Return to the Large Tank forum with a 210G Elos

[Fliger]

Thanks all, I only have a second ...

Steve - to be honest I wouldn't know what I was looking for. I've checked ALL connections and there is nothing loose. Anything beyond that would be beyond my comfort zone.

These fuses look the same as the ones I got from RG, but who knows. I'll be able to tell you soon.

If it is anything else - other than the fuses, you'd think Sfiligoi's first response would be to check those other possibilities. As Chad has told me, it could be capacitors or other electrical components that I just don't understand. Recently he discovered that his Sfiligoi "400W" was actually a 250W and 70W ballast strung together (did I get that right?).

But mfinch - that is EXACTLY what I was thinking. Why would the solution in ANY world be to send more than just one fuse. If one fuse blows, then the other 9 will blow with time. Maybe to get me past my warrantee? And it really confirms that Sfiligoi truly thinks it has to be a fuse problem. But yeah you'd think they'd just replace the fixture. I deal with a lot of high end "things" and just about everything else would have already been replaced. Shoot I just had to replace my iPhone. The service was insanely good. I just went down to the Apple store - played music on the speaker (it was scratchy) and before I could say anything they said - no worries, we'll get you a new one.

But given the fact that Chad had to rewire his fixture completely, spent a lot of extra time & money on it - I'm not holding my breath.

I dunno, I'm excited to get home and test the fuses tho. Needless to say I don't really have a lot of hope ...

And I am worried a little bit that this is a fire hazard.

Gotta run, there is a swimming pool and a cold Corona calling my name .....

 

[cpl40475]

I know this might sound crazy.
You said you have some high end light shops in your area
is it possible to take the light to them and have them check the resistors and ballasts. I know you said you were uncomfortable in doing this yourself just an idea from dumb hillbilly
BTW your tank is looking awesome for all the trouble you have run into
Tracy

 

[clownnrnd]

Yes David that is true. In my owners manual it is told that my fixture can be run as either a 250w unit or a 400w unit simply by changeing a wire and the bulb. In my fixture I had one of each 250w and a 70w ballast per bulb. Seems as if these ballasts coupled together would produce 320w's but I could be wrong??

Your fixture may be a different version so it may actually have a 400w ballast, not the 250w and 70w coupled together. You would need to take the side cover off of the fixture to see what you have. My MH ballast were placed between the MH reflectors.

Just to be clear, Sfigiloi did send me 2 capacitors to correct the problem but after being replaced that did'nt work.

Will from Aquarium Obsessed bought me the 3-400w Ice Cap ballasts and had them sent to me to replace the 220v magnetic ballasts that came w/ the fixture.

Chad

 

[invincible569]

I feel that Sfiligoi should step in and replace this unit for you and not have Will run around in circles going through the same dilemma Chad did. Looks like you are following his path. If Sfiligoi has good business practice, then service would be top notch in order to continue marketing new customers. If its just 3 people out of so many they sold, then why have these people ruin your business? I feel Will is caught in the middle, but ultimately Sfiligoi will suffer the in the long run. If I owned Sfiligoi, I would eat up the cost of that fixture and send you a new one. Having a piece of equipment that is vital to a marine tank means a lot to David and Chad because you cannot continue to stock your tank. Im sure its frustrating and it should never get this far from a business practice.

 

[erics3000]

I agree very bad business. Too much time to continue replacing fuses and yada yada. I would have wanted a new unit. The product may be gerat but I do not think I would purchase one. They are probally out of my budget anyway. Hopefully this will be behind you soon.

 

[Fliger]

We have light! Well, sort of. I put a fuse in and it worked! Let it run for a bit, turned it off for a while, turned it on and it worked again. Turned it off, let it rest, put in a new fuse ... kapowie ... so I put the first fuse in and it worked. I'm guessing these will all blow given enough starts. This morning I turned it on and it worked but is REALLY loud. Much louder than yesterday - I forgot how loud magnetics are.

Tracy - I thought about that but it would definitely cost some cash. I'm reluctant to put much more time and/or money into it. Plus the wiring is quite complicated. I'm pretty sure I have the 250W + 70W strung together. If I put any more money into this, it will be to replace the ballasts.

