Lights fell in the tank

[Suohhen]

The long and short of it is anything electronic dropped into saltwater while being powered will most likely randomly fry black ROM chips on the circuit board that run on various voltages controlled by resistors. ROM chips are super sensitive to overvoltage that occurs when the saltwater arcs the ROM chips

Zap > Fry > Dead

Drying it out in rice to absorb all the moisture....or..... cleaning the circuit board with rodi or 90% rubbing alcohol is futile bc most likely the ROM chip is already damaged beyond repair

These ROM chip have hard coded instructions in their memory to do certain things electronically.

Only takes 1 to fry to interrupt the circuit board 'system' and render the whole board useless.

Al will probably put in a new circuit board

So your saying the lights now have dementia?

 

[jdstank]

saw AI was helping. Deleted.

 

[Tarponwriter]

Two AI prime 16 HD fell into the tank last night. Brand new lights, first day on tank... Now they just flicker and flash a color show...red, blue, white, makes me want to cry.
Do you think they will dry out and work again? I was thinking that maybe I should fill a bucket of RO water and give them another dunk to get any salt out and off of them and then let them dry. ... Do you think they will ever work again?

anybody else stupid enough to have this happen ?

Do you think they are just trash now? or maybe I can send them in for clean and repair, ... but that would probably be as much as buying another new one?

maybe put them in a bowl of rice?

they should be waterproof!

 

[Tarponwriter]

Two AI prime 16 HD fell into the tank last night. Brand new lights, first day on tank... Now they just flicker and flash a color show...red, blue, white, makes me want to cry.
Do you think they will dry out and work again? I was thinking that maybe I should fill a bucket of RO water and give them another dunk to get any salt out and off of them and then let them dry. ... Do you think they will ever work again?

anybody else stupid enough to have this happen ?

Do you think they are just trash now? or maybe I can send them in for clean and repair, ... but that would probably be as much as buying another new one?

maybe put them in a bowl of rice?

they should be waterproof!

 

[Tarponwriter]

I had an EcoTech Gen 4 Radion take a plunge from my Giesmann hybrid bracket while doing a cleaning a few years back. I acted immediately, pulled it from the tank, ran freshwater over it, disassembled it, ran freshwater over all the components then dried it totally dry with a hair dryer. I reassembled, and miraculously, it worked! Unit was reinstalled the next day and has been running last 2 years without issue. I think the key is immediately rinsing with freshwater to combat salt intrusion, which if left inside the electronics, will kill the unit. Good luck!

 

[jtone_philthy_aquatics]

Have you tried to contact ai? Or maybe the company you purchased from? I’m sure one of the two would help you out. You can probably get them replaced all together

 

[whs6704]

Two AI prime 16 HD fell into the tank last night. Brand new lights, first day on tank... Now they just flicker and flash a color show...red, blue, white, makes me want to cry.
Do you think they will dry out and work again? I was thinking that maybe I should fill a bucket of RO water and give them another dunk to get any salt out and off of them and then let them dry. ... Do you think they will ever work again?

anybody else stupid enough to have this happen ?

Do you think they are just trash now? or maybe I can send them in for clean and repair, ... but that would probably be as much as buying another new one?

maybe put them in a bowl of rice?

they should be waterproof!

Put them in a lot of rice. Like you would your phone

 

[Dburr1014]

Stick them in the oven at its lowest temperature for at least an hour. It will dry them out quickly and don't worry that things will melt, they will be fine.
My lowest temp I think is 170 or so? Even tho when oven is first on it says 350. Plastic melts at about 200.

That really sucks. Hope this helps someone if not at least you.

 

[alain Bouchard]

repaired a lot of wet electronic in my life. it got into saltwater, just drying it wont help, salt will still cause short circuit. By pluging it before doing a deep cleanup of the circuit it is possible you caused irreversible damages to the circuit board. Now, you should dismantle every pieces of it; rinse every electronic parts with ro/di water (non conductive + absorb more elements); once clean and dry, you brush all electronic circuits with clean toothbrush and isopropyl alcool. be sure to clean deeply between the legs of the chips and under parts where salt could have accumulated. let dry, then try and hope.

 

[jmanrow]

As long as they are turned off then it is a good idea to rinse in ro water, they are already wet so no more damage will be done, then let them dry completely, maybe use a hairdryer if you want to speed up the drying process, if nothing has fried then they will work again.
That is the only thing you can do and hope nothing has fried.
Good luck.

