ageless
Well-known member
- Joined
- Apr 29, 2017
- Messages
- 978
- Status
- OWNER - I own a Hatteras Yacht
- Hatteras Model
- 55' CONV -Series I (1979 - 1988)
I removed the forward sump that the showers and AC drained into and replaced with the Gulper 24v IC grey water system converted to 24v through a buck converter. The system worked as it should for several months when suddenly the pump wouldn't stop running once the manifold was clear of water. I contacted gulper and the woman in tech support accused me of wiring the unit incorrectly saying I " fried the manifold" yet they would send me a new kit. New kit arrived, I replaced the manifold, checked voltage into the pump which read 23.8-23.9 when the pump was both off and operational. The unit worked as it should for a month and same symptoms reappeared. Contacted Gulper again and they asked me for pics of the motherboard. I took pics as they asked and got a response that they "detect component damage from a voltage surge". While waiting on their response, I remembered I had a brand new pump so I replaced the old pump with the new one. Once again, checked voltage before I even connected it, 23.8-23.9, connected the pump with voltmeter attached and voltage NEVER varied yet the pump presented exactly the same, wouldn't shut off with no water in the manifold. I took pictures of the motherboard and sent them another email explaining my findings with a brand new pump. Here's the most recent response:
"Hi Eric,
Thanks for the QAs and additional photos. We can see some component damage which we’re fairly confident has been caused by a sudden surge. The kind of inrush spike required to do this will have arose from certain conditions on the charging side which aren’t very common. Unfortunately, only an oscilloscope will detect this.
The majority of pumps we manufacture using this same PCB are 12V, whereas just about every example we have recorded of this are within 24V systems. We do recognise the need to increase this voltage rating as charging systems evolve, but we are not quite there yet.
We do not see these issues as product failures but we are happy to look at replacing the PCB when this happens. Unfortunately, until we have released the upgraded PCB a replacement or a new pump will be at risk to the same issue without fitting a DC regulator inline to the pump.
We could be weeks from this change but we could also be a couple of months, if you’d like to replace the PCBs with the current stock, I’d be happy to send you two. If you can let me know a postal address, I’ll make the necessary arrangements asap.
Best regards
Gavin"
I am running an analytic systems charger and have no other electrical issues throughout the vessel. Is it possible the converter is the root cause despite seeing no variation in voltage? Anyone calling "BS" that voltage surge is the cause when a brand new pump does the same thing right out of the box?
"Hi Eric,
Thanks for the QAs and additional photos. We can see some component damage which we’re fairly confident has been caused by a sudden surge. The kind of inrush spike required to do this will have arose from certain conditions on the charging side which aren’t very common. Unfortunately, only an oscilloscope will detect this.
The majority of pumps we manufacture using this same PCB are 12V, whereas just about every example we have recorded of this are within 24V systems. We do recognise the need to increase this voltage rating as charging systems evolve, but we are not quite there yet.
We do not see these issues as product failures but we are happy to look at replacing the PCB when this happens. Unfortunately, until we have released the upgraded PCB a replacement or a new pump will be at risk to the same issue without fitting a DC regulator inline to the pump.
We could be weeks from this change but we could also be a couple of months, if you’d like to replace the PCBs with the current stock, I’d be happy to send you two. If you can let me know a postal address, I’ll make the necessary arrangements asap.
Best regards
Gavin"
I am running an analytic systems charger and have no other electrical issues throughout the vessel. Is it possible the converter is the root cause despite seeing no variation in voltage? Anyone calling "BS" that voltage surge is the cause when a brand new pump does the same thing right out of the box?
