Author Topic: Aquarium chiller/compressor/fan won’t turn off/ chills and chills and chills...  (Read 7373 times)

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Offline Airwalk1616Topic starter

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 Hi guys I own an aquarium chiller that I’m using for my tank right now. It is an ecoplus 1/10 hp model from 2013. It is an older model that is not sold anymore and is different from the model you would see on Amazon or elsewhere today. It has worked for quite some time as I bought it from a friend but recently has started to chill well past my set temperature. I’ve done a little bit of testing With the knowledge that I have concerning the relays. There are three LED lights on the control board. Power, chilling, and heater. The heater is an external 2prong outlet located on the back for you to use as an outlet for an external heater that would be dropped into the tank as a failsafe should the temperature be, lower than your set temp. With the relays this is what I have found.

So I just went back to it after letting the temperature warm up a bit. I set it to 66 as the temperature was at 68. Just to make a point to you the fan was blowing as soon as I plugged it in. But as the green Chiller light was flashing, as soon as it went solid I definitely heard and felt the relay click. Pole 1 is receiving NO power and 2, 3 and 4 all are. When the heater one clicked, it was poles 1, 2, & 4. so...

I just did it again and physically held the probes from the voltmeter on j9 and Pole 1 and as the green light was flashing as soon as it went solid it went straight to zero, I also then turn my set temp up to 69 and immediately that pole 1 received power again and as the red light was flashing once it went solid I heard the click and pole 3 went straight down to zero. So I'm assuming all of my relays are working. It has to be something else?
« Last Edit: December 01, 2017, 02:50:11 pm by Airwalk1616 »
 

Offline Airwalk1616Topic starter

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These poles that I'm referring to are as follows. One and two are the coil of one of the relays and three and four are of the other. This picture shows the relay on the PCB. The solder points closest to the edge of the board are the zenon diodes. J9 is jumper9(DC GND)

But I'm not super educated on how this stuff works and I wanted to make sure that from what I've posted here that my relays are working correctly? And if so what else could be keeping my compressor and fan on all the time, even from the second I plug it in, causing my chiller to drop way down past 60 degrees if I left it long enough.
« Last Edit: December 01, 2017, 01:42:32 am by Airwalk1616 »
 

Offline Zucca

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Few points:

- more board pictures
- more reverse eng
- more measurement, do you have a scope?

99% people here don't have an ecoplus 1/10 hp model from 2013 so it´s difficoult to help.
Can't know what you don't love. St. Augustine
Can't love what you don't know. Zucca
 

Offline Armadillo

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Trace the fan wiring to the relay. Of all you know, it may not be  relay driven.
A photo of the Top and underside of the pcb would be more informative.
 

Offline Airwalk1616Topic starter

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Well the controller is 2 boards connected to each other. But you want pics of the solder tracings? So in between them. I'll just take a Boat Load of pics here in a bit for you guys.
 

Offline Airwalk1616Topic starter

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Here's what I have.
 

Offline Airwalk1616Topic starter

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More
 

Offline Airwalk1616Topic starter

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 And...
 

Offline Airwalk1616Topic starter

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And..
 

Offline Airwalk1616Topic starter

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Few more.
 

Offline Airwalk1616Topic starter

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Few points:

- more board pictures
- more reverse eng
- more measurement, do you have a scope?

99% people here don't have an ecoplus 1/10 hp model from 2013 so it´s difficoult to help.
  What kind of Scope are you referring to. I have a fairly nice multimeter.
 

Offline Armadillo

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Re: Aquarium chiller/compressor/fan won’t turn off/ chills and chills and
« Reply #11 on: December 01, 2017, 04:13:19 pm »
Nearly you get the picture right, but not  :(
The underside of this photo, perpendicularly would be helpful.
Edit: We can see live, neutral going in there...... the 2 board are sought of reverse piggy-back mounted, one is the microprocessor board, the other is the relay board...
« Last Edit: December 01, 2017, 04:15:14 pm by Armadillo »
 

Offline Airwalk1616Topic starter

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Re: Aquarium chiller/compressor/fan won’t turn off/ chills and chills and
« Reply #12 on: December 01, 2017, 04:32:05 pm »
Nearly you get the picture right, but not  :(
The underside of this photo, perpendicularly would be helpful.
Edit: We can see live, neutral going in there...... the 2 board are sought of reverse piggy-back mounted, one is the microprocessor board, the other is the relay board...
that's this pic
 

Offline Armadillo

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Re: Aquarium chiller/compressor/fan won’t turn off/ chills and chills and
« Reply #13 on: December 01, 2017, 04:57:02 pm »
Fortunately my English is not horrible.
Underside and Perpendicular

No worries, others maybe can visualize from your pics..  ;D hahahaha LOL.  :-DD
 

Offline Airwalk1616Topic starter

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Do any of you happen to have some suggestions on what to be checking that could be causing my compressor and fan to be on all the time?
 

