Unbelievable!

[DevilBoy]

After just talking to a friend of mine that is real good with DIY in the reef hobby. i asked him about my lighting problem with my 12g aquapod, how both of my PC lights come on at the same time with 2 seperate timers set at 2 seperate times. and he told me to plug them in individually into a regular wall outlet and see if one cord powered on both lights. so thats what i did. and sure enuff one cord turned on both lamps. SO.... i asked him now what.... he said the hood is :

 

 

1. either wired wrong.

2. is defective!!!!!

 

now what the heck should i do? i have my rock and sand in there cycling now. 1st nano that was shipped to me had cracked glass, now the 2nd one they sent me a defective hood?

[beerz4us]

id contact the manufature r and ask for a replacement hood just keep the tank if its ok

[DevilBoy]

i have called and emailed Current USA and they have not called or replied back. and as far as i know, the hood for the aquapod can not be taken off....

[acuoio]

Heh, what did the 2nd cord turn on?

 

But yeah, talk to Current. They have engineers to answer those questions. Luckily, you just have rock/sand in there, which is easily transferable.

[DevilBoy]

Heh, what did the 2nd cord turn on?

 

But yeah, talk to Current. They have engineers to answer those questions. Luckily, you just have rock/sand in there, which is easily transferable.

 

 

the first cord turned on the 10k's plus the actinics, the 2nd power cord turned on actinics only!

[acuoio]

Sooo, the actinic can't be your "moonlight?" That's the way I have it set up for my non-reef at home. The actinic turns on at like 4pm and goes off at 10pm. The PC turns on at 4:30 and off at 9:30.

 

Sorry, I don't have a Pod to know what is supposed to happen.

[DevilBoy]

Sooo, the actinic can't be your "moonlight?" That's the way I have it set up for my non-reef at home. The actinic turns on at like 4pm and goes off at 10pm. The PC turns on at 4:30 and off at 9:30.

 

Sorry, I don't have a Pod to know what is supposed to happen.

 

i dont think you understand where i am coming from, when i have them plugged into timers they will only shut on and off at the same time.... no matter how much of a difference i have with the timers. but i can manually turn on my 10ks with the switch and the actinics will not come on. and vice versa i can manually turn on the actinics and the 10k's will not come on. but plugged into timers they both turn on at once....

[DevilBoy]

I talked with Ike today about a few things concerning the AquaPod. For the people not able to get the hood off of their pods, Ike did tell me, yes they do come off but are hard to get off.... the way Chris described it as pushing down, out, then up should take the hood off. This is the email Ike left me about my concern with the lighting problems.... if anyone else has the problem when hooked to timers this is the reason why......

 

 

Dear Tim,

 

We apologize your having a problem with your AquaPod and use with timers.

After some investigation, we found that some units were wired in a way that

prevents them from being used with single outlet timers.

 

However, we do have an easy solution for your problem that we can send to

you in the mail. If you just provide your name and address, we will go

ahead and drop them in the mail to you.

 

Once again, we do apologize.

 

Sincerely,

Ike

 

Ike Eigenbrode

Current USA, Inc.

www.current-usa.com

Ph: 760-727-7011

Fax: 760-727-7066

 

so as you see, some of them are wired that way, but Ike is taking care of it for me.

[asiankidd2]

sounds like thats another way of saying they messed up. hahah well from an engineering point of view, if 1 cord turns on power to both lamps, that means that the 2nd cord is also hooked up to the power going to the 2nd ballast. Which means if cord 1 is plugged in the tips of cord 2 should be live, causing a very dangerous hazard, try hooking a volt meter up the cord 2 and plug in cord 1, do you have any voltage that is flowing?

[DevilBoy]

yes asiankid there is voltage to cord #2 even when it is not plugged in... this is a real hazard if you ask me.... having this hood wired like this can fire the whole tank..

[stoney waters]

OMG! That is unbelivable. I don't know what else to say.

[DevilBoy]

OMG! That is unbelivable. I don't know what else to say.

 

are you being sarcastic? it sounds like it.... if your not, then im sorry

[icenine]

I agree that the wireing is a potential hazzard. I would push them for a replacement hood.

[Optik]

yes asiankid there is voltage to cord #2 even when it is not plugged in... this is a real hazard if you ask me.... having this hood wired like this can fire the whole tank..

 

The TANK? How about YOU!!! Be carefull mang!!!

[NEVER SATISFIED REFFER]

WITH ALL THE PROBLEMS WITH THESE DAMN NANO CUBES AND OTHER TANKS LIKE THE AQUAPOD...i DON'T UNDERSTAND WHY PEOPLE KEEP BUYING THEM, JUST BUY A REGULAR TANK.

[japicka]

are you being sarcastic? it sounds like it.... if your not, then im sorry

Actually from the sounds of it the things were wired in series, which means if one plug gets juice then both lamps can come on (can be shut off via switches). As far as the hood going up in flames I would not be too concerned, both ballasts pulling their maximum current isn't enough to fry the hood or the outlet, or the insulated cords. From what I can see they are using heavy duty wires in those things, which in should be able to withstand the entire circuits load (i.e. 1875 watts), which I seriously doubt the lights, pump, and everything else in the room it occupys is going to be able to pull. If there was an issue I would think that Ike would have told you to stop using it immediately.

