Heater/Apex eb8 question

CubsFan · Jan 10, 2019

Just got a 300 watt finnex heater in the mail to replace my eheims. My lower wattage eheims were plugged into the one and two. I know the new heater will draw more amps, but does anyone know if I’ll be ok using it in the one or two rather than the 4 or 8?

Asking because I have to program by hand and it’s the worst. Someday I’ll figure out how to use this fancy controller.

Thanks.

ca1ore · Jan 10, 2019

All the other outlets on the EB8 are rated at 5 amps - they'll handle 300 watts (less than 3 amps) just fine.

CubsFan · Jan 10, 2019

ca1ore said:
All the other outlets on the EB8 are rated at 5 amps - they'll handle 300 watts (less than 3 amps) just fine.

Thanks. I think it’s going to be fine. Listed at 2.7 amps by finnex, but a reviewer on BRS said it drew more amps than listed. I’m gonna hook it up and see what happens.

CubsFan · Jan 10, 2019

Haha. I actually had the heaters in the 3 and 4. My lights are in the 1and2. I put it in the 4. One of the things that I don’t like about this heater right away is the lack of an indicator light for when the heater is on. Other than that it seems well constructed and a good design. It also has a small footprint for 300 watts. Fits in mysump better.

BZOFIQ · Jan 10, 2019

On the EB8 heaters below 500W are best served by outlets 1,2,3,5,6,7

wiselyy73 · Jan 10, 2019

So outlet 4 and 8 are for higher amp and watt? Return pump and skimmer may be good for 4 & 8?

JBKReef · Jan 10, 2019

Are you using a temperature controller other than the Apex for the heater? @Terence has done some in-depth discussions around not using the Apex as the primary heather controller.

AdamNC · Jan 10, 2019

Outlets 4 & 8 are mechanical and best suited for low amperage stuff like the BRS 1.1ml dosers. Which is what I have mine on.

CubsFan · Jan 10, 2019

JBKReef said:
Are you using a temperature controller other than the Apex for the heater? @Terence has done some in-depth discussions around not using the Apex as the primary heather controller.

I’m using the apex as the primary. It’s worked for me for years with the eheim heaters.

CubsFan · Jan 10, 2019

AdamNC said:
Outlets 4 & 8 are mechanical and best suited for low amperage stuff like the BRS 1.1ml dosers. Which is what I have mine on.

I’ll have to look into that. Thanks.

CubsFan · Jan 10, 2019

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BZOFIQ said:
On the EB8 heaters below 500W are best served by outlets 1,2,3,5,6,7

think I’ll switch it to the 3.

BZOFIQ · Jan 10, 2019

wiselyy73 said:
So outlet 4 and 8 are for higher amp and watt? Return pump and skimmer may be good for 4 & 8?

yes and no.

Yes - because each is rated for up to 10Amps (watch! the total for the whole strip is limited to 15Amps and I would stay to about 85% of that or about 1400-1500Watts per whole strip)

No - because at higher amp loads the relays tend to arch and can possibly weld contacts in the closed/stuck (ON) position.

Outlets 1,2,3,5,6,7 use triacs which act like solid state (no moving parts and no click) relays - they can be reliably switched on and off many many times without risk of welding.

Problem with them is that they don't reliably switch off very small loads (less than 20 Watts)

Therefore, irregardless of the fact that #4, and #8 is rated up to 10Amps, these are often used for things like dosers which draw just few watts.

Hope this helps.

BZOFIQ · Jan 10, 2019

Above is irrelevant to EB832; that strip uses only mechanical relays each rated up to 5Amps. You pray the relay never "welds" in the on position or you can add an inline controller like ranco between the Apex and your heater.

Another great way to deal with heating needs is to use multiple - 2 or 3 heaters and set their programming to go on in stages.

In this scenario instead of having one 500W heater you get 3 x 200W heaters. Even if one was to get stuck ON it wouldn't "cook" your tank.

It is worth mentioning that with current technology and anti-weld coatings on the relay contacts the possibility of welding is very low.

I've noticed that the people who have destroyed their relay-controlled outlets (stuck on ) likely overloaded their outlet or had a short while the circuit was running.

CubsFan · Jan 20, 2019

Just an update. Last night my gfci kept going off. It was the heater causing it. Anyone know why everything was going fine up until last night? Too bad. This heater seemed like what I was looking for.

JS_racer · Apr 18, 2019

new apex classic user here, so if i have this correct, the 500w finnex titanium should be in 4 or 8 ?? or it can be in any of them ??
i have a 500w, and a backup 300w a few tenths lower to come on, also on the 500w, i have a finnex temp controller inline, the 300 is a jagger with them adjusted to avoid cooking.

currently running old school aquacontroller jr, on both tanks, working on getting the apex classics setup for the swap.
thanks so much

BZOFIQ · Apr 19, 2019

So ideally you'd put your heaters on 1,2,3,5,6,7 but the 500W is little too much for these as they are rated up to 5Amps. With outlets 4 and 8 you risk welding the relay but that might be your safer choice.

BZOFIQ · Apr 19, 2019

JS_racer said:
new apex classic user here, so if i have this correct, the 500w finnex titanium should be in 4 or 8 ?? or it can be in any of them ??
i have a 500w, and a backup 300w a few tenths lower to come on, also on the 500w, i have a finnex temp controller inline, the 300 is a jagger with them adjusted to avoid cooking.

currently running old school aquacontroller jr, on both tanks, working on getting the apex classics setup for the swap.
thanks so much

Can you measure the actual amp draw of the 500W heater? If it little over 4 amps, you can plug it into 1-3 or 5-7 - if close to 5 I wouldnt do it.

JS_racer · Apr 19, 2019

BZOFIQ said:
Can you measure the actual amp draw of the 500W heater? If it little over 4 amps, you can plug it into 1-3 or 5-7 - if close to 5 I wouldnt do it.

I could on a kilowatt meter or on the bar itself since neither system is on a tank yet so nothing else plugged into the dc8... not sure if they spike at turn on. Spec is 4.5a

ca1ore · Apr 19, 2019

For higher wattage/amperage devices you can also use a relay outlet. Neptune used to make one, now they just recommend a third party unit (you have to ask since I cannot recall which).

BZOFIQ · Apr 19, 2019

JS_racer said:
I could on a kilowatt meter or on the bar itself since neither system is on a tank yet so nothing else plugged into the dc8... not sure if they spike at turn on. Spec is 4.5a

use the KIll-A-Watt to test, I never found the APEX reading on the EB8 to be quite accurate