WOW!!! My endcap just caught on fire

[The Shaman]

In the meantime, I have a soldering iron and I'm not afraid to use it.

[Flatlander]

Sheez, enough to make ya chuck em in the garbage. I wonder why we have never seen much of this until lately?? Seems like the flatworm crisis. Yea, there were flatowrms before, but now it seems plague like.

Then the thing with zoo toxins.

Seldom ever heard of any type of end cap fires, now it seems almost common. What gives.
If it was all the influx of new aquarists having problems, it would make some sense. but many are season vets?

[magicreef]

I have retro fit kits in my canopy. Two have burnt up on me. They like to throw sparks from the wiring sometimes. I'm gona be replacing all my lighting when I get the chance. What crap.

[esmithiii]

Originally posted by Frick-n-Frags

NO the GFI WOULD NOT have kicked out. The IceCap was operating normally and no electricity was bleeding to ground.
Y'all better get straight on what a GFI can and can't do or you could blissfully burn your house down too. It isn't the magic prevent-all safety device that some of you think it is. It has a specific function to catch one specific problem.

Arc-fault breakers can detect this kind of thing in wiring. I doubt that it would have in your case since there is a transformer inbetween where you had the arc and the breaker, but these breakers are now required equipment for all bedroom circuits for most areas in the US. They detect arcs and trip the breaker effectively eliminating the possibility of fire.

[samw]

Would building a canopy out of fire-retardant treated wood give peace of mind?

I use Dricon ( http://www.dricon.com/) wood for my PC and VHO fixtures over my main tank.

I also built my nano canopy out of Dricon. I tried to light it over my gas stove and couldn't burn it.

Unfinished Pic

Finished Pic

[The Grim Reefer]

Perhaps the manufaturers need to consider placing thermofuses on the endcaps.

[jimsar]

I'm surprised at the number of incidents reported in this rather limited audience. If these endcaps are made for aquarium use, moisture is to be expected. We, the aquarium community in general, should push for a safer product! That's a lot cheaper for the manufacturers than a class action lawsuit.

Let's compile suggestions and maybe one of the moderators can submit them to the manufacturer/s?

Jim

[Flatlander]

Anyone had problems with pc "waterproof" endcaps. I wonder if the others have problems, how the moisture effects the endcaps on my pair of 55w pc,s in the turf scrubber. Now thats a wet enviroment.

[Frick-n-Frags]

Well, I did it. All 8 sets of endcaps are off (I lied, I thought I only had 7 sets) and all my 14 flourescent tubes are now hardwired (10 VHO's and 4 NO's)

ps, that solder with the environmentally friendly antimony blend is totally useless. It doesn't solder worth a doo-doo. Stick with the good old lead/tin mix.

[Tim]

He's what happened to me







I can't go in to details as a lawsuit is pending but the fire inspecter said one of the lights started the fire over the 120
I had 2 fixtures there one of them had water proof end caps.

[Thales]

Frick,

Any pics?

[jimsar]

Tim, thanks for posting the pics. I'll talk to my electrician friend about installing arc fault circuit interruptors!

[ktwalker]

If anyone is going to compile any demands, which they would be doing the community a huge favor, one thing that should be stressed is that we still are only guessing at the problem--corrosion in the end caps. It may not be that simple. Nature has a way of tricking us all the time. What should probably be demanded is for testing to be done to find out the actual cause, and all end caps shipped out by Icecap to be recalled for flame-resistant ones immediately.

Frick, did you take apart those other end caps and inspect them for corrosion?

kris

[Thales]

I don't think it is corrosion. I think it is mostly a loose connection betweent he endcap and the bulb.

[richw]

I cannot express how concerned I am about this issue. I think I know alot about alot of things, but this is one area where I am practically clueless. We owe to each other to find a solution and make that solution available to the novices among us -- myself included. I can speak at great length about DSB and plenums, but I am really at a loss with regard to electrical wiring. I have also noticed that the plastics casing on the wiring for the VHOs is drying up and cracking. Is this a problem too? I spoke with a friend of mine with more experience in this area and told me not to worry. I feel less comfortable with that response now.

I suggest that the people in the know draft some from of letter to Ice Cap that raises this issue. After all, they build the stuff and they should be in the best position to suggest a solution. As far as I am concerned, they should be on notice that this is a common problem and that they will be on the hook if something god forbid happens.

I also think this is an extremely important issues and that the moderators should elevate this issue to a status which will be available to everyone.

I am sure I speak for everyone when I say that this is a really scary issue.

