# Power issue



## randy (Jan 29, 2012)

After a 10 days vacation, I woke up reluctantly this morning getting ready to work, and when I went downstairs to check the CRS I moved to their permanent home and found something weird. It was so quiet in the basement. The power went out in the basement !!

I checked the main board and no fuse switch was jumped, I turned off then on the one that controls the basement and nothing happens. Darn, what a nice present on the first day back to work.

So the shrimps are in tanks without filtration and aeration, and it won't be repaired until the evening as the earliest. Good thing it's not too warm in the basement and the tank temp is about 21-23. All tanks are lightly populated (40G with 20 shrimps, 20G with 5, 16G with 7), I think they'll make it, not sure about the berried OEBTs though 

I did some calculation and the total wattage excluding the lights is about 100w, and lighting is about another 100w. I wouldn't think 200 to 250w is too much for a 15A circuit? Any expert opinion?


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## getochkn (Jul 10, 2011)

Shouldn't be overloaded, I don't even want to think about how many things I have plugged into my plugs and they are fine. lol.

Since you're a fisherman, do you have a battery powered airstone to put in the tank to get some movement going?


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## randy (Jan 29, 2012)

getochkn said:


> Shouldn't be overloaded, I don't even want to think about how many things I have plugged into my plugs and they are fine. lol.
> 
> Since you're a fisherman, do you have a battery powered airstone to put in the tank to get some movement going?


No, I don't have one of those. I fish but I don't use live bait nor do I keep anything I catch so never had a need for one of those. If this goes on for longer I'll go pick one or two up for the tanks.

PS: the hard part now is to convince my wife it's safe after this, she is okay with more tanks but she has been concerned about the safety. I'll quote you on this ;-)


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## getochkn (Jul 10, 2011)

As for the math, I=P/V where I is amps, P is watts and V is volts of the circuit, so 250W/120V circuit only puts you at about 2.08amps of power being drawn. Myself, I'd be in the box with a multimeter testing to see whats going on, but that's me, not sure if you're comfortable messing around with 120/220V live wires. Can be quite the jolt when 220V gets you.


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## randy (Jan 29, 2012)

getochkn said:


> As for the math, I=P/V where I is amps, P is watts and V is volts of the circuit, so 250W/120V circuit only puts you at about 2.08amps of power being drawn. Myself, I'd be in the box with a multimeter testing to see whats going on, but that's me, not sure if you're comfortable messing around with 120/220V live wires. Can be quite the jolt when 220V gets you.


Oh, I'm very "confident" about my (in)ability with electric current, if I try to do it myself you probably won't see my posts for a long long long time 

I'll get someone to look at it and at the same time check the usage from the plugs I use for the tanks, to see what the problem was.


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## getochkn (Jul 10, 2011)

randy said:


> Oh, I'm very "confident" about my (in)ability with electric current, if I try to do it myself you probably won't see my posts for a long long long time
> 
> I'll get someone to look at it and at the same time check the usage from the plugs I use for the tanks, to see what the problem was.


lol. Well it shouldn't be overdrawn that's for sure.


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## randy (Jan 29, 2012)

getochkn said:


> lol. Well it shouldn't be overdrawn that's for sure.


I think I'm okay on wattage/amp side, but what I'm not sure is that I use like 4 extensions with like 15 things plugged in, none has high wattage but does extensions/# of appliances make a difference?


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## chinamon (Jun 16, 2012)

randy said:


> I think I'm okay on wattage/amp side, but what I'm not sure is that I use like 4 extensions with like 15 things plugged in, none has high wattage but does extensions/# of appliances make a difference?


generally, extension cords make us unhappy but sometimes it cannot be avoided. for my 30gal tank in the basement i ran two new circuits for future expansion. i am only using one circuit at the moment with one extension cord which has a power bar/surge protector plugged in to it. my canister filter, light and air pump are plugged in to the power bar.

do you have a power bar or surge protector hooked up? if you do, check to see if it was tripped. if it was then reset it.

next you will want to make sure the receptacle has power with a multimeter or a receptacle tester. make sure the breaker is in the ON position inside your electrical panel).

if the receptacle does not have power then you will want to open up your panel and test the breaker with a multimeter if you feel confident enough. set your multimeter to test AC voltage. put the breaker to the OFF position. put the red lead/probe (from the multimeter) on the neutral bar (this has all the white wires connected to it with a whole row of #2 robertson screws. then look for the black wire for the particular circuit and follow it to where it connects to the screw on the breaker and put the black lead on that. you should show 0V on the meter. turn the breaker ON and see what it shows. if it shows 0V then your breaker is defective. if it shows approximately 110-120V then the breaker is good and the problem is probably somewhere in the wiring within your walls or ceiling.

if your home is older and has aluminum wiring, a common problem is the terminals on the back of the receptacle could come loose from the constant expanding and contracting of the aluminum (thats why copper is better). turn the breaker OFF, remove the cover plate with a standard/flat screwdriver, remove the two screws that mount the receptacle in the box, carefully pull out the receptacle and tighten all the screws on the back of the receptacle. wrap some electrical tape around the terminals (common practice for us electricians) and put everything back together.

let me know how it goes.


