Apex making loud clock like clicking, lights flashing, etc

pledosophy · Nov 7, 2022

My Apex is making a loud clicking sound, often times when things get turned on due to programing (eg. lights, ato). When the lights turn on now, they start flashing every second or so.

I originally thought I had to much plugged into my EB832. So I moved my heaters and my powerheads to an EB8 to lighten the load on my EB 832. At this time I also pressed the reset button in on my EB832 and had a couple weeks where things worked.

Now they are not working again.

I did have a voltage warning one day, but that has resolved on it's own. I have another tank with in APEX in a different room which has never had issues so I do not think the issue is caused by the power coming into the home.

I am unsure what to do. Is it best to just replace the EB832, I bought it used and it is over a year old. Is there another option I should be looking at?

_AV · Nov 7, 2022

This is the 12v PSU problem. Every single EB832 eventually fails because of it.
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/another-attempt-at-fixing-apex-eb832.804717/

In your case, the PSU is not dead, but is too weak to handle eight outlets. As soon as you tell it to turn on more than so many outlets at the same time, it gives up.

Check out my repair article and the video above.
I do offer a repair service if you don't want to diy it. Way cheaper than getting a new EB832.

n2585722 · Nov 7, 2022

_AV said:
This is the 12v PSU problem. Every single EB832 eventually fails because of it.
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/another-attempt-at-fixing-apex-eb832.804717/

In your case, the PSU is not dead, but is too weak to handle eight outlets. As soon as you tell it to turn on more than so many outlets at the same time, it gives up.

Check out my repair article and the video above.
I do offer a repair service if you don't want to diy it. Way cheaper than getting a new EB832.

It is probably bad filter caps in a switch mode power supply. That is a common failure with a lot of consumer electronics products. We use 105 degree caps when replacing all electrolytic caps. The 85 degree caps will not hold up in that type of power supply.