EB8 Power Bar Trouble

[reeferericb]

I’ve had great success with my controller so far until today. My Apex Lost WiFi signal at some point and now my heater outlet is giving me issues. If I manually turn the outlet on it works great, If I put it on auto it shuts off. The temperature is way below the maximum and it’s frustrating.
I’m using a InkBird heater controller plugged into the Apex. The Apex has higher max temp ranges than the InkBird will get to so that I can monitor the InkBird remotely as well.
The programming looks good, I’m just not sure what to do from here. This is a new Apex system (not the classic). I bought the EB8 used so that I could plug 1,000 watt heater into an outlet.

 

[reeferericb]

Outlet programming and current temperature setting

 

[SuncrestReef]

I have a few questions:

1. What is the programming on the heater's output?
2. What is the temperature probe reading?
3. Which output number is the heater plugged into on the EB8?
4. Is the WiFi connection back on now?

 

[reeferericb]

Posted above you are answers to most of your questions. Heater has been working great for about a month I til today. It’s plugged into outlet 4 (10 amp)

wifi is back on now

 

[Mical]

Did you calibrate your Inkbird to your Apex probe/temp settings?

 

[reeferericb]

Did you calibrate your Inkbird to your Apex probe/temp settings?

No, I didn’t. The Apex is set to go off at 81°, but it doesn’t get above 79.5°. Until today the InkBird was working great. When I first set it up I had the Apex controlling the heaters, that didn’t work because the InkBird was off when not in use. I decided that the InkBird was designed to be used as a switch so it wouldn’t hurt to use the apex as a backup.

 

[SuncrestReef]

OK, based on your programming, be aware of this: If your Apex is rebooted (due to a power failure or if you manually reboot it) and the current temperature is 77.0 or higher, there is no code that would automatically turn on your heater.

You said it recently lost WiFi, which in many cases can be the result of a brief power outage at your house. Typically an Internet router takes many minutes to boot up before it's ready to hand out a DHCP address on the network, but the Apex boots very quickly and waits for a DHCP address to be offered, and eventually gives up and is left without network communications.

This is simply my theory, but I'm pretty confident that your Apex is not malfunctioning, but just the victim of the programming and power outage circumstance.

 

[reeferericb]

OK, based on your programming, be aware of this: If your Apex is rebooted (due to a power failure or if you manually reboot it) and the current temperature is 77.0 or higher, there is no code that would automatically turn on your heater.

You said it recently lost WiFi, which in many cases can be the result of a brief power outage at your house. Typically an Internet router takes many minutes to boot up before it's ready to hand out a DHCP address on the network, but the Apex boots very quickly and waits for a DHCP address to be offered, and eventually gives up and is left without network communications.

This is simply my theory, but I'm pretty confident that your Apex is not malfunctioning, but just the victim of the programming and power outage circumstance.

When the Apex finally came back online where I could control it the temperature was 73°. That’s when I manually turned on the heater outlet and it started heating. It works if I manually turn it on, but it won’t stay on via programming. I may contact Neptune tomorrow and see what they say.

 

[SuncrestReef]

When the Apex finally came back online where I could control it the temperature was 73°. That’s when I manually turned on the heater outlet and it started heating. It works if I manually turn it on, but it won’t stay on via programming. I may contact Neptune tomorrow and see what they say.

How long ago did this problem happen? According to your posted graph, the temperature never went below 77.3 in the past 24 hours, which supports my theory that the Apex wouldn't turn on the heater after a power failure because the temperature was still above the programmed threshold of 77.0.

 

[schuby]

Try this programming:

Fallback OFF
Set OFF
If Tmp < 81.0 Then ON


This will turn the outlet ON only when temperature is less than 81 degrees.

Also, can you post pic of top of programming screen. I want to see the outlet description.

 

[SuncrestReef]

Try this programming:

Fallback OFF
Set OFF
If Tmp < 81.0 Then ON


This will turn the outlet ON only when temperature is less than 81 degrees.

Also, can you post pic of top of programming screen. I want to see the outlet description.

I agree, this is a better approach when you have a different controller (the Inkbird) in charge of maintaining the temperature and just using the Apex to prevent overheating. Although I might approach it from the opposite direction:

Fallback ON
Set ON
If Tmp > 81.0 Then OFF

This would allow the InkBird to continue controlling the heater if the Apex is ever disconnected, rebooting, or locked up.

 

[reeferericb]

Try this programming:

Fallback OFF
Set OFF
If Tmp < 81.0 Then ON


This will turn the outlet ON only when temperature is less than 81 degrees.

Also, can you post pic of top of programming screen. I want to see the outlet description.

I have fallback set to “on” to make sure if it loses power again that the other controller will still be able to have power. The Apex is the backup. I also bumped up the minimum temperature to 80°. If the temperature is within the margin then the outlet is off. Is that right?

 

[SuncrestReef]

I have fallback set to “on” to make sure if it loses power again that the other controller will still be able to have power. The Apex is the backup. I also bumped up the minimum temperature to 80°. If the temperature is within the margin then the outlet is off. Is that right?

Maybe a better way to phrase the question is this: Do you ever want the Apex to turn off the heater if the temperature is too low? If not, then don't use any lower threshold at all, and just use the Apex to prevent overheating:

Fallback ON
Set ON
If Tmp > 81.0 Then OFF

 

[reeferericb]

Maybe a better way to phrase the question is this: Do you ever want the Apex to turn off the heater if the temperature is too low? If not, then don't use any lower threshold at all, and just use the Apex to prevent overheating:

Fallback ON
Set ON
If Tmp > 81.0 Then OFF

I’ll do that, that makes sense.

 

[schuby]

You're missing the "Set" statement. Based on your programming pic, if your Apex is running and the temp is between 77 and 81, you haven't specified if you want outlet ON or OFF. It may be defaultingto OFF. "Fallback" only applies when Apex isn't running.

 

[reeferericb]

You're missing the "Set" statement. Based on your programming pic, if your Apex is running and the temp is between 77 and 81, you haven't specified if you want outlet ON or OFF. It may be defaultingto OFF. "Fallback" only applies when Apex isn't running.

I just updated it. Thank you

 

[schuby]

Can you post what you ended up for programming?

 

[reeferericb]

Can you post what you ended up for programming?