Whos having problems with Mars Hydro

PJ Diaz said:

Standard 120V AC single phase power like we have in the US won't kill you, unless you're holding on to both the hot and neutral with separate hands, causing the electricity to flow through your heart, or if you have a pacemaker or other heart conditions. If you touch a hot line with one hand, and you get a shock, it's because the power is passing through you in a straight line to the ground.

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Actually 14 milliamps is enough to kill a person son. A regular outlet is more than enough to kill someone. You gotta be careful.

PJ Diaz said:

Standard 120V AC single phase power like we have in the US won't kill you, unless you're holding on to both the hot and neutral with separate hands, causing the electricity to flow through your heart, or if you have a pacemaker or other heart conditions. If you touch a hot line with one hand, and you get a shock, it's because the power is passing through you in a straight line to the ground.

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There is more than enough juice in a standard outlet to kill a person. Nobody works in a grow tent with one hand in their pocket . Some things are not worth the risk. I would just return them.

KillaCarta said:

Actually 14 milliamps is enough to kill a person son. A regular outlet is more than enough to kill someone. You gotta be careful.

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Yeah sure, like I said IF the current passes through your heart, AND it's a continual shock for an extended time. At least that's what I was taught in basic electric class, and falls in line with my experiences as a concert electrician.

Doug Dawson said:

There is more than enough juice in a standard outlet to kill a person. Nobody works in a grow tent with one hand in their pocket . Some things are not worth the risk. I would just return them.

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Again, you generally have to hold both the hot and the neutral each in separate hands in order for the power to pass through your heart. Of course there's always freak accidents that can happen, and I'm not suggesting that it's a safe practice to work with fixtures that are causing chocks or that it's something to easily disregard. I definitely agree that the issue should be corrected instead of ignored, and that this seems like simple faulty grounding on the part of Mars Hydro. I've shocked myself with 120v plenty of times in my life, and haven't died yet. Again, if someone has a pacemaker or other heart conditions, it's certainly possible to be electrocuted by only touching the hot line of 120v AC.

The shock that people are getting from the Mars lights kind of sounds like it's DC voltage not AC, so it may not be a grounding issue afterall, and something else. Typically with AC power you will get a continuous shock, because the power is oscillating back and forth at 60 cycles per second, so you feel a sort of buzz type shock, whereas with DC, you usually only feel one big shock once the circuit is broken, more like a quick static shock.

PJ Diaz said:

Yeah sure, like I said IF the current passes through your heart, AND it's a continual shock for an extended time. At least that's what I was taught in basic electric class, and falls in line with my experiences as a concert electrician.

Again, you generally have to hold both the hot and the neutral each in separate hands in order for the power to pass through your heart. Of course there's always freak accidents that can happen, and I'm not suggesting that it's a safe practice to work with fixtures that are causing chocks or that it's something to easily disregard. I definitely agree that the issue should be corrected instead of ignored, and that this seems like simple faulty grounding on the part of Mars Hydro. I've shocked myself with 120v plenty of times in my life, and haven't died yet. Again, if someone has a pacemaker or other heart conditions, it's certainly possible to be electrocuted by only touching the hot line of 120v AC.

The shock that people are getting from the Mars lights kind of sounds like it's DC voltage not AC, so it may not be a grounding issue afterall, and something else. Typically with AC power you will get a continuous shock, because the power is oscillating back and forth at 60 cycles per second, so you feel a sort of buzz type shock, whereas with DC, you usually only feel one big shock once the circuit is broken, more like a quick static shock.

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My HLG lights don't give me a buzz type shock, or a quick static shock.

I suggest he keep a fire extinguisher handy, lol.

MH/SF cheapest lights and worst customer service I've ever dealt with. throw that shit in the scrap bin and get some HLG's baby!!!!

PJ Diaz said:

Yeah sure, like I said IF the current passes through your heart, AND it's a continual shock for an extended time. At least that's what I was taught in basic electric class, and falls in line with my experiences as a concert electrician.

Again, you generally have to hold both the hot and the neutral each in separate hands in order for the power to pass through your heart. Of course there's always freak accidents that can happen, and I'm not suggesting that it's a safe practice to work with fixtures that are causing chocks or that it's something to easily disregard. I definitely agree that the issue should be corrected instead of ignored, and that this seems like simple faulty grounding on the part of Mars Hydro. I've shocked myself with 120v plenty of times in my life, and haven't died yet. Again, if someone has a pacemaker or other heart conditions, it's certainly possible to be electrocuted by only touching the hot line of 120v AC.

The shock that people are getting from the Mars lights kind of sounds like it's DC voltage not AC, so it may not be a grounding issue afterall, and something else. Typically with AC power you will get a continuous shock, because the power is oscillating back and forth at 60 cycles per second, so you feel a sort of buzz type shock, whereas with DC, you usually only feel one big shock once the circuit is broken, more like a quick static shock.

