AC3 Flaking Out

[mdtabor]

Just bought an AC3 with DC8/ Temp/PH about 2 1/2 months ago. I noticed my lights weren't coming on and the temp had climbed up to 82deg...with the heater still in the ON mode.

Going into "manual Cntrl", my list of programs are completely scrambled. Lt1 I could make out Auto mode, however, when I selected LT1, the screen was machine language all over the place. Same for all other device programs.

I did unplug the system and waited a few and plugged back up. It booted I got my display on the front with Temp & PH, which seemed ok. When I changed the display to show device status, only 3 little icons appeared, and they weren't the same as they should have been. I can't describe since I'm at the office and not home.

What do you think the issue/s might be? Neptune is closed until next week.

Any advise will be greatly appreciated. Thanks
Mark

[kenargo]

A few things can cause this but it sounds like you may have had a bad power fluctuation which resulted in bad power into the AC3. You should reset the system and re-upload the program (if you kept a copy). The reset is in "Setup->Init Memory->Init All", you will need to recalibrate your PH probe after the reset.

If you use AquaNotes be sure you have the latest version; it never hurts to be fully up to date.

[mdtabor]

I did exactly as you stated... and viola, everything is at factory state. Now that I do recall, I had recognized my issues after the power went out for just about 1/4 second. It wasn't even enough to for my media system to shut off completely. Gotta luv the voltage stabilizer I have on that. Probably wouldn't be a bad idea to run the AC3 on a small UPS for this very reason!

As for programming, I don't have aquanotes, so I'll have to re-do everything. Not thrilled about that but a whole lot better than having a bad controller!

Thanks for your help. This is why I love this group, the support is awesome. Thanks again.
Mark

[kenargo]

AquaNotes Lite is free or better yet, connect using a web browser and program it from there.

[elvn]

I'm investigating purchasing an aquacontroller III and I would definitely plan on putting it on a UPS. My aqualogic temperature controller just flaked out after a quick power outtage/return and was reading a tank temp over over 100degrees. The heaters would have never turned on again ever. Electric dropping dead followed by a surge or brownouts+surges are very dangerous to electronics.