Your Electrician Here

[BeanAnimal]

You only need a single ground probe. It really has nothing to do with the individual circuits, it simply ensures that the tank water is connected reliably to the electrical grounding system of the home.

There is fairly large debate surrounding the pros and cons of ground probes and their effects (or lack of) on the livestock under different circumstances.

I am not going to take a stance either way on the subject here (from a livestock standpoint).

From a safety standpoint, there is no debate (and anybody who attempts to create one is not well informed about electricity). Point blank: Grounding the tank water can create a safer system IF (and only if) GFCI protection is used on ALL of the equipment that is exposed to the system. If you don't use the GFCI protection, then you in effect create a dangerous situation that did not exist (in an explicit sense) before the ground probe was installed. In other words, adding the probe will certainly help the GFCI protection work, but if there is no GFCI protection, the probe can create a ground fault scenario that may not have existed beforehand.

I do not use a ground probe, but I also fully understand the dangers associated with my system and its electrical devices. Again, don't ever use a ground probe without GFCI protecting the equipment connected to the tank.

 

[virginiadiver69]

Okay...you confirmed what I had assumed about the situation.
At the end of the day, though I care about my live stock, it's about me and mine.

Kind of a silly question but...what about when the pump is off and I essentially have to separate bodies of water ( sump and display ). Would a probe in both tanks be a good idea?

 

[BeanAnimal]

That is a whole other can of worms But if you are going to use a grounding system, then yes one in the display and one in the sump is not a bad idea. Make sure they are both the same material and connected together with as short a wire as possible In reality many of us already have "ground probes" via pump shafts, and/or similar grounded electrical equipment. On a side note: A ground probe can help eliminate pump bearing failure due to current drain through the pump bearing...

 

[virginiadiver69]

Great info...thanks BeanAnimal

 

[RegalAngel]

Here ya go EE:

I have four (4) fans in my canopy each rated at 12VDC 0.40 amps. Each comes with a AC-DC adapter rated at 1.2 A.

If I supply these four fans with one adapter using an umbilical line with a quick connect for each of the fans they will overload the 1.2 A rating ( 0.4 x 4 = 1.6A).

What about connecting two adapters together? Will I now have 1.2A x 2 = 2.4A available at 12 VDC?

 

[uncleof6]

Here ya go EE:

I have four (4) fans in my canopy each rated at 12VDC 0.40 amps. Each comes with a AC-DC adapter rated at 1.2 A.

If I supply these four fans with one adapter using an umbilical line with a quick connect for each of the fans they will overload the 1.2 A rating ( 0.4 x 4 = 1.6A).

What about connecting two adapters together? Will I now have 1.2A x 2 = 2.4A available at 12 VDC?

Depends on how you hook them together. In parallel you will have 12vdc @ 2.4a, in series you will have 24vdc @ 1.2a.

The correct solution, however, is not ac/dc adapters, as they are not designed to operate fans in continuous duty. Most are simply battery chargers, or for electronic devices.

http://www.jab-tech.com/12v-DC-Power-Supply-with-Single-Molex-Connector-pr-3776.html

Jim

 

[RegalAngel]

Thanks!

I have them connected in parallel. Checked voltage and about 16 VDC so ok.
They are called Class 2 Power Supplies...look like ac/dc adapters. What came with the fans, maybe what you show will be a better idea.

 

[uncleof6]

Thanks!

I have them connected in parallel. Checked voltage and about 16 VDC so ok.
They are called Class 2 Power Supplies...look like ac/dc adapters. What came with the fans, maybe what you show will be a better idea.

16 volts gunna run the fans a bit hot, wear um out quicker.

Class 2 compliance requires a maximum power output availability of less than 100 watts for the component.

A short installation guideline for Class 2 circuits:

Class 2 requires dry indoor use
Only for non hazardous location areas
Circuits shall be grounded
Two or more Class 2 circuits are permitted within the same cable, enclosure or raceway
Separate Class 2 circuits from other circuits

OK so what?:beer:

But I would use the linked power supply, because it is designed for the application.

Regards,

Jim

 

[tangtang clown]

What is the best way to hook up a GFCI outlet and a DJ America power strip?

 

[uncleof6]

Plug the power center in to a GFCI receptacle. What more do you need? Perhaps a second power center in a second GFCI receptacle, in case one trips........

Jim

 

[tangtang clown]

Cool, that's what I figured. Thanks.

 

[JohnM99]

Here is an electrical question. The price of the controller systems that would let me monitor my lights etc online strikes me as extremely high. I would have thought one could somehow rig up a controller to turn outlets on and off, and connect it to a WiFi network without spending the huge $$. I have used X10 before and it is a bit flaky. Is there a WiFi connected electrical outlet controller that is not primarily designed for aquaria that is cheaper? (As soon as something is labeled "Reef" the price goes up. Not quite like labeling it "Medical" but you get my point).

For a thousand bucks I can bend over and fiddle with my cheap appliance timers.

