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Thread: Autofeeder won’t retract

  1. #1
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    Autofeeder won’t retract

    I’ve had the AFS for about 3 months, and now it won’t retract. Also when hitting the feed mode manually, it now does multiple rotations (set to only 1 rotation per feeding). I’ve turned it off, because I have no idea how much food it has been dumping. I don’t want to force the drum back in, the plastic seems so cheap and fragile. Any fix for this?



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  2. #2
    Frequent Contributor zombie's Avatar
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    Pull the whole assembly out, check for breaks, blocks, or chips in the gears and reassemble if it looks alright. More than likely a stray pellet has seized one of the gears and needs to be removed.

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

  3. #3
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    As per above, remove the cartride and run it to see if it rotates and retracts correctly. Someones it can correct itself and retract, so you can replace the cartridge

    However, if it doesnt' retract, then I'm afraid it's RMA time. I'm not sure if running upside down has any effect on them

  4. #4
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    I’ve tried running it with the drum removed, same result. it doesn’t seem like it’s binding, it will still extend and rotate(more times than set to) but then only retracts about halfway. I’ve already submitted a ticket with neptune. Just annoyed now.


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  5. #5
    Frequent Visitor mil3sdavis's Avatar
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    I had this problem a few years back and eventually just gave up on the auto feeder. I submitted a trouble ticket, I don't really remember what the response was, but it was never really resolved (I was probably outside of the warranty period). The strange thing I noticed, was that it depended on what module I plugged the Aquabus cable into, on some ports it would work perfectly, but on others it would do exactly what you are describing. It appeared that the further from the base unit the feeder was on the bus the worse it would perform. When connected directly to the base unit it was very reliable but when connected a few modules downstream it hardly worked at all (which is where I need it to be, my main tank is upstairs and the head unit for the apex is in my basement).

  6. #6
    Frequent Contributor zombie's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by mil3sdavis View Post
    I had this problem a few years back and eventually just gave up on the auto feeder. I submitted a trouble ticket, I don't really remember what the response was, but it was never really resolved (I was probably outside of the warranty period). The strange thing I noticed, was that it depended on what module I plugged the Aquabus cable into, on some ports it would work perfectly, but on others it would do exactly what you are describing. It appeared that the further from the base unit the feeder was on the bus the worse it would perform. When connected directly to the base unit it was very reliable but when connected a few modules downstream it hardly worked at all (which is where I need it to be, my main tank is upstairs and the head unit for the apex is in my basement).
    That kind of behavior would indicate that it likely needs a new motor.

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

  7. #7
    Frequent Visitor MJNTWise's Avatar
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    I sent mine back twice before they got it right....Now its been working for about 4 weeks...They know they have a problem with them...Do a ticket...they should make it right....you have 1 yr warranty on it....

  8. #8
    Regular Vistor
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    Just curious but am I seeing the picture correctly, do you have the unit “upside down”? If so how is it mounted?

    Thanks


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  9. #9
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    Curious what the result was. Mine was purchased in February, but I just started using it a couple days ago, same problem. It is connected to my EB832 which is direct connected to the base unit. Using much shorter than provided "official" Aquabus cables. Just put in a ticket.

  10. #10
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    I sent it back to Neptune two weeks ago, just got it back today. So far so good. Noticed it sounds a little different now. They didn’t really provide details of the issue, just that software was updated and it passed their bench test. Hopefully it will work more than a couple weeks now...


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  11. #11
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    Thanks for the update. I do a lot of failure analysis on automotive components and was itching to tear it apart and find the problem. But it is under warranty, so I leave it alone. My initial impression is that there is something mechanical (like a cam on a shaft to a switch) to recognize a rotation, because I hear a click when it should retract. It goes past that and then on the second time around it retracts on the click. But does not fully retract because it shuts off power too soon (probably expecting to be retracted by then). I'll send this one back. I already ordered another one, another thread said there was a distributor recall. I might regret wasting the money, but worst case I'll take them apart after warranty and find the real problem.

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