Issues with EB8s

[ReefTron5000]

Hey ya'll, haven't posted in a while since things have been going well, until yesterday. Randomly, 2 of my 3 EB8s stopped working. The weird thing is, they both appear to be fine in the Apex Module list with green check marks-- I can turn things on and off, I can rename outlets, etc, etc. They just don't' actually work. The green status light on both is also on.

Has anyone experienced this before? I've tried plugging and unplugging, power and aquabus cables and no dice. Any suggestions before I start taking everything apart?

 

[griss]

@kharmaguru have you ever heard of this happening?

 

[five.five-six]

Ive had 1 outlet stop working or the whole thing die but never this.

 

[kharmaguru]

Hey ya'll, haven't posted in a while since things have been going well, until yesterday. Randomly, 2 of my 3 EB8s stopped working. The weird thing is, they both appear to be fine in the Apex Module list with green check marks-- I can turn things on and off, I can rename outlets, etc, etc. They just don't' actually work. The green status light on both is also on.

Has anyone experienced this before? I've tried plugging and unplugging, power and aquabus cables and no dice. Any suggestions before I start taking everything apart?

Status lights and apex access are all facilitated by the aquabus connection. The outlets are powered from the wall plug, so that's the first thing I would check - make sure the wall outlet doesn't have a tripped breaker or GFCI.

 

[discotu]

EB832 repair

Hi All, I just fixed my EB832 that had a bad 120VAC -> 12VDC power supply. When I ordered the replacement PS they sent me two so I have an extra if anyone actually needs it now. I will also offer to fix yours for free if you want to drop off your EB832 to me. Just make sure it's exhibiting...

forums.reefcentral.com

 

[jason2459]

FixReef – Reef Electronics Repair Service is legit. I've sent an EB832 to him to replace a bad relay. If you're good with soldering it's not hard stuff. But takes time I don't have anymore.

But the EB8s were pretty solid and well built compared to the 832s. I've not seen the issues posted above before. Usually the controller itself will see the module as bad. I supposed the little breaker on the EB has been checked?

 

[griss]

FixReef – Reef Electronics Repair Service is legit.

Son of a…. Wish I would have known about that about a year ago. For 3 years I took my LightWave to various electronic repair shops to try to fix it. None said they could do it. I ended up throwing it out.

 

[m0nkie]

Son of a…. Wish I would have known about that about a year ago. For 3 years I took my LightWave to various electronic repair shops to try to fix it. None said they could do it. I ended up throwing it out.

Right... i tossed at least 2 or 3 Eb832 before finding them.

 

[ReefTron5000]

Status lights and apex access are all facilitated by the aquabus connection. The outlets are powered from the wall plug, so that's the first thing I would check - make sure the wall outlet doesn't have a tripped breaker or GFCI.

This was it. I am a dipshit.

I had not touched the apex setup or any of the outlets in a LONG time...things were just tickin along. The two outlets were connected to an outlet that sets perfectly flush with the back of the tank, so I could not see that indeed the GFCI had tripped. I thought I was looking at the EB8s power connections but they turned out to be the 3rd EB8 and something else.

Problem solved. Sorry ya'll. Thanks.

 

[kharmaguru]

This was it. I am a dipshit.

I had not touched the apex setup or any of the outlets in a LONG time...things were just tickin along. The two outlets were connected to an outlet that sets perfectly flush with the back of the tank, so I could not see that indeed the GFCI had tripped. I thought I was looking at the EB8s power connections but they turned out to be the 3rd EB8 and something else.

Problem solved. Sorry ya'll. Thanks.

Better than a repair or replacement charge. Glad you got it sorted.

 

[discotu]

You should still try to figure out what tripped the gfci in the 1st place. Sounds like you're running 2 EB832s on one gfci protected outlet (2 receptacles) and possibly the 3 one all on the same circuit?

 

[ReefTron5000]

You should still try to figure out what tripped the gfci in the 1st place. Sounds like you're running 2 EB832s on one gfci protected outlet (2 receptacles) and possibly the 3 one all on the same circuit?

So I'm just going to continue this thread to hopefully get a little more help since I'm still having an issue, which is that the GFCI is still tripping. The last few mornings I've come down to see the tank completely shut down. When I check Apex I can see the last activity is the heater so I'm 99% sure the heater is causing the GFCI to trip.

I have 3 EB8's. Pretty much everything is connected to EB8 #1 and EB8 #2, while the third is kind of just there for backup. EB8's #1 and 2 are connected to a single surge protector which is plugged in to the wall GFCI outlet. EB8 #3 is connected to a different wall outlet.

The heater is connected to Outlet 2 on EB8 #1. Its been this way since I set the tank up a few years ago. When I first suspected it was the heater causing the trip, I disconnected the 300W Eheim heater and connected a spare 200W Eheim heater. The first night after I made this change the GFCI did not trip so I thought I was good. But then this morning I came down to see it had tripped again, with the backup heater.

