Von digity Posted January 21, 2004 Share Posted January 21, 2004 I just learned a valuable lesson today; Metal Halide is not a toy. Story is, I was constructing a pendant for my 250 watt mh, using a floor lamp. I liked the idea cuz, its portable, can be bent to different heights, etc... So, the lights on... I'm trying to strap a fan behind it... then wack, my wrist knocks the bulb (it was on) down, into the tank. Water boils, steam rises, the bulb cracks. I lift it out of the water (cracked but still really bright) then run for the outlet on the other side of the room and unplug it. I'm so mad at myself for doing this. I have no money left this month to buy a replacement bulb. Von, it was a stupid idea. Link to comment
Von digity Posted January 21, 2004 Author Share Posted January 21, 2004 I'm still shaking Link to comment
Von digity Posted January 21, 2004 Author Share Posted January 21, 2004 I'm really mad at myself. And glad that nothing died. Link to comment
Von digity Posted January 21, 2004 Author Share Posted January 21, 2004 I may be pushing it but, if everything on the inside of the bulb is intact, and only the outside glass is cracked, is the bulb still useable? It still lights up, I'm just not sure if its a good idea. Link to comment
movingshadow Posted January 21, 2004 Share Posted January 21, 2004 considering you were lucky not to get fried... I wouldn't do it... :*( Link to comment
Reefer_Buddha Posted January 21, 2004 Share Posted January 21, 2004 lessons learned the hard way are always the ones that stick in our heads. The other day i was moving things around in my tank and i had a leak from the back of a prototype skimmer, like a dumbass i had put a bucket of water down there so i wouldnt get the carpet wet. I put my MH tripod back there and wanted to take it out and i have a powerbar near the wall there. Well i told my wife to move the bucket and she knocked the bucket over and it hit the powerbar. The lights and all the pumps shut off and the gfi tripped. I yanked her out from under the stand and tried not to yell at her. I spent 15 mins lecturing her on how if there was no gfi she could have been toasted. Even tho it was my fault for putting a bucket there and not fixing all that crap sooner. We all get complacent and its not wise to be complacent around water + electricity. Just pray that bulb didnt explode in your face, the gases in there are nasty. Link to comment
Von digity Posted January 21, 2004 Author Share Posted January 21, 2004 Jeez, I guess I'm lucky. I tried running the bulb anyways (yes, I'm an idiot) just to see what would happen. Well, it lit up but I started hearing cracking noises a few minutes into it so I turned it off. I inspected the bulb and noticed a hella lot more cracks in it. I'm not gonna try that again. Reefer_bud, thats one scary experience. Thank jeebus for the gfi. I'm definetly gonna be more careful in the future. Does anyone have a spare/used 250 watt se bulb they'd sell me or trade for-workhorse 5 & or, 20 gallon long & or,70 watt wpi ballast? (i'm prolly gonna post something in trading/classifieds too) I prolly shoulda posted this thread in the general discussion. Anyways, heres one last pic of the tank using the cracked bulb (before I turned it off due to the growing cracking noises) Link to comment
Jahkaya Posted January 21, 2004 Share Posted January 21, 2004 I have had a full blow shock of 175w MH and a 200 watt heater. As a buddy of mine says "you're not a real reefer unless you get shocked at least once. " Nothing but a big scare, mild burns, twitches, itching and some ringing in the head. No too bad, huh? I can probably get a new 250 XM for about 55 bucks, but it'd take a week and it's still a bit of money. Go on RC there are many people selling used 250's with only a few months use (supposedly). Link to comment
Von digity Posted January 21, 2004 Author Share Posted January 21, 2004 I was more scared of the bulb exploding in my face, sending shrapnell everywhere. The scary reallity is that something like that can disfigure a person. I still lit it up anyways just to see what would happen. Periodically screaming out "thug life" er "thug reef." jk. But yeah, Iv'e been shocked too, by a previous workhorse 5 that I had lying around (128 watts ). Definetly scary but no ringing in the head or twitching. Is getting shocked a right of passage into the reef world? If so then I'll go grab a lead from that 250 watt ballast and get a trip ready to E.R. thanks for the R.C. tip Link to comment
Dingo Posted January 22, 2004 Share Posted January 22, 2004 Shocking. When I get zapped by 120, the feeling goes up to my wrist. 240v goes to the elbow. 480 goes all the way to the shoulder. No fun at all. I make it a point to keep 1 hand in my pocket when working with power. That way the juice doesn't cross your heart, and you can jerk back. 2 hands = dead. Link to comment
