APC Inverter and Coal-Trol Thermostat time issue

Hi, called today and spoke with Ed about the advancing time issue I am having with the Coal-trol thermostat. After discussing it and I mentioned I had a APC inverter/charger that the stove was running off... he said that was probably the issue. He was right, I plugged the coal-trol into a house outlet and it's been keeping the time. So, this leaves me with few choices.. 1) Whats the chances you guys could have a battery option for the thermostat instead of the power comming from the flat silver satan cables? 2)I spned another 140 on a Pure singwave inverter. I could have my APC from the wall to the battery, and the pure signwave inverter from the battery to the coal-trol (not how I had originally thought it up) or return the coal-trol until suce a time that 1 is an option?

Thoughts?

Thanks,
Chris

Search " true sine wave" there was a lot of chatter last year about this topic.
Search " it works" for some entires into the home made inverts.

Mine runs thru an APC? type inverter, never noticed any time problem, but then again, I don't use the setback, I set my temp on HOLD and leave it there.

Interesting, I have an APS750 Triplite connected to my stoker. I run the x.10 camera and home automation software so I can remotely (through internet) see my carbon monoxide reading and remotely turn off the stove if need be. So I researched the wave form and found that the APS just passes through the existing power being received from the elec company with same wave form received from the elec company (this is how my x.10 automation module can work attached to it) unless it is on battery power, than a modified wave form. So I am unclear how the triplite is causing any problems while not on the battery!

UPdate: Talking with Neil, and based on the thermostat working from the wall directly, there has to be an issue with how the APC is hading the power off. Going to call APC again.

Just got off the phone with Tripplite, and you are correct. when the APC is using the wall power, it just passes that power through in normal sinewave form. It only goes into a modified form when running off the battery. So there is no reason for the time to be incresing. I'll have to call Ed back and talk this over with him. Thanks for the heads up.

jrn8265 wrote:Interesting, I have an APS750 Triplite connected to my stoker. I run the x.10 camera and home automation software so I can remotely (through internet) see my carbon monoxide reading and remotely turn off the stove if need be. So I researched the wave form and found that the APS just passes through the existing power being received from the elec company with same wave form received from the elec company (this is how my x.10 automation module can work attached to it) unless it is on battery power, than a modified wave form. So I am unclear how the triplite is causing any problems while not on the battery!

You bet and good luck!

Did some more testing over the weekend. I hooked a digital alarm clock, with the 9volt backup battery removed, to the APS750. It hasn't missed a second of time all weekend. Still the Col-trol thermostat was gaining time. I switched the APC from Inverter/charger to just Inverter (this will not use the battery) and thought I had it but yet again the Thermostat gained time. So I looked at the manual for the APS and I changed my DIP switches to set the point where the APC will switch from house power to battery at the lowest setting. The thermorstat has held the time correctly now for 12 hours. If when I get home it has gained time, I will plug it into the house power directly again to see if I didn't give it enough time to gain time the last time I tested it directly from the wall.

jrn8265 wrote:Interesting, I have an APS750 Triplite connected to my stoker. I run the x.10 camera and home automation software so I can remotely (through internet) see my carbon monoxide reading and remotely turn off the stove if need be. So I researched the wave form and found that the APS just passes through the existing power being received from the elec company with same wave form received from the elec company (this is how my x.10 automation module can work attached to it) unless it is on battery power, than a modified wave form. So I am unclear how the triplite is causing any problems while not on the battery!

So I get home tonight and the thermostat is off by 6 minutes. ugh... so I unplug it from the APC and plug it into the wall. I set the time. 20 or so minutes go by and the time is off by 5 minutes already. I set the time again, and within 30 minutes if is off by 7 minutes. I'm trying a cat 5 cable to see if it will make any difference. but at this point I think this thing is bonkers. Gonna give it another few days before I call Neil again to get a replacement.

