Cheryl P. Posted February 4, 2023 Share Posted February 4, 2023 Last year I bought an old store display that came with all the equipment. I wanted to replace one of the heaters, so I busted out a brand new Coop 100W heater to add to the top tanks in the display. At first everything was fine, then in the morning I saw the heater acting all wonky. The LED kept jumping around to different numbers. Assuming it was a fluke problem, I emailed customer service and got a replacement. In between the issue and getting the replacement, I decided to use the top bank of tanks for a few species of goodeids that don't need heaters so I didn't use the replacement in these tanks. Fast forward a few months to last week. I realized that my room temp dropped a little lower than I wanted so I decided to put a heater back in the tank to bump up the temp. I grab a brand new Coop heater from my stash and plug it in. Next day, BAM!, wonky heater issue again. Ok, so now I'm confused. I still had the original heater that I had this issue with (because, you know, I'm a hoarder like that) and I put it into a 5 gal tank in my kitchen. It works fine. I take the new heater that had the issue and put it in a 5 gallon bucket and plug it directly into the wall outlet instead of the surge protector I was using on the big tank and it was fine. So I was thinking maybe the surge protector is off. Just out of curiosity, I moved my bucket-o-water over to the tanks and plugged the heater back into the same outlet on the surge it was in before. Again, it works fine in the bucket. Now I'm really scratching my head! I decided to give a different surge protector a try. Switch everything out, put the Coop heater back in the top bank of tanks and plug it back in. Immediate wonkiness. For science, I moved the heater to the bottom row of tanks and plugged it in. Still wonky. So to clarify, in a 5 gallon bucket on the floor, both heaters work fine. Put it into either of these tanks and they go nuts. The only thing I can think of is that the light ballasts might be interfering with the heater? We replaced the bulbs with LEDs when the originals burned out. Also, the standard 100w eheim heaters that came with the display work just fine. Thoughts? @Cory have you ever come across this? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mynameisnobody Posted February 5, 2023 Share Posted February 5, 2023 @Cheryl P. I have a few of the heaters and they’ve all worked great. The only thing I can think of, are there any crimps in the wire? Sometimes it can be easy to miss. Other than that, I’m stumped. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jurrian Hering Posted February 5, 2023 Share Posted February 5, 2023 I actually just noticed this same issue this morning on my 100w ACO heater! The heater is set to 74 but the display reads 78 sometimes and 75 others but the heating light never turns on. My room temp is in the high 60s. I have a 50w one running in another tank and have had it for a while with no issue tho. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nabokovfan87 Posted February 5, 2023 Share Posted February 5, 2023 On 2/4/2023 at 3:47 PM, Cheryl P. said: Think of it this way.... Most electronics like this use resistance or some form of small component on the micro controller to form the numbers on the LED display. If you have a display that is doing this, something is causing that resistor or causing some electrical component to malfunction. Either damage or something caused the issue where one of the electrical components inside failed or is about to. Because of that, this means that the thermistor or other sensors on the board can't read and function accurately. The heating element could be fine, but the resistor for the display is bad. The heating circuit could be bad and the display is outputting correctly. Hard to say which. Always have a secondary thermometer to verify things. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators Cory Posted February 5, 2023 Administrators Share Posted February 5, 2023 On 2/4/2023 at 3:47 PM, Cheryl P. said: Last year I bought an old store display that came with all the equipment. I wanted to replace one of the heaters, so I busted out a brand new Coop 100W heater to add to the top tanks in the display. At first everything was fine, then in the morning I saw the heater acting all wonky. The LED kept jumping around to different numbers. Assuming it was a fluke problem, I emailed customer service and got a replacement. In between the issue and getting the replacement, I decided to use the top bank of tanks for a few species of goodeids that don't need heaters so I didn't use the replacement in these tanks. Fast forward a few months to last week. I realized that my room temp dropped a little lower than