POS Gyre - ready to put it in the garburator

[mike31154]

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..)

[Myka]

Originally Posted by mike31154

Yow, those photos don't inspire much confidence in the build quality. So much for UL or CSA standards. I mean really! [...] Not sure why you would choose to silicone the wire rather than get that motor replaced as well?

I know, eh?! I siliconed it because I was tired of waiting for customer service. I just wanted to try it out in my tank. I can pull the silicone off pretty easily.

I don't think it will electrocute anything, or I would have already got zapped. I got zapped pretty good by a clients' tank last week, and I'm pretty sure it's clear enough in my mind to remember how it feels. It's unplugged right now though, and I'm waiting for customer service again.

Originally Posted by mike31154

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..)

The customer service is what's killing me. I waited to see what everyone was saying about the Gyre, and everyone seemed pretty happy over the last year or so. But me? Yeah, if I didn't have bad luck, I'd have no luck at all.

[Myka]

So today, I screwed around trying to get it running again, and no go. I got it running for 5 mins once, but that was it. So I figured oh what the heck, and put the original motor back on it, and it works fine. It's running in there now. Pretty sweet new motor block...

[The Guy]

After everything I've read in this thread about Gyre I'm glad I only thought about buying one. I'll stick to the Vortech's I like the cord on the outside, out of the water.

[Gooly001]

I've found that the Canadian distributor for Maxspect are very quick in shipping out the replacement parts. Usually got mine within a couple days of registering probpem. Maybe some lfs are dealing with coral vue directly and therefore logistics to get parts are a bit more of an effort due to shipping and cross border paperwork?

[Bill@IA]

Originally Posted by Gooly001

I've found that the Canadian distributor for Maxspect are very quick in shipping out the replacement parts. Usually got mine within a couple days of registering probpem. Maybe some lfs are dealing with coral vue directly and therefore logistics to get parts are a bit more of an effort due to shipping and cross border paperwork?

That is correct. Maxspect CANADA handles Canadian Warranty only. Most authorized Canadian Maxspect Dealers, such as ourselves, have these parts in stock and instructions from Maxspect Canada to ensure the shortest possible delay time for customers.

[Gooly001]

+1 on the Canadian side of Maxspect.
They've even shipped me free of charge the new vibration mounts when feed back was given that G1 were loud. Definetly a brand that's very customer service oriented at least in the Canadian side of the border.