Still waiting for reply from Marine Depot regarding DC-Runner 9.2

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ReefHog

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I sent a message and I asked on a chat session regarding my new DC-Runner 9.2 I purchased from Marine Depot. I have not got a reply from either one. I also contacted Aqua Medic regarding the same thing and have not heard from them either. I was planning on controlling my DC-Runner from my Apex since it states that you can control the DC Runner to an external control. There was no 0-10V cable included in the box. I did not see the cable on the Marine Depot site. I did not see the cable on the Aqua Medic site either. Where do I find/purchase the 0-10V cable to make the DC-Runner 9.2 work with my Apex? Thank You.
 

siggy

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Is it an audio cable? 3.5 mm??
 
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ReefHog

ReefHog

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Is it an audio cable? 3.5 mm??

No. That's the issue. All controllable 0-10v pumps I see use the 3.5mm stereo plug. The port on the DC-Runner module is more like a low voltage transformer input. It has a pin in the middle of the port opening.
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MarineDepot

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I sent a message and I asked on a chat session regarding my new DC-Runner 9.2 I purchased from Marine Depot. I have not got a reply from either one. I also contacted Aqua Medic regarding the same thing and have not heard from them either. I was planning on controlling my DC-Runner from my Apex since it states that you can control the DC Runner to an external control. There was no 0-10V cable included in the box. I did not see the cable on the Marine Depot site. I did not see the cable on the Aqua Medic site either. Where do I find/purchase the 0-10V cable to make the DC-Runner 9.2 work with my Apex? Thank You.

Hi ReefHog,

I wanted to reply as soon as I read your post although I don't have the answers you are seeking quite yet.

Also, please accept my apology on behalf of MD and Aqua Medic for the lack of a proper cable.

I read your chat logs with Brennen on our support team. As you mentioned, you've reached out to Aqua Medic, Brennen reached out to Aqua Medic (and is following up with them), I've also reached out to Aqua Medic myself via phone (no answer) and email.

Coincidentally, I exchanged emails with Aqua Medic yesterday about the pumps for marketing purposes—I like the looks and capabilities of the pumps and they are selling well—and they had replied to my email ... so I suspect we should be hear back from some party on that side soon. They are a good partner and we trust them. There are some aquarium shows this weekend including ReefStock and CT Frag Farmers Market so I do not know if they are travelling or exhibiting at them which may delay them in responding to our inquiries.

Suffice to say, we'll take care of you one way or the other! Once again, we are sorry for the missing cable and will certainly follow up as soon as we hear something. Thank you for your patience in the meantime! I've left my personal email below if you want to communicate with me directly.

Jeff @ Marine Depot
[email protected]
 

MarineDepot

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Thank You

Just got off the phone with Chad at Aqua Medic. He is sending us a pump to try and connect to the Apex we have here in the office. Hopefully it has the right port available. If it doesn't, we will obviously update the product information on our website accordingly and work with you on resolving this matter to your satisfaction. Thank you for your continued patience, we truly appreciate it!

Jeff @ Marine Depot
 
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ReefHog

ReefHog

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Thanks for keeping me updated. I appreciate you looking into this. Communication is the biggest fail with so many companies/vendors. Glad you guys are on top of your game.
 

MarineDepot

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Thanks for keeping me updated. I appreciate you looking into this. Communication is the biggest fail with so many companies/vendors. Glad you guys are on top of your game.

Thank you very much for saying that. I would rather reply immediately and tell you we don't know the answer yet then keep you waiting until we find out the answer, y'know? I try to stress that to the rest of the team. Being prompt and honest goes a long way. My hunch is it may be missing the port and we'll need to arrange an exchange to get you the right solution, but perhaps this was an anomalous situation. We want to be certain, so having one here to try out ourselves should help us put the matter to rest.

Jeff @ Marine Depot
 
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ReefHog

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There's definitely a port where its suppose to be. See picture above. It doesn't work with the standard cable other pumps use to connect to a controller. Maybe it's a Euro wiring thing
 

MarineDepot

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There's definitely a port where its suppose to be. See picture above. It doesn't work with the standard cable other pumps use to connect to a controller. Maybe it's a Euro wiring thing

So I opened up the EcoDrift and a DC Runner pumps Aqua Medic sent us today. They have the exact same ports as the one you shared in your photograph. Since there is still no word from Aqua Medic Germany, we've reached out to GHL and another friend of Marine Depot to see if there is an adapter of some sort to make the magic happen.

