Help me with STRAY VOLTAGE!!!

[Velcro]

So I lost a lot of acros that were transferred to my frag tank about a month ago. The parameters were nearly identical from the tank they came from. I chalked it up to just being a younger tank, but decided to test the stray voltage just cause.

I will note that on my main display tank with everything plugged in I get near zero voltage with this same procedure.

I made a video showing my plug in the few submerged electronics one by one to help this question be more clear:

 

[SteveSTL]

In no particular order, start eliminating things.

Check the ground connection on your outlet - either a 3 light tester or take it out of the box and make sure everything is tight.

Try a different surge strip. You could have a broken/weak link in there and it's not able to handle the additional load.

The copper/brass plugs could be corroded. Take some 120 sand paper and clean all the prongs including the grounds.

My money is on the surge strip

 

[tgp4274]

the strip is not going to put volts in the water.....
start unplugging things one by one with the tester going..
when volts go to 0 then that the culprit...
I had a heater do it to mine..
could feel a small shock when put my hand in the tanks
good luck

 

[Velcro]

Heater is pretty consistently making it jump to around 50V and on the mA setting of the multimeter it's reading around 5mA ( I have no idea if this is significant)

 

[tgp4274]

well.... I'd say the heater is the culprit...
time for a new one... :(
n mine wasn't a year old.....

 

[Velcro]

looks like amps shoots up to 50 mA when the heater is actually heating. I wonder when milliamps become significant... I should note that the STN and RTN were happening before this heater was in the tank... I was using a different one a couple weeks ago.

 

[Velcro]

The plot thickens... I just tested my outlet and it appears to NOT be GROUNDED. This is based off the voltage reading of 120V when I have a probe in the narrow slot and another probe in the ground slot.

 

[Velcro]

The plot thickens... I just tested my outlet and it appears to NOT be GROUNDED. This is based off the voltage reading of 120V when I have a probe in the narrow slot and another probe in the ground slot.

Which I'm assuming means my multimeter readings are useless

 

[tgp4274]

it not matter on the ground....
some heaters don't even have a ground plug...
nothing should be putting volts in the
the insulation on the heater is prob out and shorting in the tank...
if your getting higher readings when the heater turns on than it's putting volts in the tank
I'd say pull it........

 

[SteveSTL]

The problem with saying it's the heater is that when you plugged the Tunze in, it jumped up to 13 ( I think). And when you plugged the skimmer in it jumped again. Put the black in either side of the outlet, it doesn't matter, the red in the water and do it again. Does it go up with each piece that you plug in or only the heater?

 

[Velcro]

The problem with saying it's the heater is that when you plugged the Tunze in, it jumped up to 13 ( I think). And when you plugged the skimmer in it jumped again. Put the black in either side of the outlet, it doesn't matter, the red in the water and do it again. Does it go up with each piece that you plug in or only the heater?

What will this tell me?

 

[SteveSTL]

that it's not 1 piece of equipment or that it's the outlet or powerstrip. it could be a defective powerstrip and it's completing the circuit with the probe in the water. Just get a different power strip and see what happens. Cheap powerstrips just have a little piece of brass connecting all the outlets and it doesn't take much to corrode them.
Also, change that outlet to a GFCI or run a green wire from it to a water pipe if possible. It's illegal to have an 3 prong outlet with no ground. The GFI comes with a sticker that says "No Ground to Earth" or some such thing but will still act as a ground to a limited extent.

 

[Velcro]

that it's not 1 piece of equipment or that it's the outlet or powerstrip. it could be a defective powerstrip and it's completing the circuit with the probe in the water. Just get a different power strip and see what happens. Cheap powerstrips just have a little piece of brass connecting all the outlets and it doesn't take much to corrode them.
Also, change that outlet to a GFCI or run a green wire from it to a water pipe if possible. It's illegal to have an 3 prong outlet with no ground. The GFI comes with a sticker that says "No Ground to Earth" or some such thing but will still act as a ground to a limited extent.

I tried a different outlet and a different power strip with the same results.

 

[vic5hands]

plug one unit at a time separately check each one and you will be able to find the problem.

 

[SteveSTL]

So are you still getting increases with each piece of equipment that's plugged in or just with the heater?

 

[Velcro]

So are you still getting increases with each piece of equipment that's plugged in or just with the heater?

I get a small bump from anything I plug in, but the heater is definitely the biggest one.

 

[USMC4Life]

I get a small bump from anything I plug in, but the heater is definitely the biggest one.

Sounds like this is just induced voltage. Get the tank grounded and that should resolve it.

 

[tgp4274]

I'd still toss the heater...........
some is normal.....

 

[justingraham]

@Brew12 please help this man or woman

 

[Forsaken77]

Can't you just use a grounding rod? I use one in every one of my tanks, provided you have a grounded outlet. I used to get an electical feeling when sticking my hand in the tank and when I used the grounding probe it disappeared, and I have a 4-way gfci outlet but that's only good if water hits an outlet on the power strip. It's not the same as a surge protector.

You also want to use a surge protector that has a light that indicates that it is actually protecting from surges. There are surge protectors that the light will go out and still provide power and there are ones that will cut power when it stops protecting from surges. Tripp Lite does this on some models. Then the cheaper ones don't let you know one way or the other.

I ALWAYS use high end surge strips that tell when you're grounded and when it's protecting you. But obviously ground rods have to go directly into a grounded outlet, not a power strip.

And don't ever use regular power strips around water. Make sure it's always a high joule surge protector plugged into a gfci outlet. Belkin and Tripp Lite are my go to's.