Eric, I love your thread. I wish I could do a room like that. I like the toys in your garage! What kind of boat is that?

Chad & Invince - I feel like AO is stuck in the middle as well. He has already offered to send me more fuses. Ultimately Sfiligoi has to stand behind their products. I can only say that this would NOT have happened with Giesemann, Elos, Grotech Photon or even Aquamedic.

Those snail eggs disappeared overnight - and this morning I found ceriths laying eggs in the same spot. Kinda strange

 

[Nuuze]

My snails do the same, they lay and lay. Sometimes I wipe it as I clean the glass with a magnet cleaner. I even get all sorts of eggs on my live rock. Pretty soon you'll start seeing tiny snals.

 

[erics3000]

Thanks fliger. I have always wanted to do an in the wall tank. Hopefully I can get some good progress in the next couple of months. That is my yamaha 1200 jetski. The boat is on hold because that money turned into a wall and tank. hahahah

The snail eggs are cool. I wonder if the fish eat some. Have you thought about setting up a little tank for them to hatch. Now you got your light we can get some good pics...

 

[Fliger]

Question for lighting experts. I got this response from Italy, and I'm trying to figure out how easy this might be. Alessandro seems like a real nice guy. I've done lots of wiring with US products - but I'm a little nervous to rewire a pair of 250W+70W ballasts = 400W bulb, ran with transformers.

Hi David, now I understand !!. The problem is the "overcurrent" during "start up". I test all the pendant in my company but we have a 60 Hz generator only with 1500 W. Try with new fuses but I don't know if the fuse don't blow. !! The start current of the generator is not very high, so we haven''t problem with blow fuse. But in your country (115 V) the "short circuit current" is high so at this point I think the problem is the high current during "warm up" of the bulbs. The solution is easy (if you are able): - Open the external box: you'll found two converters one for each bulb) (but one fuse only): it is necessary to use one fuse for each converter. I send you a simple wire diagram (old versions and last version). You can use other fuseholders with other fuses. Those simplest ones for you to find !
You need 15 A "slow blow". If you are not able to found fuse and fuseholder I'll send you tomorrow 4 pieces. Don't esitate to contact me for any question..
Have a nice day
Alessandro

So I got the wiring diagram and it looks pretty basic. I know NOTHING about fuses though, let alone wiring up a fuse hold and letting it hang loosely. Should I be doing this? They are making it seem like its really easy.

I already have to replace the T5 ballast, but thats easy (no transformer). Shouldn't I just be getting a correct dual fuse transformer box expressed to me?

Any advice? I'm really, really, really trying to be patient.

 

[Nuuze]

That's the same transformer I have in the center of my unit to power my T5 ballasts!

I'm guessing what Alessandro is saying is upon firing the bulbs to turn on that's when it overloads and burns the fuse because that's when it needs the most juice to charge up the cap/ballasts.

So what Sfiligoi did was splice both transformers to the same fuse. You should see the black wire from the fuse holder go into the block then splitting out to each transformer.

What he wants you to do is split each "live" wire from the transformer going to the wiring block going to the fuse holder into two seperate fuse holders.

So let's see...

The white wire from the fuse holder looks like the live wire to the plug. The black one from the fuse holder goes to the block where it splits to the two transformers.

What you need to do is split the white wire from the fuse holder to another fuse holder. Then from each fuse holder goes to each transformer.

 

[bogg]

This reminds me of the bit from the jerky boys, the one where there is a guy on the phone with the t.v company attempting to repair his own t.v. and he's asking him which wires to connect and the guys in the background screaming as hes getting electrocuted LOL. Scary Dave!. But it might be worth it!.

 

[Fliger]

Thanks Nuuze, it kind of makes sense. I will print this out along with the wiring diagram and see if it makes sense. Another problem I have is that the wires are very short and there isn't much to work with. Then on top of that, there isn't much room and the fuse will be hanging loose. And on top of it all, why does this even use fuses anyway?

Chad - since we had the same issues, did you try this? Or looking back - do you think it would have worked? LMK your thoughts PLEASE. And after all this is done, I will send you both a nice frag pack for all your help.

I'm seriously considering buying new US ballasts. This all seems like one big science experiment and I'm the rat.

