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Originally Posted by Myka
So I have this gen 1 Gyre XF150. The cord cracked (common gen 1 issue). Waited WEEKS for an email reply to get a new motor block. Nothing. This is back in early November.
I get the new one and where the cord goes into the motor block the cord casing isn't inserted, so the wires inside are showing. 
I'm about to lose my mind over this. Any ideas??? Is it from water get in to the bare wires where I siliconed it (it's not a perfect seal)??? |
Yow, those photos don't inspire much confidence in the build quality. So much for UL or CSA standards. I mean really! You don't even require an electrical engineer on the design team to know that you need a certain specification of cable when building something that will be submerged in salt water and/or subject to intense lighting! And a new motor block with the wiring already damaged? I have a decade old AquaClear powerhead pushing water to my skimmer running on 120VAC & the cord going into the motor block is still supple & uncompromised! Not sure why you would choose to silicone the wire rather than get that motor replaced as well?
Ok, with my Captain Obvious impersonation out of the way, let's see if I can offer some useful input to this dilemma. I understand these are low voltage DC motors, so hopefully not that much danger of electrocution, sparks or fire! I suspect that the wiring inside the motor housing where you can't see is epoxied to isolate the electrons from the surrounding elements, so while the silicone may provide some mechanical strain relief, it may not actually be required for water proofing. But that's a wild guess & you can't know until you take it apart further, probably destructively. Either way, I wouldn't be comfortable running an electric motor in salt water with that kind of sub par cable.
With respect to the intermittent operation (possibly solved now by playing with DJ power bar switch?), since there is a controller involved with feedback wiring from the motor, any number of components could be at fault. I won't mention software since I was dead wrong on that with your last little electrical episode! However, it still could be something in the controller, but judging by the cable issue & the propensity for these gadgets to get clogged, it probably is with the motor/propeller/cages/bushings......
One other thing you could try is instead of powering it from the DJ power bar with switch, try plugging the power supply directly into an outlet. That will at the very least rule out the power bar or switch.
Good luck with this one too, but if it was me, that thing would be in the trash! Regardless of whether it moves water more to one's preference than say a Tunze or VorTech, you gotta know when to say uncle on a product. (Title of the thread! do it..)