 

[BeanAnimal]

Here is an electrical question. The price of the controller systems that would let me monitor my lights etc online strikes me as extremely high. I would have thought one could somehow rig up a controller to turn outlets on and off, and connect it to a WiFi network without spending the huge $$. I have used X10 before and it is a bit flaky. Is there a WiFi connected electrical outlet controller that is not primarily designed for aquaria that is cheaper? (As soon as something is labeled "Reef" the price goes up. Not quite like labeling it "Medical" but you get my point).

For a thousand bucks I can bend over and fiddle with my cheap appliance timers.

This question is better suited to its own thread... The questions is more of an "electronics" not "electrical" question.

There are dozens of ways to skin that cat and there are dozens of threads here at RC outlining different solutions that people have come up with. They range from full fledged DIY microcontroller based projects to custm software solutions on linux or windows. There are web based 'switches' that you can purchase and write software for, etc.

 

[WaterKeeper]

Good ole ladder logic on the Modbus.

 

[BeanAnimal]

I keep meaning to purchase a used PLC so that I can play with it... The departure from 3GL back to ladder logic may be fun for an afternoon or two. As funny as it may sound... I had a fairly complex transaction processing project several years ago for a record import and decided to use use COBOL just to see if I could remember how to program it...

I was amazed at how much I remembered and actually how easy and powerful COBOL was for record processing.

 

[sean04]

So I will be setting up my aquarium in my living room which has a regular 3-prong outlet (not GFCI). When I turn off the circuit breaker for this outlet there are several other outlets in the living room that shut off. So this outlet is "ganged with other outlets" (not sure if its series or parallel since I have no clue about home electricals ). So my question is I want to be able to provide GFCI protection to my tank. How do I go about this? Can I simply change the outlet to a GFCI outlet? What are the recommendations?

Thanks.

 

[BeanAnimal]

You have several choices...

First of all how large is the tank and what equipment do you plan to use? What else is plugged in on that circuit?


With regard to the GFCI:
You can replace the receptacle with a GFCI receptacle.

1) You use the LOAD terminals of the GFCI receptacle to feed the receptacles that follow it (it could be one ore more of remaining receptacles on the circuit). This will make them part of the GFCI protected circuit. Likely not a good idea, as you don't want a faulty lamp or vacuum cleaner tripping the GFCI that protects your tank.

2) You can wire the GFCI in parallel to the circuit. That is, replace the receptacle that is there now, hooking both the upstream and downstream receptacles to the LINE side of the GFCI. Therefore, the ONLY devices that are GFCI protected will be those plugged into the GFCI receptacle itself.

BUT..... You there is something else to consider.

With everything on a single GFCI, then a single faulting piece of equipment will trip the GFCI and turn off the entire tank. You may wish to simply build a power snake with multiple GFCIs in it and plug that into the existing receptacle. That way you can split your critical equipment among several GFCIs.

 

[sean04]

My tank is 55 gallon with a 40 gallon sump. The equipment will be:

-45W Return Pump in sump
-2x150W Heaters
-10W Koralia 3 (Possibly another Koralia Powerhead may be added)
-38W Octopus NWB-150 Protein Skimmer in sump
-208W (2 actinic and 2 10,000K) T5 Lights w/LED Moonlights
-mechanical timers for the lights

Future additions:
-Ocean Motion wavemaker
-Auto Top Off unit

Other items on the same circuit breaker are lamps, tv, dvd player, and game consoles.

Option 1 is definitely out of the question. Your power snake seems to be the most logical choice since I wouldn't want my lights to cause a trip while its on a timer...that is if that is possible.

I looked at your website beananimal.com and read about your power snakes and GFCI. I'm just not sure how to build one exactly? I did see how to wire the GFCI receptacles in parallel by not using the LOAD lines. So the line coming in would simply be my 3-prong electrical wire that would then just plug into a regular receptacle right?

Does the lighting or any external equipment that is not in water need to be on the GFCI?

 

[advanwoerden]

Hi, I need some help fixing my Cadlights MH + T5 light. I bought it used, and kept my old sunpod 150w bulb, which isn't firing at all. Is it possible the bulb is not compatible, or is something else wrong? I saw the old bulb work with my own eyes..

Secondly, only one of the T5's worked. I was tinkering with the wiring and blew out what I think is the ballast - a small circuit board about a square inch. Does anyone know for sure if this is the ballast and know where I can get a new one? Also, I can't figure out how to take off the endcaps? I am so overwhelmed and over my head, I feel like I just blew $200. Any help would be much appreciated.

 

[kinad]

My question is pretty simple compared to many I saw on this thread, but its got me confused so I figured I would ask.

I have a Lifeguard Quiet One 3000 pump and it's specs are:
115volts/60 hz, 40watts, 0.66amps

Now, according to Ohms Law (watts/volts) the amperage should be 0.35.

Am I missing something, or are the specs Lifeguard giving wrong?

The reason why I ask is that I want to add a float switch to prevent spillage from the main tank and the float switch I have (Digital Aquatics) is rated having a max 0.5amps.