Your Resident Electrician for all your electrical questions!

[MSB123]

Forgot you were using T5's, so you will want those on the Apex.

Yeah.

 

[MSB123]

I plan to have the LEDs on 12 hours a day, with a peek from noon to four which is the same time that the T5s will be on. They will then ramp up and down independently.

Forgot you were using T5's, so you will want those on the Apex.

 

[Turbo's Aquatics]

I think I should run 4x 15 amp lines. Or should I run 4x 20 amp lines to account for future additions?

Not sure that it matters much, but most electrical in houses is 15A for lighting circuits and 20A for receptacle circuits.

You can do 15A breakers & receptacles and #14 wire/romex/MC but it's better to do #12 wire and 20A rated receptacles even if you use 15A breakers. But then you might as well use 20A breakers also, that's what I would do.

Loading a receptacle circuit to 60% of it's amperage rating is a generally acceptable practice in design work (i.e. layout out an office building, etc). That's 8 duplex receptacles per circuit, assuming 180W each duplex, or 1440W

So total of about 10 amps.

That's 1200W, so technically, you could run this all off one circuit.

The only thing you need to worry about is the inrush from starting the T5 fixures and the starting amps of the reeflow pumps. Those are going to be the things that trip breakers, and unless something is wrong with the pumps, they should not cause a breaker trip (it's a short spike and breakers are designed to handle that without tripping). It's the T5 ballast that I'd be most concerned about. Don't put anything else on that circuit that is necessary for the tank; if the T5s trip the breaker, nothing else critical should go down with it.

just my 2c

 

[MSB123]

Not sure that it matters much, but most electrical in houses is 15A for lighting circuits and 20A for receptacle circuits.

You can do 15A breakers & receptacles and #14 wire/romex/MC but it's better to do #12 wire and 20A rated receptacles even if you use 15A breakers. But then you might as well use 20A breakers also, that's what I would do.

Loading a receptacle circuit to 60% of it's amperage rating is a generally acceptable practice in design work (i.e. layout out an office building, etc). That's 8 duplex receptacles per circuit, assuming 180W each duplex, or 1440W

That's 1200W, so technically, you could run this all off one circuit.

The only thing you need to worry about is the inrush from starting the T5 fixures and the starting amps of the reeflow pumps. Those are going to be the things that trip breakers, and unless something is wrong with the pumps, they should not cause a breaker trip (it's a short spike and breakers are designed to handle that without tripping). It's the T5 ballast that I'd be most concerned about. Don't put anything else on that circuit that is necessary for the tank; if the T5s trip the breaker, nothing else critical should go down with it.

just my 2c

What will the T5s pull?

 

[Turbo's Aquatics]

Very low wattage, 48" T5HOs are 54W, but it's the inrush of the ballast that can cause problems - and most of the time, it's problems with other things on that same circuit (due to the surge). It also depends on what kind of ballast you have. Rapid start is usually higher inrush, programmed start are lower inrush (better on lamps also)

 

[wareagle]

That's a nice find! I didn't think anyone made those anymore.

Here's a smaller option for the next time someone asks. We actually use these at work so guys don't get hurt by non push button drills in case of a poorly connected extension cord.
https://www.amazon.com/TRC-90265-6-...FAANZXC69S7&psc=1&refRID=TNH7DQGJCFAANZXC69S7

 

[MSB123]

Ok
They are 80 W bulbs. 60 inch

Very low wattage, 48" T5HOs are 54W, but it's the inrush of the ballast that can cause problems - and most of the time, it's problems with other things on that same circuit (due to the surge). It also depends on what kind of ballast you have. Rapid start is usually higher inrush, programmed start are lower inrush (better on lamps also)

 

[Brew12]

Thank you, that sounds like a simpler approach. If you can point me in the right direction then I should be able to put it together. Do you have a specific relay and/or switch in mind?

Seeing as they still make the manual GFCI's I would go that route, but if you do want to build one yourself, this is one way to do it.

Here is a basic wiring schematic.

You would need a relay with a 120VAC coild and 2 NO contacts such as this one.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07C78PHS...&pd_rd_r=40b550f8-5f8e-11e9-b2ef-bb2ae37525d6

And a push button with momentary on such as this one.
https://www.amazon.com/Gardner-Bend...V+push+button&qid=1555340902&s=gateway&sr=8-3

 

[Peace River]

Seeing as they still make the manual GFCI's I would go that route, but if you do want to build one yourself, this is one way to do it.

Here is a basic wiring schematic.

