GHL Doser 2.1 with Director.....Doser Fried?

[Gondore]

I was hooking up my GHL KH Director tonight with the Doser 2.1 pump. I had the Director stack on top of the Doser 2.1. The first time I can a test for alkalinity it worked but I noticed the PH probe was leaking I tried running one more test and it was still leaking slowly. I then reseated the PH probe and used some Vaseline to help seal things up. I noticed a small puddle on the shelf where the unit was sitting (very small). I wipped it up and then noticed that I couldn't connect to my Doser 2.1 anymore. After looking closer the lights on the doser had gone out all together. I unplugged the unit and plugged it back in and still nothing. I did notice that the lights by the LAN port were still lite up but no other lights. I tried plugging the cord into my Slave doser and it powered right up without an issue. I then stuck my nose up close to the unit and smelled and it had that burnt electrical smell . My best guess is that a very small amount of water leaked down off the Director and into the power port on the Doser 2.1 and caused an electrical issue!! Any suggestions or help? I wish the directions would have explicitly said to but the Director on the BOTTOM when stacking, just in case there was a leak. Any thoughts or help anyone can provide would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Michael Gray]

not sure... you would think these things are designed to take a little bit of water...if not id be very surprised..

 

[Gondore]

not sure... you would think these things are designed to take a little bit of water...if not id be very surprised..

I totally agree Michael. There was barely any water around the unit and I couldn't find any near where the electrical cord plugged in.

 

[Michael Gray]

i havent removed the casing.. i did my p4 but dont remember.. but id be shocked if they didnt have some kind of oring on the top and bottom cover to keep the water from seeping in.... if not...... they should def look into it

but look into it.. open up the case.....see how it looks inside.

 

[AZMSGT]

#1 Contact GHL if you are in the USA or Europe. Hopefully they can take care of it for you.

On a side note, the Y cable that was on my set up was defective. Try plugging in your power direct to the Doser and see what happens. Also a reminder it usually takes about a minute for the units to boot up all the way.

 

[Gondore]

#1 Contact GHL if you are in the USA or Europe. Hopefully they can take care of it for you.

On a side note, the Y cable that was on my set up was defective. Try plugging in your power direct to the Doser and see what happens. Also a reminder it usually takes about a minute for the units to boot up all the way.

I found the issue. The top right part of the Doser 2.1 leaks if even if you get the smallest amount of water on it. I was setting up my Director and had it stacked on top of the Doser 2.1. The PH probe started leaking very slightly and the water ran down the side of the Director onto the top right side of the Doser 2.1 and ran right inside the unit!!! This was on my first test run of the Director!

 

[Oldreefer44]

Had similar issue. GHL blamed me and refused to honor warranty even though the doser never worked correctly direct from the box. Needless to say, now have an Apex.

 

[Gondore]

Had similar issue. GHL blamed me and refused to honor warranty even though the doser never worked correctly direct from the box. Needless to say, now have an Apex.

Yeah, if this isn't covered in full I will be going back to Neptune!

 

[AZMSGT]

Even if it’s not covered... which I can’t blame them. Perhaps just get a replacement PCB? Sucks about the leak. But be honest with your self it’s not really GHLs fault.

Really makes me want to go out and get a can of conformal coating and soak these boards with it. Guess I‘m going to have to take extra measures to protect my gear.

 

[Gondore]

Even if it’s not covered... which I can’t blame them. Perhaps just get a replacement PCB? Sucks about the leak. But be honest with your self it’s not really GHLs fault.

Really makes me want to go out and get a can of conformal coating and soak these boards with it. Guess I‘m going to have to take extra measures to protect my gear.

I totally disagree! This unit was setup EXACTLY as laid out in the instructions! Probably 100 ml max leaked from the PH probe the FIRST time I ran the Director. These unit should be sealed water tight end of story. If GHL's response is that this is my fault I will be posting reviews on all the major sites because these are not usable like this unless you are going to wrap them in plastic or something to protect them from water. I also found the setup of the Director to be very difficult with many points of failure. I just went and watched a YouTube movie on setting up the Trident and was amazed how simple it was!

