Neptune apex skimmer program

1Bigfish

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Hello all..I’m sure this topic has come up lots, but my skimmer program will not turn my skimmer off when I turn the return pump off as I have it programmed.
hopefully some of you apex pros on reef2reef don’t mind having a look at my program and helping me correct it. Thanks so much
80FA9855-6282-4835-9F5E-3E99DA3BA746.png
 

Pistondog

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Is you switch the skimmer port off and on via the dashboard, does it respond?
 

GlassMunky

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Thanks...I removed set on from programming, updated the apex, unplugged my return pump and the skimmer still stayed on?
Do you mean physically unplugged or turned to “off” on the Apex dashboard?
 
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1Bigfish

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Is you switch the skimmer port off and on via the dashboard, does it respond?
I manually turned the skimmer to off on the dashboard and it turned off.
I copied your program exactly, updated the apex, unplug my return pump and the skimmer still stayed on.
Any other thoughts?
 

TheHarold

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I manually turned the skimmer to off on the dashboard and it turned off.
I copied your program exactly, updated the apex, unplug my return pump and the skimmer still stayed on.
Any other thoughts?

Oh lol, your code isn’t based on unplugging. It turns off the skimmer if the return pump outlet is set to be off.

You can use power monitoring to turn off the skimmer if the return pump is not drawing power, but that is different :)

 
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1Bigfish

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Oh lol, your code isn’t based on unplugging. It turns off the skimmer if the return pump outlet is set to be off.

You can use power monitoring to turn off the skimmer if the return pump is not drawing power, but that is different :)

Thanks... I will read up on the power monitoring and how to program that.
 

GlassMunky

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Thanks for pointing that out... so that makes sense, I’m feeling a little embarrassed at the moment lol.
No worries bud, it happens to all of us.
especially if you’re new tocontrollers sometimes this stuff isn’t the most well laid out.
there’s a couple really awesome reads/tutorials on Apex programming here on R2R starting here:
 

TheHarold

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Thanks... I will read up on the power monitoring and how to program that.

**On a side note, you also need to put "Set on" on your outlet to ensure that it goes back on! You deleted that in your second photo**


My assumption for power monitoring is that you have the newer apex with an EB832 power bar; the orange and gray one. This will NOT work with the older EB8 power bars (All black metal). You can program the skimmer to turn off if the return pump is not drawing normal power on its outlet. If you unplug the return pump, it will no longer draw power, and thus this code would work.

New line of code: If Output RetPump_2_3 Watts < 10 Then OFF

To summarize what I think your code for a skimmer should be, to get the features you describe:

Fallback Off
Set on
If output Retpump_2_3 = off then off
If output RetPump_2_3 Watts < 10 Then OFF
If power apex off 000 then off
Defer 5:00 then on


However, I still do not understand why you are physically unplugging the pump. You can shut if off by changing the return pump outlet to the OFF position on your dashboard, in which case the skimmer would also turn off due to the code people described before.
 
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Pistondog

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Use a feedmode to turn off your return pump and powerheads rather than unplugging, then the skimmer auto program will work.

Is this why you are unplugging, or other?

Do you need help with the Apex return pump setup?
 
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