MP40 Noise and App Problems

[Trenton Henderson]

My MP40 has disappeared from the Mobius widget in the last week and, as of this morning, the motor has started whining on ramp up. It’s only going to 18%, and it used to be dead silent (along with my other one). Any idea what’s happening or how to troubleshoot it? The program is still running as intended and it is the slave pump running a gyre mode.

Edit: the dry side is definitely the problem, but I don’t know if it’s caused by the motor or the driver. Because it’s not showing up in mobius, it leads me to believe that it’s the driver. The motor struggles to turn and jerks when the gyre goes back to feed mode speed.

 

[Trenton Henderson]

Edit 2: I called EcoTech and they recommended sending the unit in for service…gotta love those shipping rates! Fortunately, I have an old MP40 with the white driver from back in the day while the unit is off!

 

[keoreef]

Mine is doing the same thing for one of my MP40s. The good thing is that i can still see and adjust the schedule, as well as put it into feed mode via Mobius. I just can't see the current speed of the powerhead.

Luckily, mine doesn't whine so I'm sure its an app/software issue.

 

[Lavey29]

Edit 2: I called EcoTech and they recommended sending the unit in for service…gotta love those shipping rates! Fortunately, I have an old MP40 with the white driver from back in the day while the unit is off!

The only time mine ever make noise or vibrate hard is when they are not perfectly aligned wet and dry sides. Off 1mm and they vibrate and disconnected. I never separate them now. Have never cleaned them in 3.5 years. Run perfectly with no issues.

I know your situation seems different like an internal wiring issue.

 

[Trenton Henderson]

Mine is doing the same thing for one of my MP40s. The good thing is that i can still see and adjust the schedule, as well as put it into feed mode via Mobius. I just can't see the current speed of the powerhead.

Luckily, mine doesn't whine so I'm sure its an app/software issue.

I’m thinking that both problems happening at the same time are coincidental. Mobius always seems to have bugs, so I’m guessing that’s one. Is yours a slave pump? My master pump behaves normally in Mobius, but it was my slave.

The only time mine ever make noise or vibrate hard is when they are not perfectly aligned wet and dry sides. Off 1mm and they vibrate and disconnected. I never separate them now. Have never cleaned them in 3.5 years. Run perfectly with no issues.

I know your situation seems different like an internal wiring issue.

Yeah, the wet side vibrates a lot when not properly aligned. Whenever I put them back, I slide them around while it’s running till I stop feeling vibrations. I’m pretty confident a bearing or something is going out in the motor.

 

[keoreef]

I’m thinking that both problems happening at the same time are coincidental. Mobius always seems to have bugs, so I’m guessing that’s one. Is yours a slave pump? My master pump behaves normally in Mobius, but it was my slave.

Yes, my slave pump is the one acting weird. I thought i was doing something wrong on Mobius, but seems like the app is having issues.

 

[Trenton Henderson]

Yes, my slave pump is the one acting weird. I thought i was doing something wrong on Mobius, but seems like the app is having issues.

Yeah, if you haven’t already, don’t waste your time editing widgets or rebooting the pump…it doesn’t fix it!

 

[keoreef]

Yeah, if you haven’t already, don’t waste your time editing widgets or rebooting the pump…it doesn’t fix it!

That's good to know. Thank you! I figured since everything is working as intended I'm going to leave it alone till Ecotech fixes the issue with an app update.

 

[keoreef]

@Trenton Henderson Funny i see this post today and i say that my MP40 is not making any noises. I get home and the same slave MP40 is rattling while spinning. I check inside the dry side and everything looks clear. I power cycled the whole MP40 system and the sound seems to have disappeared. That side has been running for a couple of months now without any noise issues.

 

[Trenton Henderson]

@Trenton Henderson Funny i see this post today and i say that my MP40 is not making any noises. I get home and the same slave MP40 is rattling while spinning. I check inside the dry side and everything looks clear. I power cycled the whole MP40 system and the sound seems to have disappeared. That side has been running for a couple of months now without any noise issues.

That’s quite interesting…I recall power cycling everything and it still was misbehaving. I made sure to mention in my maintenance report to them that the pump was running in slave gyre mode.

