My fluorescent tube light just blew up!

[Wulfonce]

I turned on the 4' fluorescent tube light over my 90gal tank this evening. Everything seemed well until I walked into the kitchen. I herd a loud snap noise that sounded like glass cracking followed by a loud buzzing noise. My heart skipped a beat. I thought the tank had just cracked!

I raced back toward the tank and was shocked to see thick blue smoke billowing out the light on the top. There was so much smoke a had a hard time locating the power bar inside the stand. I cut the power to the whole tank and then opened most of the windows in the house. It stank and the smoke burned the eyes. I stood there in aww for a few seconds trying to comprehend what just happened.

Several minuets later I removed the light and set it on the floor. I took out the 3 tubes and started to pull apart the light. When I got into the guts the first thing I noticed was the large amount of water inside the casing. Not sure if this was my doing or the previous owners doing. Anyway I then noticed that the grounding wire wasn't even attached to anything! And lastly there is now a black burn mark on one of the plastic holders that the prongs on the fluorescent light fit into.

Any ideas on what I can do to fix this?

 

[ozpkchris]

bummer man.
but you can by replacement ends at hd or lowes

and glass get in the tank

 

[Wulfonce]

Well I popped off all the covers on the "prong" holders and found them severely corroded. They will need to be replaced. I found a burn mark on the opposite holder in the identical location as shown in the pic. Tests with my volt meter suggest everything is wired right. What doesn't add up here is even if the corrosion stopped the circuit in one of the 3 lights why would that cause it to short? Unless the water had something to do with it?

Im a plumber by trade. I dont get it

 

[MBilyeu]

It might be the safest thing to just replace the whole internals. Ends (the prong holders) are going to be about $5 a pair, and a new ballast(depending on what you have) will be anywhere between $20 and $60. Take what you have into your nearest home depot and even if you get someone who doesn't know a whole bunch, but they know where things are in the department, should be able to find what you need. I don't know how you have your tank set up, but make sure that the light fixture is over glass tops and not directly over water. If you have it over the open water, then I would suggest getting an 1/8in thick piece of acrylic to cut and glue to the bottom of your light fixture.

 

[Cichlidsanders]

Well I popped off all the covers on the "prong" holders and found them severely corroded. They will need to be replaced. I found a burn mark on the opposite holder in the identical location as shown in the pic. Tests with my volt meter suggest everything is wired right. What doesn't add up here is even if the corrosion stopped the circuit in one of the 3 lights why would that cause it to short? Unless the water had something to do with it?

Im a plumber by trade. I dont get it

It might be the safest thing to just replace the whole internals. Ends (the prong holders) are going to be about $5 a pair, and a new ballast(depending on what you have) will be anywhere between $20 and $60. Take what you have into your nearest home depot and even if you get someone who doesn't know a whole bunch, but they know where things are in the department, should be able to find what you need. I don't know how you have your tank set up, but make sure that the light fixture is over glass tops and not directly over water. If you have it over the open water, then I would suggest getting an 1/8in thick piece of acrylic to cut and glue to the bottom of your light fixture.

I'm sure that you should just buy a new lamp altogether if you are unsure of your electrician skills.



I wonder if you had anything between the light and the surface of the water in your aquarium?

My power head when its blowing bubbles gets the glass cover on my lamps soaking wet. If the glass was not there the lamp would get wet for sure.

That's the only thing I can think of that would have caused water to be in your lamp, short of dropping it into the tank and not drying it off before plugging it back in!

 

[MBilyeu]

I'm sure that you should just buy a new lamp altogether if you are unsure of your electrician skills.

This is true. It looked like an AllGlass two light strip and the retail on those is something like $100. To do it yourself it would cost:

$10 for ends
$22 for ballast
$34 for bulbs

Total of $66

So I guess the question is: Is it worth the extra $34 to not have to do it yourself? Of course, these are standard retail prices, so if you looked for deals from other enthusiasts or ebay'd something of course you could find almost anything cheaper. I always look for the least expensive way to do something. Sometimes this definitely is not the best

 

[zennzzo]

Or convert to CFL's?

 

[zoohouse]

I have had a power compact light do the same thing. It was on a salt tank and the only thing I could figure that caused it was calcium build up on the bulbs even though I was religous about wiping down my bulbs once a week. Next time anything like this happens make sure you don't breath the smoke it could contain a number of vaporized dangerous chemicals including mercury among other things
I now make my own lighting by disassembling shop lights and moving the ballast to drier location. Double bulb shop lightstrips can usually be got for under $20

 

[stingraybob]

Well I popped off all the covers on the "prong" holders and found them severely corroded. They will need to be replaced. I found a burn mark on the opposite holder in the identical location as shown in the pic. Tests with my volt meter suggest everything is wired right. What doesn't add up here is even if the corrosion stopped the circuit in one of the 3 lights why would that cause it to short? Unless the water had something to do with it?

Im a plumber by trade. I dont get it

theres a good chance condensation built up and your light shorted to a non existant ground, therefore causing fireworks... if your ground was hooked up properly, it would have shorted and shut off....basically since it didnt have a ground to short to, it backfed to your lights, ends, and probably your ballast...i would hook that ground back up and try the lights but you may be looking a new light....

 

[Wulfonce]

Well I changed the ends (whatever the plastic thing is in the second pic of my first post is) and the lights are working great! Its been on for a few hours now and no buzzing, smoke or explosions so far. Im glad thats all it was. A cheap fix at under $10 CAD.


I wont be putting it back ontop of the tank just yet. Im not confident that the water will stay out of it. Im going to get a new piece of plastic for the top of the tank. Theres just to many gaps where water can get in the way I have it now.

Anyway thanks for the help guys.


Enjoy the victory pics!