Is it a good idea to simulate a power outage?

[HuduVudu]

One more quick thought if you have someone taking care of things while you are gone, have them take care of it NOW for a week to make sure that they get it. Don't help them watch and see what they run into.

Also a camera on your tank can be really helpful when you are troubleshooting over long distances, plus you can see things that your tank carer might miss and avoid problems before they happen.

 

[am3gross]

One more quick thought if you have someone taking care of things while you are gone, have them take care of it NOW for a week to make sure that they get it. Don't help them watch and see what they run into.

Also a camera on your tank can be really helpful when you are troubleshooting over long distances, plus you can see things that your tank carer might miss and avoid problems before they happen.

check and check!!!

I have been having her do water changes the last weeks, she has taken good notes in her phone so she follows it to a tee, I also bought some of those wyze cameras and have them mounted so i can see the sump level, with a back up temp gage and i have one mounted for the display.

 

[am3gross]

something tells me the issues i run into now, she will be having the same training later! lol

 

[Reefer1978]

@am3gross here's a quick skimmer program that's recommended by "knowledgeable" apex users on neptune forum:

Fallback OFF
Set ON
If Outlet Return = OFF Then OFF
If Power Apex OFF 001 Then OFF
Defer 005:00 Then ON

 

[am3gross]

@am3gross here's a quick skimmer program that's recommended by "knowledgeable" apex users on neptune forum:

Fallback OFF
Set ON
If Outlet Return = OFF Then OFF
If Power Apex OFF 001 Then OFF
Defer 005:00 Then ON

So part of my training here that i need so much,

with this code,

(If Outlet Return = OFF Then OFF) this means that if the return pump is off then it will shut the skimmer off?

(If Power Apex OFF 001 Then OFF) if apex is off for 1 second then off?

(Defer 005:00 Then ON) this means the skimmer will delay 5 minutes then come back on?

are my statements true?

 

[Reefer1978]

Everything you mentioned is correct. And Fallback = OFF means by default, when the power resumes (but before the apex is online) EB will not give it power.

This program assumes you skimmer is in the "variable height" chamber of the sump which is true for most of our tanks. Given the water height will go up in the case of a power issue, 5 minute delay will allow for that water level to go back down to standard running level.

 

[am3gross]

OK, test number 3 was a full success. No skimmer overflow, however I was not able to use the code provided by @Reefer1978 . I am not sure why but when I put it in to configs it gives me an error.

This is the code that worked however.

Fallback OFF
Set ON
If Power EB832_2 Off 005 Then OFF

For now I think this will work, until I get more teachings I will leave it be for now. My future goal will be to add a Maintenance button where all the wifey has to do is hit one button and everything goes off, then hit the button again and everything comes on, I am just not exactly sure how that would work because I use my return pump to send water to the drain, but I am sure that in due time I will get it figured out!


Thanks everyone for the help and support once again!

SECURE FROM POWER OUTAGE DRILL!!!!

 

[Reefer1978]

Most probably you got an error due to your "Return" outlet being named something else. Thats the only thing that needs to be changed in the above program.

 

[FLReefer101]

@am3gross here's a quick skimmer program that's recommended by "knowledgeable" apex users on neptune forum:

Fallback OFF
Set ON
If Outlet Return = OFF Then OFF
If Power Apex OFF 001 Then OFF
Defer 005:00 Then ON

This is a critical one that I searched everywhere to figure out after countless hours I finally got and the skimmer never over flows when the system is off or restarts.

 

[garbled]

One interesting thing I learned during a recent power outage was that my Tunze safety connector didn't work, because the tunze was connected to the Apex with a VDM cable. It's crazy little things like this that you learn in a real power loss situation. It's also good to see how the pumps resume and if everything re-stabilizes.

 

[Reefer1978]

This is a critical one that I searched everywhere to figure out after countless hours I finally got and the skimmer never over flows when the system is off or restarts.

Yeah this is a good one. At some point I had a cascading set of timers on 3 separate outlets. This skimmer program I used for 3 years while I had skimmers.

 

[vetteguy53081]

I personally don’t
Have large generator in case. In the meantime I don’t interrupt something that running good

 

[am3gross]

Most probably you got an error due to your "Return" outlet being named something else. Thats the only thing that needs to be changed in the above program.

Fallback OFF
Set ON
If Outlet Return = OFF Then OFF
If Power Apex OFF 001 Then OFF
Defer 005:00 Then ON

My "Outlet Return" would be named RETURN_PUMP. So the new code would read:

Fallback OFF
Set ON
If RETURN_PUMP = OFF Then OFF
If Power Apex OFF 001 Then OFF
Defer 005:00 Then ON


Would the "RETURN_PUMP" be named something different?

 

[Reefer1978]

Whoa that's an odd error.

 

[am3gross]

Whoa that's an odd error.

agree!!!

 

[Reefer1978]

@am3gross figured it out, you need to add word "Outlet" back in before your return pump.

 

[am3gross]

@am3gross figured it out, you need to add word "Outlet" back in before your return pump.

Fallback OFF
Set ON
If Outlet RETURN_PUMP = OFF Then OFF
If Power Apex OFF 001 Then OFF
Defer 005:00 Then ON

So my new code would look like this? I will give it a go

 

[am3gross]

OK, so the code went thru with no errors!

I will give the return pump a shut down and report back!

 

[Brett S]

So part of my training here that i need so much,

with this code,

(If Outlet Return = OFF Then OFF) this means that if the return pump is off then it will shut the skimmer off?

This is correct

(If Power Apex OFF 001 Then OFF) if apex is off for 1 second then off?

This is not correct. This means that if the Apex was off for any length of time, then do not turn the skimmer on for one minute (001) after the power was restored. If it was 005, then the skimmer wouldn’t come on for 5 minutes after the power was restored.

(Defer 005:00 Then ON) this means the skimmer will delay 5 minutes then come back on?

This is correct, any time the skimmer needs to switch from OFF to ON the conditions that would turn it on need to remain in that state for 5 minutes, and then the skimmer will come on.

Also note that this means the delays on the power off and the defer commands will be combined in the event of a power failure. If you had both of those commands in your program the power off command wouldn’t try to turn the skimmer on until 1 minute after the power was restored and then the defer command would cause a further 5 minute delay, so with both commands your skimmer will be off for 6 minutes after a power failure.

 

[am3gross]

Ok, still giving me some issues, as soon as I put the code in, the skimmer shut down. I assumed it would come on after the 5 minutes (due to the defer) however it did not. checked the slider, it was in auto. Put the slider to on and the skimmer came on.

Do i need to do the return pump shut down sequence to see if the skimmer comes on after the 5 minutes?