so my idiot friend screwed up my lights

[AlienAnchovies]

a few weeks ago i went on a week long trip to el paso well when i come back i find that one of the power compact balasts on my retro fit might be burnt out
well it seems my good buddy kev who i entrusted my tank to decided to cut the grounding plug off the powercord because it wouldnt fit into the timers be bought hence chances are my ballast is burnt out
could it be that it just wont work because its not grounded or is it burnt out?

[dwdenny]

What brand and type of ballast? It could be that they are not grounded as you say. I would go to HD or Lowes and find those replacement plugs and rewire them and see what happens. Another way to test the ballast would be to use an ohmmeter and check the ballast. HTH

[SBreef]

Either you have a burnt out lamp. or a bad ballast. Cutting the ground off of the cord would cause this to happen. The ground is there to protect you and the euipment, should either the Hot or Nuetral touches the case or water shorts out the wires.

[pilot_bell777]

I'm not plugging anything in around my tank without a ground and GFI. It is not the water that is conductive it is the combination salt and water.

Science Lesson sense someone will argue......
You can get shocked in water because your body always has salt on it from your sweat.
Water will not conduct electricity by itself it has to have salt to be a conductor.
Take a batter (big one for like a camping flash light), get a light and a cup of water (glass)
Hook everything up and put both ends in the water: NO Light....

Add Salt to the water: Light!

Now back to it......I'm not gona plug anything is around my tank with out a ground and a GFI! LOL

[SBreef]

Pilot,

Pure water will not conduct electricity. It is all of the minerals in the water that conduct electricity. By adding Salt to pure water, you then will be able to conduct electricity.

[AlienAnchovies]

theyre both workhorse 5 ballasts
well i tested the lamps and they seem fine
i tried switching the cords and well it seems one ballast is burnt out
because one fires and one doesnt
what sucks about this is the fact that ive only had the ballast for about 3 months and i bought them on ebay with no warrenty

now my next question is; is any one here selling workhorse 5 ballasts?

[Magneto]

Pilot,

Pure water will not conduct electricity. It is all of the minerals in the water that conduct electricity. By adding Salt to pure water, you then will be able to conduct electricity.
To expand. Tap water will also conduct. It doesn't take much in the way of impurities. What comes out of your RO/DI should not or at most be a very poor conductor.

[brewercm]

Here's a good deal.

http://www.hellolights.com/aq1xreba.html

[Bill S]

Hold on folks... Anyone that doens't think water - salt, tap, distilled, OR RO/DI doesn't conduct electricty, just doesn't know... Remember lightning? AIR conducts electricty just fine! It's all a matter of HOW WELL. That being said, SALT WATER does conduct electricty rather well. Definately more of a hazard than distilled. While a non-waterproof flashlight will short out in salt water and appears not to in your pool, it's just that the resistance of the water is much greater than that of your flashlight wiring. Water, of any kind, around household electricty should always be regarded as deadly.

[dwdenny]

theyre both workhorse 5 ballasts
well i tested the lamps and they seem fine
i tried switching the cords and well it seems one ballast is burnt out
because one fires and one doesnt
what sucks about this is the fact that ive only had the ballast for about 3 months and i bought them on ebay with no warrenty

now my next question is; is any one here selling workhorse 5 ballasts?

Not selling one but at least they were not IceCaps. :sick

[pilot_bell777]

I knew I would get this thread jumping! LOL

That is what I said....RO/DI water is almost pure...but then you add SALT (mineral) and boom you have a good conductor. I don't want to mess with anything electric around salt water without a ground and a GFCI circuit.

Tap water conducts because of all the stuff that is in it, we are not (hopefully) using TAP water for our tanks but we are adding salt.

and yes...if you treat electricity as deadly...... then it doesn't matter water, metal, human fingers.....it's not good!

I love a good science debate especially when you have to think all the way back to 9th grade science class! LOL

[jroescher]

Think TDS meters for testing your ro/di. It measures the conductivity of your water. Also electronic meters for testing the salinity.

[AlienAnchovies]

speaking of where can i get a tds meter