Ecotech Vortech Controller Malfunction

[redfishbluefish]

I have old Vortech MP40s that I run on "reef crest".....the yellow light. I'm sitting in the fishroom tonight and open up the panel exposing all my controls and the one controller is red???




So I'm figuring there must have been some little burp and all I need to do is click through the modes to get back to "yellow." So I click through the modes, starting with:

Red - Blue - Orange - Nothing (which should be Green) - Purple - back to Red

Hum....a "nothing" and no yellow???? That's a puzzle.

So clicking through the other controller:
Yellow - Blue - Orange - Green - Purple - back to Yellow

So the order of most of the other colors are there, but no yellow.....which is now a red.

Has anyone else seen this?

My Vortechs are slightly out of warranty.

So I'm leaving that one on "Red" thinking that it's just an LED issue.

 

[art13]

If it's working the same I think it's the light that's the issue

 

[redfishbluefish]

Thanks Art for the response, but upon further investigation, it's not just the light.....crap!

Putting my ear to the "yellow" dry side, I can hear it speeding up and slowing down. Putting my ear to the "red" dry side, I hear no change in the speed of the powerhead.....constant speed.

 

[redfishbluefish]

Good news.....Someone on another site told me about a reset you can do on these old controllers:

1. Hold mode (pump blinks white)
2. Hold mode and set (pump blinks yellow/white)
3. Cycle power to the pump by un-plugging and re-plugging it in

And the good news......it worked!


I'm happy!

 

[Mark_C]

Paul,
I have, I believe, a couple of power cords and 2 of these original controllers in good condition.
Held onto them thinking someone in the club may eventually have them, want them, or need them.
I'm like a Jersey Nostradamus.
You're welcome to them.

 

[redfishbluefish]

Mark, you're too kind. I'm a backup fanatic and would appreciate your controllers. I've already had to replace the MP10 controller (you can see it in the picture above) about two years ago.

 

[hans24hrs]

Mark that is really nice of you. Great to see there is still people who are decent and not in it to make a buck. Wish there were more people like that.

 

[redfishbluefish]

Well it's happen again! I'm wondering if this is a sign of the controller crapping out? Going to reset it and see what happens.


EDIT TO ADD:

I answered that question.....it's crapped out! Just attempted to do the reset.....four times, and on restart, immediately went to the red light.

 

[lefkonj]

Glad you found the reset, that was going to be my suggestion since it basically let's you start over again. If that didn't work something more expensive could of been the problem.

 

[Mark_C]

Paul, if you're doing the meeting this weekend I'll bring the stuff.

 

[redfishbluefish]

Paul, if you're doing the meeting this weekend I'll bring the stuff.

Greatly appreciated....that will save me. I don't know what speed it's in.......I've got to believe some safety mode speed....but it's not that fast, and it's non-controllable. This is the second Vortech controller that's crapped out on me....the other was a much newer MP10. I did crack this MP40 controller open and it's from 2006.

 

[redfishbluefish]

Thank you @Mark_C for your extreme generosity, my MP40 is back up and running. I am deeply indebted to you for your gift of a replacement controller....actually two. Whatever you need let me know (except babysitting.....I don't that so well!), and I'll be there.

 

[redfishbluefish]

So I believe I'm going to get yet another "Doh!" moment out of this story.

What I didn't tell you is that in Mark's generosity, he also gave me a bag of Ecotech goodies that I've now sat down to go through. One thing I found was the MP40 Manual and one additional slightly larger page that appeared to be an added page of new features. I looked at this page and there was a section titled "Pump Disconnect Calibration." This actually is what that individual suggested up in Post #4 above, except for the part of removing the dry side.....and the waiting 60 seconds until it re-calibrated. As soon as I got the double flashing, I was removing the power.




Out of curiosity I went and found my manual and cracked the crisp pages of this manual for the first time. I'm a man and I don't ask for directions and certainly don't read directions/instructions. If a company can't make something that's intuitive, than it's not made for a man. Anyway, sure enough, there were these exact instructions included within the pages of my manual. Doh!

So now I'm curious if this is a fix for my problem and I'm now going to go flip the controllers again and try this "Disconnect Calibration" and see if it is a double Doh! moment for me. I'll be back!

 

[redfishbluefish]

Yep! Flipped the controllers putting the bad one back in and did the "Pump Disconnect Calibration" and still got the straight RED.

I was told on another site that I need to contact Vortech for an update of the firmware.....that's what a straight red means.