Live heatsink

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SamWE19

Well-Known Member
are there any dangers of having a live heatsink/frame?

I’ve been zapped a few times when going into my grow room lately. It seems the entire frame has gone live. Can’t find any loose wire without dismantling the lot and taking a close look.

Is it wasting electricity or causing damage to chips or is it ok as long as I don’t touch it?
 
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1212ham

Well-Known Member
You are getting zapped by your light, and you are worried about wasting electricity? No, that is definitely not ok.
A lose wire wouldn't explain power on the frame. What is this light and do you have a multi meter?
 
Renfro

Renfro

Well-Known Member
If you have a live frame you should return the light to the seller. If you built it then you should be capable of troubleshooting it with a meter. A simple way is to unplug the light. Using a multimeter see if you have continuity from the frame to the positive or negative side of the driver. Also test continuity to the AC side of the driver.
 
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SamWE19

Well-Known Member
This is a cob diy build I made not something premade from a seller.

I guess because I have the frame grounded is why it’s only a small zap like a tickle.

There must be a loose wire somewhere leaking current to the frame. It would also need to be the DC side as the AC side of my drivers are nowhere near the frame.

My frame has 320 cobs on it and 80 heat sinks.. with 640 cob solder joints and like 100 wagos so you can imagine finding the short...

The lights still light up and put out 1300 Ppfd at the canopy so I don’t think any electricity is getting wasted.

I can’t get access to them until I finish this grow though which is 3 weeks away.

I’m just wondering if this has a likely hood or causing a massive fire or anything if I waited 3 weeks
 
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SamWE19

Well-Known Member
Renfro said:
If you have a live frame you should return the light to the seller. If you built it then you should be capable of troubleshooting it with a meter. A simple way is to unplug the light. Using a multimeter see if you have continuity from the frame to the positive or negative side of the driver. Also test continuity to the AC side of the driver.
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Surely I don’t even need a multimeter to figure that? If I get a shock from the frame there clearly is continuity between live and the frame?
 
Renfro

Renfro

Well-Known Member
SamWE19 said:
Surely I don’t even need a multimeter to figure that? If I get a shock from the frame there clearly is continuity between live and the frame?
Click to expand...
Well if you find out what it's shorting to then you can likely fix it.
 
Renfro

Renfro

Well-Known Member
With that big of a setup you could start pulling one driver at a time off the power supply and find what chain has the fault, unless there is more than one fault. You have pics of your setup?
 
Renfro

Renfro

Well-Known Member
It should be very easy to find the short with a multimeter. Even with that many connections, start by finding the offending driver / chain and then troubleshoot that part of the light.
 
Renfro

Renfro

Well-Known Member
Well it's likely that sans chip holders one of your solder joints has made contact with the heatsink.
 
Renfro

Renfro

Well-Known Member
It could be as simple as a driver having an internal short.

Use a multimeter to isolate the source (is it a positive or negative side or even AC side). Disconnect all drivers, then start testing each driver by connecting it to power and seeing if the frame voltage is present with your meter. Once you have determined the faulty driver you can see if the wiring on that chain of cobs has a fault or if the driver has an internal fault.
 
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SamWE19

Well-Known Member
SamWE19 said:
No the chips are bolted to the heatsink and then soldered manually
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I soft glued over every solder joint after I had finished soldering to make sure I’d never zap myself if I accidentally touched the solder joint..

I didn’t glue a joint that was touching the frame
 
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SamWE19

Well-Known Member
Renfro said:
It could be as simple as a driver having an internal short.

Use a multimeter to isolate the source (is it a positive or negative side or even AC side). Disconnect all drivers, then start testing each driver by connecting it to power and seeing if the frame voltage is present with your meter. Once you have determined the faulty driver you can see if the wiring on that chain of cobs has a fault or if the driver has an internal fault.
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Ok cheers I do have plenty of spare 600h drivers as I originally had 120w per sqft here but then realised it was too much lol

What kind of issues could I expect if I waited 2-3 weeks for this though?
 
Renfro

Renfro

Well-Known Member
SamWE19 said:
What kind of issues could I expect if I waited 2-3 weeks for this though?
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No issues if it's unplugged. However unlikely, the worst cases include some sort of arc fault starting a fire or more likely you get hit with some voltage and your heart stops. Could also just fry a driver or nothing bad at all could happen. Thing is with a hunk of live aluminum and water being present it would be very easy to see a few planets line up like a spill and accidental touch of the frame.

Not a risk I would be willing to personally take. Are you a gambling man Sam?
 
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