PC light Shocker!

rangermonroe

rangermonroe

Member
Has anyone gotten shocked by these things. I was fishing around in the refugium and my wrist hit the Bulb! H***S$%&#! that stuff is live! It wasn't as bad as it could have been, but I touched the bulb, at the end opposite the wires?
Ain't that Odd?
 
jc74

jc74

Member
It hasn't happened to me yet, but thanks for the warning. My bulbs are covered with acrylic and I think I'll keep them that way.
:)
 
fast fred

fast fred

New Member
Just my thoughts as an electrician...
Without knowing the full situation, I'd say that the glass you came in contact with probably had moisture on it. I've personnaly had simalar problems with salt bridging. Moist salt seems to be a great conductor of electricity... enough so that it caused a fire in a "protected" power strip on the floor next to my tank. The circuit breaker on the power strip never tripped. DON'T TRUST THEM!!!
I'd highly recommend to you and everyone else that you mount your power strips on the wall, and leave a drip loop in all of your power cords. Also, make certain that the outlet you are using is a Ground Fault Circuit Interupter (GFCI). These receptacles with the little buttons will trip in a fraction of a second if any electricity goes anywhere but back through the GFCI. This could save your fishes life, and maybe even yours or your kids'.
Fred
 
suver569

suver569

Member
You can get shocked off your salt creep also. If your bulbs have salt build-up, even a small amount, they will leak electricity across it. It's usually not enough to short out the ballast, and if you never touched the bulbs, your'd never know the difference, but what it's doing, is acting like a huge resistor, causing an additional small load to be put on the ballast, and when you get in the way, it'll shock ya.
Best bet would be to turn off the lights, let em cool off and clean them off with a damp rag after they've cooled, and let them dry before you put them back in.
 
saltymist

saltymist

Member
Never been shocked YET!
But I came darn close today. I had slid my 65w pc light hood back on the tank to remove a powerhead. My tank is a simple 20 gallon high tank with the glass top, and the back pane of glass is cut short to acomodate something I had on the right side a while back and has no support on the right side, and little support on the back, so when I slid my pc light back I didnt make sure that it was sitting on the edge of the tank, and it went kerplunk into the tank, it quickly went out and started to fizzle, I quickly turned off the power strip to the light and removed it.
Fortunately I didnt get shocked and neither did my tanks inhabitants, but now Im looking at buying a new lighting system.
Glad you didnt get really hurt.
 
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