Offline Airwalk1616Topic starter

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Fortunately my English is not horrible.
Underside and Perpendicular

No worries, others maybe can visualize from your pics..  ;D hahahaha LOL.  :-DD

Are you asking for me to unsolder the boards apart and take a picture from straight on so you can see the traces?
 

Offline james_s

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Having zero knowledge of that particular unit, things I'd check:
- Cracked solder joints on either board
- Shorted transistor that drives the compressor relay
- Bad electrolytic capacitors
- Bad temperature sensor
 
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Offline Airwalk1616Topic starter

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HOw do I test the capacitor?
 

Offline Airwalk1616Topic starter

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NVm, i figured out how lol. Just out the probes on and see....capacitors are fine. The bigger one shows a bit more ohms and the smaller one lower.
 

Offline SMdude

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So, is the relay for the heater turning on at the same time as the chiller?

I would be checking the temperature probe. It is most likely a 10k NTC. It should read 10k at about 21°C. Look for a chart for the resistance vs temperature for a 10k NTC and make sure the probe is working at least near to what the charts say.

Check for bad solder joints.

Try warming the boards up with a hair dryer or hot air gun and see if it suddenly behaves.

 

Offline Airwalk1616Topic starter

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So, is the relay for the heater turning on at the same time as the chiller?

I would be checking the temperature probe. It is most likely a 10k NTC. It should read 10k at about 21°C. Look for a chart for the resistance vs temperature for a 10k NTC and make sure the probe is working at least near to what the charts say.

Check for bad solder joints.

Try warming the boards up with a hair dryer or hot air gun and see if it suddenly behaves.
i pulled the temp probe and tested it. It’s good. 10k at room temp, then rapidly climbs after a dunk into ice water.
 

Offline Airwalk1616Topic starter

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And no the relays click on independently of each other per heating or cooling light becoming illuminated. Remember though, he heating relay simply powers a 2 prong outlet in the back of the unit for an external, separate, heating element that would be placed into the tank as a failsafe to warm the water JUST in case it becomes lower than the set temp. What it SHOULD be doing is reaching the set temp via cooling and then basically shutting off completely leaving nothing but the power light illuminated until the water temp becomes 2* higher than the set temp which at that point, the machine should start up again and start cooling back down to the set temp. But my compressor and fan are on all the time. From the moment I plug it in and stays on and continues to chill the water as much as I’ll let it run for. I’ve seen it go down to 59* with a set temp of 70* before.
« Last Edit: December 02, 2017, 10:35:26 am by Airwalk1616 »
 

Offline SMdude

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Ok, so when the water(or temp probe) becomes cold, does the heater relay switch on at all?
If not then the problem is somewhere in the temp sense circuit.

It would be really helpful if you were able to separte the 2 pcb's and take a good photo of the solder sides. In my opinion, it would be well worth your effort to go over all the solder joints and add some fresh solder.
 
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Offline Airwalk1616Topic starter

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Ok, so when the water(or temp probe) becomes cold, does the heater relay switch on at all?
If not then the problem is somewhere in the temp sense circuit.

It would be really helpful if you were able to separte the 2 pcb's and take a good photo of the solder sides. In my oxpinion, it would be well worth your effort to go over all the solder joints and add some fresh solder.
Yes, the temp probe always displays the correct temp and the heater relay only triggers when the temp of the water it’s reading is below whatever the set temp has been set at.
 

Offline Airwalk1616Topic starter

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I just tested my transistors with my multimeter set at 2000k ohms. When i put the probes, in either polarity on the Base and Emitter, I get a reading. This means they’re bad? @james_s @SMdude
« Last Edit: December 02, 2017, 07:38:11 pm by Airwalk1616 »
 


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