Your Resident Electrician for all your electrical questions!

Yanos · Jan 12, 2019

Just flooded my electrics. What do I do now?

Erica-Renee · Jan 12, 2019

Yanos said:
Just flooded my electrics. What do I do now?

Depends on the electronics.. most will need a ro/di water rinse and alcohol electronics cleaner . others hair dryer and Hope... There is NO ONE Solution for all .. Open them and get the water out and Salt residue off is the Important first step...

powers2001 · Jan 12, 2019

@Yanos can we get a picture?

siggy · Jan 13, 2019

Yanos said:
Just flooded my electrics. What do I do now?

How did you make out?

Brew12 · Jan 13, 2019

Erica-Renee said:
Depends on the electronics.. most will need a ro/di water rinse and alcohol electronics cleaner . others hair dryer and Hope... There is NO ONE Solution for all .. Open them and get the water out and Salt residue off is the Important first step...

+1 on this. Great advice. Depending on what it is, and how bad it is, you may want to let it soak in a bucket of RO/DI water for at least a few hours. Then give it a good rinse in a denatured alcohol or alcohol based electronics cleaner. Whatever you do, don't re-energize it until everything is completely dry.

Yanos · Jan 14, 2019

Thank you guys for all the advise
I just re-designed my sump, and when I plumed everything back, I forgot to put a clip, where the return pump connects to the hose. Pressure of the water pushed the hose and 3000G p/h pump flooded my two power bars.
Unfortunately power bars, are permanently fitted to the cabinet, so there is no chance to take it apart to clean.
Likely, all the controllers for pumps and lights survived unscathed

TheHarold · Jan 19, 2019

Can I get a quick unrelated-to-reefing electrical consultation?

I installed a Ring Video doorbell, carefully following the instructions. It has a 24v AC transformer and then a 25 ohm 30 watt resistor. Connections are carefully soldered and then heat-shrink tubing over them.

Instructions are here: https://support.ring.com/hc/en-us/a...-Transformer-Without-a-Pre-existing-Doorbell-

The transformer is quite warm, and I wanted to make sure that it is normal.

(The cover-plate pulled off lots of drywall... Should have razored it first LOL. Ill fix it with come patching later)

High of 110*

siggy · Jan 19, 2019

hey I just put one on my house. It has a battery so it will be drawing a load until its charged. transformers do emit heat But I cannot tell you watt the norm is. You could unhook it and measure it then reattach.

Erica-Renee · Jan 19, 2019

siggy said:
hey I just put one on my house. It has a battery so it will be drawing a load until its charged. transformers do emit heat But I cannot tell you watt the norm is. You could unhook it and measure it then reattach.

They can get quite warm . If you have the specs you could put Amp meter inline between the transformer 24v output and device its running then verify its running within the specs it should be pulling. Some Transformers are built better then others. Use Less power produce less heat and so on .. If you really feel its to hot and pulling to much all the time. Find a Better brand with same specs and change it out...

Measure the temp of a laptop or cell phone charging Brick..

shollis2814 · Jan 23, 2019

This should be a hanging curve ball for you.

I am currently working on an ATO using the kit from Aquahub. This requires splicing one wire from a 2-prong extension cord into a relay. The instructions do not say if I should worry about polarity or not. I know the wire going to the wide prong is neutral, etc., but if I am leaving one wire intact and splicing the other into the relay, is there a safer one to splice?

Brew12 · Jan 23, 2019

shollis2814 said:
This should be a hanging curve ball for you.

I am currently working on an ATO using the kit from Aquahub. This requires splicing one wire from a 2-prong extension cord into a relay. The instructions do not say if I should worry about polarity or not. I know the wire going to the wide prong is neutral, etc., but if I am leaving one wire intact and splicing the other into the relay, is there a safer one to splice?

I always splice the hot connection. There have been plenty of people shocked because they interrupt current flow with the neutral so lights/relays don't turn on but still have 120V on them. By interrupting power with the hot wire you put the light/relay at ground potential (neutral and ground should be tied together in the distribution panel).

shollis2814 · Jan 23, 2019

Brew12 said:
I always splice the hot connection. There have been plenty of people shocked because they interrupt current flow with the neutral so lights/relays don't turn on but still have 120V on them. By interrupting power with the hot wire you put the light/relay at ground potential (neutral and ground should be tied together in the distribution panel).

Thanks! I am not sure what you mean by your last sentence (about the distribution panel). It is not a 3-prong grounded extension cord that I was planning on using, but I can get one if that is safer. All the splicing will be in a project box well away from the water. Sorry if any of that information was unnecessary.

Brew12 · Jan 23, 2019

shollis2814 said:
Thanks! I am not sure what you mean by your last sentence (about the distribution panel). It is not a 3-prong grounded extension cord that I was planning on using, but I can get one if that is safer. All the splicing will be in a project box well away from the water. Sorry if any of that information was unnecessary.

It's all good. A lot of people don't realize that your neutral connection is also tied to ground just like the ground prong on a 3 prong plug. Just splice the hot wire (should be black) and you will be fine.

shollis2814 · Jan 23, 2019

Thanks so much!

leahfiish · Jan 28, 2019

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/diy-universal-battery-backup-for-your-reef.366009/
Will this guide also work for dc pumps like the ai nero 5?

Turbo's Aquatics · Jan 28, 2019

An backup system like that uses a battery and an inverter to provide an alternate source of power. So the answer here is yes: if you can plug it into the wall, you can plug it into the backup in that link.

scriptmonkey · Jan 31, 2019

So quick hopefully easy question. I am going to be doing a new build and will put in two new GFCI circuits for the new tank. Am I best off doing it with GFCI breakers or with outlets? I'm am leaning Breakers as it will be easier to reset than climbing under the stand if the need arises.

Thanks,
Tom

Brew12 · Feb 1, 2019

scriptmonkey said:
So quick hopefully easy question. I am going to be doing a new build and will put in two new GFCI circuits for the new tank. Am I best off doing it with GFCI breakers or with outlets? I'm am leaning Breakers as it will be easier to reset than climbing under the stand if the need arises.

Thanks,
Tom

Breakers is one way to do it. You could also put the first GFCI receptacle for each circuit in an easy to access area and then run the ones under the stand for it. A GFCI receptacle will protect any outlets wired after it when installed to do so.
Personally, I would try to minimize the number of outlets under the stand and would try to run the power cords out to them. Even a regular receptacle can rust and be a hazard after a few years. Try to keep them all accessible imo. Power strips can be used under a tank and are easy to replace.

scriptmonkey · Feb 1, 2019

Brew12 said:
Breakers is one way to do it. You could also put the first GFCI receptacle for each circuit in an easy to access area and then run the ones under the stand for it. A GFCI receptacle will protect any outlets wired after it when installed to do so.
Personally, I would try to minimize the number of outlets under the stand and would try to run the power cords out to them. Even a regular receptacle can rust and be a hazard after a few years. Try to keep them all accessible imo. Power strips can be used under a tank and are easy to replace.

So what I can do is add the outlets to the back side of the wall (other side is unfinished laundry room) and put a small access in for the plugs to go through and plug into them through that in there. Should protect them better. Thoughts, would that provide some protection?

Brew12 · Feb 1, 2019

scriptmonkey said:
So what I can do is add the outlets to the back side of the wall (other side is unfinished laundry room) and put a small access in for the plugs to go through and plug into them through that in there. Should protect them better. Thoughts, would that provide some protection?

You could definitely do that. I feel that would be much safer. Not sure if putting the outlets on the outside edges of the stand would be an option.