 

I would push for a new hood though, the thing should never made it out of quality control.

[DevilBoy]

I agree that the wireing is a potential hazzard. I would push them for a replacement hood.

 

I talked with Ike about that situation, and he told me that is the way that they are wired to be used with Current Usa's new dual timer.

 

 

Actually from the sounds of it the things were wired in series, which means if one plug gets juice then both lamps can come on (can be shut off via switches). As far as the hood going up in flames I would not be too concerned, both ballasts pulling their maximum current isn't enough to fry the hood or the outlet, or the insulated cords. From what I can see they are using heavy duty wires in those things, which in should be able to withstand the entire circuits load (i.e. 1875 watts), which I seriously doubt the lights, pump, and everything else in the room it occupys is going to be able to pull. If there was an issue I would think that Ike would have told you to stop using it immediately.

 

I would push for a new hood though, the thing should never made it out of quality control.

 

I did ask Ike about the fire hazard and he said no, it should be fine, a new hood would be out of the question since Ike told me that is the way they wired all the hoods. it just isnt mine, i seen numerous complaints on other forums of users stating they can not use the lighting with 2 single timers. so IMO i think Current USA wired these hoods this way so you will need to buy their new dual timers that are coming out. Ike said they are wired to be used with this new timer.

 

 

The TANK? How about YOU!!! Be carefull mang!!!

 

yea i know, i got alittle zap the other day from it. scared the crapola outta me.

 

 

WITH ALL THE PROBLEMS WITH THESE DAMN NANO CUBES AND OTHER TANKS LIKE THE AQUAPOD...i DON'T UNDERSTAND WHY PEOPLE KEEP BUYING THEM, JUST BUY A REGULAR TANK.

 

i do have a 46g bow front. i decided i want to try something different and bought a nano tank.

[stoney waters]

are you being sarcastic? it sounds like it.... if your not, then im sorry

 

Sarcastic, no. Concerned and surprised, yes.

[NEVER SATISFIED REFFER]

Actually from the sounds of it the things were wired in series, which means if one plug gets juice then both lamps can come on (can be shut off via switches). As far as the hood going up in flames I would not be too concerned, both ballasts pulling their maximum current isn't enough to fry the hood or the outlet, or the insulated cords. From what I can see they are using heavy duty wires in those things, which in should be able to withstand the entire circuits load (i.e. 1875 watts), which I seriously doubt the lights, pump, and everything else in the room it occupys is going to be able to pull. If there was an issue I would think that Ike would have told you to stop using it immediately.

 

I would push for a new hood though, the thing should never made it out of quality control.

 

 

I'd say it is a prob if he has 120v coming out of the other cord!!!

 

Why would they make the thing with a dual timer and dual plugs, then wire it so you can't work it that way? All I know is someone is so stupid that its an act of god that keeps their brain from forgetting to send the signels that keep involuntary

liFe sustaining pulmonary and respiratory functions going!

[icenine]

"we found that some units were wired in a way that

prevents them from being used with single outlet timers"

 

...that makes it sound like a bug, not feature. I'd want a new hood.

[AzFishFreak]

Well if mine comes in with this "bug" I will try re-wiring. Shouldn't be too bad. That and I am going to replace the 27watt bulbs with 32watt bulbs since the Balasts are suppose to be the same.

[AzFishFreak]

pupperpr was nice enough to give us a pic of the internals of the 12g pod in another topic.

 

http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=74670

 

 

http://img127.imagevenue.com/img.php?loc=l...64_IMG_0523.jpg

 

Looks like everything in run is series off the black (Hot) wire, shouldn't be too hard to separate out the ballast that you want the actinics on and leave everything else in series, course I am not an electrician so I could be wrong.

[asiankidd2]

seperating it out would be easy, just individually wire up the power wire to each switch and to each ballast keeping them seperate. The only problem woudl to be doing this over a stocked tank....but even then this shoudl still be pretty easy to do for the average diy'er good luck

 

-Jon

[chipmaker]

snip

Dear Tim,

 

snip

However, we do have an easy solution for your problem that we can send to

you in the mail. If you just provide your name and address, we will go

ahead and drop them in the mail to you.

 

Once again, we do apologize.

 

Sincerely,

Ike

 

Ike Eigenbrode

Current USA, Inc.

www.current-usa.com

Ph: 760-727-7011

Fax: 760-727-7066

 

so as you see, some of them are wired that way, but Ike is taking care of it for me.

 

 

Are they going to pay you a flat rate fee for labor, after all your "fixing" their screwup..They should compensate you for more than providng a fix you have to do yourself if its only 10% coupon for a bulb or something. Guess they are even cutting down on the chinese labor hours in further attempts to make more profit, and now expect the customers to finish up their products correctly..MAybe it should be called a 12 SFP(semi finished pod) or after reading the other posts regarding plugs ends being hot, call it the 12EM (electrocution Model)