The other day I was feeling a tingle in a small cut on my finger when I put my hand in the water.. I just tested the water 3 ways with the volt meter. Red in the water of course. And the black in all 3 prongs. Start with the ground... No reading. Then in the small prong I'm getting 100v.. And in the big prong I'm reading 14.4.. I do not have a gfci plug.. But everything is plugged into a surge protector 60$ home entertainment center extension .. With out the red in the water. The small prong was getting readings.. I am electrical illiterate !! In the big prong. Everything unplugged and plugged in one at a time. The volts slowly go up. 3v to 5v to 7v.. All the way up to my last power head. It ends up being 14.4. An I doing anything wrong? Do I need to do it differently?
Stray voltage question
- Thread starter JJ-MIK
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Evo8
Aquarium Advice Freak
I'm not sure how you test water..but try unplugging everything and testing again to see if it changes..I once felt the same sensation in my tank..specifically in the return pump tray..I figured out it was the pump vibration..
huma-huma
Aquarium Advice Addict
its normal to feel a slight shock-like sensation if theres abrasions or cuts on your hand. easiest thing to do is shut everything down, put hand in tank, then have someone turn it on while your hands in there. youll know if theres a voltage leak
Spechty37
Aquarium Advice Freak
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Omg I just had the same thing happen to me this morning when I was messing in my sump the finger with the cut felt like it was getting a little shock and the fingers with out cuts felt nothing so I stood there unplugging things one at a time and sticking my finger with the cut back in and seeing if it still shocked me lol i must be an idiot
Evo8
Aquarium Advice Freak
Well..some people are just smarter than others i guess.. hehe jk! when it first happened to me i went nits trying to find it as well!
I did it.. I even stuck my cut in my bucket of saltwater to see if it was just the salt doing it. But it wasn't stinging then. I unplugged everything and stuck my finger in each time I plugged something in. Lol.
After reading in reef central. With saltwater. There is always going to be voltage. 40v and under is normal. But as you unplug things if the voltage drops big time. There is a problem with that item.. My question is why was one prong 14v and the other prong 100v?? I'm going to further investigate this weekend. Please pray from me!! Lol
After reading in reef central. With saltwater. There is always going to be voltage. 40v and under is normal. But as you unplug things if the voltage drops big time. There is a problem with that item.. My question is why was one prong 14v and the other prong 100v?? I'm going to further investigate this weekend. Please pray from me!! Lol
forzaazzurri
Aquarium Advice Activist
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What you are reading sounds accurate.
14 V from neutral and 100 V from line = approx. 115 V total.
Some stray voltage is normal but I am not sure how much.
14 V from neutral and 100 V from line = approx. 115 V total.
Some stray voltage is normal but I am not sure how much.
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From what I read. 40v and below is normal. And its not volts that is harmful. It's the current.. If there is a connecting point. Were the electricity can complete its .. What's the term I'm looking for... Complete it's circuit?? That's what is harmfull.. Like I said. In illiterate when it comes to electricity. Lol
forzaazzurri
Aquarium Advice Activist
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The stray voltage you are reading is "complete" or else you wouldn't be able to measure them. You feel the shock because you are grounded to the floor while touching the water.
forzaazzurri
Aquarium Advice Activist
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That's correct. The fish are suspended and glass is a great insulator or I don't think fish can live with those stray voltages present.
jeffaquarius
Aquarium Advice Addict
If you have a stray voltage, the reading between the water (red probe) and the ground (black probe) must not be 0V. If that's the case then there is no stray voltage and you will not feel anything with 0v between the water and the ground (round prong) or where you are standing. Otherwise, you were getting a false reading. Anyway, in a saltwater tank it is very common to have this stray voltage if you have pumps with flat electrical cords. The insulation of these flat cheap cords are not that good. However, there are pumps with motors outside the tank isolated from the water but they are expensive.
jeffaquarius
Aquarium Advice Addict
The round prong is the ground. I'm not sure what you refer to as a ground which might not be really grounded. If you read 100vac between water and the large prong (neutral) then that is your stray voltage and that is scary. You are just lucky cause your floor may have a good insulation. Once it is flooded then you better watch out. I use a grounding prove whenever I work in my tank.
I was only getting a tingle in a cut. No where else. I even put the cut against the metal stand and felt nothing. Just in the water. And my floor was soaked cuz I was scrubbing hair algae off rocks. Lol. Ill get further into it tomorrow. And recheck everything extensively
jeffaquarius
Aquarium Advice Addict
There is no polarity in ac power. That means the color of the test probe doesn't matter. When measuring stray voltage the reference is the round prong (ground) or the large prong which you already have measured to be 100vac.
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