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Apex classic acting weird


titus'reef

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I have this blue led light over my led tank and I was just turning it on and off with my apex classic. I wanted to get fancy as I had my v3/v4 (variable speed) available and I connected it to be able to dim the lights for smooth on/off transitions. That’s done and it works, however when I plug in the Ethernet cable in the v3/v4 in my apex classic some outlets randomly and quickly turn off for less than second and than back on. I have two EB8 and I see that both strips are effected. (Hydra 32hds, skimmer, UV,  ATO Etc.) 

Does anyone have an explanation and a solution? 

 

The firmware is up to date on the apex classic. 

 

On a side note: I am dosing with the BRS dosers controlled by the outlet 4 and 8. I have a float switch that is programmed to turn off the dosers when it is closed. I noticed when the doser is programmed to dose and the switch is closed (maintenance reasons) the dosers is going through a quick on/off cycle trying to dose despite it being programmed to be off when the switch is closed. Along with the doser turning on for a second the other outlets do the same. 

 

I might have more issues that I am originally asking help for but maybe my explanation would help you understand the problem better. 

 

Thanks in advance! 

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I have a few thoughts off the top of my head:

1. Take a close look inside the v3/v4 port to see if any of the pins are bent/damaged/out of place.  Something could be shorting out when the cable is plugged in.

2. Similarly, carefully inspect every single AquaBus port on all of your modules (both connected and unused ports) for any corrosion.  Since AquaBus is a bus communications channel, a short caused by corrosion anywhere along the entire system can cause all sorts of random communications problems and unexplained behavior.

3. When is the last time you rebooted the Apex?  If it's been a long time, you might consider rebooting it to see if that resolves the issue.

4. Lastly, look through all of your Inputs, Outputs, Modules, and Profiles to see if you have any duplicate names.  The Apex can misbehave in random ways if there's any duplicate names.  I really wish it would show an error message if you rename a component but that name is already defined, but unfortunately it permits you to create a duplicate without any warning.

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Thank you for the quick feedback!

I have rebooted the system a few times and that didn’t help. Just checked for duplicates and I didn’t find any. I couldn’t see any corrosion on anything but I will have to look again later today to make sure. I switch the light on v1/v2 and it doesn’t act any different. 
Maybe the Ethernet cable I used is bad. I’ll replace it and and go from there. 

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I personally have had ethernet cable/port issues, with hidden corrosion.  Apex suddenly wouldn't connect, or wouldn't connect after I disturbed the ethernet cable.   I was lucky enough to solve it by plugging in/out/in/out, pushing a little harder (not too hard), ....  Effectively slight tugs all over the place.

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27 minutes ago, obrien.david.j said:

I personally have had ethernet cable/port issues, with hidden corrosion.  Apex suddenly wouldn't connect, or wouldn't connect after I disturbed the ethernet cable.   I was lucky enough to solve it by plugging in/out/in/out, pushing a little harder (not too hard), ....  Effectively slight tugs all over the place.

I’ll definitely check for corrosion. It is very possible it might be the case as I haven’t used the Ethernet ports in a while. 

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Today I looked for any possible corrosion on all the connectors and rebooted the system again and change a few things including a brand new Ethernet cable, but things are still the same. The plugs turn off randomly as soon as I plug the Ethernet cable back in any v1/2 v3/4 slots. 

It seems the issue is worse when the lights is starting to dim. 
 

Any ideas of what to do? I could always just run the light as before but ... I like the dimming options, and I hate the idea that it doesn’t do what’s supposed to do. 

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