Jestersix

Autotopoff turn on too often

Elite

Elite

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Mine turns on every 1 minute or so. I have the switch inside the filter box. There isn't much water movement in there. Any idea what I should do so it doesn't turn on every minute? I'm just worry that it will kill the pump soon.
 
Throw a timer on the pump that moves the water, have it turn on once or twice a day, sure your tank might fluctuate a bit, but shouldn't do it too much.
 
sfsuphysics said:
Throw a timer on the pump that moves the water, have it turn on once or twice a day, sure your tank might fluctuate a bit, but shouldn't do it too much.
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Phong, maybe you should use your float and a time. That way the float only has the option to cut on when the time is goes off.
 
Well that's what I meant, use a timer in addition to the float switch, so that once per day, you get the topoff that you lost the previous day, if it's a particularly hot place with a lot of evaporation, maybe two times per day do it.

No way I would ever suggest using some time formula to predict how much water you'll need/get on any day :)
 
Thanks guys!! I have to figure out how to program the ACJr to turn on the port every 30 minutes or so.. One or two times a day is not enough. I don't want the water drop to low because it effect my skimmer.

Does anyone know how to set the ACjr to turn on every 30 minutes or 1 hour for about 10 minutes??
 
Phong,
The issue is the float. It should break circuit and turn power off when the float raises up. I bought mine from aquahub and it turned off ATO pump when raised 1/4". It's only on for 1-2x/hour for 30sec -1min max each duration.

If you do auto on and off then you run into issues of too much or too little refill...ie, flooding or burn pump. Not to mention that it defeats your purpose of having an ACJr and float.

If you still want to ..turn pump on 10 min then off 30 min =>
OSC 10/30 ON/OFF Then ATO ON
...(ATO is name of ato pump). You can vary the time period as needed.
 
Yeah I'm not sure why mine does that. I will have the autotopoff switch hook up to the DC8 and the pump to the autotopoff. I think it will be ok. No way I will just use the ACJr alone to control the topoff. The tank will flood in no time. Thanks for the program line :) ..
 
Anyway to program it to over fill? Like run for some extra time after it reaches its line.
I know the Tunze ATO gets it to the point its set at and then fills for about 5-10 seconds more to avoid it. Maybe the AC can be programmed to do that?
 
Phong, I believe you can get away with a command line along the lines of

OSC 1/30 ON/OFF Then TOP% ON

Assuming you label the pump to the topoff pump as TOP% then what this will do is turn it on for 1 minute then off for 30 minutes. Might want to double check with a table lamp or something plugged in first just to make sure that's exactly what it does.
 
I use the aqualifter. At 3' it pumps verrrry slow :D .. 1 minute might not be enough. I might have it turn on every hour for 10 minutes instead.
 
Well you say the thing turns on every minute. And if you turn it on every 10 minutes, you're still turning the thing on/off 144 times a day.

Do this as a check, grab the hose that drips water into your tank, and simply measure how much goes in everytime it pops on, you probably aren't evaporating that much. The thing with single trigger ATO systems is you top off until the float pops up, but at most get a couple drops more than it needs, so yeah when 3 drops of water evaporate, you end up having to fire it up again... pumping it up 3 feet of head, before putting those 3 drops back into the tank.

If you need more water do OSC 2/30 then
 
I used to top off into a small container above my sump with a small hole drilled into it that gravity fed into the sump. Then my ATO would continue to run at least a little longer than necessary and I would end up with some extra water in my sump.
 
From the AC Jr manual
===========================
Hysteresis

The MAX Change timer command allows for timer channels to stay in a particular state for a minimum length of
time. This is useful when a control input (pH, temp) may oscillate between two values which in turn causes a
pump, light, etc. to turn on and off over a very short period of time. For example suppose the following program
is used to control kalkwasser addition to a reef tank:

If Sun 000/000 Then LT1 ON
If Temp > 83.0 Then LT1 OFF

The goal of this program is to turn the lights on normally if the tank temperature is not too high. This program
mostly works, except when the light is on, and the temperature value oscillates between 83.0 and 83.1. In this case
the LT1 control module may turn on and off rapidly.

To alleviate this problem a hysteresis command is included in the AquaController Jr language. The 'MAX change'
command forces the control module to stay in a certain state for a minimum length of time before being allowed
to change. The minimum length of time can be specified for either the ON or OFF state but not both. The
following program corrects the potential problem:

If Sun 000/000 Then LT1 ON
If Temp > 83.0 Then LT1 OFF
Max Change 010 M Then LT1 OFF

The 'Max Change' statement at the end of the program forces the LT1 control module to remain in the off state
for a minimum of 10 minutes before being allowed to turn back on. The off state was chosen as the "sticky" state
so that Light will have time to cool down after it has shut off because of a too high of temperature. In general it is
only necessary to use this command when there is single value of a monitored parameter (pH, Temp) that can
cause the control module to turn both on and off.

Note: In order for either of the above two programs to operate correctly, the statements must be in the same
order as shown above. The AquaController Jr evaluates the program statements from top to bottom, and if the
'If Temp > 83.0' was executed first the desired operation would not be achieved.
=================================================================
 
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