keenonfish
Fish Addict
In short I do not know how the pro dimmers work, I just know how to use them. If I ever came across one that was bust, then, being twin phase mains, I would likely have a professional electrician in to look at it. Twin phase will kill instantly in almost every case if you come on the reciving end of a jolt of it, so I would not touch the inside of a dimmer unit unless I knew what I was doing in there. Any transformer can in practice store a charge for a while after use, and is one of many potential hasords within the unit that I would be concerned about... Lanterns and the rest of the rig where you are basically wiring a plug, plug socket and extension lead without a fuse (They are in the dimmer unit either as standord fuses or as RCD's) I can cope with more than happily, but gubbins within a dimmer is a bit beyond where I am comfortable to go with electricals.
A healthy person can take a jolt from normal mains, so long as it isn't directly across the heart (jolt revieved from the right hand/arm and grounded through the right leg is relatively safe in most cases, but painful. Been there, done that, wrote the book and collected the T-shirt ), but twin phase mains isn't as forgiving apparently (I haven't been shocked by it yet, so couldn't tell you )...
All the best
Rabbut
I assume you were using two phases of a 3 phase system then... A lot of shops which require lots of power often have all phases present amonst the sockets so as not to overload the supply / consumer unit!
I have worked with three phase power (ex catering engineer) yes if you touch two phases at once you are absolute toast, 415V across two points of a human not good. But, you may be interested to know that every household is connected to one phase of a three phase system so touching one terminal of a three phase supply is no different than touching the live at home - it still bloody hurts like hell and you should consider yourself lucky to walk away alive
Anyway I might look into getting creative with lighting when I get my larger tank so will keep the forum updated