Reef Angel Forum

I'm getting a LOT of relay 'chatter' with the standard ATO programming and 2 float switches.

It looks like when the water is only about halfway up, the top relay 'chatters'. It's been working fine for weeks, then suddenly the ATO power outlet sounds like a buzz saw it switches so fast. (I don't know what the speed of the loop is, but clearly it's checking more than once per second).

If I lift the float switch by hand, it quits.

At first, I thought I had a defective float switch. Ordered new ones. Been working fine for 2-3 weeks. Now, all new set of float switches, and today the same thing happened. It's not mechanically jammed or anything, and looking at the head unit and moving the float switch with my finger seems to work OK (light goes red, light goes green).

Any ideas?

I could solve this with a bit of code, a manual debounce, but I'm out of the office for 3 weeks and don't want new code to be running with the new guy in the office

It worked OK this morning, but turns out water was a bit low. It happened again; I had to disconnect the HI ato switch.

Is the ATO function supposed to continue to work when the ATO timeout triggers? That's obviously a good way to burn out a pump. Both head units did that, with the standard Reef Angel Wizard code. I'm actually using a Peristaltic pump, and at home an eheim that can run dry, but still, seems a bit weird.

== John ==

Can you post your code

Does the relay do the same thing if you override the port?

Code is 100% vanilla.

Hard to say on the port override, that's a good idea, but I can 'see' the red light turn to green really rapidly on the ATO screen, and the relay follows.

Wouldn't you know, it's not doing it now! So I can't test.

Worried when I leave for 3 weeks it'll blow up and my IT guy won't know what to do. Last time he scrapped off the silicone on the tank trying to clean it up before I got back

== John ==