Fluorescent Light Question

[kengw002]

Hi everyone

I'm making some adjustments to a fish tank hood's lighting arrangement.

Currently it has two t5 fluorescent lights. I am disabling one and I am adding a second set of led lights to fit inside the existing hood/light setup.

The new led lights has a metal or aluminum case and power supply etc already as it was bought straight from an aquarium shop ready to plugin and hang from the roof or sit on a stand on top of the aquarium.

There is minimum room to fit the led light setup into the hood of the tank - as slimline as it is. To fit it in it is now lightly resting up against the existing 1 fluorescent t5 globe that I would like to leave in the hood as well.

My question is can there be electrical problems with the fluorescent globe and the led lighting case be touching while they are both in operation together. i.e does the fluorescent globe need clearance in this situation.

I dont think the fact it exists on a fish tank i.e water in the vicinity should be a factor as I intend on completely sealing it from all water contact and condensation etc. so this need not also be considered in your answers.

I have attached a video of my project to better explain the situation. it is attached as a zip but it is actually a .mov file of a quick 10 second or so video of my fish tank hood and the closeness of the two globe setups.

cheers Grant

 

[hannobisschoff@gmail.com]

Hi everyone


My question is can there be electrical problems with the fluorescent globe and the led lighting case be touching while they are both in operation together. i.e does the fluorescent globe need clearance in this situation.

I don't understand, is the globe touching the LED, or are they submerged in water (if that's even possible)?

 

[kengw002]

hi. yep the fluorescent globe and the led lighting's case are touching. It is only touching the glass of the fluorescent globe and not the metal at the end (not sure if that matters).

It is not submersed in water they are in the hood of the aquarium tank above the water of the fish tank.

any help would be great. I dont want to start a fire in my house or electrocute myself if I do use this setup.

cheers Grant

 

[hannobisschoff@gmail.com]

OK, I understand. There is no possible hazard in the globe and LED casings touching. If you have a multimeter, you will see there is no continuity between the LED case and Fluorescent bulb. The only thing to worry about, is them both being submerged in water.(The resistance of the water in the fish tank is probably in the kilo-ohms range). Or the conductive parts of the LED and bulb touching. But, if you mount them well, you will be fine. (glass against led is fine, since glass is one of the best electric insulators there is). But in the video your led's are actually mounted real nice and neat (well done). Give it a try. Let me know the results.

Oh yea, one last thing, are you sure about the supply voltage that you're feeding to the led's?
Hanno

 

[kengw002]

yeah i think supply should be fine. they both have separate plugs to run from and I will run them from separate power points as well.

thanks a lot for the reply. it has given me a great vote of confidence and I have gone ahead and completed it now and it is working great!

thanks again!

 

[hannobisschoff@gmail.com]

No Problem. I hope you felt that tension before switching it on, and then that surge of relief when you see it's working. That's what makes electronics so special.