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Thread: Apex and Vectra Pumps

  1. #1
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    Angry Apex and Vectra Pumps

    Hi all,

    I know this has been discussed before, but I am looking for an engineering/ scientific explanation !

    Ecotech is currently refusing to cover Vectra pumps, for repairs/ replacement if they are powered by APEX !

    The reason they do not, is that according to ETM, the frequent Stop/Starts Cycles triggered by the auto feeding mode damage the pumps.

    I do not understand how this is different from someone having the Vectra Powered by a regular timer that shuts it down during feeding, or even someone turning the pump off manually during feeding. (Why would these be covered and if done through the controller they are not !!)

    I am beyond puzzled that stopping the pump 3 times a day, for feeding, is the reason they get damaged. This makes absolutely no sense at all !

    If you need to have the pump controlled only by Reeflink, why don't they mention that in their literature and manuals? Why don't they mention that the pump is not compatible with Apex in their brochures and pump manuals?

    Looking for your suggestions on how to get these guys to cover a failed product which is hardly over a year old and was not cheap to buy. Needless to say that there are hundreds of similar cases if you go through the reviews of Vectra Pumps in BRS or MarineDepot, etc.

    I truly regret buying the Vectra Pump.

    PS. I am still in discussions with these guys with regards to their solution to this problem, I will keep you all posted !

  2. #2
    Frequent Contributor iamchadster's Avatar
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    Best answer I can give you is to vote with your $, get a Cor!
    Chad

  3. #3
    Friday24
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    Coralvue told me the same thing about starting and stopping my VarioS-8


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

  4. #4
    Frequent Contributor zombie's Avatar
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    That most definately should not void your warranty, but it is true that a large number of rapid changes from 0% to desired percent can degrade the life of a pump. To mitigate this you can use ramps which will not degrade pump life regardless of how often they happen. The example below is for a pump that normally runs at 80% and you want it completely off during feeds.

    Normal
    Type: ramp
    Ramp time: 1 minute
    Start intensity: 0
    End intensity: 80

    Stop
    Type: ramp
    Ramp time: 1 minute
    Start intensity: 80
    End intensity: 0

    Pump
    Set Normal
    If FeedA 000 Then Stop

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

  5. #5
    Friday24
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    Quote Originally Posted by zombie View Post
    That most definately should not void your warranty, but it is true that a large number of rapid changes from 0% to desired percent can degrade the life of a pump. To mitigate this you can use ramps which will not degrade pump life regardless of how often they happen. The example below is for a pump that normally runs at 80% and you want it completely off during feeds.

    Normal
    Type: ramp
    Ramp time: 1 minute
    Start intensity: 0
    End intensity: 80

    Stop
    Type: ramp
    Ramp time: 1 minute
    Start intensity: 80
    End intensity: 0

    Pump
    Set Normal
    If FeedA 000 Then Stop

    You might be an engineer if...You have no life and can prove it mathematically.
    To clarify Coralvue didn’t say it would void my warranty, just that the pump wasn’t designed for, nor should it be turned off and on multiple times a day. I was using ramp profiles, but according to them it will wear the pump out just the same.


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

  6. #6
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    Quote Originally Posted by Friday24 View Post
    Coralvue told me the same thing about starting and stopping my VarioS-8


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
    This is surprising to me because the VarioS (I have an 8) ramps up slowing by default if ever it turned off and then on.

    I love the VarioS 8. I have a Cor 20 coming....so one will be a backup depending on how the bake off goes........

  7. #7
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    That's really poor. To be fair to all, they are factually correct in that if you ramp up and ramp down pumps, then yes, they will have a marginally shorter MTBF (I doubt they have measured this) but you would expect their testing procedures to take this into account. In fact, if I were running the QC process on them, I would specifically run ramp up/ramp down profiles over and over in order to simulate age and get a realistic MTBF.

    Also, the vectra is also designed as a closed loop pump IIRC, so it makes no sense. This should not invalidate any warranty, it's reasonable use.

  8. #8
    Friday24
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    The reason I contacted them in the first place is I’ve been having a problem maintaining water level. I had it set to ramp up and down twice a day. For some reason the pump would decide to flow more or less randomly, I was constantly having to adjust the max percentage on the ramp profile. I contacted Neptune and they had me test the 0-10v outlets and they were good. Then I moved on to Coralvue and was basically told the pump wasn’t designed to be ramped up and down multiple times a day. I did find out in the process that the 0-10v outlet will only go to 9v unless you use the external power supply that plugs into the Apex unit.


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