Reefkeeper II problems...

[JFK_Jr]

I currently am having issues with my RK II. I purchased it new directly from Digital Aquatics back in June of this year. After a month of operation I started having problems with interference from my MH electronic ballasts. My PH probe would go haywire anytime my lights would be on. Also, my MH would shut down randomly... I think it caused one of my ballasts to go bad. I had to contact Hamilton Tech to send me a replacement ballast. Turned out there is a known issue with the power-strip module that Digital aquatics knows about... so they sent me a new power-strip with the fix and everything was fine for about 5 months.

So about 3 days ago my MH started shutting down randomly... different channels each time. There seems to be momentary loss of power that is causing my MH to shut down about every 45min to an hour. It happens so quick that the control module does not even reset. It maintains the channels on like nothing ever happened. Nothing in my set-up had changed, so I thought maybe there was local power grid issues. Three days later I'm realizing that's not the problem. I took the MH off the RK II and have them on a regular power-strip and they are running with no problems... so I know the interference is in the RK II power-strip.

I run one MH on channel 4, one MH on channel 8 and one MH on the expansion socket plugged into a different circuit with the control wire plugged into channel 6. The Power compacts are on channel 7. I also noticed that when it occurs I hear a noticeable lowering of the sound pitch of my fans... so it seems that all channels experience the momentary power loss. The Power compacts don't seem to be as sensitive to the power glitch as the MH, because they do not shut down during these occurrences.

I have emailed Digital Aquatics and am awaiting their response...

[Woodstock]

WoW. Thanks for letting us know. I have a RK2 but am using magnetic ballasts for my MH.

How close are the ballasts and power strip?

[JFK_Jr]

Originally Posted by Woodstock

WoW. Thanks for letting us know. I have a RK2 but am using magnetic ballasts for my MH.

How close are the ballasts and power strip?

The power-strip is mounted about 12" away, but it's been operating flawlessly for the past 5 months...

[Woodstock]

Have you tried plugging the RK2 into a different outlet? Maybe the outlet it is on now has 'noise' somewhere in the circuit...

[JFK_Jr]

Originally Posted by Woodstock

Have you tried plugging the RK2 into a different outlet?

Yep... I have two 15 Amp dedicated circuits supplying my tank... both get the same results. By the way... nothing else feeds from those two circuits... TV, toaster, hairdryer...etc.

[Woodstock]

Well then, find out what they did to fix the initial problem. Whatever they did must have broke or wore out?

Let us know what they say!

[JFK_Jr]

Seems they are having issues with power outages where they are located. Here is the announcement they have posted on RC.

Digital Aquatics News
Hey everyone,

I wanted to take a minute and let you all know that we are located in the great North West, in the Seattle, WA area. For all of you that didn't know we were hit with a very bad wind storm and about a million people have been without power sense last Thursday night. Several of us have power at home and will be working on and off from there. But we will be slow to respond to both email and RC post until power is restored. We originally hoped they'd haver us back up on Monday, but now we're being told that we may not see power in our complex until mid week.

We're sorry for any issues this may cause, we'll try and be responsive as we can be.

Digital Aquatics

For all you Reefkeeper users there is an informative thread on RC dedicated to Digital Aquatics.

http://reefcentral.com/forums/forumd...s=&forumid=329

[JFK_Jr]

Ok... heard back from Scott of Digital Aquatics today.

Here's what he said...

Jay,

Thanks for the info! Looking at what you got and how it's set up
everything looks fine. So that's a start. Have you had any power
surges lately or brown/black outs? We've gotten a couple other reports
of issue similar to yours that we can't seem to pinpoint the cause. One
other thing you can try is to start plugging you MHs back in. Start
with the ES and go from there.

We'll keep working on this and I'll also wait your response.

Scott
Digital Aquatics

I'm going to start the troubleshooting routine and see if we can pinpoint the problem. I'll keep everyone updated.

[boozeman]

[Woodstock]

Thanks JFK.

[JFK_Jr]

Well finally... after about a month of back and forth with Digital Aquatics, I was sent a second replacement power strip controller.

Like I had said back in December when my problems started... this is the second power controller strip that has been sent out to me. The first one had issues with interference from my electronic ballasts. I think whatever fix they made back then just didn't hold up. I believe Woodstock is currently experiencing the same issue with interference and PH probe.

Well all I can say is... I'll have to wait and see what happens.

[Woodstock]

Yep, my PH monitor reads 11+ with the uv sterilzer on. I hope I don't have the same repeated issue as your having

They seemed very confident that they knew exactly what the cause was. I chose to go the "Warranty Exchange Deposit" route. My new controller should be here next week.

I will let you know how mine goes....

[JFK_Jr]

Originally Posted by Woodstock

Yep, my PH monitor reads 11+ with the uv sterilzer on. I hope I don't have the same repeated issue as your having

They seemed very confident that they knew exactly what the cause was. I chose to go the "Warranty Exchange Deposit" route. My new controller should be here next week.

I will let you know how mine goes....

The only real advice they were able to give me, was to locate the new power strip as far away from the electronic ballasts as possible.

I guess in a way it makes sense... but to quote the Geico caveman... I'm not 100% in love with that idea.

When I run my electronic ballasts I even get noise and interference on my TV set in my bedroom... so the noise and interference is running through the wiring. I don't think the distance will really help much... but I guess it doesn't hurt to try.

[Woodstock]

What brand of ballasts?

[JFK_Jr]

Originally Posted by Woodstock

What brand of ballasts?

Hamilton 250W x 3