I wanted so I decided to put a heater back in the tank to bump up the temp. I grab a brand new Coop heater from my stash and plug it in. Next day, BAM!, wonky heater issue again. Ok, so now I'm confused. I still had the original heater that I had this issue with (because, you know, I'm a hoarder like that) and I put it into a 5 gal tank in my kitchen. It works fine. I take the new heater that had the issue and put it in a 5 gallon bucket and plug it directly into the wall outlet instead of the surge protector I was using on the big tank and it was fine. So I was thinking maybe the surge protector is off. Just out of curiosity, I moved my bucket-o-water over to the tanks and plugged the heater back into the same outlet on the surge it was in before. Again, it works fine in the bucket. Now I'm really scratching my head! I decided to give a different surge protector a try. Switch everything out, put the Coop heater back in the top bank of tanks and plug it back in. Immediate wonkiness. For science, I moved the heater to the bottom row of tanks and plugged it in. Still wonky. So to clarify, in a 5 gallon bucket on the floor, both heaters work fine. Put it into either of these tanks and they go nuts. The only thing I can think of is that the light ballasts might be interfering with the heater? We replaced the bulbs with LEDs when the originals burned out. Also, the standard 100w eheim heaters that came with the display work just fine. Thoughts? @Cory have you ever come across this? Is there anything else plugged in, in these tanks? A stray current could possibly cause this? I haven't seen this before. And to have it isolated to those tanks, something must be doing this as the odds of 2 out of the insane amount of heaters we have sold being defective for you. While the chance isn't zero, odds are something about these tanks in general is causing it. Gotta keep playing detective. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flumpweesel Posted February 5, 2023 Share Posted February 5, 2023 Can't speak for coop heater but my heater switches from the set temp to the tank temp on its display so you only notice after water changes or you alter the temp. Catches me out sometimes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anewbie Posted February 5, 2023 Share Posted February 5, 2023 I wonder if the seal is broken and the electrnics are getting damp or condensation on them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cheryl P. Posted February 10, 2023 Author Share Posted February 10, 2023 On 2/5/2023 at 3:56 AM, Cory said: Is there anything else plugged in, in these tanks? A stray current could possibly cause this? I haven't seen this before. And to have it isolated to those tanks, something must be doing this as the odds of 2 out of the insane amount of heaters we have sold being defective for you. While the chance isn't zero, odds are something about these tanks in general is causing it. Gotta keep playing detective. After some more testing, I've narrowed it down to definitely the light fixtures. When they are both unplugged, the issue doesn't happen. When either of the light fixtures are plugged in, the heater goes crazy, regardless of which tank the heater is in. The fixtures must be putting out some bad juju that's messing with the electronics. I don't think it's stray current as there isn't any way I can tell that current could be getting from the top light to the bottom tank. Weird stuff. This might be an excuse to order more coop lights 😏 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Val Posted February 10, 2023 Share Posted February 10, 2023 Or... Just get a mercury one for $4. Also has the benefit of being less obtrusive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nabokovfan87 Posted February 10, 2023 Share Posted February 10, 2023 (edited) On 2/5/2023 at 12:56 AM, Cory said: Is there anything else plugged in, in these tanks? A stray current could possibly cause this? I haven't seen this before. And to have it isolated to those tanks, something must be doing this as the odds of 2 out of the insane amount of heaters we have sold being defective for you. While the chance isn't zero, odds are something about these tanks in general is causing it. Gotta keep playing detective. Just now saw this. In my case no. The clicks and noises seem to be getting louder/longer. It's very loud at night and I hear it over all of my other two tanks. It's very cold in the room and it's a 100W heater on a 10G to give you an idea of the ambient vs. Temperature. I wonder if there is some sort of condensation that is causing issues and noises? I do need to get another video and try to record the time duration and intensity as well as show there isn't air in the grate causing it. Like you mentioned, have