Aqua Lifter won't shut off

[Dock Ellis]

I have been having problems with my ATO set up since setting up my aquarium 2 months ago. I'm currently using an Aqua Lifter plugged into a ReefKeeper Lite. I have the Aqua Lifter mounted on the back of my sump area hanging from a screw to be about 10" higher than both the return area water level and the ATO supply (5 gallon container). I have 2 Digital Aquatics float switches, one at a max level and then one that kicks on when the water level is too low. I'm not currently using the max level switch, only the primary. I have the RKL set up for an alarm to kick in when the water level is below the switch, and it does that fine. The problem comes when the water level has gone up to the appropriate level, above the float switch. The RKL display says that the Aqua Lifter is off, but the pump continues to pump until the supply line in the 5 gallon container is above the water level, then it will just stay on and continue dry pumping. Whenever I unplug the power cord, it stops, and I can plug it back in and it won't continue trying to pump until the switch is tripped again.

I've tried moving the slot that it is plugged in and unplugging the actual SL unit, but neither has worked. Do I have a faulty Aqua Lifter?

 

[Mike J.]

It's not the aqua lifter; it's either plugged in and on or not plugged in and off. The problem must be that the RKL is not shutting off the power supply.

 

[markak]

Try a different outlet on your PC4

 

[Dock Ellis]

I've tried different outlets but both had the same issue. Nothing else has problems on the RKL, just the aqualifter. I just can't make sense of it because if the RKL is still supplying power, then when I unplug the cord and then plug it back in, it should continue running, but it doesn't.

 

[markak]

Is the outlet you are using have a blue light indicating on or off?

 

[Reefing Madness]

It's not the aqua lifter; it's either plugged in and on or not plugged in and off. The problem must be that the RKL is not shutting off the power supply.

Agreed. Your RKL is either supplying power to the device or its not. Put a volt meter on the outlet being used for the Aqulifter, do whats needed for it to shut off, see if its still giving voltage at the outlet.

 

[Dock Ellis]

It does, I haven't thought to check if it is indeed off when the RKL display unit says off but I will check that this evening. I'm also going to use an outlet tester to see if there is power being supplied when it is reading off. Thanks guys.

 

[KoleTang]

Sometimes low voltage pumps can keep going when running off the digital relay outlets on the reefkeeper. If i remember correctly, outlet 1 and 4 are mechnical while outlet 2 and 3 are digital.

 

[Dock Ellis]

That might just be the solution then! I've only tried outlets 2 and 3. I will switch to outlet 4 and see how it goes, thanks to everyone for the input.

 

[jent]

Sometimes low amperage pumps can keep going when running off the digital relay outlets on the reefkeeper. If i remember correctly, outlet 1 and 4 are mechnical while outlet 2 and 3 are digital.

^ This ^

I don't have a reef keeper, so I can't comment on which outlet to use. But the solid state relays may not shut off if there is not enough power draw from them. There likely is a couple plugs which are physical (think actual movement) relays. Each one has it's pro's/con's, so you should be aware what your using on what.

The solid state relays can't handle as much amperage (they need a sweet spot, not too much, not too little). But the actual transition from an on/off has almost no wear (unlike the other relays which have a limited on/off cycle count).

In my setup with my apex I don't have anything that would use too many amps for the solid state relays (no metal halides, small pumps, etc). So I actually just use the physical relays for my ATO (aqualifter) and a little led light under the stand. I made sure in my program that my ATO wont turn on more than once an hour, that way I ensure the cycle count does not go crazy and wear out my relay.

That's the big part about putting your ATO...make sure waves or other issues cause the ATO to turn on/off too frequently or you will wear out your relay.

 

[DaveMorris]

Using outlets 2 or 3 is definitely the problem. Use outlet 1 or 4. This is an issue with any controller that utilizes solid state relays. As stated, if a device has a very low current draw, it may not allow the relay to open back up when the controller tells it to. The mechanical relays do not have that problem.