Sick and Tired of Waveline pumps

[Waveline]

RLSS and Waveline have a 1 year warranty. We do stock all parts to repair your waveline pumps.

[fixerupper]

I truly sympathize with the original poster.

My story:
Back in 2013 I tried the DC3000 on my 40g cube and loved it so much I switched almost all of my pumps over to Waveline DC. Well, so much for being an 'early adopter'.

2xDC3000 shot just out of warranty.
2xDC5000 shot (one on my RLSS 8i Skimmer and one on my return) again, just out of warranty. Both of these were running only at no greater than 50% power and were cleaned every 2-3 of months. That's why I had 2 for each application. It made the maintenance schedule that much easier.
They started to shut down one by one. Impellers spin for a few seconds but won't stay running. Controllers are fine. It's the same for all of them.

I tried to contact Nick at Reef Supply Canada but he shut down his business. So then I emailed RLSS; about a year ago now. Never a response.
I gave RLSS another chance and sent an email 10 days ago with a follow up 3 days later...again, not-a-word-back!

I have no idea if I just need new impellers, other parts or if I'm just SOL.
With that kind of support (none!) who would be willing to throw more money at a brand with such poor reliability? I was seriously thinking of trying the newest generation with the problems (supposedly) addressed but I'd sure feel foolish if history repeated itself.

Every day I stare at my expensive skimmer just sitting in the corner of the fish room. It's a harsh reminder. Hopefully when my 3D printer arrives I can make a part to adapt a more reliable pump into the skimmer.

Sigh

[FishyFishy!]

Yup. I have many emails into them as well. Mine were both a long time ago, and recently just to see if they would sell me new controllers and power supplies. Seems like business is just too busy over there ;-)

[byee]

Thanks for the valuable information. I'll stick with the regular mainstream pumps for now.

Perhaps Waveline will reply to both your emails since he's clearly stated spare parts are available.

[_Adrian_]

Originally Posted by daplatapus

Pump. Connector from controller has 3 pins

front



back



sorry, no gut shots of the pump. I can get at the impeller but thats it. Pretty sure it'll all be encased in epoxy inside anyway...

Ill buy those off you if you have given up on them

I have a project on the horizon that involves DUAL high current BLDC controller with integrated I2C control

I understand the need of these manufacturers to "compact" these units to make it easier to hide, however my issue is with lack of cooling which in the end reduces overall life of the unit. My idea always been over engineer it and make sure that the unit can drive 5 to 10 times its normal workload.

Would you not pay more money to know your never have to upgrade another controller ??

[daplatapus]

Lol, I haven't given up on the pump yet. I love the pumps. I love the original controller. But poor cooling, fan and bearing designs on the controller resulted in burnt out controllers.
I really want to know what the heck the difference is in the gen1 controllers and any of the next gens. I still have a brand new controller (gen1) and it easily pushes probably 1000 gph at 12' of head. Switch to the other controller...less than 2-300 gph. It's completely gutless. I've had one of the guys from Waveline tell me maybe the magnet has de-magnetized, they sent me new impellers.
For some reason no one over there believes me that it is 100% the controller.

[_Adrian_]

My plan is to use an integrated H bridge from ST.
It's the only simple alternative that supports 30A continuous duty at 600V for a sensor less BLDC application. The motor might be rated at 170W and 24V... with a bit of quick math 170/24=7.03A is actual draw.

Now to actually further get into engineering we still don't know whatever its a Wye or Delta configuration of the windings inside the motor.

[fixerupper]

Well, it was a nice thought.
A week since my post. Several weeks since my email.
Over a year since my initial request for assistance.
Still-not-one-peep.

I think we have pretty well established what to expect from the service side.

Originally Posted by byee

Thanks for the valuable information. I'll stick with the regular mainstream pumps for now.

Perhaps Waveline will reply to both your emails since he's clearly stated spare parts are available.

[byee]

I was expecting WAVELINE daniel@rlss.ca to reply publicly on the forum or privately with daplatapus.

I was under the impression Daniel trolls the forums to help build the image of the company and not the opposite!

Perhaps the lack of response will have a negative impact on sales. I did consider a Waveline to replace my Ehiem. I'll definitely replace my return pump with another Ehiem.

Life's just too short to get frustrated with the lack of or simply NO support from Waveline.

[FishyFishy!]

Originally Posted by byee

I was expecting WAVELINE daniel@rlss.ca to reply publicly on the forum or privately with daplatapus.

I was under the impression Daniel trolls the forums to help build the image of the company and not the opposite!

Perhaps the lack of response will have a negative impact on sales. I did consider a Waveline to replace my Ehiem. I'll definitely replace my return pump with another Ehiem.

Life's just too short to get frustrated with the lack of or simply NO support from Waveline.

Yup. Terribly unreliable product. Terrible customer service and zero support. Hopefully they go belly up.

How sad is it that we get better customer service from their Chinese competitors accross the world! Fish street will get back to you asap and usually send you out replacement parts for the cost of shipping. Buy a Canadian pump on our own soil, and even if I wanted to, I cant even get a replacement part from them.

Terribly sad.