Apex ATK issues. AGAIN

[joe0813]

Bought this about a year and a half ago but installed it on my tank about 6 months ago. I have had nothing but issues with this top off. it wont turn the pump on. I can manually turn the pump on with the slider. Both sensors read open. if I push them into the water nothing changes. I put sensor one into sensor twos port and two into one. pushed them back into the water and they close. swapped back and now sensor one reads CLOSED and two reads open. Which I think is correct. I forget what they are supposed to read when they function like they should

 

[DarthSimon]

Low sensor which should be in port one of your fmm and should always be wet and Closed....
High Sensor should be in port 2 of fmm, and always be open.

Make sure your ATK button is on Auto... If you raise the ATK slightly out of the water, make low sensor go dry/open does atk start pumping water?? Also give it some time.... Sometimes there is a slight delay....

 

[joe0813]

Low sensor which should be in port one of your fmm and should always be wet and Closed....
High Sensor should be in port 2 of fmm, and always be open.

Before they were both reading open... which I guess would be right since the water was low. The pump never came on until I manually moved the slider. when I pushed the sensors underwater both still read open until I switched the ports back and forth. Now they are reading correct. Sensor one is wet and closed, sensor two is above the water and dry.

 

[DarthSimon]

Raise the ATK now and see if it turns on, if so then push it back down, wet the low and you should be good...

 

[joe0813]

working now... don't know what is going on with it. The water was about 1.5 inches low before I manually turned it on.

 

[DarthSimon]

Good to hear!!

 

[Sleepydoc]

There have been issues with the optical sensors. First, make sure the inputs on the FMM are set to optical sensor, not ‘auto detect.’ There have been some issues where the FMM gets confused and starts reading an optical sensor as a flow sensor, etc.

In fusion, go to the modules screen and select your FMM. Then for the configuration action, select ‘configure.’ Uncheck the ‘auto configure’ box and select the correct sensor type for each of the inputs.

If that doesn’t fix the problem, I would contact Apex. Their optical sensors have not been particularly reliable, and I’ve personally had several occasions where they were reading incorrectly and I had to unplug and then plug in the sensor to get it to read correctly.

 

[Flexin]

Because of those sensors I’ve not purchased the atk option. Smart ATO makes a great product. Even knows when it’s trying to draw too much water, sounds an alarm and will not pull the water. I wish they were more reliable. Too bad, I also like the dose containers but again, bad product.

 

[joe0813]

There have been issues with the optical sensors. First, make sure the inputs on the FMM are set to optical sensor, not ‘auto detect.’ There have been some issues where the FMM gets confused and starts reading an optical sensor as a flow sensor, etc.

In fusion, go to the modules screen and select your FMM. Then for the configuration action, select ‘configure.’ Uncheck the ‘auto configure’ box and select the correct sensor type for each of the inputs.

If that doesn’t fix the problem, I would contact Apex. Their optical sensors have not been particularly reliable, and I’ve personally had several occasions where they were reading incorrectly and I had to unplug and then plug in the sensor to get it to read correctly.

that's exactly what I have to do everytime it messes up. seems if I unplug both sensors and plug them back in, they start working normally again. I might just order two new sensors. they are cheap enough to just have them even as backups

 

[Thor2j]

Because of those sensors I’ve not purchased the atk option. Smart ATO makes a great product. Even knows when it’s trying to draw too much water, sounds an alarm and will not pull the water. I wish they were more reliable. Too bad, I also like the dose containers but again, bad product.

Zero problems with both since they came out.

 

[joe0813]

I have the DOS and WAV and haven't had an issue with either. only thing I have an issue with is the ATK. Oh and the salinity probe but I think that's from bubbles in my sump

 

[Flexin]

Glad it worked out for you two, but I’ve seen too many posts to the contrary. Meaning, for that type of money, the minority should not have it work for them...

And there was not a problem with dos, it was the containers that have the sensors. That’s what seems to be faulty.

 

[joe0813]

Glad it worked out for you two, but I’ve seen too many posts to the contrary. Meaning, for that type of money, the minority should not have it work for them...

And there was not a problem with dos, it was the containers that have the sensors. That’s what seems to be faulty.

I think its just the optical sensors that are trash. for 30 bucks a sensor maybe they should fix the issue and make a better quality sensor

 

[Flexin]

I think its just the optical sensors that are trash. for 30 bucks a sensor maybe they should fix the issue and make a better quality sensor

I agree. I wish they would simply listen and address it. I’m fine spending the money as long as I get what I paid for.

 

[Mark Gray]

I sort of had the problem too but I talked to Neptune and I could show that I had just bought this they replaced the sensors. According to Neptune they are supposed to auto detect if they don't there is a problem talk to them and they will send you new ones

 

[Sleepydoc]

I sort of had the problem too but I talked to Neptune and I could show that I had just bought this they replaced the sensors. According to Neptune they are supposed to auto detect if they don't there is a problem talk to them and they will send you new ones

The problem is, if there’s a problem and they don’t auto detect and then the FMM thinks they’re something else (like a flow sensor in my case) and the ATO effectively stops working you can have major problems as your first sign that the sensor isn’t working properly. Reliable sensors are at the heart of a controller. If you don’t have those, nothing else matters.

My ATK is technically out of warranty, and the optical sensors usually work; it’s maybe once a month I have issues with them - just often enough that I can’t trust them fully, but not often enough to show Neptune that there’s a problem.

 

[Mark Gray]

The problem is, if there’s a problem and they don’t auto detect and then the FMM thinks they’re something else (like a flow sensor in my case) and the ATO effectively stops working you can have major problems as your first sign that the sensor isn’t working properly. Reliable sensors are at the heart of a controller. If you don’t have those, nothing else matters.

My ATK is technically out of warranty, and the optical sensors usually work; it’s maybe once a month I have issues with them - just often enough that I can’t trust them fully, but not often enough to show Neptune that there’s a problem.

Oh I understand I wish I could figure out how they are detecting these sensors. I had Neptune on the phone for 2 hours when I set up my RODI system they decided I had a bad sensor it's really still working but they sent me a new one. No one at Neptune will answer how the are detecting the sensors

 

[JBKReef]

I purchased the ATK in December of 17, I had an issue with one sensor out of the box... one of the cables as stripped and had exposed wire. Neptune replaced it, no questions asked. Since then my only major issue is the included float valve and salt creep. I would say 20% of the time after a feeding, when I shut down return pump and dump water level increases 2-3 inches, the float valve will fail due to salt creep. I’m torn between loving the product for the simplicity and ease of set up and the frustration behind the simplistic back up solution that’s causing my failure. Oh my next build I’m using an Osmalator 3155.

 

[joe0813]

I turned off auto detect and just selected optical sensor. sad thing is I went from an osmolator which worked perfectly fine to this thing just because it connected to the controller a lot easier. im out of warranty even though its been on the tank for around 6 months. so whatever goes wrong with the controller is on me

 

[Thor2j]

Glad it worked out for you two, but I’ve seen too many posts to the contrary. Meaning, for that type of money, the minority should not have it work for them...

And there was not a problem with dos, it was the containers that have the sensors. That’s what seems to be faulty.

This is the internet. Like everything else on it the negatives out way the positives 100 to 1.