Wavebox repeated failure

[petergillett]

Hi,

Had a wavebox for about 6 months now.

1. Driver failure after 2 months. Tunze Germany replaced driver.
2. Driver failure after another 2 months. Tunze replaced driver.
3. Driver failure after another 2 months. Tunze replaced complete unit.
4. Driver failure after 3 days. No action taken yet.

I'm a bit stuck as to what to do or why this is happening. I don't particularly want to return/refund as I like the effect of the unit, but this is crazy!

I deduced driver failure by connecting another 6100 stream, and obviously the replaced driver on each occassion fixed the problem.

Only other thing I know on failure 4 was it was working (I could hear the pulsing in the room above the tank). About half an hour later I went to feed and noticed lack of wave. The controller had the green light on and was flicking the red at the wave interval (not the usual even one then the other). I unplugged and plugged back in - no change. I unplugged removed controller, plugged back in - nothing. Unplugged, plugged controller back in, plug transformer back in - no lights, no pump, driver getting hot.

On all occassions I have found the driver to be extremely hot.

Can you shed any light?

 

[rvitko]

I think most likely the motor block is bad or the transformer. The drivers are finicky, if they are not perfectly assembled they overheat and die withing a few months. However, I have yet to have anyone have this happen more than twice in about a year and I would put the total driver failures at below 5%. Great Britain however has an additional issue, your voltage is higher than the rest of Europe. I think this may add some to the failure rate as it is pushing the equipmennt harder. Given the circumstances, either your pump is fouling up and overloading the driver or another part is likely faulty.

 

[petergillett]

I thought on the failures 1-3 it could be the motor or transformer killing the driver. Hence why Tunze Germany replaced the whole unit on the last failure. But if you are referring to the drivers being finicky, what's the chances of having 3 badly made one's in a row?

I'm now on a completely new unit (that's a complete replacement, not swapping some of the bits and not others) so could it be that this one has also been supplied with a faulty driver?

If it's being caused by a bad motor/transformer, again what's the likelihood of getting two bad ones in a row?

I really can't see the pump fouling up - the tank is in good shape, and as I said I've got 2 6100s in there on a 5 second interval 24/7 and not a peep out of them. On each occassion before I've just changed the driver and not had to remove the pump due to jamming etc. I find it very unlikely that a new 3 day old pump would jam?

 

[rvitko]

I have not had this happen in the states, worst I have seen is one faulty swap out within a year. Does your wavebox have the new 6200.70 drive unit?

 

[petergillett]

No, both units are 6260.10 with 7410.602 and 7240.27

 

[rvitko]

Yes, but the actual prop assembly, is it the older 6100.60 with removable 6200.12 prop or the new one piece 6200.70. This is important on the wavebox as the 6100.60 with prop still had brakes which were not necessary and a dampner was added to restrict their movement. With power irregularities the prop could lock up. Imagine every time the pump starts it is a game of Russian roulette with a 12 barrel revolver, one barrel has a bullet. In this case one of 12 possible stop positions is blind and the sensor which sounds the alarm cannot see it and the driver cannot respond by shutting down or detecting a problem. This position is almost impossible to hit because it is between poles and the magnet wants to drift to the next position. However, if the pump has a shaky start and the brakes lock it can happen. Brown outs and power dips or debris in the pump can cause this with the old drive unit. The new one has no brakes and a looser fit and prevents this issue to a great extent. This is a possible explanation as to your driver failures but as I said, I have yet to have anyone in the states see this issue more than a couple times in a row and I have made it my standard procedure that when a wavebox pump comes in we give it the new drive unit whether or not the old one works just as a preventitive. If your pumps are from this year they should have this new drive unit.

 

[petergillett]

Assuming you mean take the front "vent" off the pump and pull the prop out - both old and new have the one piece prop looking like this

 

[rvitko]

Well, that isn't the issue then. I don't know what to say. I have no experience with the products in GB and I know it sounds odd but every countries power eccentricities create their own issues so I don't know if their is some issue specific to GB and the 240V power. I would send the pump back or call Tunze and speak to Mr Michelle (pronounced Meh heel lay), the electrician and see if he has any other ideas. He speaks English well, but you need to speak slowly and clearly so he can follow.

 

[petergillett]

I'll give Mr Michelle a call tomorrow - I assume the German telephone number?

As I said in the original post, it has worked great when it has been working, and the difference in circulation is superb. I've got a new tank planned before Christmas (moving house) and really want to use the wave as part of the plan, so have got to get to the bottom of this!

Whilst on the changes the new tank is a 72Lx30Wx24H "in wall" setup. I'm actually thinking the Wave and both 6100s all at one end. The 2 6100s would be on the same channel of the multi controller with say 5sec on/off. The idea is a reef crest, so vigorous and then relaxed, but using the Wave to keep the crud suspended and eliminate dead spots. I'm not sure if the 2 Streams in the same plane as the Wave will conflict, what do you think?

Thanks for your help.

 

[rvitko]

Your plan should work fine.

Yes, call the number in Germany, remember Friday is a short day- they are open M-Th 8-4:30 CET and F 8-2:30 CET. The number is 49-8856-2022