ATO program help

[krazysvede]

Hey guys, I helped a buddy set up a new Classic system today and am running into an issue with the ATO. I have use the following program and have no issues on my classic and 2016 units. The program runs fine on his until the reservoir float comes in. The switch in the reservoir isnt shutting off the top off pump when the reservoir is empty. The program is as it stands currently is;

ATO_Pump
Fallback OFF
Set OFF
If Outlet Sump_Low = ON Then ON
If Outlet Sump_High = ON Then OFF
If Outlet Res_Empty = ON Then OFF

Sump_Low
If Sw1 CLOSED Then ON
If Sw1 OPEN Then OFF

Sump_High
If Sw2 CLOSED Then ON
If Sw2 OPEN Then OFF

Res_Empty
If Sw3 Closed Then ON
If Sw3 OPEN Then OFF

I have a feeling Im missing something obvious. Any suggestions or improvements are welcome and appreciated!

[clsanchez77]

This may seem obvious but have your ruled out switch failure? Have you confirmed in Fusion (or Classic) that when the reservoir is empty that the switch actually reports Closed? Short the leads and see if Apex observes the Closed status.

[krazysvede]

Thanks! Should have put that in, switches have been checked and are working correctly when used as sump_low/high. We have also swapped around switchports on the break out box. It doesnt matter what switch port is used to trigger the reservoir. Is it possible for a virtual outlet to be "bad"? Maybe we should try deleting it and adding it again?

[iamchadster]

I've seen cases where the apex doesn't like switch names like Sw3, Sw2 etc. Try changing the names of the ones that are giving you an issue and see if that helps.

[zombie]

Virtual outlets can't go bad, but they can be programmed incorrectly. If you used the right switch states, I don't see an issue with your code.

Have you verified that the reservoir switch shows CLOSED when empty and OPEN when full? You only mentioned testing sump low and high.

Is the switch high enough to reliably change states before the pump runs dry?

Are all the virtual outlets set to AUTO?



You might be an engineer if...You have no life and can prove it mathematically.

[TangingOut]

Virtual outlets can't go bad, but they can be programmed incorrectly. If you used the right switch states, I don't see an issue with your code.

Have you verified that the reservoir switch shows CLOSED when empty and OPEN when full? You only mentioned testing sump low and high.

Is the switch high enough to reliably change states before the pump runs dry?

Are all the virtual outlets set to AUTO?



You might be an engineer if...You have no life and can prove it mathematically.

I'm the apex noob the OP is helping out. When we first set it up, the switch was working correctly and was showing as OPEN with the float up and CLOSED with it down, even sending an alert. The only thing that changed was unplugging of the aqualifter to re-run the cord, but it was plugged back into the same outlet (#4 on eb8). That's when I noticed the problem as my ATO reservoir was empty and the pump came on anyways. After that the switch showed OPEN no matter the position of the float.

After I re-wired a new float and switched to a known good port on the BOB, it was working again like before. Switch changes from OPEN to CLOSED(with alert) while moving the float. I then moved the low sump float up to trigger the ato, while the pump was running I closed the reservoir float, but the pump kept running and switch in dashboard remain OPEN. Now the switch is unresponsive and I'm out of new floats.

[TangingOut]

Update, decided to check it out one more time before bed. Now the reservoir switch works, but only when the pump isn't running. With the pump running, I still get an alert if I close the switch but the pump still runs.

[krazysvede]

Update, decided to check it out one more time before bed. Now the reservoir switch works, but only when the pump isn't running. With the pump running, I still get an alert if I close the switch but the pump still runs.

Ive gone thru both my tanks and thought of something you have that I don't. This may be a long shot... What happens if you take the float off the magnetic holder and open/close it by hand? Does it work correctly? I didnt think it was possible but maybe the magnets in that switch holder are interfering with the switches operation and causing it to stay open when it should be closed?

[Abbott]

Just a noob here as well but why use the virtual outlets at all? Seams to be overcomplicating things.

[TangingOut]

Ive gone thru both my tanks and thought of something you have that I don't. This may be a long shot... What happens if you take the float off the magnetic holder and open/close it by hand? Does it work correctly? I didnt think it was possible but maybe the magnets in that switch holder are interfering with the switches operation and causing it to stay open when it should be closed?

Didn't help, but good thinking. Currently the reservoir float works as it should, showing the correct position on the dashboard when manually moving it. It's just not shutting off the pump when closed.

[zombie]

Sounds like you need a new float...

You might be an engineer if...You have no life and can prove it mathematically.

[clsanchez77]

That was my initial thinking too. The coding seemed solid and virtual outlets don't go bad.

Just a noob here as well but why use the virtual outlets at all? Seams to be overcomplicating things.

Convenience. Sure you can code this without the virtual outlets, but I use them as well. For one, it gives me the opportunity to test and/or override switches. For example, I cannot tell Apex to manually open or close a switch. But if that switch controls a virtual outlet, I can manually 'open' or 'close' the virtual outlet by means of the manual on or off setting. It also allows me to add more complexity, err...intelligence, to the virtual outlet without complicating the programing for the device(s) being controlled. But you can certainly do without.

[TangingOut]

It's all good now. I re-coded the ATO outlet without the virtual outlets, but the pump wasn't coming on when the Sw1 was showing closed. The other two switches worked perfectly, so same problem 2 out 3 switches worked. I then put back the same code krazysvede had and everything works.