Bad EB8 and did I kill it?

[Orcrone]

I purchased a new lighting system and rearranged the outlets on my EB8. I put the three metal halides on a power strip and plugged that into outlet 4 because it can handle 10 amps. My topoff pump is on outlet 3. Yesterday I noticed my topoff pump had put an extra 2 gallons into my sump and was still running. Manually turning off the outlet from the display didn't turn off the topoff outlet, however manually turning off the metal halides turned off the topoff outlet. Even though the topoff outlet was still active when it should not have been, the Apex's outlet log indicated it only ran for 15 seconds.

As a test the next time the system called for water the outlet stayed active after the display showed it inactive, so I pulled the plug for the topoff. When I plugged it back in, the outlet was now off. I've now moved my topoff to a different outlet (outlet 6) and it's working properly.

My question is, does this sound like an EB8 problem, and could I have caused it by running all 3 metal halide's (250 watts) through a single outlet? They're running on Icecap electronic ballasts. 750 watts should only draw about 7 amps and the data log showed a maximum draw of 7.8 amps.

 

[aquamanic]

The problem most likely is your topoff pump is not drawing enough current to let the outlet function correctly. Try running it in outlet 4 or 8 and see if that fixes it. If it works in 6 then the other possibility is that you're getting some noise from your MH outlet. Regardless, I don't think you've damaged anything, you just need to find an outlet the topoff pump is happy with.

 

[Orcrone]

The problem most likely is your topoff pump is not drawing enough current to let the outlet function correctly. Try running it in outlet 4 or 8 and see if that fixes it.

I can give it a shot, but it's working fine on outlet 6. I have a powerhead on outlet 8. I'll first try moving the powerhead to the suspect outlet. If a powerhead stays on too long, no problem.

Thanks for the suggestion.

Didn't know if the lights caused a large surge when turning on. Seemed as though two fired up & the third took another minute.

 

[aquamanic]

What kind of pump is your ATO pump? If it's an Aqualifter, then you'll almost surely have issues on any outlet other than 4 or 8. If it works on 6, great but I'd watch it. Lookup the pump specs. Less than 5 watts of current draw give or take and you'll have issues at some point running it off outlets 1-3, 5-7. And by running it I mean reliably turning it OFF when necessary.

 

[jkopp36]

I can give it a shot, but it's working fine on outlet 6. I have a powerhead on outlet 8. I'll first try moving the powerhead to the suspect outlet. If a powerhead stays on too long, no problem.

The triacs on the non-relayed outlets can act differently from each other. A low draw piece of equipment can also work fine on one for awhile and then all of the sudden start having the no "off" problem. Keep an eye on it even if it appears to be working ok. JME.

 

[Orcrone]

Thanks to both. Not sure about the pump. It came with a ViaAqua reactor. I had just moved it from 4 to 3 because of the lights. I'll check the currrent draw on the powerhead. It's 1400 gph so it should be more than 5 watts. If it is I'll give it a try and move the pump to outlet 8.

 

[Orcrone]

The problem most likely is your topoff pump is not drawing enough current to let the outlet function correctly. Try running it in outlet 4 or 8 and see if that fixes it. If it works in 6 then the other possibility is that you're getting some noise from your MH outlet. Regardless, I don't think you've damaged anything, you just need to find an outlet the topoff pump is happy with.

Looks like that's it. I moved the ATO to outlet 8 and it's been working fine all weekend. I moved a powerhead to the outlet that was having trouble with the ATO pump, and it's also been working fine all weekend.