Your Resident Electrician for all your electrical questions!

[siggy]

Do they even sell Kerby's or Hoovers anymore?

 

[Erica-Renee]

Absolutely makes sense. Thanks. . Just want to let the wife know what to avoid (like a hair dryer for instance).

My thinking is Not to have any other outlets on the Breaker of the Aquarium. Because of skimmer and Pump restarts.often Skimmers will over flow , return pumps get debri hung in the impeller on restart. I know everyone cant have a Dedicated circuit but if you can its best.

Just a thought ....

 

[domination2580]

Ok so I had an electrician tell me that aquarium heaters use pulse electricity? And not to hook them up to gfci because it would trip them.... is there even any truth to that?

 

[Brew12]

Ok so I had an electrician tell me that aquarium heaters use pulse electricity? And not to hook them up to gfci because it would trip them.... is there even any truth to that?

I have no idea what pulse electricity is. I always run aquarium heaters on GFCI. I wouldn't do it any other way.

 

[Mark Bianco]

Ok so I had an electrician tell me that aquarium heaters use pulse electricity? And not to hook them up to gfci because it would trip them.... is there even any truth to that?

Not sure if I would let this guy do any wiring in my house. Any item you plug into your house outlet runs off of alternating current yes everything turns on and off 60 times a second in the states at least. A square wave or pulse is used mostly in acoustics, and for some motor controls. At minimum IMHO all tank equipment needs to be used a ground fault circuit interrupter. The best would be to use an arc fault circuit interrupter. What happens is the salt we use is conductive regardless of what others say you will lose a small percent in the air or we spill some this will sometimes cause an electrical short between the positive and the neutral. Not enough of a current draw to trip a standard breaker but more then enough to start a fire.

To answer your question yes heaters need to be protected. If you have a heater that trips a GFCI throw it away...

 

[Brew12]

Not sure if I would let this guy do any wiring in my house. Any item you plug into your house outlet runs off of alternating current yes everything turns on and off 60 times a second in the states at least. A square wave or pulse is used mostly in acoustics, and for some motor controls. At minimum IMHO all tank equipment needs to be used a ground fault circuit interrupter. The best would be to use an arc fault circuit interrupter. What happens is the salt we use is conductive regardless of what others say you will lose a small percent in the air or we spill some this will sometimes cause an electrical short between the positive and the neutral. Not enough of a current draw to trip a standard breaker but more then enough to start a fire.

To answer your question yes heaters need to be protected. If you have a heater that trips a GFCI throw it away...

Thanks. I have never heard of a square wave being called pulse electricity. I would have thought he may have been referring to Pulse Width Modulation but that doesn't exactly make sense either.

 

[2clown]

Ok I have a question on the meanwell drivers. I was give a new set of Meanwell ELN 60 48D drivers. How many 3 watt led chips can I drive with each? Thank you for any assistance that I can get.

 

[Mark Bianco]

This will depend upon how you are configuring the lights series or parallel or a combination. With that being said being as the driver is capable of 1.3 amps at 48vdc 60 watts. Using the formula Power over amperage times voltage. you get 20 lights.

HTH
Mark

 

[Brew12]

This will depend upon how you are configuring the lights series or parallel or a combination. With that being said being as the driver is capable of 1.3 amps at 48vdc 60 watts. Using the formula Power over amperage times voltage. you get 20 lights.

HTH
Mark

Or, you could say that it is a 60 watt driver so divide by 3 watts per light to get 20.

The important part is as you point out, the way the lights are connected has a major impact on how it can be used.

 

[Mark Bianco]

Or, you could say that it is a 60 watt driver so divide by 3 watts per light to get 20.

Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach him how to fish and he will never go hungry...

I not an electrician, but I did stay at an Holiday Inn Express last night... ;Playful

 

[Brew12]

Teach him how to fish and he will never go hungry...

Or all he will do is fish and never work again!

 

[2clown]

Ok I have a question on the meanwell drivers. I was give a new set of Meanwell ELN 60 48D drivers. How many 3 watt led chips can I drive with each? Thank you for any assistance that I can get.

This will depend upon how you are configuring the lights series or parallel or a combination. With that being said being as the driver is capable of 1.3 amps at 48vdc 60 watts. Using the formula Power over amperage times voltage. you get 20 lights.

HTH
Mark

I'm a simple construction worker, lol. But I believe that it is considered in series. I.e. + to - and so on one led to another.

 

[Mark Bianco]

You are correct if your leds are wired + to - to + to - so on and so forth... This is a series circuit. And you can have up to 20

 

[Mark Bianco]

Or all he will do is fish and never work again!

You say this like its a bad thing. I am counting the days. 1469 days left for me...

 

[Paul B]

I have no idea what pulse electricity is.

I don't think anyone does.

 

[Pivitol]

Question about GFCI, with a dedicated circuit can I install 1 GFCI outlet to watchdog the whole circuit or do I have to use a GFCI breaker to do that? Sorry my electrical knowledge skipped a generation or 3 (dad and uncle both electricians)

 

[Brew12]

Question about GFCI, with a dedicated circuit can I install 1 GFCI outlet to watchdog the whole circuit or do I have to use a GFCI breaker to do that? Sorry my electrical knowledge skipped a generation or 3 (dad and uncle both electricians)

A GFCI, wired in to perform that function, will protect every circuit wired in after it. So if you have 9 receptacles in a string, and you make the 4th one a GFCI, it will protect all but the first 3.

If you connect the the breaker side wire and outgoing wires to the top of the GFCI outlet it will only protect that particular outlet. If you wire the breaker side on top and the outgoing side on the bottom, it will protect everything after it. Both have their uses.

 

[Pivitol]

Ok this is probably a really stupid question but what things would you plug into a GFCI and what things would you plug into a non-protected outlet? I know it's best to plug most electrical equipment that is submerged i.e heaters, pumps. Into a GFCI but are there others that I am not thinking of?

 

[Brew12]

Ok this is probably a really stupid question but what things would you plug into a GFCI and what things would you plug into a non-protected outlet? I know it's best to plug most electrical equipment that is submerged i.e heaters, pumps. Into a GFCI but are there others that I am not thinking of?

I go by the rule that if it is wet, it gets put on a GFCI. I also have my T5 fixtures on a GFCI but only because my Profilux powerbars are GFCI protected.

 

[Mark Bianco]

I go by the rule that if it is wet, it gets put on a GFCI.

Interesting...;Stop Don't want to know anymore... ;Wideyed;Playful