re: letting the smoke out.

[DJ88]

Victor & Steve,

The thread is closed as it contains information that could cause someone harm as was demonstrated by Steve's ballast blowing. You have posted that it was some bad advice that caused this to a small degree. I am hoping that in the future you will both follow one request.

I really find it is too dangerous, not to mention irresponsible, to post these things freely without any kind of warnings for personal saftey.

In the future I'd appreciate it for the newer members of hte board you will post disclaimers with all of these overdriving ballast posts. If someone was to see the diagram in that thread hook it up and have some form of harm come it would fall back on us here. Mention that this should be done with great risk of both a personal nature and property nature and if the person has no prior experience with electricity to not attempt it.

I have seen what electricity can do to a person and to property. We don't want some newbie to misread this all and burn his/her parents house down.

Steve,

A water extinguisher for a possible electrical fire? images/smiles/icon_eek.gif

[StirCrazy]

that was for after the co2 and after I got the power isolated.. do you think I am that stupid?

Steve

[reefburnaby]

Darren,

As for the scorching...well, I had my 110W PC running for two years and I had it attached to wood (unfinished pine). The ballast is an WH5 and no burn marks (these guys run really hot...much hotter than the F32T8 X 4). So...what kind of ballast is it and how did you mount it ? I hope it wasn't mounted inside the hood beside a MH....

As for disclaimers...I issued one in the beginning. You can check up the thread on reefcentral for the exact nature of the disclaimer.

Steve,

I will speak to you about this in person when we meet at a future club meeting. I think I am missing some of the details, but I will get to the bottom of this. I'll tell you why it could have blown up too....but I'll leave it out of this thread.

Hope you don't feel bad about this botched experiment. The thing is that if you don't try, you will never know. If you are afraid to try, then you already failed. IMHO, these thoughts are what make reefing today possible. Without this type of thinking, the corals would still be in the oceans and not in our living room.

Enough pep talk...still interested in getting a dimmable overdriven lighting system. I have a cute little idea....very safe. images/smiles/icon_smile.gif Maybe, I should try it first...then I'll tell you about it.

- Victor.

[DJ88]

<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quoteYou can check up the thread on reefcentral

It's fine on RC.. Where is the same disclaimer here? There isn't one.

<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quoteSo...what kind of ballast is it and how did you mount it ?

Victor. It was the same electronic ballast mounted onto the back of a 90 gallon tank's wooden hood. Sound familiar? I didn't think that it put out enough heat to do any damage. Well guess what. It did. I was wrong.

<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quoteI hope it wasn't mounted inside the hood beside a MH....

Hmm.. I'll keep that statement in mind Victor. I am not that dumb. Period. If that was an intentional insult towards me, then take it off the board. period.

I know that if I try something that isn't the normal use for an electrical product I read about what can and can't be done. I look for what the voltages/amperages could be and if they are hazardous. Saftey first. If I am instructing someone else how to do something I make sure they have the knowledge to work safely with electricity. I make sure that I understand that it will work 100% confidently if I have not done it personally. I have watched people be careless around electricity. Guess what. They paid for it in one way or another. Burns, injuries. Ever see a 220 lb man get thrown by electricity? Ever see the burns fom high voltage? If you have I am amazed at how little concern and thought about saftey that has been shown here. Your value on this accident was a couple of frags.. What happnes when someone with no experience with electricity hurts themselves or worse??? Will you step up and take responsibility?

Thread closed.

[ 25 February 2002: Message edited by: DJ88 ]</p>