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jnb
07/09/2005, 06:10 PM
I just sent this email to Neptune but thought it may be just as efficent here or help others with similar problems

Hi – I have a relatively new aqua controller ii. Up till now, it has operated perfectly. I use the direct connects only. One set of lights come on at 6 – they are a couple of lcds and they came on at 6am this AM. About 7:15 the power went out – first it went out for a couple of seconds, came on for 5 seconds and went out for 20 seconds and came on . The LCDs were not on when I walked up to the tank and at 7:30 when the main lights should come on, they did not. I took a look and controller had lost its date and time – all the timer setups, names, programs, etc were intact. I reset the dates and times and as I did the lights came on. There is a fresh battery in the unit and the low battery indicator was/is NOT flashing. I am not absolutely certain that I had both dates set i.e. maybe the tank date was still Jan 1 for all I know – but I do not expect this to be part of the issue.



I never expected to lose the times with a power failure and I think I have had one before (hey, I’ll go disconnect the power for a second again – I did, clock times intact) – still with the battery I would not have expected this



Please advise as, of course this is not right – thanks



Nick Boyd

dougc
07/11/2005, 04:12 PM
I am using the direct-connect modules and have seen something similar what you describe, but under slightly different circumstances. In my case, I had unplugged and disconnected a DC4HD from both the power outlet and the RJ11 input cable. I can't remember which I did first, but I plugged in both the RJ11 cable and the power cord. I noticed a few moments later that the time and date were wrong. I'm not sure which action whacked out the controller, but I wondered at the time whether a power failure could have the same effect. You may have just provided confirmation of my suspicion that the AquaController could get reset by some event on the control line.

jnb
07/11/2005, 07:08 PM
I did get a reply from Curt amd had followup questions - I suspect, as he seem to hint, that the controller is suspectible to spikes or other similar surges which concerns me because it means I can not really rely on the unit if I go out of town for a few days

But we shall see - he also indicated a surge protector may help - it didn't but I am willing to get a better surge protector or whatever I need to do. I can tell tell from his response if he means some kind of internal battery (not the 9 volt) - I was getting no low battery indicator - I am still in needed to resolve this

his reply:Hi,
Try simulating a power failure and see if the unit continues to run
(display still active). If not, then I suspect that the battery is
weak, and needs to be replaced. Otherwise it could have been a power
spike that caused the controller to reset the date/time. Make sure that
the controller's AC adapter is plugged into a surge protected power
strip.
Curt



Originally posted by dougc
I am using the direct-connect modules and have seen something similar what you describe, but under slightly different circumstances. In my case, I had unplugged and disconnected a DC4HD from both the power outlet and the RJ11 input cable. I can't remember which I did first, but I plugged in both the RJ11 cable and the power cord. I noticed a few moments later that the time and date were wrong. I'm not sure which action whacked out the controller, but I wondered at the time whether a power failure could have the same effect. You may have just provided confirmation of my suspicion that the AquaController could get reset by some event on the control line.