MP20 turning off unexpectedly

[subielover]

Ok, so one of my MP20's is going a little haywire on me. It seems it is just turning off, no lights blinking, nothing. I have to physically remove the power plug and replug it in, the pump stays on for around 30 minutes or so and shuts back down. I have an email in to ecotech marine, but figured I would ask to see if anyone else had these issues as well. Really is irritating for such an expensive pump to not work properly:squigglemouth:

 

[subielover]

Does anybody have any thoughts?

 

[alien_frag_farm]

same thing happened to my friend. did you happen to drop it?

 

[subielover]

No, it has never come off the glass. They are still under warranty, so I guess the pump will be fixed, still bums me out though.

 

[GQuinn]

Mine has shut off one time, just like yours. I also had to unplug it and then plug it back in to work. Fortunately mine hasn't stopped again. Let us know what you find out.

 

[vegita51]

can you hold any of the buttons after it turns off to get it to blink or anything? Mine did something of the sort but in blinked red and I finally figured out that I messed with the disconnect configuration. I hope that you figure it out. Also on a side note I'm a GQuine, G standing for Grant and a lot of people pronounce my last name Quinn. lol

 

[subielover]

I found something strange. I usually run it on 100% lagoon mode, that is when it has been shutting off. However I turned it down to about 50% and the pump has stayed on for the last few hours. Obviously something is still messed up, but at least it is working. I hope to hear from ecotech tomorrow.

 

[Psychographic]

Not that I know anything about these, is lagoon mode less than 50%? Have you checked to see if anything is binding on the shaft/prop assembly?

 

[subielover]

I have not pulled it apart, and really do not want to because I don't wanna have any problems with the warranty. It does not seem any louder or quieter than it did before. As for the lagoon mode, it is simply one of the pre-programmed modes that fluctuates from low water movement to rapid water movement.

It is still working since I lowered the power output to roughly 50%, fwiw.

 

[Psychographic]

You should really give it a once over.

I tried to rebuild a Vortech for Pnoy, IIRC when he would turn it up, it would go into some kind of overload or safety mode and stop working. It would work after he turned it down.

When I took his apart it was apparent that it had'nt been cleaned in a looooong time, if ever. Everything was scored up from sand or whatever grinding the housing, the magnet/metal disk had lost most of it's coating and was rusting badly, if there was a bushing in the housing it was gone and the hole had egg shaped.

I made a new bushing and reworked the shaft and got it to spin OK. IIRC it worked after I redid it but would'nt stay in place. There was nothing I could do to make the magnet stronger.

Maybe you could PM him, he might know.

 

[revhtree Verified Admin]

Is the one that quit working a slave to the other pump?

 

[subielover]

Is the one that quit working a slave to the other pump?

No, they run seperately from each other. I believe the MP40's are the only vortechs with that capability.

 

[iceman0124]

My first guess would be thermal protection kicking in, noticing any excess heat around the time it shuts down?

 

[subielover]

My first guess would be thermal protection kicking in, noticing any excess heat around the time it shuts down?

I haven't really. Hopefully ecotech contacts me tomorrow. Their office is about 20 minutes from my house so at least it isn't too inconvenient.:squigglemouth:

 

[subielover]

Well I spoke with Steve at Ecotech. Apparently there was a bad batch of drive shafts and I, of course, got one of them. He is sending out a new driveshaft and bearing and said I should be good to go. Thanks for everyone's help and thank you to ecotech for having fantastic customer service:bigsmile:

 

[jaytizzle]

Glad to hear it. I can say firsthand that the service from Stephen at Ecotech is ******! I had huge issues with 2 MP40w's. One got fixed right away. The second one took more effort. I finally gave up and sent it in to him. Got it back a few days later with some fresh new parts and it works like a champ now.

 

[subielover]

Yeah, I was a little perturbed when the unit was shutting off but having a company that stands behind their products is outstanding. I would recommend vortechs to anyone, as they are the best piece of equipment that I have purchased for my tank so far.