JBJ ATO Question

[redfishblewfish]

I picked up a used JBJ ATO to use on a JBJ 28 tank. My interests were to set it up using both floats to turn the pump off when they ?floated?. I basically want a two float system to assure when one switch went bad, the other would still turn off the pump to the water reservoir.


So I?m looking at the instructions and I don?t see were that is an option with the JBJ.



Am I missing something? I really want a backup float valve since there is no extra volume in an All-In-One tank to fit all that extra reservoir water when the switch goes bad.

 

[trinimaddness]

The ato uses both floats in mode "b" like this. You set one float lower and one higher. The pump will come on if the water level goes lower then the upper float..and for whatever reason if the upper float doesn't work, it will turn the pump on when water level gets lower than the second lower float. Preventing the pump from running dry Did that make sense?

 

[redfishblewfish]

Maddness, thanks for the response. Am I just an idiot? I need for both switches to be normally off when either float switch is "up." When I look at Mode B, I see one switch normally on when "down" (sensor 2), and the other normally off when "up" (sensor 1).

I know with other float switches, if you turn the float upsidedown, it reverses the normally on/off of the switch. Does anyone know if it works that way with JBJ. I'm going to go and play with it.

 

[trinimaddness]

Maddness, thanks for the response. Am I just an idiot? I need for both switches to be normally off when either float switch is "up." When I look at Mode B, I see one switch normally on when "down" (sensor 2), and the other normally off when "up" (sensor 1).

I know with other float switches, if you turn the float upsidedown, it reverses the normally on/off of the switch. Does anyone know if it works that way with JBJ. I'm going to go and play with it.

Your picture doesnt work.. But the switches are normally off when float is up and on when its down..the light on the jbj indicates when its on and off..submerge both switches in water and the light on the jbj unit should be off..then use your finger and pull down on the float and you should see a light come on indicating that the pump is on..just make sure you didnt install unside down lol

 

[redfishblewfish]

To familiarize myself with this ATO, I set it up with a light plugged into the controllable outlet. The first thing noted was that one of the float switches was DOA. So I now only have one switch anyway. I guess I should have read all the instructions instead of only looking at the pictures because after a couple minutes of being on, the feed pump automatically shuts off. I timed this and it varied between two minutes and four minutes. Bottom line is that now I feel more comfortable setting this up with one float switch. When the switch goes bad the unit will ?time out? and not cause a flood.

 

[trinimaddness]

it doesnt do it when the switch goes bad...it does it as a safty caution for like you said not to cause a flood..mines does the same thing if left on to long..it only runs for a couple of minutes when shuts of....Seems like you're getting the hang of it

 

[E.intheC]

There is a way to get this to work. Set it up where the water is supposed to fill until the first float reaches the top level, and the second float is supposed to be in your ATO reservoir, and will shut off (as a backup) when the ATO reservoir runs out of water.

Now, instead of putting the second float in the ATO tank, put the second float right above the first float in your sump, but upside-down. The float is set to turn off when it reaches the bottom level, so if you don't flip it over it won't work.

It's kind of confusing to type out but it does work.