@keoreef, what mode are your MPs running in?

 

[keoreef]

That’s quite interesting…I recall power cycling everything and it still was misbehaving. I made sure to mention in my maintenance report to them that the pump was running in slave gyre mode.

@keoreef, what mode are your MPs running in?

I'm running a custom schedule where 85% of the day they run in reef crest with the other percentage going to transition and nutrient export modes. The reef crest mode changes power depending on time of day/night.

 

[Trenton Henderson]

I'm running a custom schedule where 85% of the day they run in reef crest with the other percentage going to transition and nutrient export modes. The reef crest mode changes power depending on time of day/night.

Got it! I run a gyre mode day and night, but it’s about 1/4 speed at night and has a period of about 5 minutes, whereas the day is about 5 seconds.

 

[keoreef]

Got it! I run a gyre mode day and night, but it’s about 1/4 speed at night and has a period of about 5 minutes, whereas the day is about 5 seconds.

Have you tried switching modes to see if the noise goes away? I'm just throwing out an idea. Not sure if that would work

 

[Trenton Henderson]

Have you tried switching modes to see if the noise goes away? I'm just throwing out an idea. Not sure if that would work

I had thought about it, but I sent it off already. Just the fact that the motor was sounding like it’s bearing was going out made me want them to look into it…we shall see!

 

[keoreef]

I had thought about it, but I sent it off already. Just the fact that the motor was sounding like it’s bearing was going out made me want them to look into it…we shall see!

Good luck! I'm hopeful you get positive results. Let me know if they provide you with any details about the issue.

 

[Trenton Henderson]

Good luck! I'm hopeful you get positive results. Let me know if they provide you with any details about the issue.

I will definitely! At the very least, I hope this gets them to fix bugs in the app….

 

[Trenton Henderson]

@keoreef Just updating you on the situation.

EcoTech said that there was a couple issues with the driver, one being it wasn’t communicating correctly (which may have had to do with the app) and the other being supposed minor water damage (I know they like to claim this, but it could be true, as I’ve had some skimmer overflow/splashing issues in the past). They also said the motor was a bit noisy, so they were going to replace the driver and motor for ~$230 (after shipping) or send me a new unit for ~$290 (after shipping). I chose the latter because it was close enough. After the $40 shipping to them, I only saved about $100 from a new pump, and it has taken quite a bit longer. They’ve still not shipped my new one, but fortunately I have an old MP40….

 

[keoreef]

@keoreef Just updating you on the situation.

EcoTech said that there was a couple issues with the driver, one being it wasn’t communicating correctly (which may have had to do with the app) and the other being supposed minor water damage (I know they like to claim this, but it could be true, as I’ve had some skimmer overflow/splashing issues in the past). They also said the motor was a bit noisy, so they were going to replace the driver and motor for ~$230 (after shipping) or send me a new unit for ~$290 (after shipping). I chose the latter because it was close enough. After the $40 shipping to them, I only saved about $100 from a new pump, and it has taken quite a bit longer. They’ve still not shipped my new one, but fortunately I have an old MP40….

Yikes! The silver lining here is that you have an old MP40 so you're not without flow. Will they ship you a brand new MP40 or are they sending out a refurbished for the ~$290? Why is shipping $40?? Do you live in the country where they have issues delivering? That seems a bit absurd for shipping.

Thank you for filling me in. I appreciate it.

 

[exnisstech]

I'm going to leave it alone till Ecotech fixes the issue with an app update.

Good luck with that. Mobius has had issues changing date and time since the begining and that has never been addressed. I stopped running my radions because of it. It's pretty crappy waking up at 3am to the lights blasting. I posted a thread about it and the mods made it disappear in the vendor feedback forum.

 

[keoreef]

Good luck with that. Mobius has had issues changing date and time since the begining and that has never been addressed. I stopped running my radions because of it. It's pretty crappy waking up at 3am to the lights blasting. I posted a thread about it and the mods made it disappear in the vendor feedback forum.

That's ridiculous. I really wish i was able to use my GHL to control my MP40s so i can avoid using Mobius altogether, but Ecotech removed that ability as well. At this point i'm going to just have to live with it since i've spent way too much money on these powerheads.