 

[AZMSGT]

I totally disagree! This unit was setup EXACTLY as laid out in the instructions! Probably 100 ml max leaked from the PH probe the FIRST time I ran the Director. These unit should be sealed water tight end of story. If GHL's response is that this is my fault I will be posting reviews on all the major sites because these are not usable like this unless you are going to wrap them in plastic or something to protect them from water. I also found the setup of the Director to be very difficult with many points of failure. I just went and watched a YouTube movie on setting up the Trident and was amazed how simple it was!

Good luck, hope they hook you up. But threatening to slander them all over the place is a little bit like jumping the gun don’t you think? You haven’t even talked to them yet.

You might want to read page 30 of the KH Directors manual in it’s entirety.

4.12 Mounting the pH-Electrode
After successful calibration, the pH-Electrode can be installed. To do this loosen the locking nut on the side of the KH Director and push the electrode into the device or rather into the measurement cell until it stops. Then turn the locking nut tight again.
Make sure that the rubber seal is seated correctly and that the screw connection cannot be loosened, and ensure that no water can escape.
Tighten the screw connection as tightly as possible to
prevent water from leaking out of the electrode, use an appropriate tool!
TIP
To keep the rubber seal smooth and dense, we recommend rubbing it with Vaseline thinly from time to time.
DANGER
• •
Incorrect installation of the pH-Electrode can destroy the KH Director!
Any repair caused by this – e.g. through a water leakage – is not a warranty claim, a repair or replacement is therefore subject to a charge.

 

[Gondore]

Good luck, hope they hook you up. But threatening to slander them all over the place is a little bit like jumping the gun don’t you think? You haven’t even talked to them yet.

You might want to read page 30 of the KH Directors manual in it’s entirety.

4.12 Mounting the pH-Electrode
After successful calibration, the pH-Electrode can be installed. To do this loosen the locking nut on the side of the KH Director and push the electrode into the device or rather into the measurement cell until it stops. Then turn the locking nut tight again.
Make sure that the rubber seal is seated correctly and that the screw connection cannot be loosened, and ensure that no water can escape.
Tighten the screw connection as tightly as possible to
prevent water from leaking out of the electrode, use an appropriate tool!
TIP
To keep the rubber seal smooth and dense, we recommend rubbing it with Vaseline thinly from time to time.
DANGER
• •
Incorrect installation of the pH-Electrode can destroy the KH Director!
Any repair caused by this – e.g. through a water leakage – is not a warranty claim, a repair or replacement is therefore subject to a charge.

I am in no way threatening slander. I am stating that hobbyist should know how easily this unit be be fried by just a very small amount of water getting on top of the unit. This is nothing but the simple truth and I have all the pictures to show it. Leaving honest reviews is far from slander.

Additionally, I read all those instructions already. How can you test if something leaks if you don't run water through it? You can't test the seal without running the unit and if it does happen to leak and it ruins the unit... I am responsible?

We will wait to see how they respond. Hopefully this is a non-issue.

 

[kasso187]

Good luck with the process. Did you use an actual tool or just hand tight?

 

[DancingWind]

Well ... a lesson for everyone I guess. Don't stack potentially leaking parts before thoroughly testing for leaks.
And if a part has potential for a leak do the initial testing so that the dripping part would drip away from sensitive stuff in case of problems .. ie place at an angle?
I imagine it's the same potential problem with Neptune or Dosetronic

 

[DancingWind]

And drop of fresh water can destroy electronics - all the **** that is in water and on pcb + electric field = a mini chemical reactor. It happens within seconds.
Now .. saltwater saltwater melts it on it's own whole bu then you add electricity.

Theoretically you could cover everything with silicone or epoxy but it's a mess if you need to fix it and plugs are still exposed

 

[Gondore]

Well ... a lesson for everyone I guess. Don't stack potentially leaking parts before thoroughly testing for leaks.
And if a part has potential for a leak do the initial testing so that the dripping part would drip away from sensitive stuff in case of problems .. ie place at an angle?
I imagine it's the same potential problem with Neptune or Dosetronic

I have ran Neptune products for 10 years and never had anything like this occur. Additionally, if you review the manual it shows doing it exactly like I did. Plain and simple...the top of a Doser should not leak like this... period. It's a defect that should be fixed immediately.

 

[robbyg]

This is what you need to buy. Even someone with zero tech experience can apply it.


