JEBAO WP-40 WAVEMAKER

[Jason Rhoads]

I just bought one of these from eBay and am looking for any first hand experiences with these power heads. I will also be posting my review of this pump here when I get mine in.

 

Also, the seller mentioned to me that if people buy through a group order he can offer discounts (not sure how much).

 

Anyway, I paid $108 which includes shipping. I think this is a great price for what could possibly do the job of a $400+ piece of equipment.

 

 

[scott711]

there are several threads on reefcentral about it.

[ridetheducati]

Get the variable power supply so you can control it.

 

Also, the MP25 will be available soon.

Edited April 22, 2013 by ridetheducati

[howaboutme]

Also, the MP25 will be available soon.

 

Freudian slip? You mean the WP-25...

[Jason Rhoads]

Get the variable power supply so you can control it.

 

Good advice. I just read this on the RC threads.

[GraffitiSpotCorals]

I was thinking about getting one or two, let me know if anyone does the group buy.

[flooddc]

Get the variable power supply so you can control it.

 

Also, the MP25 will be available soon.

How is your doing so far? is it as powerfully that need a variable supply to reduce flow? Sorry for hi-jacking but I think helpfully to know.

Edited April 22, 2013 by flooddc

[basser9]

Buy it from the CHINESE site i believe it is cheaper then any group buy

from the ebay guy.

May be able to group buy from FISHSTREET.

Does the CHINESE dist still honor the warranty with the ebay guy

i think he just bought 50 and sells them on ebay.

 

62.50 if 50 or more bought from FISHSTREET plus shipping.

70.00 if 8 or more.

Edited April 22, 2013 by basser9

[Origami]

I bought two just to check them out. They arrived just in time as my Seio Voyager 10's both threw their prop blades. While I waited on the replacements, I put the WP40's in. They move a lot of water and it's easy to tune them to create wave action. (I have one running in stream mode and the other in wave mode). (So the tank has two MP40's and two WP40's right now.) They are kind of big, though. I don't think they're a threat to EcoTechMarine's product because of that. If anything, they look more to be a Tunze competitor. Long term reliability is still an open question, though.

[basser9]

162.00 to ship 10 to usa at 70.00 bucks a piece from

FISHSTREET.COM website with warranty

87.00 a piece.

 

100.00 a piece for one shipped to you

from FISHSTREET with warranty.

 

.

Edited April 22, 2013 by basser9

[Jason Rhoads]

162.00 to ship 10 to usa at 70.00 bucks a piece from

FISHSTREET.COM website with warranty

87.00 a piece.

 

100.00 a piece for one shipped to you

from FISHSTREET with warranty.

 

.

 

Yep, buy from fish-street. If I had not already bought from eBay I would have gotten them there. Oh well, I will have to pay an extra few bucks to teach me not to impulse buy

[flooddc]

Yep, buy from fish-street. If I had not already bought from eBay I would have gotten them there. Oh well, I will have to pay an extra few bucks to teach me not to impulse buy

@ least you don't have to wait 2+ weeks for it!

[Jason Rhoads]

Update:

I got my first (of 2) WP40 last Friday, and had it running over the weekend. This pump is great so far; very easy to use, smaller than the pumps it replaced (it is about the size of a softball), and very quiet. So far I am completely pleased. Below are my initial thoughts/comments.

 

My setup:

I have a 60" long 100 gallon aquarium.

 

Pump:

 

Flow:

This pump is a beast. It moves a ton of water. It is rated at around 3000 gph at max flow, and I believe it achieves that goal. I replaced a 3200 gph power head with this and feel that the flow is comparable. However, the flow dynamics are different as this pump has a much wider outlet diameter than the one I replaced which creates less of a direct stream of water.

 

Noise Level:

I can only hear it ramp up and down when I am standing beside it. The created wave does make a rhythmic sound as it oscillates between my two overflows, but I really like that effect.

 

Construction:

The housing materials used, and build quality seem very good to me. I have not owned a Tunze, but I imagine that the build quality is very similar. My impression is that it will hold up for a long time. The magnet/suction cup combo used to mount the pump is completely sufficient to keep the pump absolutely steady through the 3/4" glass of my tank.

 

Size:

I find the size of the pump to be acceptable. I am replacing pumps that are bigger than the WP40, so I may not be the best person to comment on the size of these. I am pleased with their footprint in the tank.

 

Wave Action:

 

W1 Mode:

With one WP40 mounted in the bottom rear corner of the tank and flow pointing to the opposing side wall (flow runs across the rear of the tank) the pump produces a strong 1" wave in W1 mode. I was surprised that the pump could produce the wave it does in the position it is in. I thought I would need to have it in the middle or top of a side wall to get the wave that I have. I feel that I would have a larger wave in my tank but the tank design includes a large glass brace in the center of the tank which dissipates some of the force of the wave when its crest hits the center of the tank.

 

W2/3 Mode:

I have not used these modes and have no comment.

 

Else Mode:

From the effects I see on the polyps of my soft and SPS corals. The else mode is very random. When I turn it on it seems to find and suspend all settled detritus without fail.

