Will it still work?

[4angel]

The other day I was cleaning my tank. I accidentally knocked into the hood rather hard. As a result I knock into the water a un occupied PC socket (nail holding the socket up must have been loose. My hand was in the tank, I felt a minor shock pulled out my arm, thats when I heard Zzziiiitt . I pulled the cord out by the dry end and unplugged it from the wall. I was ok and the tank inhabitants looked ok. The socket smelled burnt. The socket was unoccupied as a result of low$$$ and now Im wondering if the ballast has blown as a result of it falling into the water.
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Honda CB500 twin

 

[fungia]

i would get a new one but it has happened to me before too. it worked when i plug it in after it dryed off but i replaced it because i was afraid of fire

 

[Robin Goodfellow]

hi.
Not trying to scare you, but most people only get as lucky as you did once. With that said, the ballast maybe OK, but for sense of secuity, I will replace it as suggested already, and sleep better.

 

[4angel]

I appreciate the advice given and dont get me wrong when I ask for you to please explain how the ballast would catch on fire. If I do a better job of mounting the outlet and its dry when I put in a new bulb.
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Russian Legion (paintball team)

 

[Robin Goodfellow]

hi.
Ballast failure usually has to do with shorts within the coil. An old-school ballast (F-can and core-and-coil) is basically a big loop of wire around a piece of metal (like a transformer). For electronic ballast, it is usually faulty (due to design or wear-and-tear) of the solid state components.

When ballast give up, it usually don't smell to good. F-can is really smelly because of the fluid in the can, while core-and-coil can be more specular with sparks and smoke. With e-ballast, the smell can be really nasty when a capacitor burns up, but it can be less eventful.

..Oh, I just realize that you are using PC ballast... so forget the description above for core-and-coil.... which applies only to MH ballast....