Lights turning off for no reason

[Rickyrooz]

My Coralife dual timer which has my MH, PC, Refugium light, and one Koralia 4 hooked up to it turns off randomly throughout the day. Yesterday it happened three times and today it happened twice! Recently the lights throughout the house have been flickering and we've had the electrical company come out to see what the problem was but they only looked at our box. I have the Coralife dual timer plugged into a GFI protector. The GFI doesn't cut the power, it's the Coralife timer that does. The built in surge protector turns from the orange color which means on to off throughout the day. I unplugged my Koralia tonight thinking there may be a short in the wires that is causing the surge protector to switch. Any ideas or advice? I'm going to leave the Koralia unplugged all of tomorrow to see if the lights turn off. It's either the Koralia since the wire goes into the water and maybe the saltwater corroded the wire and exposed it to water or the MH ballast is burning out and needs to be replaced. I thought a surge protector switches on if there is too much power going through, maybe that is being caused by the MH ballast. I have another Coralife timer hooked up to a different outlet but still on the same circuit to my heaters, skimmer pump, return pump and another Koralia 4 and that has not had a problem with turning off randomly.

 

[surfn]

get rid of that thing ASAP. its a fire hazard. i used to use them also but then saw several threads in which people showed pics of it shorting out and catching on fire.

NEVER by a coralife power supply/timer.

 

[J. Montgomery]

You may be running too much stuff through that power outlet. (2 x 250W) + (4 x 65W) = A lot of power.

 

[Rickyrooz]

surfn, what timer are you using for your lights?

J. Montgomery, how much can the outlet handle? I thought it could do 1,000 watts?

 

[surfn]

surfn, what timer are you using for your lights?

J. Montgomery, how much can the outlet handle? I thought it could do 1,000 watts?

i use an ACJr controller for my lights and other equipment, i just went and got the DC8 powerstrip to use with it. best investment for my tank i've ever made.

wattage is meaningless, check what amperage the powerstrip is rated for, then add up the amps from the ballasts and everything else.

 

[Rickyrooz]

The Coralife power strip can handle 15 amps, 120volt or 1,875 watts max.

 

[surfn]

The Coralife power strip can handle 15 amps, 120volt or 1,875 watts max.

how many amps is each ballast?

 

[Rickyrooz]

According to Sanjay's site each ballast is 2.85 amps. I have a dual PFO HQI magnetic ballast.

 

[surfn]

hmmmm, well......again, those coralife power strips are poorly built. if there is a lose connection inside the power strip it could heat up really easily and cause a fire. after seeing several threads about them catching fire i ditched mine in a heart beat, no way i'm taking a chance.


i would ditch both of them and invest in an aquacontroller or reefkeeper.

 

[Rickyrooz]

I do like the reefkeeper a lot. Too bad it's $265.

 

[surfn]

I do like the reefkeeper a lot. Too bad it's $265.

believe me, a controller is TOTALLY worth the investment. it is a hard number to swallow, the best way to save up is to tell yourself to stop spending money on corals and save it up for the controller.

in all honesty, i would NEVER run another tank without a controller, EVER. its just so nice b/c you can program each individual plug, turn off the heater and turn off lights if the temp gets too high, turn on fans if the temp gets high. possibilities are endless. its just a nice peace of mind knowing that theres less chance of something going wrong while i'm away from the tank.

 

[J. Montgomery]

Controllers 'da bomb!