6100 and 6105 softstart

[reefclown]

Do any of the tunze controllers have a function whereby the props spin very slowly to warn of any fish that decide to stray into the unit prior to getting up to full speed on power-up?

i.e. once power is applied, the prop spins slowly for a few seconds prior to getting up to normal speed.

I see the words 'soft start' mentioned on the 7096 description but with no definition of what this means.

I had a fish sliced in half after a series of power cuts over a 3hr period and am looking at ways to ensure this does not happen again.

is there an easy way to achieve this?

 

[rvitko]

We don't have the function you describe but we have a system called "fish care" which rotates the drive unit one revolution every 20 seconds when the pump is in a mode on the controller where it would be off. This is standard on all of our electronic pumps since 2006. The soft start just gives the pump 10% power for a fraction of a second to ease the start, it then jumps to whatever setting the controller is at. It is not anything noticeable or that would help with this problem.

 

[reefclown]

Thanks Roger,
is there a chance you could ask your R&D chaps if it is possible to incorporate such a feature into the 7096?

ideally the logic should be applied on power-up or after a feeding break, be even better if there was some element of user programmable control.

shouldn't be too complex, relaively low cost and could be distributed as a downloadable software update?

or can this be perfomed via something like the ghl controller?

 

[rvitko]

I think the fish care function already accomplishes this, it is a built in function of the pump, when the controller turns it off, it turns one rotation every 20 seconds to repel fish from entering the pump. It would be redundant to add another such feature to the controller.

 

[reefclown]

maybe i'm not explaining myself properly. Is there anyway to activate fishcare after a powerdown situation. i.e. when ever power is applied to the system, it goes into "fishcare" mode for 1 minute? AFAIK, if you apply power to a tunze it immediately goes into full mode or whatever mode the controller is specified for.

I appreciate that using a battery backup would overcome this scenario. Now implemented!

not really an issue for me any more, as I have also added the front mesh guard to prevent any potential occurence of sushi.

On reflection, I think the product covers all basis, so long as you employ the mesh guard. There is nothing like having fine granularity over choice of control though.

we live and learn, user error is inevitable. Would there be any value is distributing the product with the mesh guard in place?

 

[rvitko]

All the pumps now include the mesh guard in the box. The way it should work is that whenever a pump is off due to a mode function or foodtimer it will be in fish care which gives the pump one rotation every 20 seconds.