Help! Out of town and my 832 quit working!

[Sleepydoc]

Background - I have a Neptune Apex A2, about 5 years old. The outlets on the original EB832 quit working because an internal power supply failed (see this thread for more info on that) so I purchased a replacement EB832 about 2 weeks ago. After installing and programming it, life was good.

2 or 3 days ago as I was re-routing cords after installing a new sensor, everything on the 832 shut off. As I checked to see if the breaker had tripped, everything came back on again. Hmm.. that's odd but everything was working properly so I didn't dig any more.

Yesterday morning we left for the holiday weekend. As I was grabbing some last minute things I noticed the lights were off but it didn't click that they should have been on at that time. Then, an hour after we left I got a warning that the heaters weren't on (weren't drawing any power)

When I look a the dashboard the EB832 is connected. The 2 WAV power heads connected to the 1Link ports are not showing up. The 832 is showing 0 amps, 0 watts and 0 volts. The module screen shows it's connected. When I try updating the programming on one of the outlets it is able to do so successfully. The tank temp is down to 74.9 so I know that the heaters are actually off and it's not just a reporting error from the 832.

I've tried rebooting the A2 head unit as well as updating the EB832 firmware (even though it's already up to date) to trick it into rebooting. Is there anything else I can do remotely?

 

[_AV]

Any bad weather near your house recently?
This sounds like a a surge taking out one or both of the current sensing/outlet controllers...
Although, it's not a given yet.
First thing I'd try remotely is manually shut off all outlets and then turn on only one at a time to see if anything comes on. This is for an odd chance that the 12v PSU is partially damaged, weak but can handle a very limited load.
I'd also look at the logs for any sudden current spikes on any of the outlets. A short on a pump or a heater would also take out the EB832 partially.

 

[Sleepydoc]

Thanks for the suggestions - Tried cycling the power off and on for the outlets with no effect. I looked through the power logs and didn't see anything remarkable. We did have a power outage about a week ago that tripped one of the GFI breakers but that was for my return pump. The Apex head unit and EB832 are on a different circuit. Either way it was working perfectly for a week since then.

The odd thing is the controller is communicating with the 832 fine but the 1Link outlets are also offline.

As I recall, the 120V mains supplies a 12V PSU that powers the relay coils and a separate 24V PSU that supplies the DC24 and 1Link outputs. The controller circuitry can be supplied either by the 24V PSU or the aquabus cable and the 120V AC power going through the relays is completely separate from everything else. If this is correct the only explanation I can come up with is the controller circuit is fried, but then I'd expect it not to communicate, either.

 

[_AV]

Thanks for the suggestions - Tried cycling the power off and on for the outlets with no effect. I looked through the power logs and didn't see anything remarkable. We did have a power outage about a week ago that tripped one of the GFI breakers but that was for my return pump. The Apex head unit and EB832 are on a different circuit. Either way it was working perfectly for a week since then.

The odd thing is the controller is communicating with the 832 fine but the 1Link outlets are also offline.

As I recall, the 120V mains supplies a 12V PSU that powers the relay coils and a separate 24V PSU that supplies the DC24 and 1Link outputs. The controller circuitry can be supplied either by the 24V PSU or the aquabus cable and the 120V AC power going through the relays is completely separate from everything else. If this is correct the only explanation I can come up with is the controller circuit is fried, but then I'd expect it not to communicate, either.

That's a bummer.

The symptoms are very consistent with the 12v PSU failure where it'd still communicate with the head unit, but unable to switch any outlets. Except for the 1link ports also being off.
Otherwise, assuming the 24v PSU is dead, it'd explain the 1link ports, but then the power to the controller must be provided over aquabus from another power source.
Either way, this looks like an electrical failure. Not much you can do remotely unfortunately.

 

[Sleepydoc]

That's a bummer.

The symptoms are very consistent with the 12v PSU failure where it'd still communicate with the head unit, but unable to switch any outlets. Except for the 1link ports also being off.
Otherwise, assuming the 24v PSU is dead, it'd explain the 1link ports, but then the power to the controller must be provided over aquabus from another power source.
Either way, this looks like an electrical failure. Not much you can do remotely unfortunately.

I'll have to play more once I get home. If all the lights go out when I disconnect the aquabus cable then it's likely the 24V PSU. I did try deleting the module and reinstalling it with no change.

I've submitted a support ticket so we'll see - I may check with my LFS to see if I can exchange it since it's only 2 weeks old.

 

[ZombieEngineer]

Make sure that outlet the EB832 is on is actually supplying power. Also check the breaker on the EB832. Sounds like a loss of mains power from the symptoms you describe.

 

[Sleepydoc]

Make sure that outlet the EB832 is on is actually supplying power. Also check the breaker on the EB832. Sounds like a loss of mains power from the symptoms you describe.

Thanks - the light was on earlier in the morning so I assumed that the mains power was ok, but it’s possible that something tripped the GFCI outlet. At this point there’s not much more I can do until we get home. Hopefully everything’s ok - temp’s down to 73.9° F
At least critters survive lower temps better than higher temps.

 

[Sleepydoc]

Make sure that outlet the EB832 is on is actually supplying power. Also check the breaker on the EB832. Sounds like a loss of mains power from the symptoms you describe.

You win the prize - the GFI outlet had tripped. Apparently the 1link devices disappear if there's no AC power which confused me.

I reset the GFCI when I got home and then witnessed it trip a few hours later - the odd thing was nothing had switched on or off or otherwise changed so now I need to do some sleuthing. I've had my T5 fixture trip the GFCI when a ballast goes bad, so it may be a ballast on its way out. I moved the fixture over to a separate outlet on a manual timer and I'll watch and see.

Thank you for your help!