worried about my DC8 now too

[johns]

Hi. I'm having a problem with a DC8 that I am a bit worried about.

Just got the AC Jr and DC8 about 3 weeks ago. While I was doing some tank maintanence last night, I went into the manual controls and shut a number of outlets to 'Off'. When I was done, I set them all back to 'Auto'. This morning, when I was checking everything, it looked to me like my kalk stirrer had not come back on at all since the time I had shut if off the evening prior (kalk stirrer is currently on outlet 8). I rechecked everything to make sure they were all set to 'Auto', then I just tried to turn outlet 8 manually to 'On'. It didnt turn on. I unplugged the kalk stirrer from outlet 8 and plugged it back in, then tried to turn it on manually again. This time it did turn on.

For what it's worth, I had a strange little glitch happen to this same outlet while I was setting it up during the first week that I got it. I was plugging a few other pieces of equipment into the DC8, and while I was handling it, I kept hearing the pump of the kalk stirrer click on and off 3 or 4 times in rapid succession. Sounded to me as if it wasn't plugged in all the way into the outlet and my holding the DC8 was causing the plug to go back and forth between making contact. But when I checked the plug closely, it was plugged in all the way. I stuck this in the back of my mind and tried not to worry about it. But now this thing last night has me concerned.

Do you know what would cause this? Is there something wrong with my DC8? I'm afraid to plug some critical piece of eqipment into outlet 8 for fear it'll get stuck off or on. Also, I'm worried some other outlet could get stuck too with some piece of equipment that is less noticeable to the eye but even more critical (like a heater).

 

[Sparkss]

Do you happen to have the seasonal lighting with moonlight enabled ? I seem to remember having read somewhere that on the DC8, outlet #8 is an undocumented dimmer outlet for the moonlight (As opposed to using the X-10 dimmer module). I have no idea if this is related or not, but a reduction of voltage to the calc stirred motor could cause erratic behavior. If this is the case it would explain why you only recently noticed it, as the moon phase could have been "full" and only now reduced to a point low enough to affect your equiptment.

I am completely guessing here, based on other threads that I have read, but I do not know anything for fact, or even if that sort of thing is possible. I am just throwing out possible scenarios.

Hopefully someone more knowledgeable than me (like Curt) will chime in with the approriate answer. I suspect that he will give you a phone number and ask you to call him when you are in front of the unit so thatyou can work through it with him.

Best of luck !

 

[johns]

No seasonal light. No moonlight. This doesn't quite make sense in this situation. As I mentioned, I did notice some erratic behaviour out of this outlet even the first week, but decided to ignore it at the time.

Hopefully I'll hear something soon enough.

 

[dougc]

Not that it helps you, but I have seen the same behavior a couple of times with a DC4, but with my CO2 solenoid. It did not respond to manual on/off commands, but started functioning again when I unplugged the solenoid and plugged it back in. Something, physically or logically, must cause the relay to stick in one position. I just hope it never happens with a heater. Then I'll be relying on the heater thermostat to protect me.

 

[johns]

I just hope it never happens with a heater. Then I'll be relying on the heater thermostat to protect me.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but if that outlet turns off then it doesn't matter what your heaters thermostat is set to. Because it wont come on. That's why I worry.

 

[Sparkss]

Heater/chiller... either cooking or deep freezing your livestock.. neither one is one I want to even think about.

Curt had replied in another thread that :

---- Quote ----
The folks that have reported problems in this thread were due to operator error, or failed equipment other than the AquaController/DCXs. I don't know of any properly configured ACJrs that operate erratically.

Curt
---- Quote ----

The thread can be found here (in this vendor forum) :

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=660510

 

[johns]

Well I'm not going to say that I believe or dont believe that statment yet. I will say that Neptune's customer service has been pretty good so far in helping me work through a few glitches.

But it seems odd that a controller that is working perfectly fine for a week or 2 suddenly fails to turn back on an outlet after just adjusting the manual control. And then after you unplug and plug back in everything is back to normal again?

I didnt change any statements or commands in between. So I dont see how I can blame this on operator error or faulty equipment.

But who knows. I've been wrong before...

 

[Sparkss]

johns,

I am worried as you are, noted by my numerous posts/questions surrounding this very topic.

Their customer service does seem to be top notch (I should be receiving my unit today, so no personal experience with their service levels yet). And I tkae comfort that there must be thousands of units out there in use, and we are only hearing about a handful of issues. Except for hearing the same problem occuring in multiple units, that is called a trend, and is a very scary thing when it comes to controlling the health and well being of our tanks. Something that I sincerely hope NeptuneSys takes into account.

 

[clp]

Johns,
Please call 408-578-3022 Monday afternoon (I'll be back in the office), as I'd like to go over your setup/configuration.

Curt

 

[johns]

clp-

could you give me a time frame? which time zone are you in?

I wont be back home until about 4:00 - 4:30 PM central time. I imagine it would be best if I am right in fron of the controller? Otherwise I'll have to call you from work.

 

[Sparkss]

johns, I noticed also that the default settings/program has outlet 8 set for the alarm module, with corresponding programming. If you jsut renamed that timer, there could be a conflicting programming entry causing your problems ? Although I don't see how this would have affected it when you tried to manually turn it on and off .....

 

[johns]

Sparkss-

I went through an 'Init Memory' command a while back (before the current 'problem') that restored all of the default timers and programs (this was actually done by mistake). I then renamed all of the timers to my own names. Next I deleted every line of default programming that was in there, and entered my own program. I just checked it again last night and there is no line of programming that correspond to timer 8 that I did not enter myself.

I'd post them here, but might take too long (maybe later). We'll see what clp tells me.

For the record, this has NOT happened again with timer 8 since my first post here . Then again, I havent played around with the manual controls for timer 8 since then either.

 

[clp]

johns,
Were are in PST; I'll be in the office after about 4:00 pm.

Curt