Almost no control over 6055 using Apex

[jedimasterben]

Hi,

I have two 6055 on my tank (about 36 gallons, cube-ish). I am using an Apex for control, and, frankly, it just sucks. I didn't expect a completely linear change in output like you get with LED drivers, but this is just awful.

My two pumps turn on at 34% and 35%, respectively. I had read that the built-in 7090 controller can now control them down to 20%, so this is kinda disappointing that I lose the lower range. At 34/35%, the pumps pull 4.4/5.5 watts from the wall.

Set to 40% via the Apex, power use jumps up dramatically to about 11 watts.

Set to 50%, the pumps pull 15.1 and 16.1 watts.

Set to 100%, the pumps only creep up to 15.7 and 16.7 watts.


I have measured the actual voltage output of the Apex VarSpd ports and verified that they are within ~3% of their setting, so it is not the fault of the Apex. Is this a bug? I was hoping to have at least a bit more granularity with settings so I could change them throughout the day, but since I'm not able to run the pumps more than 36%, this gives me a whopping 1-2% variation possible. Is this by design or a bug in the 7090?


Also, both of the 6055 were purchased new, and both had a concave inner magnet, so the pumps don't sit flat against the glass, they rock back and forth, making an awful racket. Please let me know who to contact to get replacements for them.

Thank you!

 

[rvitko]

My apologies on the magnet issue. Please email me the receipt at Tunze at sbcglobal dot net and I will send replacements. The polyurethane potting is done by a robotic arm and it appears that an overfill occurred on some and when it was fully cured it swelled, these would have appeared flat when packed at the factory as they are only sufficiently cured when assembled.

The control issue I would suspect relates to the voltage range, the new pumps with 7090 use a voltage range of 0-6.5V signal, I would suspect that the Apex is relying on our older 0-8V signal to communicate the speed, I am not sure how to rectify this on the Apex, on our older controllers a calibration can be made to bring it in sync with the speed ranges. The range is much tighter now so for example if 4V was 50% in the past it is now 62%.

 

[jedimasterben]

My apologies on the magnet issue. Please email me the receipt at Tunze at sbcglobal dot net and I will send replacements. The polyurethane potting is done by a robotic arm and it appears that an overfill occurred on some and when it was fully cured it swelled, these would have appeared flat when packed at the factory as they are only sufficiently cured when assembled.

The control issue I would suspect relates to the voltage range, the new pumps with 7090 use a voltage range of 0-6.5V signal, I would suspect that the Apex is relying on our older 0-8V signal to communicate the speed, I am not sure how to rectify this on the Apex, on our older controllers a calibration can be made to bring it in sync with the speed ranges. The range is much tighter now so for example if 4V was 50% in the past it is now 62%.

Thank you, Roger, I'll email you in a little bit for the magnets. I figured it was something like that in the manufacturing process.

Definitely a bit disappointing with the Apex compatibility, though. I did measure the voltage output of the VarSpd ports and it was not limiting it to 8v, it was sending out the full 10v when set to maximum. There was also nothing in the Apex programming to specify that I was connecting a Tunze pump, so I don't think it would limit voltage to match the pump's range.

 

[rvitko]

I understand, but I think the issue is what is set as 30% is not 30% and 50% is not 50%, 10V won't harm the pump, it is interpreted the same as 6.5V. The problem is that 30% needs to be just under 2V, when it used to be 2.5V and that range is much tighter, the percentages no longer match the control voltages.

 

[jedimasterben]

I understand, but I think the issue is what is set as 30% is not 30% and 50% is not 50%, 10V won't harm the pump, it is interpreted the same as 6.5V. The problem is that 30% needs to be just under 2V, when it used to be 2.5V and that range is much tighter, the percentages no longer match the control voltages.

But I'm still not sure why when the Apex sends a 34/35% signal (which I did measure as 3.4 or 3.5v) that the pump is on, but going any below that shuts the pump off. What you're saying is that if I were to send a 2v signal to the pump (which the Apex would show as 20%) then the pump should run just fine, as the pump controller would then be set to ~30% output, but this is not the case. I send it a 2v signal and the pump is full off.

 

[rvitko]

My examples are hypothetical, I don't know the exact values but I am reasonably sure this is the cause of the problem. I can give you the calibration procedures for the 7090 to respond to old signal values, if it is tuned past the start point, all values drift higher, it is also not something we tested with any controllers except our own and we do not share the value data, so the Apex values are something that was reverse engineered.