Apex #7 Stuck

litebulb · Apr 5, 2016

I plugged in an air pump to give this micro bubble thing a go on the tank and as i plugged into 7 and set up the parameters as a light (I've done advanced as well) my #7 plug is sticking in the on position and not responding to commands to be in auto, on, or off.

Any Ideas what might be causing this and how i can fix? Id like to reset the system just very new to this and not sure how yet lol

n2585722 · Apr 5, 2016

Does it work without the pump pluggeg in? If so the try adding a surge protector between the pump and the outlet. It sounds like the back EMF pulse from the pump is turning the output back on.

litebulb · Apr 5, 2016

n2585722 said:
Does it work without the pump pluggeg in? If so the try adding a surge protector between the pump and the outlet. It sounds like the back EMF pulse from the pump is turning the output back on.

Thank you I unplugged the air pump and swapped over to my fuge light cord and everything worked fine. I'll get a lovely surge protector for this afternoon

litebulb · Apr 5, 2016

I also got this message via email and text message a little while back after plugging this thing in

1 of 2
FRM:Apex Fusion
SUBJ:Apex Fusion Power Issue: apex
MSG:Failed: 2016-04-05 14:00:02 (2016-04-05 19:00:02 UTC)
Restored: 1969-12-31
(Con't) 2 of 2
19:00:00 (1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC)(End)

n2585722 · Apr 5, 2016

I am sorry I am not familiar with the Apex just familiar with that symptom on another controller. Try and get a surge protector with a clamping voltage of 330 volts. The lower the better. I think 330 volts is as low as you can go with the AC. This is a common issue with low power inductive loads. The EMF pulse can be several hundred volts or higher.

litebulb · Apr 5, 2016

You rock thank you.

jonmos75 · Apr 5, 2016

On the Apex you can use outlets 4 & 8 for low wattage pumps as those two outlets are relay outlets and when they turn ON and OFF you will hear a clicking sound and that is the relay engaging and disengaging.

This is taken out of the CRM (Comprehensive Reference Manual)...a recommended read as it will tell you a lot about the Apex system

Outlets 1-3 and 5-7 are TRIAC (Triode for Alternating Current) solid state outlets. They are silent, compact and capable of hundreds of thousands of on/off cycles. An example of a TRIAC switch can be found on your Christmas tree lights. They are very, very fast and can switch in fractions of a second and do that all day long without wearing out like a mechanical switch/relay would. Another advantage that TRIAC switches have over mechanical switches is that they “time” their switch to the point when the current sine wave is at or near zero (what Neptune calls ‘soft start’). This virtually eliminates the possibility of “arcing” that can happen with mechanical relays that are indiscriminate about where in the sine wave they open/close.

One problem with TRIAC controlled outlets however is that they sometimes cannot detect very low power factor devices and as a result may not switch off correctly. They fail in an ‘on’ state. This only happens with very low power devices, < 4-5 watts. So, if you have any device like that, you might consider putting it on outlets 4 or 8. Dosing pumps and very small power heads are good examples of problematic devices with TRIAC outlets.

n2585722 · Apr 5, 2016

jonmos75 the low power devices use windings with very small wire but with more windings to lower the power used. Unfortunately this causes a greater voltage spike to be emitted from the device when power is removed that the higher power devices. This pulse can be several hundred volts to well over a 1000 volts but is very low current. It is enough to turn the triac back on and sometimes cause issues with the controller itself. This on and off cycle happens at a very high rate so it appears the output is constantly on. A load of around 47k ohms or a surge protector will usually keep the spike below a voltage that will cause issues with the triac or the controller. I added 47k ohm flameproof resistors to my power bars to prevent this issue on all my outputs including the relay outputs. Since most people are not up for this the surge protector is a good alternative. One company added circuitry to their newer power bars to prevent this on the triac outputs. Hope this helps explain what is going on

ngvu1 · Apr 6, 2016

Hi,

So plug the surge protector to the EB8 outlet and turn the surge protector on all the time then I can use triac outlet for small load devices like a 1w fan?

Thanks

n2585722 said:
I am sorry I am not familiar with the Apex just familiar with that symptom on another controller. Try and get a surge protector with a clamping voltage of 330 volts. The lower the better. I think 330 volts is as low as you can go with the AC. This is a common issue with low power inductive loads. The EMF pulse can be several hundred volts or higher.

n2585722 · Apr 6, 2016

A surge protector does not normally have a switch. Are you trying to use a power strip instead?

ngvu1 · Apr 6, 2016

Yes and no. I don't know what surge protector you are saying. I googled it and I found some like this device claiming it has the surge protector... can you list a link or picture to the surge protector you mentioned?