k2 viper light fell into aquarium, is it still good?

[reefmaster]

Hi, i purchased 2 150 watt k2-viper lights from jbj. I have a 46 gallon and after 2 weeks they were great. I was filling up the evaporated water in my tank and one of them fell into the tank. (they mount onto the back of the tank) I guess it got wet and slipped. Thank God i didnt get hurt and nothin gin my tank got hurt. I unlugged the power cord right away, and all that got broken was the glass protecting the light and the metal halide bulb looks burt in the middle alittle. If i just purchase another bulb and screen do you think it would be alright to put it back up? Any suggestions?

 

[ReefRaff]

since you have two I would highly suggest you let the one air dry 3-5 days before using it again.

better safe then sorry

 

[lando]

I would contact the company and see what they recommend. SW is no good on electronics. Letting it dry for a few days is a good idea. Consider opening the housing so the inside dries out. Take a plain cloth and wipe down the bulb (do not touch it with bare hands), the reflecter and the glass.

 

[reefmaster]

the glass in in peices so i cant really do anything with that. Ill let it dry and then take it to the aquarium store and see if they can help

 

[helicopter]

It depends how comfortable you feel about disassembling things and tinkering. Salt water is very very bad. Distilled water actually conducts very very little electric current (only charge carriers are autodissociated H20's) and the more dissolved stuff you put in the water the more it will conduct. There are two problems with dropping stuff in water. One if the device is on you are shorting out circuits which were not designed to be shorted and they can be destroyed and cause much damage in the process. If you drop an electrical device in the water which is not powered up there is the obvious risk that if you turn it on while still wet you will get the same result but also the crap dissolved in the water which remains after the water drys could cause big problems in terms of corrosion and potential shorting.

What most "experienced" people would do in this instance would be wait a while (day or so) to let all of the capacitive elements in the electronics to naturally discharge, open the device up and rinse everythign with distilled water or isopropal alcohal. Then let it fully dry and you should be fine.

If the light was on for a while before it was dropped, the outer glass could have broked just from the thermal stresses of quenching to the temperature of your tank. If the light did not stop glowing then you did not get any shorts and you are very lucky.

 

[roka64]

I would say you can test it, after it has been dried and cleaned as suggested above. Just use the working bulb in the "broken" one to see if it still works.

 

[Steven Pro]

If it were me, I would throw it away. The risk of fire would be far too great for me to ever feel comfortable with it.