Stray Voltage & Acro problem (any electricians in the house?)

Kip

Kip

New member
As many of you know, I have been having an odd acro problem that have been around the world and back trying to solve.

One of the initial thoughts was stray voltage. (thought=spring this year at onset of problem) So i got a multimeter, put the black probe in the ground of an outlet and the red in the water.... nada .... stuck the red in the outlet... got 120v (to be sure it worked)

Now... 8 months later... i have a cut on my finger... reach in the tank... and i get a good zap. I take a sample of water in a cup... stick my finger in it... no zap. (so it isnt just the saltwater burning the cut)

I start unplugging stuff (i have a large system with lotsa devices.. half of which are out in the garage.. see Sep06 TOTM). Nothing I unplug makes the zap go away when i stick my finger in the water.

I get the multimeter out again... test an outlet... 120v as expected... pull the red probe out... put it in the water... 0v ... then by accident... the black ground probe sticks in the carpet while the red probe is still in the water and i get 20v on the meter.

Anybody with more electrical knowledge than I care to translate this for me?

It could mean saving the last few of my remaining acros.

Thanks for your time in reading this.

-Kip
 
That same thing happens to me. If fact My hand was just in the tank and got it. I don't belive it voltage but infact something ( bacteria) in the water that gives us that feeling. When there is no cut on my finger I don't feel it. What is your salinity at? I am an electrician by trade and Im 99.9% sure I don't have electricity in my tank.. Stick a finger that doesn't have a cut in the water.....nothing right! Now stick your cut in the water..... felt it! My guess is it's the salt or bacteria in the water.

RK
 
i have a cut on my finger... reach in the tank... and i get a good zap. I take a sample of water in a cup... stick my finger in it... no zap. (so it isnt just the saltwater burning the cut)
Click to expand...

i have read that exposed flesh/cuts allow electricity to flow than when normal skin contacts voltage
 
Since your skin is naturally resistant to electricity to an extent, it would make sense that you could feel it with a cut and not without one.
 
The reason you were not reading the voltage in the ground was probably because the recepticals that used to be 2 prong were replaced with 3 prong, but that doesnt mean that it is grounded because there wasn't a ground to begin with. Measure from nuetral(tall slot) to your tank water. Bet you'll get that same 20 v. Now start unplugging one thing at a time and see where it drops off.
 
thanks for the reply... help me out w/ the 2-prong-3prong thing... this house is 5 yrs old and all outlets are 3 prong (grounded)

i will put the blk probe in the neutral and the red in the water and see what i get
 
now i am getting somewhere

i throw the breaker to the halides (dedicated circuit) and the 20v drops down to toggling b/w 0-1v

i guess i gotta trace the halide wiring... but the cool thing is i can immediately stop the 20v running thru the system

if this turns out to be the solution to my acro problems of 8 months i am gonna be happy as a pig in ..... well... happy as a pig
 
hey kip, depending on where you live they either run conduit or romex. if your house has pipe in it then your "three" prong outlet is grounded using the pipe or a ground wire. if your house is wired in romex and there is no ground wire than there is no ground no matter if its a three prong outlet or not. take off the cover to the outlet and test from the hot to the box in which the outlet is mounted in. if you get no voltage than you have no ground. you should read around 120 volts hot to ground. hope the helps. shoot me a pm if you have any other questions.

jake
 
that doesn't sound right to me. how is the current getting into your system. what is touching the light and the water at the same time??
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11054211#post11054211 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jski711
that doesn't sound right to me. how is the current getting into your system. what is touching the light and the water at the same time??
Click to expand...

maybe a wire i am unaware of somewhere... will have to investigate

now to really make this fun... let me describe my halide wiring :)

the power source is the garage (20a GFCI outlet) ... that runs inside to the DC4 (aquacontroller) ... then the wires run back to the garage to the ballasts... and then the power runs back inside to the lamps

the garage is a good 20ft from the tank... yeah.. i used heavy gauge wiring... tank has been running this way since setup (aug 04)

somewhere along that little electrical interstate highway something is jumping into some water

plumbing from the tank runs thru the floor, under the crawlspace, and into a sump in the garage.... that halide electrical runs with it in the crawl space.... anyway voltage could make that jump?
 
How i your salt creep. The volta can travel very well in the salt creep. I also have a garage sump setup like yours.
I had a koralia 3 in the main tank that was shocking me when I was barefoot in the garage with my arm in the sump.

your halides will induce a small voltage into the water but it should only be around 1-2volts.
 
i am guessing creep

i will look more into it tomorrow... right now... the sleeping medicine is kicking in (and i have that breaker off that runs the halides)
 
glad you are figuring it out but it sounds like it is a difference from earth to ground. we get this quite abit depending on location. I have measure 70 volts between the two before. Running long video cables between buildings can often prove this becuase the shell grounds are at different potentials and will spark when connected even though both are ground.
 
The funny thing is that I work at a fish store and I can stick my cut in any tank there and feel the same thing as in your tank and mine. Unless we all have current in our tanks including stores, or it's somthing else. I bet that after a min the sting goes away right. If it was electricity it would allways be stinging. If it is infact stinging all the time, check your powerheads one at a time. Thoes are sneaky guys! Just trying to offer an other idea because you could spend a lifetime trying to find stray voltage when it's not there.........
 
the tingling in my cut is definitely not there when i have the breaker to my halides off.... and i get the 0-1 on the multimeter.... throw the breaker back on... tingling cut comes back and the multimeter jumps up to 20
 
i had the same problem and found it the same way - one day when cleaning the glass with a cut on my hand i felt that familier tingle. i started unplugging powerheads till it went away. i lost two corals before i discovered the issue and have three others that show some signs of distress - i'm not sure if they will recover
 
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