up a circuit rather than adding 1 dedicated circuit

Example:

Say 1 breaker is running all of your bedrooms,
I run a new line somewhere in the middle of that to break it up so now
there would be 2 breakers covering all the rooms

 

[CarlitosReef]

Well I saw this late but I explained well the electrician what I was planning in doing let me go take some pics real quick so you can see what he did it looks like he did do 2 circuit breakers like I wanted. I have 8 outlets on the side my tank will be at and 8 outlets where my PC studio will go and I have 4 outlets near the ceiling since I will be hanging my TV.