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Thread: Why does my ATK go to the OFF? I

  1. #1
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    Why does my ATK go to the OFF? I

    My ATK goes to the off position periodically. Why does this happen?

    I keep setting it to AUTO and it will run for a few hours

  2. #2
    Frequent Contributor zombie's Avatar
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    That is because of the when statement. By default, the ATK is programmed such that if the pump runs for more than 5 minutes on a single fill, it will change the outlet to manual OFF because for the majority of tanks, that means something has gone obviously wrong. This amount of time may not be sufficient depending on size of tank and the physics of your drain/return after feeds.

    What I recommend is that you enable logging on the outlet and temporarily set the when statement to a larger value (like 10-20 minutes). After a few days have past, check your logs to see what "normal" on and off times are for your tank. What is typical, what are the upper and lower limits, and what else is happening during the upper limits. If typical happens to be close to 5 minutes, then the resolution is simply increasing the time longer than 5 minutes. If that's not the case, then the proper solution will vary depending on what is causing the pump to run long.

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

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    Quote Originally Posted by zombie View Post
    That is because of the when statement. By default, the ATK is programmed such that if the pump runs for more than 5 minutes on a single fill, it will change the outlet to manual OFF because for the majority of tanks, that means something has gone obviously wrong. This amount of time may not be sufficient depending on size of tank and the physics of your drain/return after feeds.

    What I recommend is that you enable logging on the outlet and temporarily set the when statement to a larger value (like 10-20 minutes). After a few days have past, check your logs to see what "normal" on and off times are for your tank. What is typical, what are the upper and lower limits, and what else is happening during the upper limits. If typical happens to be close to 5 minutes, then the resolution is simply increasing the time longer than 5 minutes. If that's not the case, then the proper solution will vary depending on what is causing the pump to run long.

    You might be an engineer if...You have no life and can prove it mathematically.
    I enabled loggin, how do I view the logs that are created? I'm using the 2016 Apex.

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    Master Control Freak RussM's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by oseymour View Post
    I enabled loggin, how do I view the logs that are created? I'm using the 2016 Apex.
    Click on the Output Logs button in either Apex Local or Apex Fusion
    Please do not send me PMs with technical questions or requesting assistance - use the forums for Apex help. PM me ONLY if the matter is of a private or personal nature. Thanks.

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    I just checked the output logs and I don't see anything related to the ATK there. Everything seems to be from some old timers I had setup for some Tunze pumps

    Screen Shot 2017-08-08 at 9.43.36 PM.png

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    Frequent Contributor zombie's Avatar
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    Look for the same name as the outlet for the pump.

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

  7. #7
    Master Control Freak RussM's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by oseymour View Post
    Everything seems to be from some old timers I had setup for some Tunze pumps
    As a general best practice it's best to disable logging for outputs like your Timer2 and Timer3, which appear to be running the OSC command, cycling ON and OFF at 5 minute and 10 minute intervals respectively. Enabling logging when initially programming is great to do, but after you know something like this is working, continuing to log such output activity just creates clutter in the logs.
    Please do not send me PMs with technical questions or requesting assistance - use the forums for Apex help. PM me ONLY if the matter is of a private or personal nature. Thanks.

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    Hey guys

    I just came back to sort of close this out because I found the reason why the ATO kept turning off. I gotta give some background first.

    My Vectra M1 failed the day before I went on a 5 day vacation. I hastily swapped the Vectra for a Reef Octopus Varios 8. The Varios is larger and it bumped the float switch to the closed position - so even though the pump was running, no water was going in the tank. This is why the pumped timed out no matter if I increased the 10 minute timeout.

    I fixed it when I got home yesterday.

    Corals are a little pissed off because of the huge salinity jump from no ATO for 5 days. A couple heads on my torch look bad and might die but other than that everything else has responded well after a day of slowly bringing the salinity up.

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    Frequent Visitor bescher's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by oseymour View Post
    Hey guys

    I just came back to sort of close this out because I found the reason why the ATO kept turning off. I gotta give some background first.

    My Vectra M1 failed the day before I went on a 5 day vacation. I hastily swapped the Vectra for a Reef Octopus Varios 8. The Varios is larger and it bumped the float switch to the closed position - so even though the pump was running, no water was going in the tank. This is why the pumped timed out no matter if I increased the 10 minute timeout.

    I fixed it when I got home yesterday.

    Corals are a little pissed off because of the huge salinity jump from no ATO for 5 days. A couple heads on my torch look bad and might die but other than that everything else has responded well after a day of slowly bringing the salinity up.

    You should a the physical outlet and a virtual outlet for the ATO leave the virtual outlet in the auto mode but turn the physical outlet to on and that will also stop it

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    Quote Originally Posted by bescher View Post
    You should a the physical outlet and a virtual outlet for the ATO leave the virtual outlet in the auto mode but turn the physical outlet to on and that will also stop it
    I already solved it but your suggestion wouldn't have solved the issue. In fact this is how I have it setup as I have extra EB8 outlets - didn't solve it. Power would have still been applied to the FMM module but the PMUP would still turn off.

    I gave a great summary of what the issue was and how I fixed it.

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