Apex Powerbar keeps frying my MP40s

Clownreef · Jan 6, 2020

Hi all,

So recently I decided to hook my 4 MP40s to the power bar. They were all on a power strip before this with no problems. After connecting them to the power bar, I went ahead and turned on the switches on the dashboard and it friend all 4 of the drivers instantly. I contacted Ecotech and they replaced them under warranty.

On Sunday I powered them off to clean the wet sides. When I powered them back on all 4 drivers got fried yet again. I am beyond myself...

Has this happened to anybody else else? Ecotech can't be sending me replacement drivers forever.. Its not even their fault. I can't be buying $80 drivers either..

Thoughts?

homer1475 · Jan 6, 2020

I have my mp10's hooked up to an EB8 and has been for about 4 years now. I turn them off once a week during maintenance never had an issue. What location on the EB do you have them plugged in? Since you have 4, I'm going to assume its not 4 and 8?

Ever tried using an extension cable to plug all 4 into one, and only use 1 outlet?

Actually come to think of it, and looking at my fusion dashboard, I do not turn them off, but rather turn them to 0%.

Clownreef · Jan 6, 2020

homer1475 said:
I have my mp10's hooked up to an EB8 and has been for about 4 years now. I turn them off once a week during maintenance never had an issue. What location on the EB do you have them plugged in? Since you have 4, I'm going to assume its not 4 and 8?

Ever tried using an extension cable to plug all 4 into one, and only use 1 outlet?

Actually come to think of it, and looking at my fusion dashboard, I do not turn them off, but rather turn them to 0%.

Actually they're on the EB8 on switches 1 to 4..

It sucks.. A really costly issue.

homer1475 · Jan 6, 2020

All outlets with the exception of 4 and 8 are triac relays and with some equipment may still draw a small amount of power through the relay. May want to try 4 and 8.

My refuge light was on 1 and would never turn off until I moved it to the 4 outlet with a normal relay.

May not be the issue, but could be worth a try. Also as I already stated, just turning the percentage to 0, or the virtual outlet created by the WXM to off will also turn the pump off without turning the driver physically off.

homer1475 · Jan 6, 2020

Purely out of curiosity, how do you know the drivers are fried?

Turning them off and on via fusion plugged into an EB8 would be no different then plugging and unplugging them into a wall outlet. I have plugged and unpluged mine several times through the years, and have never had an issue. Not saying your not, it's just an odd issue.

At this point, I think I would be looking into the EB8 as a possible problem. Have you tried plugging and unplugging them into a regular wall outlet?

Clownreef · Jan 6, 2020

homer1475 said:
Purely out of curiosity, how do you know the drivers are fried?

Turning them off and on via fusion plugged into an EB8 would be no different then plugging and unplugging them into a wall outlet. I have plugged and unpluged mine several times through the years, and have never had an issue. Not saying your not, it's just an odd issue.

At this point, I think I would be looking into the EB8 as a possible problem. Have you tried plugging and unplugging them into a regular wall outlet?

Because it was confirmed by Ecotech. The power supply lights on and off very dimly and the driver doesn't turn on anymore.

They replaced the first drivers free of cost and will not replace them again (understandably) since its an apex product damaging them.

Any suggestions as to where to look next for support? The single time Ive called Neptune Systems for help some incredibly rude kid answered the phone.

Omgitsjoe · Jan 6, 2020

Following. Just bought my mp40s... hate to fry them

Crabby48 · Jan 6, 2020

Sorry for your troubles. Did you ask ecotech why it could happen?
wonder if it supplies little voltage before turning on causing the problem.
I wouldn’t turn mp40 off with the outlet I would use a wxm and plug them into a power strip

link81 · Jan 6, 2020

what's not working properly?
the driver or the power supply?
first you said driver, but then you mentioned the power supply light.

there isn't anything that i can think of inside the Powerbar that would damage either.
what apex part are you plugging in to? EB4, EB8, EB832, older powerbar?
what outlets are you plugging them in to.

robbyg · Jan 6, 2020

The only way this mystery is going to be solved is with a Volt Meter or maybe a Kill-A-Watt meter plugged into the power bar and then plug in a 60W bulb and see what the readings are. The only thing that I could see doing this is if there was some major short in the powerbar were the Line voltage was somehow bridging out to Earth pin on the plug sockets.

