Ouch, shocked !!

[Doug]

Thanks. I do have a ground probe but its not in the sump yet. I,m off to purchase a meter. Do I measure from the same places I get zapped, water to the reflector?

[hillbillyreefer]

The bad part about Princess Auto is you go in looking for a $9 item and come out with $250 worth of stuff. I love that place. A multi meter should help you find the problem. I would start with the water to the reflector just to see how much voltage you have. Try from the refector to something grounded next. That way you can eliminate the new light as the source of the trouble. Probably be best to hook up your ground probe to do these tests. HTH. Good Luck, be safe.

[michika]

I'll point your thread out to Krazykuch when he wakes up. You might be able to get around this without buying a multimeter.

[Doug]

Cool. Thanks everyone.
Half of my equipment is on a GFI/Arc fault and the other half on a GFI circuit. None of them have tripped. I on the way to put my ground probe in.

[mark]

Originally Posted by Doug

Cool. Thanks everyone.
Half of my equipment is on a GFI/Arc fault and the other half on a GFI circuit. None of them have tripped. I on the way to put my ground probe in.

Assuming your talking breakers here, are you sure a it's a GFI/Arc fault breaker? Never really looked into be thought these were separate devices and the functions not combined (basically a Arc fault breaker won't trip under the same conditions a GFI will).

[Doug]

Originally Posted by mark

Assuming your talking breakers here, are you sure a it's a GFI/Arc fault breaker? Never really looked into be thought these were separate devices and the functions not combined (basically a Arc fault breaker won't trip under the same conditions a GFI will).

Yes. Most new places now require them by code in bathrooms/bedrooms.

[KrazyKuch]

I'm an electrician and I have never heard of a combo breaker...Bathrooms by code have to have a GFCI while bedrooms have to be on an ARC fault breaker....An ARC fault breaker will not trip when their is voltage leaking to ground it will only trip when their is a all of a sudden increase in current kinda of like the same way a normal breaker trips but ARC faults are much more sensitive cause they use a MCU instead of a Bi-metalic strip!

It's odd to here that with absolutly nothing plugged in that their is 9 volts in your a aquarium, I am leading to believe that the meter is faulty...check it by putting it into a recepticle to make sure that you are indeed reading 120 Volts.

Once you've had 600 Volts surge through your body, 120 volts seems like child's play!!!

[Doug]

Hi Kevin, Thanks for jumping in here.

My breakers say

Arc Fault
& GFCI
Breaker
Type BRAF
<--- GF Test AF--->

Anyways I,m off to check the meter. As I posted, everything seems to add its share of current.

So it reads almost 122v. Not enough out for the 9 volts. Would it sense a 9v battery in a digital thermometer?

[banditpowdercoat]

Originally Posted by KrazyKuch

Once you've had 600 Volts surge through your body, 120 volts seems like child's play!!!

That is sooo true LOL. 1500v rocks your world too, got some scars to prove that. LOL

How old are your pumps? Id be calling Tunze. 35v leakage is NOT COOL. Sounds like the case on the pump has a defect in it, expoing the windings to the water. If the GFCI tripped plugging the Tunze in when ground probe installed.

The light shade should be grounded, and you stated that you got shocked with light out as well, so I could rule the light out. I have seen instances in HO-T12 lights, where the ballast would induce 40-50V into the reflector/shade. But that was with a Magnetic ballast installed in the light, inducing a voltage into the shade, not acctually shorting or leaking. Anything that has a magnetic field, can induce electricity into metal near it.

[Zylumn]

You need to start by finding a spot that shows a consistent reading from a meter or ?. You then need to eliminate plugged in objects in your tank one at a time until you find your culprit. Good luck
Kevin