So what do I make of this? Is it outlet #2 on EB8 #1 that is bad? Should I try the heater in a different outlet on EB8 #1 or EB8 #2?

Thanks ahead.

 

[kharmaguru]

So I'm just going to continue this thread to hopefully get a little more help since I'm still having an issue, which is that the GFCI is still tripping. The last few mornings I've come down to see the tank completely shut down. When I check Apex I can see the last activity is the heater so I'm 99% sure the heater is causing the GFCI to trip.

I have 3 EB8's. Pretty much everything is connected to EB8 #1 and EB8 #2, while the third is kind of just there for backup. EB8's #1 and 2 are connected to a single surge protector which is plugged in to the wall GFCI outlet. EB8 #3 is connected to a different wall outlet.

The heater is connected to Outlet 2 on EB8 #1. Its been this way since I set the tank up a few years ago. When I first suspected it was the heater causing the trip, I disconnected the 300W Eheim heater and connected a spare 200W Eheim heater. The first night after I made this change the GFCI did not trip so I thought I was good. But then this morning I came down to see it had tripped again, with the backup heater.

So what do I make of this? Is it outlet #2 on EB8 #1 that is bad? Should I try the heater in a different outlet on EB8 #1 or EB8 #2?

Thanks ahead.

GFCI can trip for a few different reasons including the GFCI getting old itself. I've moved away from Eheim heaters as I find they always get water intrusion after a year or so that would be my first suspect as well. Since things seem to trip over night, is there something that only runs at night on your system?

 

[ReefTron5000]

No, I don't have anything specifically set to run at night. But I can clearly see the temp dropping into the early morning and then between 1:30 and 3:00 am the heater kicks on and that's when the GFCI trips. What I'm confused about is both my original and backup heaters causing the GFCI to trip. I suppose they could both be bad but that just seems odd.

 

[kharmaguru]

No, I don't have anything specifically set to run at night. But I can clearly see the temp dropping into the early morning and then between 1:30 and 3:00 am the heater kicks on and that's when the GFCI trips. What I'm confused about is both my original and backup heaters causing the GFCI to trip. I suppose they could both be bad but that just seems odd.

Well definitely try what you said - move the heater to a different outlet and see what happens. Are you using the apex to control the heater?

 

[ReefTron5000]

Well definitely try what you said - move the heater to a different outlet and see what happens. Are you using the apex to control the heater?

I am, yes.

I've got a separate standalone GFCI that I wanted to plug one of the heaters into overnight to see if it would still trip but I don't trust the temp dial on those things. I'm worried its going to cook the tank overnight or something.

 

[griss]

I had an issue with an EB8 tripping a GFCI. Turned out it was an old/bad electronic MH ballast. I replaced the ballast and it resolved the issue. So a problem with an electrical component (heater) makes sense.

 

[Jimbo327]

600 watts power of a pure resistive load is the max power you can run on an EB8 on outlets 1-3 and 5-7 because they are each individually limited to 5 amps of current draw.

1200 watts power of pure resistive load is the max you can run on EB8 outlets 4 and 8 because they are each individually limited to 10 amps of current draw.

Try running your heater on outlets 4 or 8.

 

[discotu]

Have you enabled power monitoring on your EB832? If not you should. In the meantime, look at your temp graph. Is it able to bring it up to temp or does it stay flat with a small blip when it tries to kick on the heater? This might help determine if the fault is due to load over time or short in the heater causing immediate fault. Next look at the wattage graph and see if there is any correlation everytime the power goes out. For example does it always trip at 800w? Remember to add the wattage for both EB832 on that same outlet. Separately the 3rd EB832 on a different outlet could be on the same circuit so if there is additional load there it could be contributing to the problem.

On a side note, in my experience once a breaker or gfci trips several times it seems to get weaker over time. Once you figure out the problem might be worthwhile replacing the gfci outlet. Good luck!

 

[ReefTron5000]

Still having issues. Over the last 11 days the GFCI has tripped twice more. Once with the original 300W Eheim heater but then also with the backup 200W heater. Both times the heater was connected to Outlet #4 on EB8#2.

Have you enabled power monitoring on your EB832? If not you should. In the meantime, look at your temp graph. Is it able to bring it up to temp or does it stay flat with a small blip when it tries to kick on the heater?

Yes I have enabled power monitoring. Either heater does bring the temp up. I've had two incidences over the last 11 days but first incident must have happened more than 7 days ago because I can't see it on the log.

I'm reviewing the Apex graphs but honestly I'm having trouble making sense of them. I only have the one incident today to go off of.



In this image orange is the amp reading on the EB8, blue is temp and the purple is the heater kicking on and off. I don't the big fluctuation in the orange line.

This second graph goes back a few days. To the left is what normal looks like with the heater going on and off. It goes on once it gets past 76.8 and turns off at 77.1 The thing about this graph I don't understand is those three random blips I"ve circled. That is the outlet the heater is connected to (Mid-4).