Here is another grrr

[Jennifer]

Ok so here I am posting to BRS - and I start to get that smell of burnt rubber/plastic. Go running around the house and end up downstairs by my tank. Sure enough the room is filled with smoke, smoke detectors now going off and my 1 x 250 MH e-ballast is pouring out smoke from the connector.


OH that is just friggin GREAT.

Clear the smoke out of room shut off the smoke detectors and try to figure out what happened and is it salvageable. It appears that there may have been a little corrosion from salt water on the contacts of the plugs causing the connector to arc across the contacts.

Ok take a deep breath - I can fix this.

So on to make the repairs , try to remove the metal end cap on the connector side - it will not budge. So instead of forcing it and causing more damage, go to the other side and remove that end cap.

Only to find this -

This whole friggin ballast is a hermetically sealed giant block of rubber.
So basically I am not sure what to do now. Performing surgery on this thing is going to really suck and may just make things worse.
I love it how they made this thing so nearly impossible to fix.

Anyways that is just my little vent.

Now I guess I really need to get to work on my 72 bow.
What to do for lighting in the mean time ?
I will not be replacing this ballast, after my 72 bow is up this thing was just going to be a backup or maybe for a frag tank.


aaarrrrrrgggggg.

Thanks for listening er reading.

 

[Miller]

That's no fun.......

 

[Jennifer]

Nope ,

I am just glad I was home, who knows if this thing would have turned into a full on blaze.

WOW that would have sucked just before the holidays.

 

[Jennifer]

Hey I just thought of a new diy project for my 72 bow.

I think I am going to make a smoke detector connected through a relay and hooked to my new Apex controller. If there is smoke from something like this again it will make all of my lighting shut off and send me a text message that reads "SMOKE RUN HOME NOW".

 

[PRTA79]

Hey I just thought of a new diy project for my 72 bow.

I think I am going to make a smoke detector connected through a relay and hooked to my new Apex controller. If there is smoke from something like this again it will make all of my lighting shut off and send me a text message that reads "SMOKE RUN HOME NOW".

that sucks ,sorry to hear that

 

[Jennifer]

OK maybe my pictures dont make this look as bad as it actually was.
am I exaggerating NO.
So I am just sitting here now with my mind going a mile a minute wondering what would have happened if I had left to do my errands when I was suppose to.

While I am sitting here doing nothing but staring at this forum, I see a whole lot of people that have either not read the thread or just do not give a sh_t.

Really gives me that loved warm and fuzzy feeling. The kind that makes you want to go back to lurking and say F it.


THIS WAS BAD IT REALLY WAS.
HAPPY HOLIDAYS AND LATER!

 

[Jennifer]

just ignore me.

 

[cstmpprl]

Well i have no clue what a ballast is, and hopefull i never have to find out. Can i buy you a coke. Do you want to borrow a light?
Smile it can only go up, or not
Michelle

 

[NeverlosT]

haha wow man, im glad it wasnt worse. I would not use that ballast again, for the cost of another single light eballast it isnt worth the risk.

On the bright side, we had the same kind of thing happen on a submarine recently, except the power cable on the sub was a hull penetrator, carries 290V at 60AMPS and when saltwater invades that, electolysis splits it into hydrogen and oxygen, that is until the hydrogen pocket grows big enough, then it arcs, detonates the hydrogen, blows the connector apart, and the pressure hull is compromised.

anyway. THAT was a bad day. and a lot of forensic engineering to find the culprit. I am glad your house will be ok and you caught the problem in time. Also, I like your idea of a smoke detector wired like a "water on the floor" detector. interesting...

 

[jamesdong009]

That really sucks Jenn. At least you were home. A fire would've been the last thing you need around the holidays.

I've got a couple 175w Hamilton magnetic ballasts you can have if you want.

 

[mchartier]

Sorry about the ballast, the upside is that you were there before it could do damage to something other than itself.

My grrr moment yesterday was while feeding I could not find one of my clowns and my 3 yr old was looking for it also. Later on I looked behind the tank and there it was, so had to run out and get a replacement for it so my son can stop looking for it.

 

[Flame Angel]

Gee, that's too bad. Remember, look on the sunny side... In all reality this is something fixable and small and could have been a lot worse.

You should be out drinking and celebrating. I'll get started for you.

 

[Turbosnail]

I'm surprised your surge protector didn't trip.

 

[PRTA79]

did you have that ballast on a gfi, and it didn't trip?

 

[Crib]

Hi Jennifer

I am really glad you were home and not out on errands.


We were leaving for Aruba last year at 4:30 AM and smelt smoke at 3:30 AM it was a power strip melting, thank goodness we were home and not away.

PS 250W blue wave brand new in box if your looking.

Barry

 

[Behrmon]

Sorry to hear about the hassle but glad you were home to catch it. Hope your starting to feel warm & fuzzy!

 

[jgiannini]

I had a T5 ballast get corroded on the inside and it ended up frying. Thankfully I had one of those plugin GFI's and it tripped that before it it could do any damage to anything else. Glad everything is ok for you!

Jason

 

[Rone]

Glad everything is ok Jenn.....Great spirit in going to do other DIY projects.

 

[coralcor]

wow i have never seen the melt them selves shut before.. thats crazy. its a damn good thing you were home... now that its broken we need to figure out how to prevent this from happening again. how did the salt water get to it to corrode it?

 

[amdphenomx4]

Im guessing the ballast is sealed to prevent electrocution or water damage.