Apex heater malfunction

[SaiyanDan]

So when I first setup my heater and temp prob I set my heat probe to the wrong module so the wrong temp was up, but my heater worked no problem. I fixed it and set it up but now my heater will auto
Turn off from my apex. My parameters are on for greater than 74 and less than 82 and I have been maintained there. Thoughts?

 

[jaws789832]

What are you trying to do?. Which one of those is the actual heater outlet? Does your heater have a thermostat on it as well? Not too sure why you would want such a temperature difference. I set mine to go on at 77.5 and off at 78 so I only have a .5 degree temp swing. My apex turns the outlet on and off to control the heat. I use the I set the thermostat on the heater for 76.5 to 79.5 and use that as 1 of my emergency backups for it. I also have 2 temp probes so I use the second temp probe as another backup. Here is my code:
Fallback OFF
If Temp < 77.5 Then ON
If Temp > 78.0 Then OFF
If Temp2 > 78.5 Then OFF
If Outlet Maint2_A3 = ON Then OFF
I also plug the heater into a separate temperature controller which is my 4th line of defense in case something goes wrong. Basically in operation, The apex turns the heater plug on and off at 77.5 and 78. If the first temp probe goes bad, the apex should turn it off at 78.5 because of the second temp probe. If the apex goes haywire and leaves the heat on the temperature controller should shut the heater off at 79. If that don't work right then the last line of defense is the thermostat on the heater itself.

 

[SaiyanDan]

Hey thanks for your reply.
My heater does have a built in temp probe that I have set to 79 and my tank is consistently 78-79. I plugged the heater into an apex control outlet and set the heater parameters to a high off 82 for off and a low of 74 for on. Even though my apex controller temp probe is reading within those parameters the apex is turning my my heater off and I can't figure it out

 

[jaws789832]

I think you should do it just the opposite. Let the apex actually control the on and off and have the heaters thermostat be the backup. I don't know if this is happening but what could potentially be happening is if the temperature ever gets up to 82 just from daytime heating, the plug is going to switch off and stay off until it gets down to 74 so even the heaters thermostat won't do anything.

 

[leepink23]

It will only cut your heater on if the temperature drops below your on temperature. Since you set your on so low the temp will have to drop alot before it cuts your heater on. You would probably want the on temp around 77.8 or so.

 

[SaiyanDan]

I just figured that out lol... I was thinking backwards that it would turn on if below that value rather than it would heat to the value I put in on "on". Thanks for the help

 

[leepink23]

No problem, apex can be confusing at first, the Neptune forum has a ton of information on programming as well.

 

[randyBRS]

Hey there,

It looks like your outlet will be on until your tank reaches that high set point. Once that set point is reached, the outlet will remain OFF until it reaches the lowest set point. It's a big swing up and down, which is probably why you are seeing this issue. Sounds like you got it figured out though! ;-)


-Randy