You would need a relay with a 120VAC coild and 2 NO contacts such as this one.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07C78PHS...&pd_rd_r=40b550f8-5f8e-11e9-b2ef-bb2ae37525d6

And a push button with momentary on such as this one.
https://www.amazon.com/Gardner-Bend...V+push+button&qid=1555340902&s=gateway&sr=8-3

Thank you!!!

 

[Peace River]

Here's a smaller option for the next time someone asks. We actually use these at work so guys don't get hurt by non push button drills in case of a poorly connected extension cord.
https://www.amazon.com/TRC-90265-6-...FAANZXC69S7&psc=1&refRID=TNH7DQGJCFAANZXC69S7

Thank you! Ordered!

 

[Brew12]

Thank you! Ordered!

If you need better directions, let me know. Good luck and be safe!

 

[gordy2988]

just wondering what your thoughts would be,, and any help testing this thing. Galaxyhydro led lamp, 55 led's, picked it up used this past weekend. guy said it just stopped working over night. thought it might be the drives.
i have a meter,,, how should i go about looking for the problem?!?!?

 

[siggy]

Check power into driver, good? then measure output 24dc (generally) see label on driver, good? connect load and measure, if voltage drops , install a 24vdc load after disconecting leds (power head or home led) if voltage drops=bad driver, if good bad led.

 

[gordy2988]

So, I used my meter to check the drives, and confirmed that they are bad. so now I'm looking at replacing them. here is where I lack experience with electrical work. I'm not having any luck finding the exact replacements. these are multi output, all I'm find is single output. can I replace these with a single output one? pro's, con's? I've attached a photo of the bad one and their info.
could you guide me to find something that I could use to replace them?

 

[Brew12]

So, I used my meter to check the drives, and confirmed that they are bad. so now I'm looking at replacing them. here is where I lack experience with electrical work. I'm not having any luck finding the exact replacements. these are multi output, all I'm find is single output. can I replace these with a single output one? pro's, con's? I've attached a photo of the bad one and their info.
could you guide me to find something that I could use to replace them?

You should be able to use a single output driver for the LED's as long as you match the ratings. Control will be the challenge since these look to be controlled via WIFI.
The 2nd output is for the cooling fan so something separate would need to be done with those.

 

[CNDReef]

Hello
I’m looking into surge protectors for my tank equipment and maybe more.
I fried my last controller to a surge early morning about a month ago and don’t want to risk the new one. Do you have any recommendations on a good unit?
Thanks Chris

 

[Brew12]

Hello
I’m looking into surge protectors for my tank equipment and maybe more.
I fried my last controller to a surge early morning about a month ago and don’t want to risk the new one. Do you have any recommendations on a good unit?
Thanks Chris

I only deal with industrial surge protectors. I believe @siggy knows quite a bit about residential ones. Maybe he can help.

 

[siggy]

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/power-quality-and-surge-protection.558689/
Thanks Brew, hey check out the above thread.
https://www.amazon.com/CH-9101012-N...coding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=HW9TXMYBHB77Q0KFHE6R

Hello
I’m looking into surge protectors for my tank equipment and maybe more.
I fried my last controller to a surge early morning about a month ago and don’t want to risk the new one. Do you have any recommendations on a good unit?
Thanks Chris

I only deal with industrial surge protectors. I believe @siggy knows quite a bit about residential ones. Maybe he can help.

 

[Mastiffsrule]

Evening @Brew12

Whenever you have a second, I have a question I am sure has been asked 800 times.

Do I have too much in 1 outlet. Here’s my list and let me know what you think.

I have one power surge strip and one coral life timer strip plugged into one plain old household outlet .

So, the coral life timer has 2 AI 52 hd, an ATI hybrid 60” long that has 4 lamps with 2 plugs, a ground probe, 2 24 watt green machine UV.

The normals surge strip has Eheim 1262 and Syncra 3, Nyos skimmer, Ranco heater, 3 komera dosers inked together into 1 plug, hydor powerhead.

Now that I do the list it seems a lot no?

And I still have to plug in my ATO, another powerhead and MP 40

Thoughts? Breakers never tripped with all running.

 

[CNDReef]

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/power-quality-and-surge-protection.558689/
Thanks Brew, hey check out the above thread.

The more I read the more confused about them I get lol
I rent so it can’t be a whole house unit.
Would something like this work?
APC 11-Outlet Surge Protector 3020 Joules with Telephone, DSL and Coaxial Protection, SurgeArrest Performance (P11VT3) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0012YLTR6/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_y6QgDb3E2MZGA