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## bettaforu (Sep 6, 2009)

randy, just concentrate on getting your power back up and running, don't worry about the shrimps. I had OEBT's living in a dirty whisper filter attached to an EMPTY TANK! Yep that's right there was moss in the filter and when I dumped it out into a bucket low and behold out popped about 10 oebts  How they survived and what they lived on besides water I don't know, but they did..

Shrimps are highly adaptable to any situation so a few days with no air stone or filtration will not bother them in the least. Hope all goes well with the power source and it doesn't cost you too much to fix it.


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## randy (Jan 29, 2012)

Glad to report that problem is "almost" solved, thanks for all the input. Before the power was restored, I ran an extension cord from main floor to run the air pump so I was pretty sure the shrimps would be okay.

So what was the problem? You wouldn't believe this. A light switch (nothing to do with the shrimp tanks at all) had bad connection. I recalled this afternoon (hmm, my wife reminded that, have to give her credit) we had a similar issue a few years ago, and it was due to that same light switch. I don't know if this is normal but the way my basement is wired, if one switch or plug is broken, the entire basement will lose power. So I removed that switch cover, tweaked that switch a few times, left it there without re-assembling the cover, and a while later the power came back. I turned on all the tank equipment, all were running fine, so I went back to put on the switch cover, and the power went off again 

So, I'll replace the switch tomorrow (bought the new ones already). Hope all will be well after that, at least I'm sure it's not due to the tanks overloading.

And yes, chinamon, all the tank equipments are plugged into power bars with built-in surge protector. That and the fact the fuse for that circuit didn't flipped made me believe it wasn't the tank eqipments that caused the issue.

Anyway, I should be fine now. Thanks again for all the helpful info, and to chinamon, your instructions are great but I don't think I'll do any of those. If it gets past replacing a switch module, I'll get someone to fix it ;-)


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## chinamon (Jun 16, 2012)

randy said:


> Glad to report that problem is "almost" solved, thanks for all the input. Before the power was restored, I ran an extension cord from main floor to run the air pump so I was pretty sure the shrimps would be okay.
> 
> So what was the problem? You wouldn't believe this. A light switch (nothing to do with the shrimp tanks at all) had bad connection. I recalled this afternoon (hmm, my wife reminded that, have to give her credit) we had a similar issue a few years ago, and it was due to that same light switch. I don't know if this is normal but the way my basement is wired, if one switch or plug is broken, the entire basement will lose power. So I removed that switch cover, tweaked that switch a few times, left it there without re-assembling the cover, and a while later the power came back. I turned on all the tank equipment, all were running fine, so I went back to put on the switch cover, and the power went off again
> 
> ...


let me know if you want a hand replacing the switch (no, i wont charge you for it. lol). im usually back in markham after work around 4-5pm.


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## randy (Jan 29, 2012)

chinamon said:


> let me know if you want a hand replacing the switch (no, i wont charge you for it. lol). im usually back in markham after work around 4-5pm.


Hey, thanks chinamon, but for this one I think I can handle it ;-)


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## chinamon (Jun 16, 2012)

randy said:


> Hey, thanks chinamon, but for this one I think I can handle it ;-)


heh ok cool.
ah bed time for me. cheers.

i hope to get off work on time tomorrow (3pm) so i can go to BA's and buy some parts to make a spray bar for my aquaclear powerhead 10.


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## randy (Jan 29, 2012)

What parts do you need for a spray bar? I thought you just need some suction cups and a section of clear tube.

BTW, where did you get the AC powerhead? I'm wondering how low you can turn the flow to, I've been trying to find a powerhead that can do <= 50G/hr.


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## chinamon (Jun 16, 2012)

randy said:


> What parts do you need for a spray bar? I thought you just need some suction cups and a section of clear tube.
> 
> BTW, where did you get the AC powerhead? I'm wondering how low you can turn the flow to, I've been trying to find a powerhead that can do <= 50G/hr.


clear flexible tubing, a piece of rigid tube (to drill holes in to) and an end cap/plug.

i got my AC powerhead from BA's. i believe it was the thornhill store. you can adjust the flow by adding a tube to the outflow port and putting a valve on it. the valves are quite common with hydroponics (another hobby that ive dabbled with). take a piece of the tubing to Hydrotech Hydroponics (on bullock drive) and ask if they have a valve that will fit it.

i have a valve that will fit 5/8" tubing but i used it for hydroponics so i would never consider using that in my aquarium. i got it from Yield Of Dreams in newmarket. thats my all-time favourite hydroponic store. super friendly and knowledgable staff.

im pretty sure eheim makes valves like that as well. before eheim implemented their double-tap valve they used a regular valve with their filters.... but this was when i was like 6 years old in 1984.


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## randy (Jan 29, 2012)

chinamon said:


> clear flexible tubing, a piece of rigid tube (to drill holes in to) and an end cap/plug.
> 
> i got my AC powerhead from BA's. i believe it was the thornhill store. you can adjust the flow by adding a tube to the outflow port and putting a valve on it. the valves are quite common with hydroponics (another hobby that ive dabbled with). take a piece of the tubing to Hydrotech Hydroponics (on bullock drive) and ask if they have a valve that will fit it.
> 
> ...


I thought AC powerhead is adjustable that is why I asked?


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## chinamon (Jun 16, 2012)

randy said:


> I thought AC powerhead is adjustable that is why I asked?


They do but not the 10gal model.


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