Clownreef · Jan 6, 2020

link81 said:
what's not working properly?
the driver or the power supply?
first you said driver, but then you mentioned the power supply light.

there isn't anything that i can think of inside the Powerbar that would damage either.
what apex part are you plugging in to? EB4, EB8, EB832, older powerbar?
what outlets are you plugging them in to.

So these are the steps that damage the controller:

1- I plugged all 4 of my vortechs into an EB8 (The power bar is full of plugs already)

2- I turn on the switches and press the power button of the Vortech controller. They turn on.

3- I switch off the vortechs on the apex dashboard, not on the controllers.

4- When I switch on the vortechs on apex dashboard the controllers do not turn on. They don't turn on if I press ON on the controllers themselves either.

5- The little light on the power supply brick flashes on and off very dim. Thats all that's left.

Ive switched power supples around, plugged them on walls, power strips. Nothing happens.The driver inside the controller is fried. It doesn't work anymore.

link81 · Jan 6, 2020

hm.
i'm not seeing how both the power supply and driver can be fried from this.
the light on the power supply turns green when it is making the correct voltage. this is independent of any lights on the driver. they don't communicate at all.

if you plug the power supply (the brick) into the wall without being plugged into the driver what does the green light do?

do you have a multimeter? or do you know anyone with one? can you test the DC voltage on the outlet of the power supply?

robbyg · Jan 6, 2020

link81 said:
hm.
i'm not seeing how both the power supply and driver can be fried from this.
the light on the power supply turns green when it is making the correct voltage. this is independent of any lights on the driver. they don't communicate at all.

if you plug the power supply (the brick) into the wall without being plugged into the driver what does the green light do?

do you have a multimeter? or do you know anyone with one? can you test the DC voltage on the outlet of the power supply?

I have never seen something like this before. The fact that Ecotech says they are both burned out is something we are just going to have to accept as fact. Kind of hard to understand why the OP plugged back in all four replacements into the same sockets without checking them first, but what is done is done.

Without some voltage readings from the plugs we are just guessing what is going on.
My first thought is that the Triac's are going bad or the voltage driving them is screwed up.
This seems to be backed up by this old post. (First Post only)

EB8 Malfunction

He states the plugs were flashing on for brief periods of time. That kind of thing will most certainly kill a switching power supply like the one on the MP-40s. It would also possibly cause the PS to output erratic DC voltage, which might explain why the Driver also died.

dadnjesse · Jan 6, 2020

I run 4 MP40's on 3, 4, 5 and 6 and turn mine off and on daily from the apex when I feed and never had a problem.

Clownreef · Jan 8, 2020

link81 said:
if you plug the power supply (the brick) into the wall without being plugged into the driver what does the green light do?

do you have a multimeter? or do you know anyone with one? can you test the DC voltage on the outlet of the power supply?

The light on the brick stays on green. When I plug it to the controller it flashes green very dimly.

link81 · Jan 8, 2020

@Clownreef Interesting, that does sound like a fried driver. It's pulling down the power supply voltage.
have you opened up the driver? are there any black smears on it?
I can't for the life of me figure out how the EB8 would cause this, Only thing different then a normal strip is that the power is passing through a triac. It shouldn't change anything, and they switch super fast, so the triac alone shouldn't be a problem. My best guess it that there is something going on inside the EB like @robbyg said.

mike550 · Jan 8, 2020

@link81 I’ve been following this thread out of curiosity and learning more about Apex. Question for you.

Are the triacs simply used to turn the AC power on and off? I know triacs are also used to act as AC dimmers or higher frequency switching. Wondering if you can control the outlets on an Apex like “dimmers” and maybe it’s creating too much “noise” for the power supplies.

Anyway just a couple of thoughts from a newbie reefer.

Silent · Jan 8, 2020

How long have you had the EB8? You really need to get a cheap voltmeter and check voltage output on the EB8 and see if there are voltage spikes turning the outlets off and on. You could check your wall power also where the EB8 is plugged in.

link81 · Jan 8, 2020

to my knowledge, the triac is just acting as a switch in this instance.

Apex doesn't have the ability to pulse the triacs to provide a "dimming" capability.

Clownreef · Jan 8, 2020

I do appreciate all the input. I don't have a way to check voltage. There is nothing burned or black when I open to controllers.

Ecotech was generous enough to replace the drivers one time. Im not going to put this on them again. I am going to plug all the vortechs into a power strip.

I would reach out to Neptune Systems but the guy answering the phones is beyond rude. Don't feel like dealing with that.