[ktwalker]

VERY scary I agree.

It's also almost just as scary knowing that so many have been holding back this info until one person came out and told of their experience. I can only wonder what other sort of disasters have occurred that have gone on unreported.

kris

[lduncan]

Originally posted by esmithiii
Arc-fault breakers can detect this kind of thing in wiring. I doubt that it would have in your case since there is a transformer inbetween where you had the arc and the breaker, but these breakers are now required equipment for all bedroom circuits for most areas in the US. They detect arcs and trip the breaker effectively eliminating the possibility of fire.

From my understanding of how Arc-fault breakers work, they would prevent any sort of gas dicharge type lighting, such as flouro or MH from working. These are in effect, sustained and controlled electric arcs.

I believe that the arc-fault breaker monitors the power line for a "noise" profile associated with arcing, which also occurs when starting almost all lighting used on reef aquariums. Thus preventing them from starting. It would be a very shrewed device that can tell the difference.

Layton

[Frick-n-Frags]

Those pics of Tim's are horrific. JEEEEEEZ!!!! I was thinking of taking a pic, but I caught mine before the damage was severe so I only have a black bulb, and a slightly melted prop tub and a little pile of black burnt goo on the floor.

My endcaps aren't visibly corroded. Maybe they just got loose and worn over time or slightly oxidized to permit the gap that started arcing.

I still don't think the noise profile will show up at the line end of an IceCap. They use like a 15kHz switching power supply which won't resemble anything off the line. I think, as someone stated before, the 60 cycle AC profile of a simple direct AC powered device could be monitored. I wonder how does that gadget handle old brushes on like a drill or grinder that spark like a mutha?

I guess this could be discussed forever until someone actually tries the scenario out. I'll do my part: I have 15 endcaps (plus one pile of charred goo ) to donate for anyone who wants to experiment with an arc-fault breaker.

[JonF]

For those of us who will not be soldering our own endcaps, what should we do? Are there any ceramic, fireproof end caps or are we just stuck hoping for the best? Any other suggestions to reduce the possibility of a fire?

[rbaker]

Frick,

I'm sorry to hear what happened. Thanks God you were home to catch it...

I'm sure I have the same end caps as you. I guess I'll be breaking out the soldering gun this weekend...

Ryan

[shoman89]

In my case, I know it wasn't corrosion. My Icecap endcaps were only a few weeks old. I am pretty sure it was a loose connection. I am thinking about using some type of elastic strap to pull the endcaps tight. Any ideas on what type of materials would workin the heat and salt? A large neoprene rubberband?

JeffP

[shoman89]

The EPDM bands look interesting. I wonder how much they cost?

http://www.aerorubber.com/custom.htm#EPDM

[Frick-n-Frags]

Thanks Ryan.

just when you think your setup is bulletproof........

anyway, here is a pic of a burnt out NO bulb that I soldered a while back when I was short of endcaps. The blue stuff is heat shrink tubing which makes a nice insulator. IMO, it's pretty clean.

Not fully waterproof, but other than that you can't get shocked by casual contact. I use multi stranded lampcord now (awg 18 or 16) because it works easier to tin and also to attach to the ballast wires with wire nuts. That single strand stuff in the pic is a PITA at both ends.

[SciGuy2]

Frick,

This is the most worthwhile and important thread I've ever read on a forum. Thank you for starting this dialog. I encourage people to use the rate option to get this thread flagged.

I've run the German 3 piece endcaps for over 10 years. Three years ago, when changing lamps I noticed that two endcaps showed signs of minor melting and had an associated burnt plastic smell. The dark brown/black plastic that holds the copper contacts in place inside the endcap had started to fail. I'm super careful about getting good connections on the lamps and carefully inspect everything each time I service the lamps (generally every 6 months). I wrote the whole thing off as user error, since I was overdriving VHO lamps on pre-historic tar ballasts. I upgraded to Icecaps, got new endcaps and thought the problem was taken care of. Now I'm not so certain.

F-N-F, I always enjoy reading your posts, but this is your best work.

Sincerely,
Lee

[jiminy_crime]

Frick-N-Frags,

I was told by my lfs that I should ground everything including the ballast. How do I grond the ballast itself? I know that you are supposed to sand some of the paint off the ballast but once wire is attatched to the ballast, what does the other end of the wire attatch itself to?

I have a URI A4 made by IceCap which holds 440 watts(16 ft.) and was told that it is the 660 without the heatsink or the dimmer. I have been afraid to hook mine up since I heard your story. Can you relieve my stress or is this something that I really should think about hooking up?