Vectra M1 - powering on and off

phoenix001

Premium Member
I posted this in the ecotech forum but just in case anyone here has experienced the same, thought I would post...

Hello -

A few days ago we had a 12 hour power outage in our neighborhood. I had my Vectra M1 on battery backup for some of that time, then on generator. Was not a great situation but made it through - at least I thought so. Anyway, for some reason, my Vectra M1 appears to be powering on and off and I can't figure out why. I called your customer support a couple days ago and you couldn't understand why either so you sent me a new controller - an M2 which I received today and installed but no change - I thought it could be the port on my reefkeeper so I plugged it directly into an outlet but still the same. Turns on, goes green then almost on schedule, the power lights go down to a lower power, then the knob turns red, white then green - keep repeating this. Any ideas what might be happening. Your support option 2 is not working off your TF #
 
I posted this in the ecotech forum but just in case anyone here has experienced the same, thought I would post...



Hello -



A few days ago we had a 12 hour power outage in our neighborhood. I had my Vectra M1 on battery backup for some of that time, then on generator. Was not a great situation but made it through - at least I thought so. Anyway, for some reason, my Vectra M1 appears to be powering on and off and I can't figure out why. I called your customer support a couple days ago and you couldn't understand why either so you sent me a new controller - an M2 which I received today and installed but no change - I thought it could be the port on my reefkeeper so I plugged it directly into an outlet but still the same. Turns on, goes green then almost on schedule, the power lights go down to a lower power, then the knob turns red, white then green - keep repeating this. Any ideas what might be happening. Your support option 2 is not working off your TF #
I think its One of 3 things.
Most likely it's the power supply
Or
Likely the power board of the vectra due to some bad voltage during the events you described
Or
The impeller is having this issue vectra pumps have that heat up and start melting the housing. Once this happen the impeller grind against the housing and eventually stop working.

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk
 
I have an ecotech MP40, took the power supply off that one and used it on the Vectra - same thing. Could be that's not a valid test??
 
I have an ecotech MP40, took the power supply off that one and used it on the Vectra - same thing. Could be that's not a valid test??
But is the power supply the same voltage and wattage? I would think the m1 need more wattage than the mp40.
The reason why I suspected the power supply is that, one of the symptoms that indicate power supply is when the device turn on try to draw current, power supply is faulty and doesnot supply enough so device turn off...
Just giving some pointers mayne it will help maybe not

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk
 
Also just incase try to use diffrent wall outlet incase the issue with the outlet itself.

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk
 
The power bricks have over current protections built in where they will shut down if the powered device is using too much. This is to protect the wiring and prevent fires.

Now. This can be faulty which replacing the power brick would have resolved and you already replaced the driver which can resolve another possibility. Only thing left would be the pump itself. I would at this point give it a long vinegar bath or replace the pump all together.

There isn't much left to replace.

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk
 
The power bricks have over current protections built in where they will shut down if the powered device is using too much. This is to protect the wiring and prevent fires.

Now. This can be faulty which replacing the power brick would have resolved and you already replaced the driver which can resolve another possibility. Only thing left would be the pump itself. I would at this point give it a long vinegar bath or replace the pump all together.

There isn't much left to replace.

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk
only if the issue is the device drawing more current than what the brick is rated for.
If the issue is the brick itself it will not trip the OCP(over current protection).
Btw brick is rated way more than what device draw.. because these bricks are commodity general purposes power supply's...
Device turn on then off is one of the typical symptom of power supply failure.

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk
 
only if the issue is the device drawing more current than what the brick is rated for.
If the issue is the brick itself it will not trip the OCP(over current protection).
Btw brick is rated way more than what device draw.. because these bricks are commodity general purposes power supply's...
Device turn on then off is one of the typical symptom of power supply failure.

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk
You are 100% correct. But he said he used a different power brick and a new driver. There's only one component left being pump body. And without using a DVM and actually checking the current draw then there's no way to tell where the failure is


Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk
 
You are 100% correct. But he said he used a different power brick and a new driver. There's only one component left being the pump body

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk
Yup agreed. I was adding some generic informations that can be helpful for someone else who pass by this thread.
The op issue is strange since he pretty much changed everything.. only thing left is the pump core parts as you described.
I hope it's not the 3rd possibility that I described earlier where the impeller is causing issues grinding against the housing.. the L1 had this design flow that they supposedly addressed with the v2.

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk
 
Sorry for the delay. I had ordered a new power brick from ecotech - should arrive tomorrow. The MP40 brick is not the same as the M1. Interestingly enough, last night the power brick on the M1 completely failed, meaning up until that point it was powering the M1 but behaving as I described, now last night it doesn't work at all. If I put the M1 on battery backup, the pump behaves like I would expect -remains on in a steady way with very limited output. Problem with the battery backup is it only last's 8 hours or so, so I want to save that for when I really need it. Now, I have the MP40 brick powering the M1 and the behavior is back to on and off.
 
Sorry for the delay. I had ordered a new power brick from ecotech - should arrive tomorrow. The MP40 brick is not the same as the M1. Interestingly enough, last night the power brick on the M1 completely failed, meaning up until that point it was powering the M1 but behaving as I described, now last night it doesn't work at all. If I put the M1 on battery backup, the pump behaves like I would expect -remains on in a steady way with very limited output. Problem with the battery backup is it only last's 8 hours or so, so I want to save that for when I really need it. Now, I have the MP40 brick powering the M1 and the behavior is back to on and off.
I am even more suspecting the power supply.
When you say power supply was working I think your are judging based on an led status. But look to me that it was not supplying enough power or something..
If pump work on the battery it should means its functional which bring us yo the power adapter..
Do you know what are the diffrence between the mp40 and the m1 bricks? What are the input and output current and voltage of each brick?

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk
 
Last edited:
So, the new power supply arrived, I hooked it up and the same issue exists. I called ecotech and spoke to Mike who quickly determined that I had tried everything to troubleshoot this pump. They are sending me a new pump (M2) and I will send them mine. Kudos to excellent customer support. I would still like to know what caused the problem but I will move forward
 
No point now but I would have cleaned it first.

Hot bearings on the motor will attract calcium. As the motor stopped for a longer period with hot bearings my guess is you have some calcium buildup in the mechanics.

Once power was restored now there is a calcium buildup on the bearing surfaces causing it to over current


Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk
 
Actually I did pull it out and examine the pump and cleaned it - at this point you may be correct since nothing else seemed to work

No point now but I would have cleaned it first.

Hot bearings on the motor will attract calcium. As the motor stopped for a longer period with hot bearings my guess is you have some calcium buildup in the mechanics.

Once power was restored now there is a calcium buildup on the bearing surfaces causing it to over current


Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk
 
Back
Top