I agree with windermerejack. The salt water is causing shorts in the circuitry, so whatever you do, in their current condition don't plug them in. I have rescued a few items by rinsing them in freshwater, then putting them over the air vents on my floor and made sure they were totally dry before giving them another try. A hair dryer should work also.
You might also try calling the manufacturer, and explain what happened. It wouldn't hurt to give that a try. Best of luck!

 

[jmanrow]

I agree with windermerejack. The salt water is causing shorts in the circuitry, so whatever you do, in their current condition don't plug them in. I have rescued a few items by rinsing them in freshwater, then putting them over the air vents on my floor and made sure they were totally dry before giving them another try. A hair dryer should work also.
You might also try calling the manufacturer, and explain what happened. It wouldn't hurt to give that a try. Best of luck!

I just finished reading through the complete thread, and I am glad to hear that AI is doing a rebuild on your fixtures. Cheers!

 

[ClownSchool]

Two AI prime 16 HD fell into the tank last night. Brand new lights, first day on tank... Now they just flicker and flash a color show...red, blue, white, makes me want to cry.
Do you think they will dry out and work again? I was thinking that maybe I should fill a bucket of RO water and give them another dunk to get any salt out and off of them and then let them dry. ... Do you think they will ever work again?

anybody else stupid enough to have this happen ?

Do you think they are just trash now? or maybe I can send them in for clean and repair, ... but that would probably be as much as buying another new one?

maybe put them in a bowl of rice?

they should be waterproof!

Should NOT have plugged them in. You should have bough a big bag of rice and buried them for about a week, then Checked them.

 

[Lost in the Sauce]

If they fell in while on theyre toast. If you send them in to ai they should be able to repair them for less than the cost of new.

If they fell in while off and you turned them on theyre likely toast.

If they fell in while off they can be saved by taking them apart and rinsing in ro, then left to dry.

Unfortunately, I think this is the right answer.

Sorry OP

 

[outhouse]

Did that last week. Took hair dryer to all parts. The timers needed replacing that were built in. I had to take the cover off the driver's and hair dry them again and their working again

 

[Mark3]

UPDATE: AI checked them out...one was toast, unrepairable....the other one they fixed under warranty no charge.
Sold me a new one for the toasted one at 40% off.
They both come back with new one year warranty and no shipping cost.
I'm happy with how it turned out...for $125 I learned not to drop lights inside the tank...and I will be getting more lights from AI.

 

[PeterC99]

UPDATE: AI checked them out...one was toast, unrepairable....the other one they fixed under warranty no charge.
Sold me a new one for the toasted one at 40% off.
They both come back with new one year warranty and no shipping cost.
I'm happy with how it turned out...for $125 I learned not to drop lights inside the tank...and I will be getting more lights from AI.

Nice!

 

[TheDragonsReef]

UPDATE: AI checked them out...one was toast, unrepairable....the other one they fixed under warranty no charge.
Sold me a new one for the toasted one at 40% off.
They both come back with new one year warranty and no shipping cost.
I'm happy with how it turned out...for $125 I learned not to drop lights inside the tank...and I will be getting more lights from AI.

AI has the best customer support that ive ever dealt with. Ill be a loyal supporter for years to come based on that alone haha

 

[BiggestE222]

Two AI prime 16 HD fell into the tank last night. Brand new lights, first day on tank... Now they just flicker and flash a color show...red, blue, white, makes me want to cry.
Do you think they will dry out and work again? I was thinking that maybe I should fill a bucket of RO water and give them another dunk to get any salt out and off of them and then let them dry. ... Do you think they will ever work again?

anybody else stupid enough to have this happen ?

Do you think they are just trash now? or maybe I can send them in for clean and repair, ... but that would probably be as much as buying another new one?

maybe put them in a bowl of rice?

they should be waterproof!

Nope they are dead. How did that happen.

 

[BiggestE222]

I would send them in! I had a Hydra 52 HD that lost a channel, and they repaired it for a very reasonable cost. Like $80 or something like that.

It might be different depending on what is wrong inside, but they have really stood behind their product for me.

Whiskey

Lol he would have to get lucky but those incidents are never covered.

 

[tehmadreefer]

Lol he would have to get lucky but those incidents are never covered.

Umm you do realize this thread is wayyyy old and they fixed one at a discount and replaced one…