I should really add amp/watt alarms. But to be honest I fully understand 98% of the programming, just not amp/watt side of things. As I run 4-832s, 1-eb4, 3 cor20s, a dozen modules, two dos..etc etc. Honeslty I wouldnt know where to even start.....
It's actually pretty straightforward.
The most important items for monitoring amperage and wattage are your pumps. Return pump, circulation pumps, skimmer pumps, reactor pumps. First thing to do is go to the Input Logs page, pull down to the Energy Data items, and choose the amps (ends in 'A') or watts (ends in 'W') chart for the specific pump. Make a note of the normal amperage or wattage for that device over a week. (Ignore periods when the device is off.)
When a pump fails, it can either lose power, which results in a drop in wattage, or it can jam or experience other issues which will result in an increase in amperage. So, the two conditions you want to set alarms for are low wattage and increased amperage. For wattage, a good alarm point is less than 50% of the normal. For amperage, a good alarm point is 50% greater than the normal.
Power alarms can be written explicitly in the base_email output. For example, my skimmer typically draws 0.3 amps and 25 watts. So my two alarms conditions read:
If Output Skimmer Amps > 0.5 Then ON
If Output Skimmer Watts < 15 Then ON
The amperage alarm condition will also work to warn you if the input to a pump is suddenly obstructed. Say for example that you have starfish in your sump, as I do (food supply for harlequin shrimp). If a starfish wanders into the skimmer water inlet, blocking it, the pump amperage goes up and sends you a warning. I've had this happen a few times.
You then repeat this process with every device you want to monitor. For devices without a motor or moving parts, such as lights and heaters, the wattage set point is more important and more likely to be triggered when the device fails.
A different way of setting the power alarms is to do so from the Inputs page for each device's amp or wattage meter. Choose the power input you want to set an alarm for, then click on the Advanced tab, and then enter the appropriate number for When Below Minimum or When Above Maximum. The Inputs page will then show that that meter is alarmed, by a checkmark under the bell on the right.
It's probably best to use one or the other method to set the power alarms. If you try to do some one way and some the other, it can get confusing and possibly result in overlapping values. I do all of my power alarms in the base_email output, so I can review all of them together.
The EB4 and EB8 don't offer this functionality for each outlet, only the EB832.
