relay box outlet failing

binder · Post by **binder** » Tue Oct 29, 2019 12:03 pm

I've got a standard relay box module and I believe that I have an outlet that has failed (or is failing). The outlet is port 3 and I've used it for my heater. I switched to using a Star controller from a Plus controller last week and that's when the failure occurred. I originally thought it was the heater that quit because I swapped heaters and the temperature increased. By the evening, the relay started working intermittently. The controller would show that it's "ON" but the light on the heater would be off. Then, over the weekend, the port continued to not work reliably because it would somewhat heat the tank but then it would not. The controller continues to think that the outlet is on.
I swapped my heater port to a different port (Port 2) and now it appears to be working as expected with heating the tank and my original heater is working again.
So, my question is two-fold:
* what port (or ports) should I use for my heater? I know that ports 4 & 5 have better dampening or something like that built in to them for wavemaker control. Should I use one of those ports instead?
* repairing or fixing the port? Is it wise to attempt to repair the individual port (the box should not have any water damage, as it's been in the same spot for years except some minor rusting on the db15 connector)? Or should I just replace the entire relay box?

I have not swapped out the relay box for a different relay box to ensure it's not the signal from the controller to the relay box. I'm assuming that the cable is good as I'm using the cable that came with the relay box originally and that cable had been connected to the box and the Plus controller for years without any problems. I doubt that a cable would just "stop working" when it's sat in the same spot for years....but it could happen that it could fail when I moved it....I find it odd though.
I plan on attempting to test the port more in the future to see what is really going on with it, but it's just hard to test the reliability of the port without having something plugged into it and continuously watching and monitoring the output (especially when the controller says the port is on when it's actually off).

Any thoughts?

rimai · Post by **rimai** » Tue Oct 29, 2019 2:39 pm

Open the relay box and check if the relay is detachable.

binder · Post by **binder** » Wed Oct 30, 2019 9:19 am

I will do that. It will hopefully be in the next week or so before I can. I have to plan for the downtime to shutdown my tank to do that. No worries though.
I think I'm having another issue with either the heater or another relay port on the box that I switched to using. Don't know for certain and have to investigate.

I will report back about if the relay is removable or not.

binder · Post by **binder** » Sat Nov 02, 2019 7:50 pm

well the relay/outlet appears to be working just fine currently. I've got it in the ON position and it's powering an analog heater control. so we shall see.
i just don't understand what is going on with it controlling a heater.
oh well, everything is working so I'm not going to press it currently.

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binder · Post by **binder** » Thu Nov 21, 2019 1:26 pm

Just to add to this, I think this issue is related to the I2C bus getting locked when the touchscreen is off and unlocks when the touchscreen is touched. https://github.com/reefangel/Libraries/issues/255
I added my comments to the issue from what I experienced last night.

After I saw the post Roberto made and his comments, I revisited this issue and my symptoms fit with what is discussed. I wanted to make sure and tie this to the issue.

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