aggiereefer Posted January 22, 2004 Share Posted January 22, 2004 umm i think 480 would hurt just a tad more than your shoulder especially if its the stinger line on 3 phase hehehehe youd end up lookin like that mad scientist from that movie with the time traveling delorean car cant remember name of movie. Link to comment
jmt Posted January 22, 2004 Share Posted January 22, 2004 "Back to the Future" I've been shocked by an old crappy heater I had back in my early freshwater days. 110v is A LOT of fun. I think I was impotent for about a week.: -Justin Link to comment
OxInYourBox Posted January 23, 2004 Share Posted January 23, 2004 Glad you made it out alive. I've had my run ins and my GFCI's have saved my a$$ a few times. I've got an Ushio 10K that I got with my 250W MH setup a few months ago that you're welcome to. The guy who gave it to me said it had been used for 9 or 10 months I believe. It's been in the box since I bought the setup back in June. You're welcome to it if you want it. It will take a week to get there though with me being on the East coast. Link to comment
wetworx101 Posted January 23, 2004 Share Posted January 23, 2004 Dingo, I know 110 is easy to play with...but 220?? You gotta be demented to get wacky with your dryer cord...unless you were in europe testing the sockets. But 480? I gotta ask...What the F*@% were you playing with to get a 480v dance lesson? Link to comment
movingshadow Posted January 23, 2004 Share Posted January 23, 2004 oh yeah... 230V can be a bizznitch... trust me, I live in europe.... Link to comment
Raddogz Posted January 23, 2004 Share Posted January 23, 2004 Geez, 96 watt pc lamp cord fried my arse more than a few times. It is connected to a gfci now. Metal halide bulbs are f**** dangerous. Getting zapped by one, explosion, or even burned by a 150Mh is just plain no fun. Link to comment
Perpetual98 Posted January 23, 2004 Share Posted January 23, 2004 I've gotten hit by 220 (221, whatever it takes) from a dryer cord. LOL. At work, we use 480V 3-phase all day long without thinking about it, and one of our test benches typically runs around 750V DC during motor braking. Link to comment
Von digity Posted January 24, 2004 Author Share Posted January 24, 2004 Oxinyourbox- check your pm Electricity is pretty intense. Someone should start a thread where people can post about thier "near death" aquarium experience. Seems like alot of folk have some good ones, especially Dingo, I wanna hear how he got zapped by 480. Perpetaul98, anyone ever been zapped by that 750er at work? Link to comment
Perpetual98 Posted January 24, 2004 Share Posted January 24, 2004 Nobody at work has gotten hit by anything too high. 120V quite a bit. One of the electricians who was hooking us up to the HVDC said, "With voltages like this, you don't get shocked, you just die." I haven't lost any employees yet, so, so far, so good. Link to comment
OxInYourBox Posted January 24, 2004 Share Posted January 24, 2004 Hey Von-Clean out your PM's. Tried to reply but it was full. Link to comment
Von digity Posted January 24, 2004 Author Share Posted January 24, 2004 Sorry, I just cleared my pm's. Thanks. Link to comment
Brensaw Posted January 27, 2004 Share Posted January 27, 2004 30miliamps will kill you in one second. Not worried about voltage here. Link to comment
1fish2fish Posted February 9, 2004 Share Posted February 9, 2004 ROFL All this talk of electicution brings back fond memories. I work in the aquaculture industry and electricity mixed with water water just sucks. One time I was standing in a salt water pond reparing a pond liner and the smart guy I was working with dropped a power cord into the water. The resulting dance done by yours truly was nothing less stellar. Not sure how, but I managed to jump out of the water. There was no GFI, just a regular old breaker and it didn't click. 1fish = 1luckyfish Link to comment
ShavenYak Posted February 9, 2004 Share Posted February 9, 2004 My other hobby is collecting old arcade videogames. Doing repairs to the monitors in those things gives you the opportunity to get zapped with 25,000 volts if you're unlucky. And yes, they will supply enough current to kill you - even if they've been unplugged for days, thanks to the picture tube acting as a giant capacitor. Luckily, to date I've only received very mild shocks from aquaria (didn't notice the salt creep on a power cord I was unplugging, just tingled a bit), and none from videogames. Of course, I'm cautious almost to the point of paranoia when working on a videogame. Link to comment
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