But for now I'm getting away from this and grabbing a beer. What a headache this is.

LOL Bogg, I was thinking its more like the Simpsons where Homer keeps putting the butter knife or screwdriver into the light socket. :lol:

 

[Nuuze]

LOL!

Believe me man; if I was in driving distance I'd be over to help. Also to be safe, you may want to wear latex gloves to avoid being shocked. Just make sure they don't have any tears on them dripping sweat out.

That's what I plan to do when I upgrade my T5 tubes is to replace the T5 ballasts to US spec 115v.

If I ever run into problems with my ACLS or decide to replace/upgrade, I will replace them with IC 250w.

 

[Fliger]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10374749#post10374749 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Nuuze
LOL!

Believe me man; if I was in driving distance I'd be over to help. Also to be safe, you may want to wear latex gloves to avoid being shocked. Just make sure they don't have any tears on them dripping sweat out.

So I guess that means I should unplug the fixture before splicing? :lol:

edit - I also thought about going down to 250W if I end up doing this. But I have four brand new 400W bulbs. You wanna buy em?

 

[Nuuze]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10374776#post10374776 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Fliger
So I guess that means I should unplug the fixture before splicing? :lol:

Yes, unplug! But even though you unplug, some ballasts/capacitors may still have a charge in them.

 

[Fliger]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10374798#post10374798 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Nuuze
Yes, unplug! But even though you unplug, some ballasts/capacitors may still have a charge in them.

Um ... thanks, thats really gonna make me feel better tonight. :lol: I'm glad like you other Elos owners I don't have guns. I would have already made swiss cheese out of this!

 

[erics3000]

Always be aware of some residual energy. You have already come this far so go for the fuse upgrade. That or get your money back. Good luck

 

[Nuuze]

HEHE! But you have better gun options than I do living in Arizona!

If I ever run into problems with my fixture like some of you I would go nuts!

You know, come to think of it. 15 amps may not be enough for 4 ballasts at startup, since you mention there are 1 250w and 1 70w per bulb. You figure most MH ballasts use 3-5 amps each. Wouldn't that equal out to 12-20 amps for dual 400w?

Each of my ACLS have a 15 amp fuses and it's only 250w each...

 

[CAreefer]

Dave, been following this thread from the bleachers and thought it time to chime in. I've some wiring experience, mostly automotive, but applicable in this case I feel. I also spoke with Chad at length trying to trouble shoot his fixture. What Alesandro says makes perfect sense. I also agree with Nuuze that 2 fuses may not be enough. Personally I would put a fuse on each of the black wires into the individual transformers. Hanging loose is not an issue as long as they won't be laying on any hot sheet metal or potentially hot (electrically) connections. Stagger the fuse holders, then bundle them with a zip tie.

And PLEASE be careful of residual electricity, especially in the capacitors, that's what they do, store energy. It looks to me like you're well away from them and should be fine.

CAReefer

 

[Fliger]

Hey CAreefer - nice seeing you over here! Do you like your Reeflux 10K's with all that fluorescent lighting? Have you tried the 12K's yet?

I spoke with my GC and decided this is all silly. I'm just going to replace the ballasts. Sfiligoi has all but said that this is an error. Chad had the same problem but they told him the cause was different - so why should I believe this will solve the issue. They keep sending fuses and emails - but never a new ballast. Will and Alessandro are nice people for sure. And maybe I should give this more time and effort - but I don't think I should. No other brand would let it get this far. Besides, I just want to get on with my tank & thread.

Maybe the fuse would work, maybe it wouldn't but I've had this light for a long time and its still sitting on my floor so I'll just suck it up and write it off. I asked AO to split the true cost of two new ballasts but I haven't heard back. If I do any more work on this fixture, it will be a real solution - not a bandaid. Thats what you do with cheap fixtures, not high end fixtures. If Sfiligoi wants to BE a high end seller in the states, they should act like one.

Kind of related - I'm using a German LED light maker and a Spanish pendant maker for lighting in my business. Talk about cool stuff - check these out.

http://www.traxontechnologies.com/
http://www.luziferlamps.com/

I'm getting a few of the pendants on Luzifer's homepage and some LED light panels and LED projectors from Traxon for my business. They are wicked.