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Ok, so your elbow or hand touches a fan, an AC unit, a metal bar for the tent or any other number of things. As I say, it's easy to prevent such things when you are working with electricity, it's something else entirely when you get a shock from something that is not supposed to give you a shock. I had no problem discharging CRT monitors in arcade games, I kept my left hand in my pocket. It's not the same when you don't see it coming. We cannot assume where the shock is coming from or at least I would not bet my life on it. Could be a ground, could be insufficient shielding on a wire, could be poor clearance to a board or any number of other reasons. The bottom line is if you get a shock from a piece of electrical equipment it is best to not plug it in again, just return it. Clearly it is either badly designed, badly built, badly tested or a combination of those things. If the light is shorting make sure your smoke detectors are working as well, it may not be a shock that gets you.

Doug Dawson said:

Ok, so your elbow or hand touches a fan, an AC unit, a metal bar for the tent or any other number of things. As I say, it's easy to prevent such things when you are working with electricity, it's something else entirely when you get a shock from something that is not supposed to give you a shock. I had no problem discharging CRT monitors in arcade games, I kept my left hand in my pocket. It's not the same when you don't see it coming. We cannot assume where the shock is coming from or at least I would not bet my life on it. Could be a ground, could be insufficient shielding on a wire, could be poor clearance to a board or any number of other reasons. The bottom line is if you get a shock from a piece of electrical equipment it is best to not plug it in again, just return it. Clearly it is either badly designed, badly built, badly tested or a combination of those things. If the light is shorting make sure your smoke detectors are working as well, it may not be a shock that gets you.

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Yep, I don't disagree with any of that at all, and like I said "Of course there's always freak accidents that can happen".

As you said, "The bottom line is if you get a shock from a piece of electrical equipment it is best to not plug it in again, just return it. Clearly it is either badly designed, badly built, badly tested or a combination of those things", which is along the same lines of my statement that "I definitely agree that the issue should be corrected instead of ignored".

First Mars Hydro used the old burple led tech from 12 years old and the plants growed under the lights were in shock ,
now they use new tech but now the owners get shocked by the boards.
I don´t know if this is some crazy sarcasm , look at youtube at ´ chinese pranks´ to get an idea of the humor they use.
A led light that give you shocks if you touch it , that´s also a sign of bad grounding since if there´s a little current on the frame the earth fault circuit breaker would flip out to prevent getting shocked.

I would for sure ask my money back and return it free but as i readed some comments here that´s something that´s not gonna happen so easy.
Don´t use them if you don´t want the risk of potential dangerous situations , i would have destroyed them to prevent someone else take them away from the garbage and risking his life when turn it on.
How many people around the world are dissapointed on this brand, but giving people the shocks is to far.
Better buy some HLG lights or build a ledstrip setup with a meanwell driver and some alu angle so you know what you have .

nederwierie said:

First Mars Hydro used the old burple led tech from 12 years old and the plants growed under the lights were in shock ,
now they use new tech but now the owners get shocked by the boards.
I don´t know if this is some crazy sarcasm , look at youtube at ´ chinese pranks´ to get an idea of the humor they use.
A led light that give you shocks if you touch it , that´s also a sign of bad grounding since if there´s a little current on the frame the earth fault circuit breaker would flip out to prevent getting shocked.

I would for sure ask my money back and return it free but as i readed some comments here that´s something that´s not gonna happen so easy.
Don´t use them if you don´t want the risk of potential dangerous situations , i would have destroyed them to prevent someone else take them away from the garbage and risking his life when turn it on.
How many people around the world are dissapointed on this brand, but giving people the shocks is to far.
Better buy some HLG lights or build a ledstrip setup with a meanwell driver and some alu angle so you know what you have .
Btw i really wonder if the ´ meanwell ´ drivers on those boards are original , i guess not after i read many comments with failed drivers .

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Im kind of stuck with the lights for now untill I fix them myself or get new ones Mars hydro won't send new ones until they inspect both of them so that would be over a month and I have plants in Veg almost ready to flip to flower in a couple weeks. I have a perpetual grow going so I don't wanna mess that up so untill I can get new drivers (if it is the problem) but I'll probably end up just getting new lights and when I do that's when I would ask for my refund and not new lights and they would still have to inspect them and I can't go a couple days without those lights or new ones it would hurt my plants in Veg. But as soon as I get new ones (not new mars hydro fuck them) which I'll prob do instead of trying to fix them because I sill wouldn't trust them I'll give them to someone else and they can try and fix it. One of my buddies wants to switch from HPS to LED so it would help him a bit if he can fix them.