GettingStoked wrote:Did some more testing over the weekend. I hooked a digital alarm clock, with the 9volt backup battery removed, to the APS750. It hasn't missed a second of time all weekend. Still the Col-trol thermostat was gaining time. I switched the APC from Inverter/charger to just Inverter (this will not use the battery) and thought I had it but yet again the Thermostat gained time. So I looked at the manual for the APS and I changed my DIP switches to set the point where the APC will switch from house power to battery at the lowest setting. The thermorstat has held the time correctly now for 12 hours. If when I get home it has gained time, I will plug it into the house power directly again to see if I didn't give it enough time to gain time the last time I tested it directly from the wall.

jrn8265 wrote:Interesting, I have an APS750 Triplite connected to my stoker. I run the x.10 camera and home automation software so I can remotely (through internet) see my carbon monoxide reading and remotely turn off the stove if need be. So I researched the wave form and found that the APS just passes through the existing power being received from the elec company with same wave form received from the elec company (this is how my x.10 automation module can work attached to it) unless it is on battery power, than a modified wave form. So I am unclear how the triplite is causing any problems while not on the battery!

The clock chip in the control is faulty.

Chris,
I just read this thread and I have a suggestion that we didn't discuss on the phone. Since you are having the problem while on wall power, as well as the inverter, I think that you may have a faulty TS cable or a TS connector (either on the TS or the control module). If you could substitute an ethernet straight-thru cable of any length and try the tests again, this would eliminate the cable from the picture. If you want, call us and we will send you a replacement cable to try. From your latest comments, It seems that the inverter is not the cause of the clock advancing.
Neil

Bingo!

Hi Neil... The test I mentioned above included using a new 25' Cat 5 cable (straight thru). What I did at the end of the night last night, was put everything back to the way I had it initially when the time did seem to work. It's plugged into the wall and is on the silver-satan 50' cable that came with it. I will let it run this way for a few days or until the time changes again. If it changes (As I suspect it will now) I'll give you call at that point to discuss the next step. Thanks

Chris

nwaelder wrote:Chris,
I just read this thread and I have a suggestion that we didn't discuss on the phone. Since you are having the problem while on wall power, as well as the inverter, I think that you may have a faulty TS cable or a TS connector (either on the TS or the control module). If you could substitute an ethernet straight-thru cable of any length and try the tests again, this would eliminate the cable from the picture. If you want, call us and we will send you a replacement cable to try. From your latest comments, It seems that the inverter is not the cause of the clock advancing.
Neil

Got home last night later after a dinner meeting and the time was off by 13 minutes. So I think the test is over. Neil I'll try and give you a call today.

GettingStoked wrote:Hi Neil... The test I mentioned above included using a new 25' Cat 5 cable (straight thru). What I did at the end of the night last night, was put everything back to the way I had it initially when the time did seem to work. It's plugged into the wall and is on the silver-satan 50' cable that came with it. I will let it run this way for a few days or until the time changes again. If it changes (As I suspect it will now) I'll give you call at that point to discuss the next step. Thanks

Chris

nwaelder wrote:Chris,
I just read this thread and I have a suggestion that we didn't discuss on the phone. Since you are having the problem while on wall power, as well as the inverter, I think that you may have a faulty TS cable or a TS connector (either on the TS or the control module). If you could substitute an ethernet straight-thru cable of any length and try the tests again, this would eliminate the cable from the picture. If you want, call us and we will send you a replacement cable to try. From your latest comments, It seems that the inverter is not the cause of the clock advancing.
Neil

Hey guys at AutomationCorrect, I called in Tuesday and Today to try and finish this issues with the time advancing. As I stated in the voice message, the 2nd (wrong model) thermostat I was sent to replace the first one that had the time advancing issue has been keeping time just fine. So at this point, I have 1 Standard + thermostat that I originally purchased that doesn't work correctly and 1 Standard thermostat that does work but is the wrong model. If someone could give me a call it would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Chris

Did you get a call yet? If not, please send me a PM with your contact information and I'll make sure Neil or Ed gets in touch with you.