About two years ago my dosing pump got fried. It was kind of Amazing the way it happened.

I keep all my electrical stuff in a separate cabinet from my wet stuff. The dosing pump is kind of a ******* child as it does not fit either category. So to be safe I put it in my Ro Compartment right on the cabinets inside top. I built a small shelf to hold it so no water could reach it. That worked and life was good for many years.

Then one Sunday I get a leak detection alarm from my Ro cabinet. I run to it and I open the door and what bellowed out was a thick white smoke that makes it impossible to see inside. I then notice that it was not smoke but mist!! Puzzled I reach in and turn on the main Ro line to dump some water. As the Mist clears I can see it is coming from an Ro Water line.

After stopping the water I found the Ro line had a crack in it from old age. It created a Pin sized hole that had created a thick mist with 70 PSI of water pushing out of it.
I cleaned up but found that the dosing pump had taken a vape bath. I pulled the doser apart and dried it, then used Rice to fill up the compartment and then sealed the whole thing in a bag of rice for about three days.

I then tried powering it up but it was not responding. A later inspection in my home lab under a 50x inspection scope revealed that several of the fine traces had been destroyed. I fixed those and then found two IC's were dead. A week later I replaced those and she sprang back to life. I then Conformal coated the board put her back into action and a week later one of the dosing motors started to stop and start. On inspection that motor plus another one had started to rust inside. So I replaced the motors and now she is running good. I also bought another spare dosing pump as I really do not intend to mess with this further should it give more problems.

 

[Gondore]

This is what you need to buy. Even someone with zero tech experience can apply it.


About two years ago my dosing pump got fried. It was kind of Amazing the way it happened.

I keep all my electrical stuff in a separate cabinet from my wet stuff. The dosing pump is kind of a ******* child as it does not fit either category. So to be safe I put it in My Ro Compartment and life was good for many years.

Then one Sunday I get a leak detection alarm from my Ro cabinet. I run to it and I open the door and what bellowed out was a thick white smoke that makes it impossible to see inside. I then notice that it was not smoke but mist!! Puzzled I reach in and turn on the main Ro line to dump some water. As the Mist clears I can see it is coming from an Ro Water line.

After stopping the water I found the Ro line had a crack in it from old age. It created a Pin sized hole that had created a thick mist with 70 PSI of water pushing out of it.
I cleaned up but found that the dosing pump had taken a vape bath. I pulled the doser apart and dried it, then used Rice to fill up the compartment and then sealed the whole thing in a bag of rice for about three days.

I then tried powering it up but it was not responding. A later inspection in my home lab under a 50x inspection scope revealed that several of the fine traces had been destroyed. I fixed those and then found two IC's were dead. A week later I replaced those and she sprang back to life. I then Conformal coated the board put her back into action and a week later one of the dosing motors started to stop and start. On inspection that motor plus another one had started to rust inside. So I replaced the motors and now she is running good. I also bought another spare dosing pump as I really do not intend to mess with this further should it give problems.

Excellent post! I was never aware this stuff even existed. My question though would be why one of the highest dollar dosing pumps on the reef market wouldn't utilize something like this. I have a separate room for all my fish equipment, but most people are putting these units under their stands in very tight quarters, surrounded by water on all sides. Heck, even cellphones which aren't around water all the time are 10 times more resistant to water damage than this pump seems to be.

 

[AZMSGT]

Yea, seeing your problem really makes me wonder why these boards aren’t coated too.

How Do I Apply Conformal Coating? Which Application Method Is Best For Me? - Electrolube USA

www.electrolube.org

 

[robbyg]

Excellent post! I was never aware this stuff even existed. My question though would be why one of the highest dollar dosing pumps on the reef market wouldn't utilize something like this. I have a separate room for all my fish equipment, but most people are putting these units under their stands in very tight quarters, surrounded by water on all sides. Heck, even cellphones which aren't around water all the time are 10 times more resistant to water damage than this pump seems to be.

They are built to a price and in the low quantities these things are built at it's very hard to add even $5 worth of Conformal coating. Trust me at almost every consumer electronics company I have worked for they will argue over the merits of spending 5 cents more on a better capacitor. Bean counters are always hard at work and they are never there to give you a bigger budget to work with.