Optical sensors don’t seem to work

BigBearMD

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Reaching out to see if anyone has any ideas.

I set up a FMM for my ATK.

Then I placed two more optical sensors for the ATO Reserve. Essentially a Low switch and a High switch. These control the solenoid for autorefilling the ATO container. Unfortunately neither of these optical sensors seem to be working. Bother register open despite obviously being covered with water.

I was willing to accept that one sensor may be bad, but both of them seem a little too unfortunate. Any thoughts?

I’ve tried reconfiguring the FMM and moved one of the sensors to another FMM to see if that helped but no dice.
 

Pete1968

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Reaching out to see if anyone has any ideas.

I set up a FMM for my ATK.

Then I placed two more optical sensors for the ATO Reserve. Essentially a Low switch and a High switch. These control the solenoid for autorefilling the ATO container. Unfortunately neither of these optical sensors seem to be working. Bother register open despite obviously being covered with water.

I was willing to accept that one sensor may be bad, but both of them seem a little too unfortunate. Any thoughts?

I’ve tried reconfiguring the FMM and moved one of the sensors to another FMM to see if that helped but no dice.

Contact Neptune they have great customer service!
 

recess62

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I had a similar issue with a sensor I was using in my ATO reservoir until I realized that there seems to be a correct orientation for the sensor. I had mine upside down. I looked at my DOS reservoir and realized that Inhad mine oriented opposite than the one installed in the DOS reservoir. changing the orientation my issue resolved. Could it have been a coincidence? Maybe. But might be worth a try
 

Bob Escher

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I have one of my sensor’s in my ATO reservoir and it’s completely submerged
So I don’t think that orientation has anything
 

recess62

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I have one of my sensor’s in my ATO reservoir and it’s completely submerged
So I don’t think that orientation has anything


That is what I would think. It makes no sense. However

https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/dos-dual-reservoir-ddr-neptune-systems.html

Zoom in on the pic. They designed the DOS reservoir this way for a reason. I have no explanation however
Changing my orientation fixed my problem

Every time my reservoir emptied the sensor would register open. When refilled it would never switch back to closed unless I reconfigured the sensor. I changed the orientation to match the DOS and no further problem. Obviously this is an anecdotal situation but why not try the change? It causes no harm
 
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BigBearMD

BigBearMD

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I’ll give it a shot. I just filled the 10gal reserve so it’ll be a few days. My RODI line runs through the attic space and it’s predicted to hit the teens over the next few days. Until I test the area and feel assured the line won’t freeze I’m going to drain it.
 

Sleepydoc

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Reaching out to see if anyone has any ideas.

I set up a FMM for my ATK.

Then I placed two more optical sensors for the ATO Reserve. Essentially a Low switch and a High switch. These control the solenoid for autorefilling the ATO container. Unfortunately neither of these optical sensors seem to be working. Bother register open despite obviously being covered with water.

I was willing to accept that one sensor may be bad, but both of them seem a little too unfortunate. Any thoughts?

I’ve tried reconfiguring the FMM and moved one of the sensors to another FMM to see if that helped but no dice.

First, Optical sensors register as closed when covered with water; make sure the malfunction isn’t just a misunderstanding of expected/proper operation.

A couple of trouble shooting steps you can take:
  • There have been some issues with the FMM not properly recognizing sensors. To check this:
    • Go to the Modules screen
    • Select the FMM module
    • Under the configuration section, select the ‘Action’ drop down menu and then select configuration
    • Uncheck ‘use Auto Detect’ and make sure the proper sensor type is selected.
  • Check to see if the sensor is registering at all
    • Submerge it under water and make sure it’s registering ‘closed’ on the dashboard.
    • Remove it and see if the state changes
    • The Fusion interface has a lag of a minute or two, so you may want to log directly in to the Apex Local server rather than fusion, just to see things more quickly.
  • If the other two ATK sensors are working, try swapping ports and doing the above test.
Also, post your programming so we can see if you’ve programmed something incorrectly.
 

Karie

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I am having a similar problem with a different brand of ATO with optical eye. I have tried to turn it on twice and both times it has overfilled. Bulk Reef said it is common problem on first attempt and wait to allow an algae film on optical eye and should be good to go. I am waiting now but I am a little leery. But I have came system on another tank and it works great. We will see.
 
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BigBearMD

BigBearMD

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First, Optical sensors register as closed when covered with water; make sure the malfunction isn’t just a misunderstanding of expected/proper operation.

A couple of trouble shooting steps you can take:
  • There have been some issues with the FMM not properly recognizing sensors. To check this:
    • Go to the Modules screen
    • Select the FMM module
    • Under the configuration section, select the ‘Action’ drop down menu and then select configuration
    • Uncheck ‘use Auto Detect’ and make sure the proper sensor type is selected.
  • Check to see if the sensor is registering at all
    • Submerge it under water and make sure it’s registering ‘closed’ on the dashboard.
    • Remove it and see if the state changes
    • The Fusion interface has a lag of a minute or two, so you may want to log directly in to the Apex Local server rather than fusion, just to see things more quickly.
  • If the other two ATK sensors are working, try swapping ports and doing the above test.
Also, post your programming so we can see if you’ve programmed something incorrectly.


Perfect. The configuration was off. Thanks for that. I didn’t even know that was an option.
 

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