to keep diagnosing and researching to figure out what is going on. Maybe run a batch of the 100s with clear plastic or side mounted at a different angle to change flow path. (If it can be easily replicated) On 2/10/2023 at 7:18 AM, Cheryl P. said: After some more testing, I've narrowed it down to definitely the light fixtures. When they are both unplugged, the issue doesn't happen Which fixtures? Edited February 10, 2023 by nabokovfan87 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cheryl P. Posted February 10, 2023 Author Share Posted February 10, 2023 (edited) On 2/10/2023 at 11:24 AM, Val said: Or... Just get a mercury one for $4. Also has the benefit of being less obtrusive. A mercury what? I'm a bit confused as to what you are referring to. If you are talking about a thermometer, the heater is malfunctioning and is not stable. A thermometer isn't really going to help the situation. Edited February 10, 2023 by Cheryl P. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Katherine Posted February 10, 2023 Share Posted February 10, 2023 @nabokovfan87 I think you may be thinking this was a different thread. I know you weren't the only one with a clicking noise, but that wasn't @Cheryl P.'s problem. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nabokovfan87 Posted February 10, 2023 Share Posted February 10, 2023 On 2/10/2023 at 9:22 AM, Katherine said: @nabokovfan87 I think you may be thinking this was a different thread. I know you weren't the only one with a clicking noise, but that wasn't @Cheryl P.'s problem Yeah I got that. Locating the coffee pot now. 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cheryl P. Posted February 10, 2023 Author Share Posted February 10, 2023 On 2/10/2023 at 12:26 PM, nabokovfan87 said: Yeah I got that. Locating the coffee pot now. Ok, I'm glad I'm not the only one confused here 😆 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nabokovfan87 Posted February 10, 2023 Share Posted February 10, 2023 On 2/10/2023 at 9:30 AM, Cheryl P. said: Ok, I'm glad I'm not the only one confused here 😆 It happens.... My apologies. What was the light that you found to be causing issues? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The endler guy Posted February 10, 2023 Share Posted February 10, 2023 It’s one of the random number game thingies, better get it right or your heater will be locked at 99! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Val Posted February 10, 2023 Share Posted February 10, 2023 On 2/10/2023 at 12:19 PM, Cheryl P. said: A mercury what? I'm a bit confused as to what you are referring to. If you are talking about a thermometer, the heater is malfunctioning and is not stable. A thermometer isn't really going to help the situation. Man. That's what happens when you hit a thread while at JiffyLube. My bad. Carry on. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cheryl P. Posted February 11, 2023 Author Share Posted February 11, 2023 On 2/10/2023 at 1:14 PM, nabokovfan87 said: It happens.... My apologies. What was the light that you found to be causing issues? I put a picture in my original post of the only info that was on the lights. They are older style 48" T8 fixtures that came with the tanks when I bought them. We did replace the original bulbs with Phillips brand LED ones. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nabokovfan87 Posted February 11, 2023 Share Posted February 11, 2023 Ah. That makes sense. Condensation and stuff maybe did a number? Definitely a bizarre situation. The tank has a glass lid on it between the light and the water? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PlaneFishGuy Posted February 14, 2023 Share Posted February 14, 2023 could it be the lights are causing a load imbalance/fluctuations at the outlet? Especially if you already have a heavy load on that circuit breaker Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cheryl P. Posted February 26, 2023 Author Share Posted February 26, 2023 Ok I finally got around to doing more testing. It's definitely the light that is making the heater's display fluctuate. I took a video of my very scientific test 😉 The T8 light and the heater are plugged into different circuits. I start out with the heater in a bucket and it's working fine. When I move the bucket close to the light the LED goes nuts. Moving the bucket away makes it go back to normal. So @Cory, if you ever see this issue again, have the person check their lights! light</a> causing heater problems" width="200"> 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Furbs Posted February 26, 2023 Share Posted February 26, 2023 Now you gotta try the light with different bulbs 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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