Uh oh! I dropped my light!

[Tavero]

meaning it’s able to carry water away with it

Up to a certain concentration, but the second a contact touches saltwater while under power, electrolysis is starting, creating heat and producing copper chloride and other salts. I have seen this happening so fast, the contacts turned green in seconds. That stuff isn't easily soluble in alcohol but it can be removed with water.
After that the contacts should be cleaned with flux but like you said this is a bit too complicated.

 

[monkeyCmonkeyDo]

I woulda put it in a gallon zip loc with rice. Lol.
Let it sit for a cpl days.
D

 

[gbroadbridge]

I dropped my AI Prime in my fish tank for a few seconds while cleaning it. It was still working and I immediately unplugged everything. Has anyone else done this and it’s been fine? It was still working when I took it out and good news no one got electrocuted. I’m letting it dry before I face my fear.

You need to dismantle the light and rinse with a lot of RO water.
Salt is very corrosive and will kill the light.

If you rinse well with RO water and let it air dry it will probably survive.

It still works except for violet and I’d rather not add more water to it lol. I took it apart and took a hair dryer and some Q-tips to it.

Before I semi-retired, I worked as an electronics design engineer for almost 40 years.

Trust me, you need to rinse off all the salt with RO water if you want any chance of that light surviving.

 

[gbroadbridge]

I woulda put it in a gallon zip loc with rice. Lol.
Let it sit for a cpl days.
D

Won't work.

 

[Spare time]

I wonder if you could rinse it in deionized water. Computers can survive that.

 

[gbru316]

You need to dismantle the light and rinse with a lot of RO water.
Salt is very corrosive and will kill the light.

If you rinse well with RO water and let it air dry it will probably survive.

Before I semi-retired, I worked as an electronics design engineer for almost 40 year

Trust me, you need to rinse off all the salt with RO water if you want any chance of that light surviving.

why? She’s sending it for refurb.

 

[gbroadbridge]

I wonder if you could rinse it in deionized water. Computers can survive that.

Yes, when I say RO water I mean RO/DI. My bad.

 

[gbroadbridge]

why? She’s sending it for refurb.

I honestly dont think AI will refurb a light that has been dunked in Salt water.

It will just need to be replaced with new.

Don't expect warranty.

 

[gbru316]

I honestly dont think AI will refurb a light that has been dunked in Salt water.

It will just need to be replaced with new.

Don't expect warranty.

warranty? No, this wouldn’t be covered. That doesn’t mean the manufacturer doesn’t repair. It’d cost OP to repair it, of course.

If AI won’t repair, then fixreef.com would be the next best option.

if the desire is to put it back in operation, a professional needs to service it. And once that happens, OP can sell the temporary light and be out a few bucks, instead of being out the cost of an entire new light.

 

[AydenLincoln]

I honestly dont think AI will refurb a light that has been dunked in Salt water.

It will just need to be replaced with new.

Don't expect warranty.

I actually sent it to be repaired before it’s an out of pocket cost which I’m okay with it. It’s not terribly expensive either.

 

[neonreef3d]

a simple conformal coat of epoxy over the electronics from the manufacturers part will make this LED unit waterproof.. very easy solution that many do not bother with. low cost and very effective.

 

[gbroadbridge]

a simple conformal coat of epoxy over the electronics from the manufacturers part will make this LED unit waterproof.. very easy solution that many do not bother with. low cost and very effective.

Most components are running near their rated max dissipation.

Epoxy and heat do not make for happy electronics,

Back in the 80's we tried that for high humidity areas of the world with Philips brand televisions.

It was apparent within a few months that it just would not work. We had failures both on the LV side and the EHT side, in one case resulting in a fire.

I'm quite certain that the designers at AI would have considered if this were suitable for their lights.

I suppose they just don't plan for their lights to get dunked

 

[neonreef3d]

Most components are running near their rated max dissipation.

Epoxy and heat do not make for happy electronics,

Back in the 80's we tried that for high humidity areas of the world with Philips brand televisions.

It was apparent within a few months that it just would not work. We had failures both on the LV side and the EHT side, in one case resulting in a fire.

I'm quite certain that the designers at AI would have considered if this were suitable for their lights.

I suppose they just don't plan for their lights to get dunked

I suppose that what heat sinks are for..

 

[gbroadbridge]

I suppose that what heat sinks are for..

You think heat sinks did not exist in 1980?

They can only sink heat which is available to them, an encapsulated device traps the heat inside and the biggest heat sink in the world will not help much with dissipating that heat.

That is why devices like chokes and transformers usually fail over time.

 

[livinlifeinBKK]

It seems like they'd be manufactured to be more forgiving of mistakes like this but I know they're unfortunately not...

 

[reefinaglassbox]

I dropped it while I was trying to retrofit AI prime goose neck fitting to fit in my refugium. I dried it and then sprayed generously WD electrical contact cleaner. I followed "Prime - disassembly and reassembly" youtube. Been almost a year now going fine.

 

[neonreef3d]

You think heat sinks did not exist in 1980?

They can only sink heat which is available to them, an encapsulated device traps the heat inside and the biggest heat sink in the world will not help much with dissipating that heat.

That is why devices like chokes and transformers usually fail over time.

I guess that's why manufacturers like eco tech marine installs fans on their heatsinks.

 

[gbroadbridge]

I guess that's why manufacturers like eco tech marine installs fans on their heatsinks.

How is a fan going to sink heat that never makes it to the heat sink?

Sounds silly I know, but encapsulated devices often suffer from thermal failure simply due to the fact they are encapsulated.

 

[neonreef3d]

How is a fan going to sink heat that never makes it to the heat sink?

Sounds silly I know, but encapsulated devices often suffer from thermal failure simply due to the fact they are encapsulated.

I guess they just put the fan on the heat sink for fun.

 

[Malcontent]

There are already some IP67 rated aquarium lights so I don't think it's unreasonable to demand some degree of water resistance.