Biocube Hood Resets If Power Loss

[seerad]

Hello! I’ve run into an issue that I can’t seem to find mentioned in any threads (except one but there was no solution listed other than the company replaced it). I have a 32g coralife Biocube LED hood with stock lighting in it. I have my built-in timers and everything setup and it is functioning great until… the power goes out. Once the power goes out it resets the entire thing and I have to reset the time and all of the timers.

Has anyone dealt with this before? Does anyone know if there’s like a watch battery that can be replaced inside the unit? I’d prefer not taking it apart to find out that’s not an option.

If not to the above, I have two potential solutions, 1) a UPS to keep consistent power to the lights to at least cover short outages (we have frequent storms) or 2) I have a second hood upgraded with RapidLEDs. They currently just are on a dimmer and either on or off. Long term I think the better option is to buy a controller and run this system via that, but I’m not sure if I want to start that project before we travel next month.

Any thoughts would be appreciated! I’d prefer to keep the hood in place vs moving to something like an AI or other overhead system because I’m dealing with basically zero evaporation and the system is really stable right now.

 

[Chrisv.]

Is this a new issue? If so it's probably an internal battery that needs to be replaced. I had a similar issue with a first gen apex that would reset the clock every time there was a power outage. Those jokers soldered the battery to the board so that it wasn't user serviceable. It was easy enough to replace, but required a soldering iron.

 

[seerad]

I bought it used and it’s been the case since I got it. I don’t think it was being used so that would fit with the battery drain. I didn’t see a clear path to get to the board… wondering if I will need to remove the lighting fixture to get to it. Will explore that, was just hoping to have confirmation before I start tearing things apart, haha

 

[Chrisv.]

I bought it used and it’s been the case since I got it. I don’t think it was being used so that would fit with the battery drain. I didn’t see a clear path to get to the board… wondering if I will need to remove the lighting fixture to get to it. Will explore that, was just hoping to have confirmation before I start tearing things apart, haha

Totally get it. Have you looked for repair threads and YouTube videos?

 

[seerad]

I couldn’t find any @Chrisv. despite a couple hours of searching over the last few months.

I did however find an LED replacement guide from Steve’s that had a gif that I was pretty positive I could see a battery on the board. Decided to take apart the assembly and can confirm for anyone that needs it that it has a tabbed CR2032 that looks like it’s likely soldered to the board (the yellow ringed one with tabs that you often see marketed towards vintage Nintendo/Pokémon games). I ordered a pack off Amazon and am going to replace it.

for reference for anyone who finds this thread, im including pictures of the inside of the assembly and the board itself

 

[Chrisv.]

I couldn’t find any @Chrisv. despite a couple hours of searching over the last few months.

I did however find an LED replacement guide from Steve’s that had a gif that I was pretty positive I could see a battery on the board. Decided to take apart the assembly and can confirm for anyone that needs it that it has a tabbed CR2032 that looks like it’s likely soldered to the board (the yellow ringed one with tabs that you often see marketed towards vintage Nintendo/Pokémon games). I ordered a pack off Amazon and am going to replace it.

for reference for anyone who finds this thread, im including pictures of the inside of the assembly and the board itself

Same battery thats in the original apex, if I'm not mistaken. So funny that you mention the Nintendo thing-- I recently saw a youtube channel that focused on replacing these in pokemon games and reselling.

Let us know how it works! I found the apex fix to be a 2 minute job.

 

[colejr]

Mike does the same as yours. I have a buddy that assures me that his keeps all of it's values after losing power. Must be a battery present.

 

[Lost in the Sauce]

I bought a bc32 used and it has never held the time with power down. Please let us know if replacing this batter, solves the rest issue.

 

[Chrisv.]

I couldn’t find any @Chrisv. despite a couple hours of searching over the last few months.

I did however find an LED replacement guide from Steve’s that had a gif that I was pretty positive I could see a battery on the board. Decided to take apart the assembly and can confirm for anyone that needs it that it has a tabbed CR2032 that looks like it’s likely soldered to the board (the yellow ringed one with tabs that you often see marketed towards vintage Nintendo/Pokémon games). I ordered a pack off Amazon and am going to replace it.

for reference for anyone who finds this thread, im including pictures of the inside of the assembly and the board itself

That's an interesting vent/fan configuration. If you ever ran into overheating problems in your tank (it happens sometimes with nano tanks) you could totally put a second fan in on the other side pointed at the tank surface and run it on a temperature controller.

 

[mrpham789]

I couldn’t find any @Chrisv. despite a couple hours of searching over the last few months.

I did however find an LED replacement guide from Steve’s that had a gif that I was pretty positive I could see a battery on the board. Decided to take apart the assembly and can confirm for anyone that needs it that it has a tabbed CR2032 that looks like it’s likely soldered to the board (the yellow ringed one with tabs that you often see marketed towards vintage Nintendo/Pokémon games). I ordered a pack off Amazon and am going to replace it.

for reference for anyone who finds this thread, im including pictures of the inside of the assembly and the board itself

Did it work? I had the same issue.

 

[Petegbme]

Did it work? I had the same issue.

I too am curious and have the same issue. Would love to know how to/how easy it is to replace!

 

[Ripley]

From the original posting I found some more detail involving the battery on the BioCube 29/32 LED canopy. The battery is an LIR 2032 3.6v “rechargeable battery button that is soldered on the pc board ( looking closer at the original thread post member). .I’m not an expert on this type of battery button but it definitely is not the standard “CR2032” type battery so I wouldn’t go and solder one of those on if you want the canopy to hold memory when power goes out. There is some of those batteries on Amazon but haven’t found the right one yet. My canopy also is experiencing the same issue where it just shuts off after so long and at first I thought it was the fan so I ordered one of those but I think it is the battery more than anything. One more thing to note regarding the battery, it has two soldered pins that are attached to it and then it appears you solder the batter onto the pc board . Someone correct me if I’m wrong on this or the battery type

 

[Ripley]

An update to having replaced the LIR 2032 button battery. I did use the one on amazon but the label on it noted it as the "LIR 2032H 3.7V" rechargeable battery .I didn't research enough what the H code meant on the end of the number, but the canopy LED is holding its memory now! But again, this type of battery has to be soldered onto the PC board with the pins it comes with. Also, with the issue about the canopy LED just shutting off at random I thought maybe was the battery, well it wasn't. The more I tested items out, it appears the power adapter voltage delivery wasn't stable enough and being this was the original power adapter it was probably on its last leg of the many outages we have been experiencing here in south Texas lately. For now, I have a universal 12VDC 2A Cyberpower adapter. It has not shutoff at random anymore. I will have to find a replacement adapter or contact Coralife for a new adapter if there price is fair.