New problem...

[flower]

Quote:
Originally Posted by 2Quills http:///forum/thread/384723/new-problem#post_3371655
Right on, Flower...just trying to illiminate all possible causes. I'm not sure how yours is wired up, but I did some searching around for people who have come across the same issue. Alot of the time it took nothing more than taking the light and ballast down and cleaning everything off really good, re connecting all of the connections and letting it dry out for a day or so and everything went back to normal. So it sounds like moisture from evaporation making it's way into the ballast or connection points at times could be the possible culprit.

It has a heavy glass...and it was so dusty and if moisture was the culprit the dust would have of been thick and gooey. I am a cleaning lady by profession and I know my dirt..LOL The little feather duster had dust going everywhere moister with dust does not move like that.
I'm not taking anything apart to clean...I will take it to an electrician and let him/her do that. For now, I will just have one side lit up with the actinic. The fish don't care and only mushrooms and some GSP is on the right side and they don't care. The tank is alright for the time being.
I have spent so much money on lights..it makes me sick.

 

[scsinet]

Quote:
Originally Posted by 2Quills http:///forum/thread/384723/new-problem#post_3371594
Do you think it's possible that the length of the powercord from the ballast to the outlet could come into play if it's too long? Wondering if the amount of voltage required by the ballast could cause a short laps in the current traveling from the hot all the way up and through the ballast and then back to the wall?
Put simply, no.
Think of it this way... GFIs are mandated on all outdoor receptacles, where long extension cords are frequently used, so it stands to reason that their design accounts for that.
Electrically speaking, the length of the cord wouldn't matter.

 

[2quills]

Quote:
Originally Posted by SCSInet http:///forum/thread/384723/new-problem/20#post_3372094
Put simply, no.
Think of it this way... GFIs are mandated on all outdoor receptacles, where long extension cords are frequently used, so it stands to reason that their design accounts for that.
Electrically speaking, the length of the cord wouldn't matter.
Interesting that you say that. I've actually been in situations where I've had to plug an extension cord into gfci's on the exterior of buildings before. I can recal at least a dozen accounts of where I've tried running a piece of equipment such as a vacuum pump, circular saw, maybe even a compressor (not all at the same time ofcorse)...and instead of triping a breaker it throws the gfci. I would think if I were overloading the circuit than it would be the opposite. Granted these are electric moters we're talking about.
But interesting thing about this new house we moved into. It has a gfci in the garage and even when I try to plug my little 250gph mixing pump that I use for mixing my saltwater it throws the gfci everytime. I do have a gfci tester and it apears to work fine. But such a small pump, I wonder why it does that. It only seems to happen when I plug the pump into a 25ft extension cord that I run to my mixing container. I have to run the cord to a regular duplex receptical in order for it not to trip and to be able to reach my container. I do have a brand new gfci sitting in the garage, I haven't hooked it up yet to see if it still does the same thing with a new one.
I was thinking that the innitial fire up would/could possibly cause the short laps in current from the hot to neutral side of the gfci receptical causing this to happen.

 

[scsinet]

Perhaps your extension cords are at fault.
GFIs do nuisance trip, so you can replace it if you want, but if you get the same behavior with a new GFI, then there is a reason they are tripping and it should be remedied.

 

[2quills]

Yep, the nuisance tripping. There are different reasons for it. I'm not saying that the length of cord in Flowers case is the cause of why her gfci's have never worked worked quite right with both of her lights but I was just wondering if it's possible it could have played a roll. Was reading one account of a hobbiest who had a similar issue and shortened the cord length on his ballast and then seemed to work fine afterward.
When GFCIs are used in construction activities, they should be located as close as possible to the electrical equipment they protect. Excessive lengths of temporary wiring or long extension cords can cause ground fault leakage current to flow by captive and inductive coupling. The combined leakage current can exceed 5 ma, causing the GFCI to trip.
Other nuisance tripping may be caused by one or several of the following items:

• 
  wet electrical extension cord to tool connections
• 
  wet power tools
• 
  outdoor GFCIs not protected from rain or water sprays
• 
  bad electrical equipment with case-to-hot-conductor fault
• 
  too many power tools on one GFCI branch, resistive heaters
  coiled extension cords (long lengths)
  poorly installed GFCI
  defective or damaged GFCI
  electromagnetic-induced current near high-voltage lines
  portable GFCI plugged into a GFCI-protected branch circuit