What to attach to my Apex

[jmatt]

Working on the sump wiring and wondering if there's an advantage to attaching my Helios heater or my Reefmat to the EB832.

I know the Apex can't control them but is there any reason I'd want to use the Apex to turn them on and off? I can see perhaps the Reefmat for feeding mode. But the heaters seem to me to be too critical to have to rely on anything else.

 

[xyzner]

For the Helios, you should still hook it up to the Apex as a secondary fail safe.

 

[exnisstech]

For the Helios, you should still hook it up to the Apex as a secondary fail safe.

Or it could introduce another point of possible failure.

 

[exnisstech]

But the heaters seem to me to be too critical to have to rely on anything else.

^^ This

 

[jmatt]

Or it could introduce another point of possible failure.

Well, see, that's my concern. If the heaters are attached to the EB and the power goes out to the energy bar, I'm screwed.

I have three dedicated sources of power to the sump. Two on one breaker, the third on it's own. I'm thinking of powering the EB on one, the heaters on another and the main return COR20 to the third. I think I even read somewhere that Neptune says you shouldn't power the returns on the EB.

 

[xyzner]

I think your largest concern (at least in my experience) is having a heater get stuck on. The Helios on its own should do the job, but the apex notifying you if water temps goes a degree or two past your Helios settings is a pretty good option. You would be notified if your EB loses power in any case, heater or no heater. I’m no expert on Apex by any means, but I’m sure some others could chime in with best practice.

 

[jmatt]

I think your largest concern (at least in my experience) is having a heater get stuck on. The Helios on its own should do the job, but the apex notifying you if water temps goes a degree or two past your Helios settings is a pretty good option. You would be notified if your EB loses power in any case, heater or no heater. I’m no expert on Apex by any means, but I’m sure some others could chime in with best practice.

Yeah, okay. Perhaps the Apex can monitor the water temp independently. The Helios claim to fame is that they can't overheat due to their ceramic materials but it never hurts to have a backup temp monitor.

 

[mike550]

Working on the sump wiring and wondering if there's an advantage to attaching my Helios heater or my Reefmat to the EB832.

I know the Apex can't control them but is there any reason I'd want to use the Apex to turn them on and off? I can see perhaps the Reefmat for feeding mode. But the heaters seem to me to be too critical to have to rely on anything else.

My heater is plugged into the EB832 but has its own controller. The role of the Apex is to monitor if the temperature is too high or too low. I get alarms in either case, and if the temp gets too high it will shut down the outlet.

I realize you can say that the Apex adds another point of failure because the heater controller is plugged into it. But how would you turn off your heater if you were away from home and you received an over temp alert from the Apex?

 

[jmatt]

My heater is plugged into the EB832 but has its own controller. The role of the Apex is to monitor if the temperature is too high or too low. I get alarms in either case, and if the temp gets too high it will shut down the outlet.

I realize you can say that the Apex adds another point of failure because the heater controller is plugged into it. But how would you turn off your heater if you were away from home and you received an over temp alert from the Apex?

I guess that's the dilemma. The Helios claim it is not physically possible for their materials to overheat... and for what I paid for 'em they'd better not. And I paid to have extra circuits run for the key elements so using the Apex to control the heaters would kind of negate that redundancy.

So I think I'll split the baby and rely on them to not fail but use the Apex as a double-check. If I had run of the mill heaters, then yes, I'd probably do as you suggest.

 

[mike550]

I guess that's the dilemma. The Helios claim it is not physically possible for their materials to overheat... and for what I paid for 'em they'd better not. And I paid to have extra circuits run for the key elements so using the Apex to control the heaters would kind of negate that redundancy.

So I think I'll split the baby and rely on them to not fail but use the Apex as a double-check. If I had run of the mill heaters, then yes, I'd probably do as you suggest.

Good luck with your solution!

Have to admit that I hadn’t heard that about Helios heaters not being able to overheat. That’s really interesting. I was thinking of the risk the controller leaving the heaters “on“ and overheating the water.

Not an electrician but careful of ground loops from separate circuits.

 

[DarthRaiderBob]

The helios heater elements have an internal temp sensor so they will shut themselves down. The chips also get harder to heat up the hotter they get. IM built alot of tech I to these, and for the price it better work lol. I just put one on my 125