Apex-How to tell what is turning my EB outlet off?

[Reefs and Geeks]

Hello,

I am new to my apex, so trying to slowly get everything set up. Yesterday I plugged my return pumps in and had the outlets set to AUTO. I don't believe I have any programing in for the outlets that they are plugged into yet, however I later went to check on one of my tanks and saw the return pump outlet was shut off. I manually turned all of my outlets in fusion to ON so I don't have to worry about they turning off when they shouldn't, but not I'm afraid to turn any outlet to auto because I don't know how to tell what will cause it to shut the outlet off.

Is there somewhere I can look to see all commands that would possibly control an outlet so I can tell what could cause it to shut off? Or a log of inputs that give a command to shut an outlet off?

Isa there a way to reset an outlet so I can be sure there is no lingering programming that will unexpectedly shut the outlet off?

 

[vetteguy53081]

Return pump you want to click and leave on “ON”
Auto only if you want to give it a Time Out for feeding schedule

 

[Reefs and Geeks]

Return pump you want to click and leave on “ON”
Auto only if you want to give it a Time Out for feeding schedule

I am planning on setting up this outlet so that I can set up a "feed mode" to shut off the return pump for 45minutes and turn back on automatically. This return pump is for my frag tank, and I would like to be able to press a button and have the return turn off so I can either get top down pictures of my frags, or so visitors can see them all. Then I don't have to remember to turn them back on, or plug them in when I'm done. For the moment, I'll just leave them on and turn the outlet off manually until I figure it out.

 

[Mical]

In fusion next to your "return pump" outlet there's a little gear in the upper right side, click on it and you'll see what options you have. Easier yet goto to "tasks" in upper bar of fusion and click on return pump and assign it to the outlet you want return pump on.

 

[vetteguy53081]

For the task you want to do, suncrest likely has a template for you

@SuncrestReef

 

[SuncrestReef]

Hello,

I am new to my apex, so trying to slowly get everything set up. Yesterday I plugged my return pumps in and had the outlets set to AUTO. I don't believe I have any programing in for the outlets that they are plugged into yet, however I later went to check on one of my tanks and saw the return pump outlet was shut off. I manually turned all of my outlets in fusion to ON so I don't have to worry about they turning off when they shouldn't, but not I'm afraid to turn any outlet to auto because I don't know how to tell what will cause it to shut the outlet off.

Is there somewhere I can look to see all commands that would possibly control an outlet so I can tell what could cause it to shut off? Or a log of inputs that give a command to shut an outlet off?

Isa there a way to reset an outlet so I can be sure there is no lingering programming that will unexpectedly shut the outlet off?

You can view and/or change the programming for any output by clicking its gear icon:

This will open up the configuration screen for that output. It will either be set with a specifc "Control Type", or will be set to "Advanced" where the programming code is displayed. Every new Apex comes with outputs pre-configured for specific Control Types, so where you have your return pump plugged in may have actually been pre-programmed as a light on a timer or other type of device:

See my tutorial on Apex Control Types for a complete description of each type, and the programming they produce:

Apex Control Types

When I wrote my 8-part Apex Programming Tutorial series, all of the coding examples were applied to outputs where the Control Type was set to Advanced. Control Types are pre-set shortcuts to program an output for a specific device, allowing less...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[willtheld]

Return pump you want to click and leave on “ON”
Auto only if you want to give it a Time Out for feeding schedule

I'd argue against that, if you have an outlet you want to stay on using the SET ON command in the programming, and leaving the outlet on auto is a much better solution in my head. The reason being it's easier to remember to leave everything on auto and quicker to glance down the list if everything is uniform on the main page than trying to remember what everything needs to be set at individually. It's also easier for 3rd parties coming in to take care of your tank to understand where to leave things set at. Solid apex programming can lead to a more intuitive user experience.

 

[vetteguy53081]

I'd argue against that, if you have an outlet you want to stay on using the SET ON command in the programming, and leaving the outlet on auto is a much better solution in my head. The reason being it's easier to remember to leave everything on auto and quicker to glance down the list if everything is uniform on the main page than trying to remember what everything needs to be set at individually. It's also easier for 3rd parties coming in to take care of your tank to understand where to leave things set at. Solid apex programming can lead to a more intuitive user experience.

if you have an outlet you want to stay on using the SET ON command in the programming, and leaving the outlet on auto is a much better solution in my head.