Edit: And yeah I bet the drivers arnt meanwell because it seems like they are the problem and if it was a meanwell driver I doubt it would give shocks.

m99smith said:

Im kind of stuck with the lights for now untill I fix them myself or get new ones Mars hydro won't send new ones until they inspect both of them so that would be over a month and I have plants in Veg almost ready to flip to flower in a couple weeks. I have a perpetual grow going so I don't wanna mess that up so untill I can get new drivers (if it is the problem) but I'll probably end up just getting new lights and when I do that's when I would ask for my refund and not new lights and they would still have to inspect them and I can't go a couple days without those lights or new ones it would hurt my plants in Veg. But as soon as I get new ones (not new mars hydro fuck them) which I'll prob do instead of trying to fix them because I sill wouldn't trust them I'll give them to someone else and they can try and fix it. One of my buddies wants to switch from HPS to LED so it would help him a bit if he can fix them.

Edit: And yeah I bet the drivers arnt meanwell because it seems like they are the problem and if it was a meanwell driver I doubt it would give shocks.

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I edited my words about the meanwell driver too since i checked the 150 watt version , i thought they used meanwell drivers or it´s on another model they have. Thought i readed it somewhere.
But on google i found out some people talked about the driver was basicly a sort of meanwell replica .
And yes you´re right, an original Meanwell driver will never shock you if you threat it normally , someone must do some really bs things to it to let it sparks them.
Also not failing drivers so many times i read in comments in a Google search .
I did´nt study the Mars hydro and their partner Spider farmer not so much since i only study things that learn me something , and since they have a bad rep i don´t feel interesting in study them , but if those light sparks people then it´s a absolute no no noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo.

I really can say, don´t use that lights and see this as a lost, but don´t take this potential dangerous risk by using them . Not only you can get sparked but it also can cause a potential firehazard.
Better buy another quality led light or diy an cheaper led strip setup to save your grow asap , but please don´t use that light you have now .
Think about your safety and the people around you like neighboors , keep the growing safe and let this be a lesson to you to .
I mean the best for you and wish you good luck with your grow , that this problem can be solved with quality equipments.
Maybe you could do the veg a week longer and buy some strips and an original meanwell driver on a trusted website like digikey and build a simple ledstrip setup in that week?

The replica Meanwell drivers is a thing that really happens , even Meanwell the company it self warn against it.
I thought there was even a Meanwell website where you could check some serial numbers to check if they are real ones or faked ones.
Really a shame to replicate Meanwell drivers, always buy your Meanwell drivers from trusted websites .

nederwierie said:

Better buy some HLG lights or build a ledstrip setup with a meanwell driver and some alu angle so you know what you have .

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Still at risk of shock in a damp environment. The only thing about all these boards that bothers me is the lack of protection from the elements.
Dont get me wrong, i have a couple hlg boards, but at least with cobs and strips all i need is a screwdriver and chump change to replace a fried unit. A whole board is a different story. Desoldering and repairing is an option, but i hope i dont have to deal with it ever

Boatguy said:

Still at risk of shock in a damp environment. The only thing about all these boards that bothers me is the lack of protection from the elements.
Dont get me wrong, i have a couple hlg boards, but at least with cobs and strips all i need is a screwdriver and chump change to replace a fried unit. A whole board is a different story. Desoldering and repairing is an option, but i hope i dont have to deal with it ever

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One of the selling points for me on my HLG 600 is it is rated as "SUITABLE FOR DAMP LOCATIONS" according to the spec manual. Not sure how they get that rating but there must be some reason they can get it certified for damp locations. Can't find anything about Mars stating the same thing.

Doug Dawson said:

One of the selling points for me on my HLG 600 is it is rated as "SUITABLE FOR DAMP LOCATIONS" according to the spec manual. Not sure how they get that rating but there must be some reason they can get it certified for damp locations. Can't find anything about Mars stating the same thing.

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I have some of the 648's, or diablo's. Nothing on them is encapsulated in epoxy, or have a cover. Definitely a shock hazard.
They are great lights, but i think to get ul rated, they would need to be alittle more resistant.

Boatguy said:

I have some of the 648's, or diablo's. Nothing on them is encapsulated in epoxy, or have a cover. Definitely a shock hazard.
They are great lights, but i think to get ul rated, they would need to be alittle more resistant.

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That I cannot say, I could find nothing about the 648's that say suitable for damp environments but the pre built 600 shows it in the manual and "Conforms to UL Std 1598
Certified to CSA Std C22.2#250.0"
Not sure the difference but it was one of the selling points for me.

Do they have some sort of encapsulation of the electrical connections? Not judging, just surprised a ton of unsealed connections/solder joints could ever get a ul rating.

Boatguy said:

Do they have some sort of encapsulation of the electrical connections? Not judging, just surprised a ton of unsealed connections/solder joints could ever get a ul rating.

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The only exposed connection I see on it is the ground. All the other connections are covered.

Doug Dawson said:

The only exposed connection I see on it is the ground. All the other connections are covered.
View attachment 4695187

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The individual diodes though? Are they encapsulated, or just raw attached to the board

Boatguy said:

The individual diodes though? Are they encapsulated, or just raw attached to the board

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I will check when I get back home.

This belongs at the top.

All I know tasers for everyone.