Apex. Which outlets should I use?

[cali9dub]

I just got an apex and 2 eb8's. I'm having trouble getting the outlets programmed. I have the following:

2 mp10's
1 sump pump
1 chiller pump
1 heater
1 jbj nano led refugium light
1 pinpoint salinity monitor
1 tunze 9002 nano skimmer
1 plug for 2x24 watt Actinics
1 150w metal halide

Some won't turn on when manually setting the outlet to "on". I assume because it draws so little power. Any suggestions what should go where and how to program them other than off, on or auto. I know where to program the outlets, but I don't really understand the order of commands and such. Having a terrible time. My reefkeeper 2 was a breeze. I guess I'm not fully understanding the code to write the programming of the outlets. Any help would be great. Oh. I do have the "unofficial new user guide" but now I'm just getting confused. Thanks to all the guru's out there !!

 

[cm11599ps]

I"m still new at this myself. Any of your low power devices should be on outlets 4 & 8 to work correctly. My powerheads don't work as planned if you place a single powerhead on 1-3 or 5-7. I now have 2 powerheads plugged into an extension cord and am using outlet 2. I can now fully control that outlet because it uses more power.

 

[aquamanic]

Your questions are a bit vague but let me see if I can help.

You program outlets via the 'Configuration - Outlet Setup' web page.

Outlet program statements are evaluated in order, first to last. If you're programming via the 'advanced' mode where you enter all the program statements yourself, this is important. If you use Neptune's wizards where you select 'pump' or 'light' and fill in the blanks, then you don't need to worry about statement order. Neptune handles that for you.

What else is giving you trouble?

 

[cali9dub]

My first trouble is picking the correct outlet. The built in programming for pumps don't exactly make sense to me with off time/on time/off time. I assume actinics on channel 1, MH on channel 2. Heater on channel 3. Salinity monitor on ch4. Mp10's on ch 5 and 6. Sump on ch 7. Ato on ch 8. Similar picking of outlets on second eb8. I want my sump, skimmer and chiller pumps to always be on except feeding times. Oh same with mp10's. Wouldn't that be a simple on command with a stipulation to account for feed mode?

 

[aquamanic]

OK, easy to do. For an outlet to be on all the time except for feeding:

Fallback ON
Set ON
If FeedA 000 Then OFF

Enter that via 'advanced' mode on the outlet of your choice.

 

[aquamanic]

That pump wizard is really more for power heads than pumps, the on/off/on letting you pulse them. For a return pump, use what I gave you and you're gold.

 

[aquamanic]

For your skimmer, to prevent it going crazy after a power fail or return pump off like for a feed cycle, use this:

Fallback ON
Set ON
If FeedA 005 Then OFF
If Power EB8_3 OFF 005 Then OFF
If Outlet ##your return pump outlet## = OFF Then OFF

That will delay your skimmer restart after a feed or power failure for 5 minutes and will also turn it off if you set your return pump to manual off for any reason.

 

[cali9dub]

For your skimmer, to prevent it going crazy after a power fail or return pump off like for a feed cycle, use this:

Fallback ON
Set ON
If FeedA 005 Then OFF
If Power EB8_3 OFF 005 Then OFF
If Outlet ##your return pump outlet## = OFF Then OFF

That will delay your skimmer restart after a feed or power failure for 5 minutes and will also turn it off if you set your return pump to manual off for any reason.

I assume I can use this same command for my auto top off so it doesnt throw a high water alarm when the pumps are off. Plus it will give time fir the water levels to settle before the ato kicks back on.

Also for my actinics I put on Ch 1 with the following:

Fallback OFF
If Sun 000/000 Then ON

For MH on Ch 2 I set as this:

Fallback OFF
If Sun 060/-60 Then ON

I assume this will turn the MH 60 min after the actinics and turn them off 60 prior to the actinics.

 

[aquamanic]

Yes, same logic for any outlet that you want to delay restart.

Outlets not channels.

I assume this will turn the MH 60 min after the actinics and turn them off 60 prior to the actinics.

Yes but based on the Sun rise/set table not specifically whether the actinic is on/off but you got it correct.

 

[cali9dub]

And anything that is always on no matter what us:

Fallback ON
Set ON

And that's it...nothing else? And it should work as long as it is in an appropriate outlet?

 

[aquamanic]

You got it.

 

[cali9dub]

For your skimmer, to prevent it going crazy after a power fail or return pump off like for a feed cycle, use this:

Fallback ON
Set ON
If FeedA 005 Then OFF
If Power EB8_3 OFF 005 Then OFF
If Outlet ##your return pump outlet## = OFF Then OFF

That will delay your skimmer restart after a feed or power failure for 5 minutes and will also turn it off if you set your return pump to manual off for any reason.

Do I need to add a line:

If Power EB8_5 OFF 005 Then OFF

 

[aquamanic]

Yes if you have multiple energy bars and depending on where the outlets are.

 

[cali9dub]

Thanks for the help. I think I got it. Just have to program the WXM and my MP10's next.

 

[aquamanic]

That will be fun. Remember, follow the directions TO THE LETTER and most of that takes place via the display module.

 

[cali9dub]

Now that I ran through 12 outlets it might not be too bad. Is there any way to get the unused outlets from being shown on the display module?

 

[aquamanic]

Yes, you can configure 4 different display 'pages'. Look for Configuration - Display Setup