Reef matt gone rogue and auto advancing.

[aqua_phil]

Alright wonderful people of R2R I've got a head scratcher/challenge for you. I have a reef mat 1200. Up to about a month ago it has been working nicely. Then one day my usage went through the roof. After some investigation it was advancing without the water touching it.

So began the investigation:
Is the sensor backwards?
No, the sensor's cable is coming out opposite to the side where the plug is on the driver motor. Another way to put it, the cable is closest to the clean roll. I've included a picture.

Have you cleaned the basket at the bottom of the mat? water level surges/ it can get clogged.
Completely removed it.

Alright, it sounds like you have a bad sensor, have you tried replacing the sensor?
Good point, couldn't find one locally or in the USA. Fortunately a nice Canadian store sent it to me. It arrived. I hooked it up.

It still moves randomly. Well before we call this a defective unit, do you have any sources of random current that could potentially create a magnetic field that could trick the mat into thinking that it has water running through it? I see a skimmer and a light there.

Good point hypothetical reefer, I moved the power cable of the fuge light and the skimmer around the mat, far away.

It still moves.

Ok its probably a defective unit, right? does it even matter that the sensor is plugged in?
Alright, sure, lets move the sensor and just place it on top of the mat.

No movement

Alright, change the orientation, such that its facing down. Still keep it on top of the mat:
No movement.

OKAY, now just move it 2 inches down. to where the sensor should be...

No movement.

Okay now this is the hard part to test, and I think this is what happens:

Water rises, sensor is triggered.

Moves normally.

Water is low.

A few minutes later, water is still low. Now it suddenly moves.

Is the sensor somehow not getting dry? or is it getting some splash? Is the air too humid? I am stumped.

 

[aqua_phil]

#ReefMat

 

[Lbrdsoxfan]

I've seen this on a reefmat 500 model, drive unit is toast. They seem to sometimes get moisture in them and cause weirdo issues.

Unit would randomly advance, replaced the water sensor first, still had random advance issues, or wouldn't communicate with the app. Contacted redsea with the issues, they sent out a drive assembly, swapped it out and the problem went away.

 

[DenverSaltyFarm]

dang sorry you are having issues. I also have a 1200 and one day 90ft rolled up out of no where when I was not home. I could not figure it out. I added a new roll and the next day 100ft rolled up. the second time that it happened I caught the problem. There is a major design flaw where the sensor probes are too close together and if any spray is hitting it then over time a water drop forms and bridges the connection. I took a picture as proof and told red sea of this major flaw in their design and they indicated to me that I was the first to have this happen to which I dont believe. I told them a simple fix to their software is to automatically have the roller stop if it continues to roll past 2 ft and send a warning to the user that something is wrong. this would save a lot of headache and would be simple code to make. they never did this so how I fixed my issue was to lower GPM from my return pump until there was no spray and bubbles entering the chamber. the surface of the water in the chamber is pretty calm and that solved my issue. below is the photo showing that water bridge on the outside of my sensor.

not sure if this is your issue or not. hopefully this helps

 

[aqua_phil]

Thank you all! I've reached out to red sea to see what they say. @DenverSaltyFarm my thought is that what you are suggesting may be happening. But my flow hasn't changed, so I'm not sure why now and not before?

Anyway here are the pics