Warning to Profilux Users

[Aqua-Digital]

Originally Posted by sphelps

My intentions here are only to make others ware if these issues. My initial attempt at making profilux aware of the issue didn't go overly well as I attempted to find reasoning for the automatic reset and assurance something would be done to fix it, rather I think they concluded I screwed up by replacing a worn (but working) sensor with what I believed to be new seeing how I purchased it a couple years back but never used it.

I felt it important to clarify this, I apologise for the repeat post but by the time I saw this I could not edit further.

When the thread came to light we also did post on the support thread that feedback would be provided to GHL in regards to an option for power outage non auto alarm reset.

Originally Posted by aqua_digital

In regards to vunerability, although this is not assurance to you, this is the first ever reported case we or GHL have had in 11 years, as typically as system does not need such a long top off period, but as I first stated I have already passed your feedback onto GHL and you are welcome to do the same on the German support forum.

Again we are really sorry to hear about such losses and as a gesture we will do all we can to make the OP feel very much assured and looked after as always

[BigAl07]

I’m sorry to see this happen to you and your tank. It really is sad regardless of the cause and hopefully we can learn from this and go forward as a reefing community and be better for it.


I have to say I was impressed with the input, concern, and support from both Aqua Digital and GHL on this matter. This shows the level of care and support they are willing to give to even an individual customer. On the flip side I think it could have been avoided with a few changes to the set-up.
I’ve been an avid ProfiLux user for many years now and as such (like so many of us) we go on and on about remote access and monitoring via the controller itself. I’ve taken some long vacations and even with my controller working as it should I make sure all my email notifications and alert are working as planned before I leave the house. I go through my own personal “Equipment Checklist” trying to test each “system” before I leave for a trip. Also the house I just moved out of had a terrible problems with the electric company (power outage almost daily sometimes 5-6 times a day… we stopped setting out digital clocks while we lived there) and as such after the first couple of days living there I put my ProfiLux onto a UPS. Not to carry it through a long power outage but to help level out the incoming power blips and keep the system from going through multiple power cuts a day. This was probably the best $75 I ever spent on my system. It was “Life Support” for my tank’s Life Support. The 4 year old sensor didn’t help matters which I see they are willing to replace that and whatever else the OP And GHL work out. The “Auto Reset” issue is being looked at and I’m glad to see they are keeping an open mind about potentially making changes to their firmware to help avoid this in the future.



Even with all the fail-safes in the world there is no substitute for “Human Intervention” which is why remote access is so important. Being able to get a snapshot of your system status is extremely important regardless of which controller you’re running. ProfiLux has allowed for multiple options for remote access/control for the very reason that the posted situation would not arise.



I’m sorry this happened to you and I plan to watch your tank thread(s) to hopefully see your system bounce back and be better than ever before. Hopefully it’s a learning experience for all of us and can teach us a few lessons: a) regardless of the # or type of fail-safe systems involved we must all make sure everything is in top order before leaving b) make sure we can have total remote access of all vital criteria (alerts etc) before leaving c) the importance of electronic devices being “isolated” from repeated on/off cycles due to power fluctuations d) when I get home tonight I’m going to take some time to go through my ProfiLux and make sure my max ATO run-time is minimal to keep this from happening.

I look forward to seeing your system recover from this and flourish like I’m sure it will in time. I live a LONG way from you but if there is anything I can do to help I’d be willing to give it a shot. I’ve had crashes before and it was the reefing community that kept me going when I wanted to just quit it and forget it! If there is anything I can do please don’t hesitate to drop me a PM and I’ll reply right back.

BigAl

[Seriak]

After reading through both posts I have to agree with the OP. He mentioned numerous times that sensors fail and that is a part of life and has no problem with the fact that his sensor failed (Other than the expiry issue or non issue depending on who you are talking to) The real problem is why the alarm gets reset after a power failure. Maybe we should do a poll, but IMO I would want the alarm to remain in memory after a power on/off cycle instead of having it reset. All alarms should have to be reset manually. Now if the majority of other users want it to reset after a power outage, then it should clearly state in the manual that a power failure will reset the alarm. A toggle switch would even be better, so we could choose.

