Why is my heater off?

[aaron186]

I have an apex that is backing up an INKBIRD heating controller with 2 BRS titanium controllers.

The apex is reading a temp of 79 right now which is where it hovers due to my lights. I have the INKBIRD set to 78.5-79. My apex is set to 77-82 to serve as a backup. The outlet on my apex has been off all day despite my temps being in range and my outlet set to auto. What am I doing wrong?

 

[KStatefan]

If the temperature has not gone down to 77 it will not turn on.

 

[aaron186]

But it didn’t go above 82 to go off though. Should I set my on temp to 78? I want the INKBIRD to do the bulk of the work and use the apex as backup since the INKBIRD is cheaper to replace

 

[jason2459]

Set on to something like 80 and off at 80.5 and it will always stay on if the ink bird is set to say 78.

 

[Reefer Reboot]

You may want to try using the "Advanced" option under the "Control Type" option tab.
I have two EB832s (labeled as EB1 and EB2). I have an Inkbird plugged into the 5th outlet of EB2 (EB2-5). Then program it to stay on unless the temperature goes above a certain temperature (82.0*f in my case)

 

[RedoubtReef]

honestly, I'm not sure why you would want that large of a difference in the on/off. I've always had my controller come on below 77 and off at 77. I'm not using apex but mine is set with a variance of something like .2 degrees so it comes on at 76.8 degrees or something.

*sorry, re-read your post and see the Inkbird is in between. Why not just use the Apex to control the heater? I use a glass thermometer to calibrate my heaters to their own on/off temp setting and then let my controller do the rest to prevent a runaway heater

 

[Jamie814]

There really is no point in having 2 set points on the apex if you are using a inkbird controller as well.

Just set the apex to turn the outlet off if temp is above 80

If the inkbrid is saying the tank is warm enough the apex can't force it to turn on if the tank drops to 77 anyway.

 

[Jamie814]

I want the INKBIRD to do the bulk of the work and use the apex as backup since the INKBIRD is cheaper to replace

Can you elaborate on this statement? All the current is still going through the EB832 outlet and can't be more than about 800 watts, are you just trying to reduce the on/off cycling of the outlet?

 

[TokenReefer]

Already stated lol

 

[Jamie814]

if the inkbird fails the apex shuts the whole thing down at 80 degrees...

AND if the apex fails the heaters shut off at 82....triple redundancy

 

[TokenReefer]

AND if the apex fails the heaters shut off at 82....triple redundancy

Xactly!

 

[aaron186]

honestly, I'm not sure why you would want that large of a difference in the on/off. I've always had my controller come on below 77 and off at 77. I'm not using apex but mine is set with a variance of something like .2 degrees so it comes on at 76.8 degrees or something.

*sorry, re-read your post and see the Inkbird is in between. Why not just use the Apex to control the heater? I use a glass thermometer to calibrate my heaters to their own on/off temp setting and then let my controller do the rest to prevent a runaway heater

The inkbird controller is 50-60 bucks. The apex power bar is 250. The on and off cycle on an outlet eventually wears the devices down. I’d rather wear down the cheaper device and keep the powerbar with less on off cycles and protect its longevity

The inkbird controller can only do 0.5 degree variance which I’m fine with

 

[RedoubtReef]

The inkbird controller is 50-60 bucks. The apex power bar is 250. The on and off cycle on an outlet eventually wears the devices down. I’d rather wear down the cheaper device and keep the powerbar with less on off cycles and protect its longevity

The inkbird controller can only do 0.5 degree variance which I’m fine with

I think I would just go with the inkbird then and leave the apex out of it. I've had my DA Reefkeeper for a long time and never wore out an outlet in it. Does that actually happen on Apex bars?

 

[jason2459]

I think I would just go with the inkbird then and leave the apex out of it. I've had my DA Reefkeeper for a long time and never wore out an outlet in it. Does that actually happen on Apex bars?

It can happen to any switching device.

 

[aaron186]

I think I would just go with the inkbird then and leave the apex out of it. I've had my DA Reefkeeper for a long time and never wore out an outlet in it. Does that actually happen on Apex bars?

In theory although I’ve never done it. I have 1 two gang outlet by my tank and 2 power bars so my entire tank runs through it even though there’s a few devices that don’t utilize it. Even so the power monitoring is a nice tool. I got it setup correctly now with the help from above. It’s always good to have extra redundancy, especially on something that can nuke the tank