For me leaving it on-"SET ON" which I previously indicated assures the pump stays constant as I am not up for losing $7,000 in livestock due to a program fault or interuption as experienced by OP. I dont do intervals nor feeding modes and do not want any fallbacks as i have a 6000 gal/hr pump for entire system which is DC. My outlet has an alarm that will alert me of flow disruption via flow sensor if there is a disruption in flow.

For feeding purposes,
How you use the Feed Cycles is up to you :

• FeedA — Feeding fish. Turns off powerheads, skimmer, and sets return pump to 1% for 5 minutes.
• FeedB — Feeding corals. Turns off powerheads, skimmer, and sets return pump to 1% for 10 minutes.
• FeedC — Photography. Turns off powerheads, skimmer, sets return pump to 1%, sets lights to whiter spectrum for 30 minutes.
• FeedD — Feeding fish with Auto Feeder. Turns off powerheads, skimmer, and sets return pump to 1% for 5 minutes, and activates feeder for one rotation.

This is accomplished by adding the following line to each output you’d like off during the Feed Cycle:

If [FEED CYCLE] [DELAY] Then [ON/OFF/PROFILE]

For example, the powerheads are turned off with this code:

If FeedA 000 Then OFF
If FeedB 000 Then OFF
If FeedC 000 Then OFF
If FeedD 000 Then OFF

 

[SuncrestReef]

if you have an outlet you want to stay on using the SET ON command in the programming, and leaving the outlet on auto is a much better solution in my head.

For me leaving it on-"SET ON" which I previously indicated assures the pump stays constant as I am not up for losing $7,000 in livestock due to a program fault or interuption as experienced by OP. I dont do intervals nor feeding modes and do not want any fallbacks as i have a 6000 gal/hr pump for entire system which is DC. My outlet has an alarm that will alert me of flow disruption via flow sensor if there is a disruption in flow.

For feeding purposes,
How you use the Feed Cycles is up to you :

• FeedA — Feeding fish. Turns off powerheads, skimmer, and sets return pump to 1% for 5 minutes.
• FeedB — Feeding corals. Turns off powerheads, skimmer, and sets return pump to 1% for 10 minutes.
• FeedC — Photography. Turns off powerheads, skimmer, sets return pump to 1%, sets lights to whiter spectrum for 30 minutes.
• FeedD — Feeding fish with Auto Feeder. Turns off powerheads, skimmer, and sets return pump to 1% for 5 minutes, and activates feeder for one rotation.

This is accomplished by adding the following line to each output you’d like off during the Feed Cycle:

If [FEED CYCLE] [DELAY] Then [ON/OFF/PROFILE]

For example, the powerheads are turned off with this code:

If FeedA 000 Then OFF
If FeedB 000 Then OFF
If FeedC 000 Then OFF
If FeedD 000 Then OFF

Hmmm...Your reply looks very familiar....

Neptune Apex Programming Tutorials Part 7, Feed Cycles

How to program Neptune Apex for Feed Cycles.

www.reef2reef.com

 

[vetteguy53081]

Hmmm...Your reply looks very familiar....

Neptune Apex Programming Tutorials Part 7, Feed Cycles

How to program Neptune Apex for Feed Cycles.

www.reef2reef.com

Yes- that schedule was a quote from you to show an example

 

[Reefs and Geeks]

Thanks guys! turns out the outlet was set up to be a light, and I had not changed the programming. I'll be combing through all of my outlets today to make sure they are set up for the proper equipment I'll also be reading through all of the reference material you guys posted. Really appreciate the help, and additional info. I'm really excited to get everything set up, but seems I'm going to be doing it a bit at a time and making sure everything I put in has the correct functionality before moving on to the next function. So far this apex is really fun I didn't realize how much using the apex is almost it's own hobby in a way

Quick question on the feed cycle (forgive me if the answer is in the links you guys sent that I hadn't gotten a chance to read yet)- What does the "delay" do in this command? Is that a delay before the outlet turns off after I hit the feed cycle? If FeedA 000 Then OFF