[Aqua-Digital]

100% correct and as above copied parts of the thread these comments were passed onto GHL and most certainly not overlooked.

GHL have also posted here they will look into this.

This is my last post on the subject to save it all getting out of hand. Our support remains personal and direct with the OP from here on.

[sphelps]

I also have no interest GHL support issues further at this point. Regardless what happened I would like to keep focus the two issues I originally outlined.

1 - Float sensor:
Can we confirm what is required here as I'm still unclear resulting from many different opinions being stated.
Is it the recommendation of Profilux to replace these sensors every two years or not?
Is shelf life an actual issue? I originally assumed I had a clearly defective part which happens no doubt but it's very rare. It was previously suggested even a non defective part can or will degrade if not used immediately from factory.

2 - Auto Reset:
I would still like an answer regarding the reasoning for this especially now as it's been stated there is one due to user request. I see no reason why this can't be posted here but if you insist on posted only on the profilux support site then do so under the thread I previously posted already asking this exact question but be aware I will post response here regardless.
IMO this feature of auto reset would be very specialized, I still cannot see a single reason for it hence my curiosity. It would definitely make more sense to me to have such a feature as option through user programming however the default should not to have such feature active.

In regards to some solutions mentioned numerous times I'd like to make a few comments:

• Email alerts: I don't feel this would overly useful in such a circumstance. First my vacation took place in remote location in another country. I had extremely limited access to internet and constantly attempting to check emails through the day would have ruined the vacation completely. I may have been able to use data roaming on my cell but keeping that active the entire time would have cost more than the resulting damages. Also I have a profilux II not III which I understand has better abilities with web interfaces. From my understanding, with my version a computer would have to connected continuously with the software running. First of all I've had communication errors from regular short interval programming so in no way would I consider this reliable and any power outage would cause the PC to shut down. You would need a dedicated PC with UPS at the very least.
  
• Remote monitoring: Not a solution either, even if I could perform such monitoring if I can checked at some point during the day it would have easily been after a power outage in the brief time before an alarm was re-triggered giving the appearance of things operating normally. In addition even if I can see the ATO alarm has been set I have no way of knowing how severe the issue is. Remember I have no clue about automatic resets at this time. The only way this would be useful is with conductivity monitoring which I actually do have but to assume all profilux users have this rather expensive upgrade is not fare and again having to check on your system so frequently would be considered a nuisance at the very least.
  
• Max on time: Again it's based on flow rate, increasing flow rate and decreasing max on time would produce the same results. The max on time must be long enough to effectively top of the tank in worst case evaporation circumstances. As such repeatedly adding this max amount of top off water within a short time period will cause issues on most systems regardless.

[Aqua-Digital]

Hi

Please email us and we will happily reply to all your questions and concerns.

sales@aqua-digital.com

If you wish to continue your thread on by publishing our reply I am happy for you to do so.

[Slick Fork]

I'm also very curious regarding the sensor and the official word on replacing it. Replacing one that's been subject to a salt water environment for a few years seems pretty reasonable. Having one degrade (maybe decompose is a better word) does not seem reasonable. I have a telephone in my office that is 20 years old, has moved from one end of the country to the other, and was made in China. Works like brand new. If a cheap chinese produced telephone can last through 20 years of abuse, I can't see the reason a simple float switch that's touted as being made of super high quality german parts should degrade in a plastic bag.

If degradation is the case, then GHL absolutely needs to put an easily readable date stamp on the retail packaging so that as a customer when I am buying one I know that it came out of the factory on X date and I can reasonably expect Y amount of time.

FWIW my float sensor sat in the bag in my basement for 3 years before I got around to installing it. Has worked fine now for two years in operation.

It's also very curious that they are moving this out of the public light and insisting on clarifying these things via email only. Given the attention this thread has received, I would've guessed keeping everything out in the public so there's no confusion to be a much better move for PR reasons as well. Refusing to definitively answer some pretty general questions in this thread just doesn't look good.