Cali Kid Corals

Damn - small fire ! Good luck or Bad?

Mr. Ugly said:
Doesn't necessarily have to involve water on the plugs either.

Common way for this type of fire to start is with corrosion on the conductors and/or slightly loose contact between the plug and socket.

This creates resistance and heat which can further reduce the spring force on the contacts.

With the lights switching on and off, you can get arcing over the bad contacts. Which makes the connection get worse over time.

The prong that is the most melted is where you had bad contact and the most resistance and heat.

It's a good idea to do regular safety inspection of your equipment for this type of thing.
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OK, wow, that's not good. This corrosion, does it usually take the form of hard, greenish buildup on the plug's prongs? If so, I have buku corrosion on all my plugs. Do you know if it can be removed, and how do I go about that?
 
Lyn, can we volunteer you to start a thread for the list and collate all the safety suggestions?

Maybe in the "wouldn't it be good if..." forum?

:D :D :D
 
Mr. Ugly said:
Lyn, can we volunteer you to start a thread for the list and collate all the safety suggestions?

Maybe in the "wouldn't it be good if..." forum?

:D :D :D
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There you go again. Volunteering me to do something for you. First it was...Grow my Pocillipora, now it's, Start a thread... :) :D LOL

You know it isn't as fun as organizing a pot luck, but I'll give it a go. :) I think you might have to "owe" me though Norm! Heehee :bigsmile:
 
I think you can still use the system, just cut off the plug, resolder, cover with heatshrink tubing and you ought to be good to go. I've had this exact same problem before.

Makes me want to go home and check all my connections again tonight. :p
 
I'd open it up to make sure wires inside didn't melt, or more importantly the coating. Then just pop a new plug on there, or hell just hardwire it to the ballast, if you don't have any desire to remove it.
 
What Mike said.

Crispy insulators or connectors inside the ballast would be bad.

Open it to check.

Electronics people joke that if you let the smoke get out of your equipment, it won't work anymore :D
 
Lyn said:
There you go again. Volunteering me to do something for you. First it was...Grow my Pocillipora, now it's, Start a thread... :) :D LOL
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Because I know you would be so good at it :D

Ok, we all owe Lyn :D

Thx!
 
Mr. Ugly said:
Electronics people joke that if you let the smoke get out of your equipment, it won't work anymore :D
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Hheheh my uncle had a theory that smoke is what made stuff work, so if smoke gets out it doesn't work anymore :D
 
See, this is just another reason I shouldn't have bought used aquarium equipment. No offense to those that do buy/sell used, but I'm just not careful or knowledgeable enough to know what issues might exist.
 
Mr. Ugly said:
Lyn said:
There you go again. Volunteering me to do something for you. First it was...Grow my Pocillipora, now it's, Start a thread... :) :D LOL
Click to expand...

Because I know you would be so good at it :D

Ok, we all owe Lyn :D

Thx!
Click to expand...

Just joking! Really, not a problem. Happy to do it. :) It's much more important than planning a Potluck (though, still not as fun). :D
 
BTW, all your great ideas you posted here, please post in the other thread in WIBGI under Reefer's Safety Inspection. My job description doesn't include moving stuff over (Or does it? Did Norm volunteer me for that too?) :)
 
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