Calling All Electrical Experts! Need Help ASAP!

[collie man]

so i noticed tonight while doing my weekly water change that when i flick of my return pump which is connected to my Dj power strip (American Dj) my lights flicker. My lights are connected to my reefkeeper lite which is also powered by my dj power strip. this has happened before the power strip was installed because when the wave maker flips from a to b it trips the leds. when i flick the return pump on and of it is either the leds moonlights, t5's, or both together. im worried this will ruin my mh also plugged into the rkl.

sorry for being long winded! long story short the outlet which all this is powered by is only a two prong outlet. it is not a 3 prong which is now common. i have a 2 prong to 3 prong adapter attached to a gfi strip which powers my dj power strip.

Would installing a simple GFI outlet in my wall fix my problem because of a interrupted ground?

Please help, Im glad for any responses

[collie man]

nobody!? im really worried guys. what can i do to fix this?

[Useful_Idiot]

hope this helps, not sure if i understand the whole set up but my opinion is i don't think it would solve your problem. if the outlet your using is 2 prong and you have a gfi plugged into that it's not functional as a gfi because there is no ground wire, unless you have a metal box housing the outlet and metal cable running from the electrical box to the electrical panel and have the electrical cover plate screw holding the 2 to 3 pronged adapter on ( that little tab with the hole in it) that way the ground from the gfi has a continous connection to the ground in your main panel. my house is from the 1940's and has metal boxes but plastic wrapped wires running to the panel without a 3rd ground wire. if the wires were in a metal housing that could function as a ground wire. i think the flicker of lights is from a quick drop in voltage while switching things on and off. its possible your drawing too much current from one outlet, maybe try it with less things running or just the main pump and light to see if it still flickers. i saw that rkl has great customer support to i'd call them. good luck.

[Useful_Idiot]

you should see if that outlet for your tank is connected to other outlets in the house too. turn off the breaker to it and see what else in the house goes off. if there are other high electrical using things running off that breaker turn them all off and try to turn on and off the return pump to see if the lights flicker. if not that's your problem.

[collie man]

Useful Idtion, You are in definitely useful! I will try what you said and get back to you. sorry for the confusion in the set up description. i understand what you are saying about the third wire but how can i change this one out for a gfi outlet? i handle low voltage wiring at work so im in the dark with this stuff. will i have to turn a third wire from my electrical box all the way to that outlet?

[BigTankGuy]

A GFCI will work without a ground. It is triggered by an imbalance between the hot and neutral, which is usually caused by leaking current to ground. In that case the assumption is that the current on one conductor is going through you instead of coming back on the other conductor.

It sounds like you have a burned or loose connection somewhere. When you get a surge, such as when you turn on a pump, the voltage drops enough to affect the lighting.

A good step would be to use two power strips straight off of the wall outlet and to put your lights and other equipment on one and to put your pump on the other. Then switch your pump on and off and see if you see the same problem. If you see the same problem then you know it is probably in your wall outlet.

I would lean strongly towards the idea that your wall outlet has a connection that is burning up. If it is old enough to not have a ground then this is quite likely.

After your simple test if you still see the problem it is time to call in an electrician. If you don't see your problem then it points to something in your wiring, which would probably be your switch panel, although it is hard to say without seeing what all you have.

Speaking of which, make sure you don't have any light gauge extension cords in the mix here.

[tkeracer619]

You shouldn't be running your return pump on a controller.

It should be plugged directly into the wall.

If your controller fails and every single thing is plugged into it your tank will die.

[collie man]

my set up is as follows:

1.The two prong wall outlet.
2.the adapter
3.a 6 plug gfi lighted power strip
4.the dj power strip plugged into the gfi strip
5. i then have my return, skimmer, ato, both reefkeeper pc4's plugged into the dj strip
6. the first pc4 has my MH and heater along with wavemakers and the second pc4 has my t5's, moonlights, fans, and fuge light.


I am almost positive that all this doesnt reach the 15 amp rating at which the dj power strip would fail.

i just recently set this new dj strip up but have noticed the flashing of lights prior to its install. i just happened to notice it when doing a water change and i flicked the return switch on and off a few times because it is no so easy to do.

[collie man]

my return is not being run on a controller it is simply pluged into slot one of my dj power strip which is connected to a gfi lighted strip and then directly into the wall.

[collie man]

i also only notice the flash when i turn the items off. it does not flash when they are turned on.

[mahogue]

Maybe it is how your using your plugs on the RK PC4. I use a Neptune Sys EB8. On the EB8 6 of the 8 recepticals are switched with solid state devices; the other two are switched with relays. Looking at the manual, 2 of 4 are solid state on the PC4. The solid state recepticals have a hard time switching very low current items and can leak very small ammounts of current when they are first switched off. This can cause very low current devices like LED moonlights to flicker when switched off. If you change your low current devices to your PC4 relay recepticals that possible problem will go away.

[collie man]

okay good to know because the leds do it the most and i have my wave makers on the 1 and 4 slot on the first pc4 which are the relays for lower amperage devices. ill try and move the leds and t5s onto those slots on the second pc4.

im not worried about this problem if it is not catastrophic. i just want to make sure im going to be protected if i have a power surge. i do use a gfi lighted strip so will that work or not?