I'd hate to keep you waiting a second longer! Please let me know if you would like to arrange a return of the pump so you can get something you'll be certain will be compatible. We are optimistic, however, that we are going to find a solution to this.

Thank you for your patience and understanding thus far! Please let us know how you'd like to proceed from here.

Jeff @ Marine Depot
 
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ReefHog

ReefHog

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I appreciate your continued effort in this. I recently suffered a complete velvet catastrophe in my 220 and am concentrating on saving my last 3 of 12 fish. While the 220 DT is going fallow, I will be completely redoing the plumbing. That won't start for another week or two. I'd like to use the DC-runner as the GPH is a little more than the Cor-20, my second choice. I'll keep my fingers crossed you get it figured out.
 

Robert@MD

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I appreciate your continued effort in this. I recently suffered a complete velvet catastrophe in my 220 and am concentrating on saving my last 3 of 12 fish. While the 220 DT is going fallow, I will be completely redoing the plumbing. That won't start for another week or two. I'd like to use the DC-runner as the GPH is a little more than the Cor-20, my second choice. I'll keep my fingers crossed you get it figured out.

Glad to help @ReefHog I am 99% certain the 0-10V control is possible with the Aqua Medic DC pumps, we just need to find the hardware to make the connection. AquaMedic decided to use a 4mm plug port instead of the typical 1/8" headphone jack we are used to seeing on these devices. I sent out some emails to some fishy folks that are smarter than me with electronics and I trust we will find a solution this week for ya.

Best of luck with the tank overhaul. Feel free to ping me in the meantime if you need any other advice, always happy to talk tank.


-Robert @ MD
 

Jay Newsome

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Following this thread do to having the same issue. Bought the 5.1 runner and skimmer that also runs on the 1.2 runner.
 

Robert@MD

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Alright, so I have the verdict and unfortunately it is not easy but is possible. The DC plug jack on the Aqua Medic pumps is 3.45mm which is really ODD and almost impossible to find from what I gather. Once you find this plug, you then need to wire it onto an RJ45 cable using only a single channel.

Alternatively, you can take the Kessil cable with a 3.5mm male stereo plug, then create a female 3.5mm stereo to 3.45mm DC plug which again will need to be DIY unless one of you can find this online.

I did find a thread where a Neptune user made the connection, here is the link.
https://forum.neptunesystems.com/showthread.php?16355-Aqua-Medic-x-1-ecodrift-control

We spoke with Aqua Medic directly in hopes to request that they make a cable or provide us a source for it. I have also asked a friend of mine and APEX expert @TheHarold to create the cable and test it out just to ensure all of the above is indeed accurate and correct.

More to come and thank you all for choosing MD!

-Robert @ MD
 
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ReefHog

ReefHog

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Alright, so I have the verdict and unfortunately it is not easy but is possible. The DC plug jack on the Aqua Medic pumps is 3.45mm which is really ODD and almost impossible to find from what I gather. Once you find this plug, you then need to wire it onto an RJ45 cable using only a single channel.
Wow! It seems ridiculous they would make the controller with a jack that is not available anywhere. Could this be a type of cable that is readily used in Europe but not in the states maybe? I'll have to look at the controller and see if it opens up easy enough where a 3.5mm jack could be installed in place of the stock 3.45mm DC jack. Then a normal cable could be used. If they're using a DC barrel jack, I would assume there's only 2 wires needed. Before I do anything, I'll wait for your diy cable test.
 

TheHarold

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Wow! It seems ridiculous they would make the controller with a jack that is not available anywhere. Could this be a type of cable that is readily used in Europe but not in the states maybe? I'll have to look at the controller and see if it opens up easy enough where a 3.5mm jack could be installed in place of the stock 3.45mm DC jack. Then a normal cable could be used. If they're using a DC barrel jack, I would assume there's only 2 wires needed. Before I do anything, I'll wait for your diy cable test.

I agree with you regarding their odd choice of DC jack. My hope is that it was a miscommunication, and the jack is actually a more standard one. Their stated connector, 1.35mm/3.45mm, is quite unusual and almost impossible to source. Perhaps it has something to do with the male/female press fit?

I have both 1.35mm/3.5mm and 1.3mm/3.4mm jacks arriving in the next few days, to find out which one works. .05mm is what, two thou? So who knows.
 
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