Apex Controller Power Draw Programming

[Joshua M Hall]

Is there a way to program and outlet to turn off if the device that is plugged into it draws power (is on) for over a certain amount of time? What I am trying to accomplish is a tertiary backup to my Tunze ATO. I am currently running it on a IM Fusion 20 and because of the tank size I am concerned with it topping off to much within a small period of time. I know there is the float that will obviously stop it as a secondary backup and it has already done its job. This has only happened a few times but that enough to make me a bit uneasy. I have seen it operate correctly and fill to the optical eye, only to hear/see it come back on and fill until the float shuts it off. I think the the reason this is happening is because of micro bubbles collecting on the optical eye. So for example can I program the Apex to turn off that outlet if it is drawing power for more than 1 minute within an hour?

 

[Fishfinder]

You would have to make a virtual outlet. You just want to use it as a safety correct?

 

[Joshua M Hall]

You would have to make a virtual outlet. You just want to use it as a safety correct?

Yes. Do you know how you would program that?

 

[Fishfinder]

I haven't done it. but great idea I will do it tonight when I get off work. This may be right programming. We would have to test it out

voATOmax
If outlet ATO on then on
Defer 001 then on

Then in your ATO program add this line "if voATOmax on then off

 

[Fishfinder]

Make the virtual outlet, have it defer 1 minute then turn on after your ATO is running. Go to ATO programming add a line that says if the virtual outlet is on then your ATO is off

 

[Joshua M Hall]

I haven't done it. but great idea I will do it tonight when I get off work. This may be right programming. We would have to test it out

voATOmax
If outlet ATO on then on
Defer 001 then on

Then in your ATO program add this line "if voATOmax on then off

I can see your logic here. I have a few questions though. What would shut the voATOmax OFF thus turning the ATO back on. Second I guess isnt so much of a question as it is a point. I wanted it to only turn off if the ATO had ran for more than 1 or 2 mins. No where is that program do I see this. I see that the voATOmax will let it run for 1 min then shut it off. Thats not really what I want. I would like this option say if the VO detected that the ATO was running longer than a min then the VO turned on.

 

[Fishfinder]

How long does your ATO normally run before the float shuts it off? I might be wrong but my thinking was you wanted a safety backup in case the float does not shut it off?

 

[Joshua M Hall]

So how I have been doing it now is to have it turn on every 6 hours. That is doing the trick with not much of a salinity swing but I would like to have it on all the time so that it stays even more stable and works like it is suppose to. The only thing is I wanted to add this program as a 3 level of safety. How it is set now is it turns on for 1 minute every six hours. So if I left it powered on all the time I would say 10 secs every hour or so is how it would normally operate. So what I was thinking was if the apex could detect that it was running longer than normal it would shut down the outlet. So if there was some way I could tell the Apex that if this outlet is drawing power for 30 sec or more in an hour to shut it down.

 

[Fishfinder]

Why do you have it set to turn on every six hours? Why not let the floats turn it on and off?

 

[Joshua M Hall]

Because I don't like relying on a mechanical last line of defense as my primary main controlling switch.

 

[Fishfinder]

If you set the ATO to on and then created that virtual outlet that would work as another backup. If it would normally run for 10 seconds to properly top It would only activate if the pump was on for 1 minute

 

[Fishfinder]

The optical would turn pump on/off, the float is a backup if error occurs, and the virtual outlet would be there to turn off pump if both of those failed

 

[Joshua M Hall]

Awesome. Thanks for all the help Fish. I think I got it now.

 

[Fishfinder]

What programming did you end up using?

 

[Joshua M Hall]

You can with a virtual outlet using this basic form. X should be between the load with the pump off and with the pump running.

StopATO
Set OFF
If Output Tunze Watts > X Then ON
Defer 001:00 Then ON
Min Time 360:00 Then ON

ATO
Fallback ON
Set ON
If Output StopATO = ON Then OFF

Basically what you were telling me to do. This was curtsy of Zombie over on the Neptune Forums.

 

[Fishfinder]

Ya it's pretty much the same code, he's just using watts instead of outlet on/off. I would also have it alert you if that virtual outlet ever activates, because that means you have a problem.

Awesome. Let me know how it works out.

 

[Joshua M Hall]

Ya it's pretty much the same code, he's just using watts instead of outlet on/off. I would also have it alert you if that virtual outlet ever activates, because that means you have a problem.

Awesome. Let me know how it works out.

Thats a great idea. Whats the code I would add to the VO to make it alarm me if it turrns ON?

 

[Fishfinder]

Do to your alerts and type a line that says
if (virtual outlet) on then on