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Thread: Frequent Apex Fusion Power Issues. Severally affecting my equipment and tank

  1. #1
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    Frequent Apex Fusion Power Issues. Severally affecting my equipment and tank

    Hello,
    I have had this power issue for most of my time with the Apex Fusion and have worked with technical support several times and never got it resolved. I am hoping an expert out can help me. My aquarium is in my high school, I'm a teacher. The aquabus is directly cabled in through ethernet port. I had a separate outlet in my classroom installed for the aquarium. My system has a lot of juice running it in including two 250 watt MHs. Throughout the day and most frequently at night the system shuts off for 20 seconds and it says there is a power issue. None of the lights in the classroom turn off or anything else. It doesn't make sense. This is KILLING my MH ballasts. I'm worried one is down right now as I keep my tank on YouTube Live Stream and one would not kick back on today.
    IMG_3956.PNG.jpg
    That's what my phone looks like in the morning. Here is the link to my tank:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKSopKc4uWw

    Educate me, I'm at a lose here.
    - Was

  2. #2
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    I solved nearly all of my Apex 2016 power issues with a UPS + AVR. Before placing the UPS + AVR before the Apex I had multiple failures and shutdowns.


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  3. #3
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    Can you send me the one you got? And possibly explain why that worked?

  4. #4
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    Mercury Line Interactive UPS Elite2000 Pro. I live in an apartment building in Dubai and I suspect harmonics and voltage drift from VAC and elevator and water pump motors etc was causing issues on the power in my apartment even when everything else was working fine (TV, radio, computers).

    After installing this UPS (with built in AVR) it has on more than one occasion disconnected itself from mains and kept the Apex running for a few seconds until power quality is within parameters. I had frequent (almost daily) issues with spurious Apex disconnects and module failures but no more. Apex power bars seem to be very intolerant of power quality.


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  5. #5
    Frequent Visitor rkpetersen's Avatar
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    I put my Apex on a UPS a couple months ago. I did it to safeguard against the fairly frequent power outages in my area. The possible connection didn't occur to me until just now, but before I installed the UPS, I had been having some of these sporadic events similar to what you describe (where the system would become unresponsive, reboot, and send the 'power issue' text message a few seconds later). I've had no further such events with the system under UPS protection. May be related, although the evidence is just circumstantial, and I've made many other changes to my Apex setup since then as well.

    This is the UPS I bought: https://www.amazon.com/CyberPower-OR...ct_top?ie=UTF8 Seems really top notch. In fact we had a power outage that lasted 20 minutes just a week or two after I hooked it up. I was a bit frantic when the house lights went out, but the aquarium residents never noticed a thing. I've since I bought a second one to replace the aging APC UPS protecting this computer I'm on.

    If a UPS doesn't fix it, it might be that some bug in your programming is causing the Apex to reboot repeatedly, causing the power failure message. Although I would guess tech support has reviewed your module setup and programming and found no issues, since you've been in contact with them about the problem.

  6. #6
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    Look at how many times it disconnected today. That can't be normal. I guess I need an UPS. Will a 900 watt be enough? I don't think I could swing more than $200 on this. Could it be that the outlet this is going in is getting overwhelmed? How could I check that? Just note this is a school building so I have to get help to do certain things in the classroom. Thanks!
    Screen Shot 2017-09-16 at 5.37.03 PM.png

  7. #7
    Master Control Freak RussM's Avatar
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    Those power failure messages showing power loss for about 20 seconds every time are not due actually due to power loss; they are due to the Apex rebooting frequently for some unknown reason. You need to contact Neptune technical support for diagnoses of the issue. https://www.neptunesystems.com/support/contact-support/
    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.

  8. #8
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    So during some of these the tank shuts off for that 20 seconds. And other times it does not. What's up with that?

  9. #9
    Frequent Visitor rkpetersen's Avatar
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    During a reboot, anything plugged into the EB832 that has a Fallback ON programming line in Apex should theoretically remain on during the reboot (*). So if your return pump, lights, powerheads, skimmer, etc all have the Fallback ON line in your code, they should keep working during the 20 second reboot. That is, if the EB832 is functioning properly. If that is actually the module that is going bad, the fallback commands might not work during each episode.

    (* - Although not true if the device has a variable speed input from your apex as well as being plugged into the energy bar. For example, a variable speed return pump will go to zero output during a reboot.)

    Anyway, RussM is of course right, that is a crazy number of reboots, definitely get back in touch with Neptune support. In the meantime, on the chance that it's not a hardware problem but something in software, when was the last time you updated the firmware on your modules? Even if they all say they're up to date, reinstalling them may correct some software problems.

  10. #10
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    I have to wait until Monday until I can work with neptune but in the meantime I just updated the firmware to all my modules. I actually have two energy bars hooked up too. I have a question. If you have something set to fallback ON but it's got a timer on that outlet and the timer has the outlet off will that outlet turn it ON during one of these 20 second reboots? In other words, if I have my lights off in the middle of the night and one of these 20 second reboots happen will my lights turn on? Or will they stay OFF due to the timer?

  11. #11
    Master Control Freak RussM's Avatar
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    No. The EB832's outlets will stay in whatever state they are in while the Apex reboots. An EB832 does not go into Fallback mode until the loss of communications between the EB832 and the Apex has lasted about 70 seconds
    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.

  12. #12
    Frequent Visitor rkpetersen's Avatar
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    Interesting. I did not know that about the 70 second delay before fallback activates, and I don't think I've seen it mentioned anywhere in the Apex documentation (although please correct me if I'm wrong). It seems like there are a lot of interesting and useful pieces of information about the Apex that Neptune has not seen fit to properly document, particularly with the new model.

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