During a power outage with Neptune

[rvitko]

I was going to suggest the same, trim or pull back the boot.

 

[Bala de Plata]

Trimmed the boot, no change. One pump works exactly as intended, but the other one simply ceases all operation whenever the safety connector and apex control cable are both plugged in. Remove one of the two from the equation, pump functions.

 

[rvitko]

Please send in the pump, I would test it with a Tunze controller, but if it fails to function we would replace it if it cannot be repaired.

Tunze USA LLC
2121 Cole Springs Rd
Buda TX 78610

Be sure your contact info is in the box.

 

[Bala de Plata]

Copy that, thank you.

 

[Steve Atkins]

With the cable plugged in, it is waiting for a signal on the cable, this is the same with Tunze controllers, if you have a cable plugged in but not connected to a controller it won't work.

Tests I carried out last night suggest this is not strictly correct.

Using a nano stream (an early 6055 I think, without its own controller) I disconnected it from my Profilux and rigged it up with the 12V backup adaptor and a Tunze single controller. In that configuration everything worked as expected when I removed the main power supply with the pump continuing to be controlled by the single controller but operating at a lower speed.

Next I removed the single controller and repeated the experiment and again everything want as expected with the pump just carrying on at a constant speed after I disconnected the main power supply.

For the final experiment I plugged a Tunze din cable into the pump but left the other end of the cable not connected to anything. When I removed power main power supply the pump behaved exactly as it did when nothing was connected.

This tells me there is nothing in the physical side of the connection a controller that is preventing the battery backup working and that it is purely the electrical connection that needs to be broken.

Therefore I think that installing a relay that breaks the electrical connection between the Profilux/Apex controller and the pump when there is a power failure will allow a pump to remain under control of a controller and take advantage of the battery backup adaptor.

I have a suitable relay, just need to get come connectors to try this out.

Steve

 

[Steve Atkins]

Built. Tested. Worked perfectly.

Pump was running under control of Profilux.

Powered off Profilux and pump went up to full speed and stayed there.

Disconnected pump power supply and it just kept going at a lower speed, running off the battery.

All that time the (modified) control cable remained plugged into both the Profilux and the pump.

Powered up Profilux and put main power back onto pump and all went back to normal.

Will post circuit tomorrow. Pretty simple.

Steve

 

[Steve Atkins]

Gave it full test this morning by cutting power off to whole tank, including the Profilux, and it worked exactly as planned. I assume the wiring would be similar, if not the same, when using another controller. In the below diagrams the circuitry inside the 6105.500 is assumed as I didn't pull my one apart.

 

[BIGD0G]

Interesting. I see what you have done there with the relay and that makes sense. Your design will work because you are essentially breaking the connection to the controller in the event of a power outage. That will work. The other option is to power your controller during the outage so it can still control the pump. In my case the Apex has an option for 12v backup power that I pull from my battery. Not familiar with the Profilux so that may not be an option in which case your design is perfect.

Glad it worked out for you.

 

[Steve Atkins]

I could easily add battery backup to the Profilux itself as it runs off a power pack.

I haven't done this because I want the pump to run continuously as when there is a power cut that will be the only pump running (and at present it is not a large one). If I kept it under control of the controller it would continue on its programmed cycle so would not be running all the time.

Perhaps if I swapped to connecting the 6105 or 6205 to the battery keeping the link up would be more feasible. However I would loose duration powering both a bigger pump and the controller.

I am also not too concerned with keeping the Profilux running during a power cut as the only other thing running at that time will be the pump. Power cuts are relatively infrequent here and I don't plan to add battery backup to my network, so keeping the Profilux running would serve no real purpose.