General electrical alert

[albatross666]

Hi

 

I would like to emphasize to all readers that checking your electrical connections, adapters and cables every month or so is a great idea.

 

I recently avoided a potential hazard, and wanted to share this with all.

 

A cleaning of salt spray lead me to check all the gazillion wires in my sump since I bought ties and wanted to make the wires manageable, and I found that one power brick was in the process of MELTING.

 

This power adapter powers my moonlights. It is a Coralife modular moonlight with one power supply and 4 modules. When I touched it, it was HOT!

 

So I took it off. As a note, I contacted Coralife and they indicate that "the system is all low voltage so there is no risk of fire", but I am not using that moonlight again.

 

[Jon Lazar]

Glad you caught the problem in time!

 

I would also check for moisture or salt creep in the moonlight fixture itself. A short can cause those power adapters to overheat and melt.

 

Jon

[flowerseller]

Glad you caught it in time.

 

As a side note;

it was a Coralife product and the problem started when you took it out of the box.

[albatross666]

Glad you caught it in time.

 

As a side note;

it was a Coralife product and the problem started when you took it out of the box.

 

 

I also have 2 coralife power timers, a coralife light (2 years old but good condition - got used from wamas member), a coralife skimmer, a coralife aquapod ...

 

lots of accidents waiting to happen!

[jason the filter freak]

Wow that sucks, power strip failure on a 20 gallon fresh water resulted in my friends room buring down.

[davelin315]

My light that caught on fire was coralife endcaps. I also had an electronic PC ballast at school that arced by Coralife (as I did at home). No major arc, but even a small one can be dangerous.

[Coral Hind]

Great catch...that's scary!

 

It would also be wise to check all the electrical plugs in the whole house on a routine basis as something like that could happen to other items as well.

 

Sounds like Coralife is now ranked up there with Rio.

Edited August 5, 2008 by Coral Hind

[albatross666]

I have an update from Coralife/Current Usa reps.

 

They think that the culprit is the Coralife Digital Timer that I am using "As a suggestion, you may want to do a search on ReefCentral regarding those Coralife Timers

[Integral9]

""the system is all low voltage so there is no risk of fire""

I can't believe they fed you that FUD.

 

I wonder if the timer issue applies to their analog timers as well. I've been using them for years now w/out a problem <knock on wood>.

[davelin315]

Their timer/powerstrip has the reputation for catching on fire.

[sen5241b]

I had a Belkin power strip melt. I was getting ready to leave town with the family and at the last moment I decided to stay in town by myself. Just after they left I smelt burning plastic and unplugged the piece of crap. As per the warranty instructions I mailed them the the powerstrip for replacement or warranty. I never heard another thing from them --not even a post card with a denial for the claim.

[Jager]

well the part after the adapter is low voltage IE if you dropped the mmoonlights in the water its not 120v, however the adapter is converting that wall voltage to whatever the moonlights use, so that is a fire hazard...

 

glad you caught it.

[hbh]

Well, NOW I find out!!! Time to check my coralife powerstrip brfore it decides to do a fish fry. Thanks for sharong this info. Just wish I had known this 2 years ago!