 

High/Low Modes:

These are simple stream modes and work as such. The "low" mode is what the pump goes into when put into night mode by the photo sensor.

 

Controller:

Overall, I like the stock controller. I feel that the modes it offers are robust enough to satisfy 95% of those who will use this pump.

The only problem I see with it is the night sensor. I have my controller mounted on the side of my tank where it gets direct light from my LEDs during the "day" and gets some spill from my moonlights and sump light at night. As the tank transitions from day to night the sensor registers the change correctly and turns the pump into night mode. However, once I turn the other lights in the room off the pump, for some reason, goes back into "day" mode. There are numerous posts about this on the RC forum, but I thought that with my moon/sump light the sensor would have enough ambient light to function properly --it does not. Despite this minor inconvenience I like the controller, and the wave frequency is extremely easy to tune using the potentiometer (knob).

 

 

Overall:

I feel that one of these is enough for my tank size if I was keeping only LPS/Softies. Since I keep SPS I will need two, but I may need to dial them down a bit when both are in the tank. While I do plan on controlling these with an Arduino, I am doing that more to satisfy my own curiosity. I could use the supplied controllers and be very satisfied with the pumps with no further modification.

[YHSublime]

Great review, now, the test of time!

 

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk 2

 

 

[Origami]

Jason, try turning the controller a little until the light sensor points more generally in the direction of your tank lights (that is, on it's side). See if that helps. If it does, you can try relocating the sensor if you're able to handle a soldering iron.

 

I picked up a couple of these about two months ago. They arrived just in time as my primary stream powerheads (Seio Voyager 10's) both threw the prop blades on their impellers (!) so I tossed these in as backups. (The MP40's that I have continue to work without difficulty.) I've since received new impellers, but have not gone back to the Voyagers. So far, the WP40's are doing well (but it's only been 2 months). Anyway, I've got my controllers turned up on their sides right now to pick up some of the ambient light in the room during the evening hours. It seems to work.

 

I have one operating in one of the stream modes (on one end of the tank) and the other working in wave making mode (on the other end). One Vortech is on an end and the other is on the back panel.

[taiscici]

I also got a chance to test it on my 300 gallon. Wave 1 function works just like tunze wave box, it makes a really strong wave, so strong that I have to turn it down half way. Happy with it so far.

[Jason Rhoads]

Tom,

Thanks for the suggestion about relocating the sensor. I will work on that this weekend and see if that helps.

 

Have you tried putting both of your pumps on W1 mode (keeping them on opposite sides)? I was going to give that a shot and see if I could get the timing down to where they are working in concert with one another, but that may not be possible without coding it into another controller.

[Jason Rhoads]

I also got a chance to test it on my 300 gallon. Wave 1 function works just like tunze wave box, it makes a really strong wave, so strong that I have to turn it down half way. Happy with it so far.

 

How long have you had this running?

[taiscici]

2 weeks and has been really quiet.

[Origami]

Tom,

Have you tried putting both of your pumps on W1 mode (keeping them on opposite sides)? I was going to give that a shot and see if I could get the timing down to where they are working in concert with one another, but that may not be possible without coding it into another controller.

No. I'm getting good wave action from the one. I hesitate to put them both on because I'm afraid that I won't get perfect controlled synchronization and that it might lead to some excessively large waves at times. In fact, if I were to put them both in wave making mode, I would probably very intentionally keep their frequencies offset to avoid setting up large and long-lasting standing waves. I don't want another Tacoma Narrows Bridge incident happening in my tank!

[Jason Rhoads]

Good point. I will probably try one on W1 and the other on Else.

[howaboutme]

For those into open source controllers...RA is reselling the wp-40 w/ cable included. This is an interesting business move by RA and Jebao.

 

http://www.reefangel...iew.aspx?p=wp40

[Rosco's Reefs]

I was going to post this had the previous writer not...thx

 

Lots of discussion on the forum on how to program the RA to take advantage of the features of this technology.

[Origami]

Other information about how to interface other controllers to the WP40 (including the Apex):

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2283594

 

I've not tried it, but it seems straightforward enough. One would think that all you would need to do is to intercept the 0~5V analog control signal and inject your own control signal at that point, referenced to the 24VDC ground, leaving the 24VDC to be sourced by the stock supply/controller.

[Origami]

Reliability update:

 

As noted above, I purchased two WP-40's back in mid-March 2013. They have been in service since early April 2013. Within the last week, both stopped working. The impellers were in great shape and the controller lights were on. There were no issues of consequence other than they stopped working. (That is, no electrical leak, cracking, heating, etc.) They just stopped.

 

I had two spare pumps on the shelf, so I grabbed a fresh motor block and confirmed that, in both cases, the motor blocks had failed on the 15-month old units.

 

I've sent a note to fish-street.com (where I bought the first two) to report the failure and to see if they have a discounted rate for just the bad parts.

 

If you've had failures of a Jebao WP-40 or other pump from that family, or have a long-running pump that is serving you well, please report it here so that we can better understand their long term reliability.