Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Feeding New Aquapro Feeder Test!

I'm giving the Aquapro feeder a try for the first time in about four years. There were some issues with the old ones, so I'm interested in how the new ones performed.

Putting the feeder together was easy enough. Everything went smoothly. The battery that was provided was essentially fully charged, so the first "test" was a resounding success.

I carefully deployed the feeder on a slope on the south side of the pond so that the prevailing winds would allow the feed to drift across the main body of the lake. The first evening feeding was met by excited hybrid striped bass and yellow perch.

I was using a feed provided by Purina that was the equivalent of a 500 size. The feeder has been up for a few days now without any jamming of feed.

I'll provide periodic updates.

Digging a hole so the feeder sits level.




Increased fish biomass is just around the corner!



Beautiful evening on TJ's pond.

I was gonna say Bruce, you're starting to look an awful lot like TJ!

We have had good success with our new test feeder from aquapro as well. I hope you got this one from Shaun (with a new baby at all he needs the extra money, :)).

I have 5 of them up and running. They are working well. I think all the old bugs are worked out.

I also have had excellent sucess with my refubished ADF 75 feeders.
Customer service cannot be beat.

+ 1 on the customer service.

Who sells refurbished feeders? I'm going to be purchasing three or four feeders in the next couple months, including one this week, so I could use a good deal.

Who should we contact if we have an old timer that is having trouble? I sent an email to "feederman" on Friday but I haven't heard back from him. Maybe I haven't waited long enough. What are some of the symptoms that were occurring when the old timers went bad?

Blaine try this:

Feederman said,

"We will be glad to replace your timers. As Bob stated earlier we tested the redesigned timer extensively- we had them going off over 24 times a day at 90 seconds each time for about a month.
Please call us at 800-847-8269 and we will get your timers out to you and let us know if we can do anything else for you. "

Glad to hear all the positive comments. I bought my ADF-200 simply because it had a longer warranty than anything else I could find locally, and I have had it throwing for around six weeks now, and it ain't missed a beat.

My parents used to always feed by hand, so for the first two weeks I had the feeder going, my Mom would call me every day and tell me she went out to watch it run! She thinks that feeder is the best thing since pockets on pants!!! I get tickled at her!

If I should have any problems in the future, where do I go for service? Are they local here near Dallas?

I purchased an ADF 75 the end of May. I've had a myriad of problems, out of 6 weeks of operation, it's been down 2, batting around 67%. Initially, the battery would not charge, called Aqua Pro customer service and they asked where I bought the battery, I advised it was one of theirs. "How do you know it's one of ours??" uh, because your label is on the battery and it came with the feeder???

I suspected the problem was the solar panel, but they seemed adament it was the battery, so drive the 60 miles round trip and swap out batteries. Check on new battery a week later, same problem. Pull out solar panel and drive back to the biz and obtain a replacement, because the cs rep advised it was a bad solar panel, very helpful observation.

Check on the new set-up, it's working great, full battery, run a test-works great. Fill feeder, check timer, timer is no workee. Drive back to business, find out a fuse had blown, because possibly fish food had maybe gotten into the blower.

Now, I'm certainly no engineer but really, a blown fuse caused by fish food getting into the blower of a fish feeder??? I'm driving up tomorrow to set up the timer again and I suppose remove the full amount of food in the bin in an effort to clean up around the blower.

If that does not work, Aqua Pro can have this piece of **** back.

PFV, they're located at 602 Fountain Parkway, Grand Prairie, off of HWY 360 and south of Green Oaks, look for the large warehouse with BA products on the north side of the road and park in front.

Thanks Mike, I hope I don't need that address.

Sorry to hear about the problems you have had.

Mike call 800-847-8269 and ask for Ron Ferguson and tell him you are a PB member. See this thread. http://www.pondboss.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Main=13051&Number=152924#Post152924

This is the same feeder I have and it has been very good. The battery was just a midget too small and after the increase it has been very good.

Update: After blowing through 4 fuses on the new timer, my patience was exhausted. Drove back to BA products and spoke with Logan, he agreed to exchange my complete unit. It was set-up yesterday, and tested positive with varying degrees of food. Hopefully, this will resolve the issue.

Candidly, with the exception of Logan, the CS at BA Products was poor, the advice given both in person and over the telephone was not relevant to the problem.

I'll give the new unit a couple of weeks, and report back.

I switched out the old timers, batteries, and solar panels on 21 aquapro feeders that did not work properly last year, and they are all working as good as possibly can be expected this year.

I am with Mike on this one. I do appreciate their willingness to replace the defective timer. However, twice did they say that they were sending me an email for confirmation with RMA information and twice did they fail to follow through on that commitment. I was required to spend $12 to send a worthless timer back to them before they would get around to sending a replacement two weeks later. They said that they needed the old timer to verify that it was indeed faulty even though they admitted that the symptoms were consistent with the known defect.

Bottom line is that they ultimately made it right, so I won't be to too hard on them. I may even give them another chance on future purchases because of that but not if they consider it a bother when it cost them $$.

Update, feeder has been working fine for several weeks now, knock on wood. Hopefully, the first feeder was a lemon and not representative of the product. I'm definitely on the fence about purchasing another, may give sweeney a try.

About two weeks after I purchased and installed my new Aqua Pro feeder I had a problem with the rubber impeller that drops the feed down to the slinger plate. I had mounted the feeder on a dock, low enough to make filling the feeder possible without a ladder. This also made it possible for racoons to get their grubby little paws on the impeller in an effort to obtain a free meal. That was my fault on the installation. After being unable to find a replacement parts list on the BA products website I sent them an e-mail asking if the part was available for sale. They asked for a mailing address and sent the replacement at no cost, even after I told them the damage to the part was no fault of theirs. I consider that outstanding customer service. I have installed a cage over the feeder/motor to keep this problem from happening again.

Thanks for posting that FR, it's always great to hear good stories about customer service.

Also have ATX timer problems with my little hangup unit. Solar panel and battery work great. Impeller jammed once, was easy to fix. Fuse never blew.

I jumped the battery directly to the motor, and the motor works, so it's got to be the timer. It counts down just fine, but doesn't put out current.

I'm very disappointed that it quit after only 3-4 months, but if the service is good I guess I'll be happy.

same old story. No quality control on the Chinese built timers. Their wildlife cameras have the same kind of bad reputation. I have one that I have not even hung up yet, due to seeing samples of the pics they take.

Jim, I talked to a guy that builds deer high quality feeders. He told me that all timers are now made in China.

Guys, Texas Hunter Fish Feeders are American Made. Our Timers are made in San Antonio, Texas and include a 5-year limited warranty. Buy American and experience the quality difference of a patented Texas Hunter Products Directional Feeder. Contact your local lake management professional for more information.

http://www.texashunterproducts.com/difife1.html

I have to agree with THP there is a noticeable difference in quality. The bigger question is , is that quailty worth the difference in cost. For my clients that depends but if absentee landowner that knows it is secrie from theft the peace of mind knowing it is always working to feed the fish is priceless.

Bobad you wrote "but if the service is good I guess I'll be happy." I think the best customer service is no need for it, get my point.