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Old 11-08-2015, 11:39 PM
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Default Sick and Tired of Waveline pumps

Ok, so long story short I've gone through 3 controllers on my Waveline 12000's. 1st gen controllers were awesome! But they burned out their poorly designed cooler fans, thus in turn burn't out the controllers.
2nd Gen controllers = very poor pump performance (at least on high head applications)
3rd Gen - no change from 2nd gen (at least the ones I got)

I have to say, there is a definite, audible difference in RPM from my 1st Gen to the other two, so it seems like it allows the impeller to ramp up further.

Now I hear there is another gen that is Apex ready.

My question (because it appears RLSS customer service doesn't like it when you keep asking them why their products suck):
Does anyone know if these pumps are PWM controlled or how to test if they are?

How can I mod something to drive these pumps?

Last edited by daplatapus; 11-08-2015 at 11:42 PM.
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Old 11-09-2015, 01:33 AM
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Yup! Feel your pain. I scrapped both my 10,000's and went back to the tried and true mag drives.

The DC's are great pumps for a while, but unless you fork out huge cash for the big name brands, they will just end up in the garbage.
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Old 11-09-2015, 01:48 AM
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What happens when the controller dies? It doesn't have variable speed or it doesn't work at all?
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Old 11-09-2015, 01:58 AM
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Default Waveline

http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=96980
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Old 11-09-2015, 01:03 PM
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Myka, when the controller dies, everything dies
Fishy,Fishy: I was under the impression (when they first came out) that Waveline were the top of the line. These are definitely NOT Jabeo pumps.

Codfather:You are my hero! Has it been working well? Mind if I pick your brain a bit? My boards are way different than yours, but I don't mind poking about a bit to figure out what's going inside. Unfortunately my boards are also not as nicely identifying what wires are doing what. Here's a pic of the latest gen board:



The wires in the top left are what's coming from the AC/DC Meanwell power supply. The black, White and green wires are headed to the pump. I tried metering them out with my voltmeter but the readings were haywire, constantly moving all over the place. Any idea's?

Last edited by daplatapus; 11-09-2015 at 01:10 PM.
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Old 11-09-2015, 01:21 PM
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This is the power supply they're using:
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Old 11-09-2015, 01:30 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by daplatapus View Post
Myka, when the controller dies, everything dies
Fishy,Fishy: I was under the impression (when they first came out) that Waveline were the top of the line. These are definitely NOT Jabeo pumps.
Well that's lame. I didn't read all that other thread. Wouldn't there be a fairly easy way to just go around the controller and use it as an on/off pump? Or, could you buy a controller from a different pump (they have replacements I think for other brands, don't they?) and integrate it?

Everyone thought the Waveline pumps were top of the line until the big players released DC pumps that were in the $500+ range and we realized that the Waveline is a cheaper model (and performs as such). Not as cheap as the Jebao, but it may as well be with all the failures.
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Old 11-09-2015, 01:50 PM
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Ya, what's weird is with the 1st generation controller I got with the pump, I was probably pushing over 1000 gph. According to the factory charts I should be able to push over 1300 gph at 12' of head, so I figured it was probably close.
A friend had their's running far earlier than mine, but it fried the controller because of poor cooling design. RLSS sent us all new controllers even though I hadn't even run mine yet. My friend ultimately shut their tank down and got out of having a tank because of the damage everything caused - but that's a whole other story....
So I finally have mine up and running and since I still had old controllers, I decided to run them side by side with the new controller to see the difference when I filled up my 210. I'm running 2 separate returns that run side by side so the comparison should be spot on. Well the new controller I bet doesn't put any more than a few hundred gph. It totally sucks compared to the old controller.

I would TOTALLY be open to running it wide open with no control. With the head pressure I'm running at I need all I can get. I just need to figure out how to make that happen without burning up the pump
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Old 11-09-2015, 02:29 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by daplatapus View Post
Fishy,Fishy: I was under the impression (when they first came out) that Waveline were the top of the line. These are definitely NOT Jabeo pumps.
I was talking for like red dragon, abyss, ecotec etc. As far as top of the line.

I had to run a powersource similar to that one, but due to the moisture in the fish room, it too eventually died.
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Old 11-09-2015, 05:00 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by daplatapus View Post
My question (because it appears RLSS customer service doesn't like it when you keep asking them why their products suck):
Does anyone know if these pumps are PWM controlled or how to test if they are?
How can I mod something to drive these pumps?
Only way to chase a signal such as PWM is with an oscilloscope. Costly piece of gear, although these days there are dongle options available that work with a PC. Aside from the controller, it's good to know more about the pump motor as well. Is it a brushless PMG DC motor, any additional circuitry in the motor or pump housing?
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