High Tide Aquatics

Neptune Apex -- worth it?

Vhuang168 said:
Because people keep referring to it as a USB port.

Well I got a webcam to monitor that tank. Why waste an outlet when I can just plug it into the USB port on the Apex!

Gee... I want to take pictures of my tank with my phone but its running out of battery. Heck, I can just plug my cable into the USB port on my Apex!

Manual says I need to update the firmware of my Apex, so I plugged my computer into the USB port.

These are all TRUE. These are all scenarios that have happened! These are phone calls I've had with customers!

IT IS NOT A USB PORT!
Click to expand...
But it loooooooks soooooooo much like one.

I finally got my Apex up and running and i was sure tempted to hook up a few USB devices into it.

One critical flaw though on the power bar is that there are no manual power switch for an emergency override.

Had my skimmer kick in while water level was high (return off) and almost got myself a flood.
 
NanoCrazed said:
But it loooooooks soooooooo much like one.

I finally got my Apex up and running and i was sure tempted to hook up a few USB devices into it.

One critical flaw though on the power bar is that there are no manual power switch for an emergency override.

Had my skimmer kick in while water level was high (return off) and almost got myself a flood.
Click to expand...

Add the following

If output ‘name of return’ = OFF then OFF.

Now when the return is off, skimmer stays off.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
 
Vhuang168 said:
Because people keep referring to it as a USB port.

Well I got a webcam to monitor that tank. Why waste an outlet when I can just plug it into the USB port on the Apex!

Gee... I want to take pictures of my tank with my phone but its running out of battery. Heck, I can just plug my cable into the USB port on my Apex!

Manual says I need to update the firmware of my Apex, so I plugged my computer into the USB port.

These are all TRUE. These are all scenarios that have happened! These are phone calls I've had with customers!

IT IS NOT A USB PORT!
Click to expand...
Since you brought it up, I am curious, why does it cause damage when connected to a real USB?

Sure, it is not really USB. As I understand it is a CAN bus.
But that should simply make it not work.
Signal voltages should be close enough to not cause fatal destructive problems.
Supply should both be 5V I would think.
 
rygh said:
Since you brought it up, I am curious, why does it cause damage when connected to a real USB?

Sure, it is not really USB. As I understand it is a CAN bus.
But that should simply make it not work.
Signal voltages should be close enough to not cause fatal destructive problems.
Supply should both be 5V I would think.
Click to expand...

aquabus has 12v going through it. USB is 5V.
 
NanoCrazed said:
But it loooooooks soooooooo much like one.

I finally got my Apex up and running and i was sure tempted to hook up a few USB devices into it.

One critical flaw though on the power bar is that there are no manual power switch for an emergency override.

Had my skimmer kick in while water level was high (return off) and almost got myself a flood.
Click to expand...
I agree, manual switches would be very helpful. Many other users have said the same on forums. I realize there are smart coding workarounds like the one Vincent describes above (and I use), as well as relatively complex break-out box workarounds for physical switches... But it would be very handy to have a physical switch for each outlet or an easy plug-in accessory with physical switches, with an easy wizard setup.
 
Not sure a breakout box would be necessarily complex, it does have 6 switches, and if you wire up 6 physical switches you could feasibly turn off/on quite a few things. Thinking about it, I'm curious how complicated you can get with the programming but I could see a situation of 63 different combinations you could potentially set up with a single breakout box... now THAT would get complex :D
 
I have a breaker box that the apex plugs into... but why take out a city block when you can just shut down the house?

One master switch at the front end of the apex would do miles of good. It's good best practice to have an emergency shutoff.

Coding can fail... and sometimes, you just want a quick on/off without having to put wets hands on phone/tablets/computers.... wet, salty hands at that
 
NanoCrazed said:
I have a breaker box that the apex plugs into... but why take out a city block when you can just shut down the house?

One master switch at the front end of the apex would do miles of good. It's good best practice to have an emergency shutoff.

Coding can fail... and sometimes, you just want a quick on/off without having to put wets hands on phone/tablets/computers.... wet, salty hands at that
Click to expand...
Not electrical breaker box, Neptune breakout box. It is a specific Apex accessory that enables (among other things) being able to connect physical switches and with additional programming can be used to switch things on/off.

www.bulkreefsupply.com

I/O Breakout Box

Advanced Monitoring & Control with the Breakout Box Seamless Integration with Apex Controllers: Designed for the Apex Controller, enabling up to six external switches for enhanced monitoring and control. Expand Your Monitoring Capabilities: Connect float switches, push buttons, leak detectors...
www.bulkreefsupply.com www.bulkreefsupply.com
 
I've seen a number of "Oh Sh*t!" buttons that reefers put around that shuts off various outlets and is an easy enough thing to do ... plus who doesn't like big red buttons to push? :D
 
FYI: I use the breakout box for several level sensors.
Three in my sump, for water level with backups.
One in my salt water barrel. Key with auto-water-exchange when (not if) I forget to mix new water on time.
 
Ironically, now that i have an apex, i came home to a flood.

Not sure how it happened. My return pump was shut out but my skimmer kept going, despite a rule in place to not run when return is off.

20200306_171018.jpg
 
NanoCrazed said:
Ironically, now that i have an apex, i came home to a flood.

Not sure how it happened. My return pump was shut out but my skimmer kept going, despite a rule in place to not run when return is off.

View attachment 14360
Click to expand...
I hope you are not getting a controller reset issue. Not sure about the new Alex my old one used to reset all the time and when it does it turn off then on outlets by itself..
Did u not get any notification?
 
JVU said:
I agree, manual switches would be very helpful. Many other users have said the same on forums. I realize there are smart coding workarounds like the one Vincent describes above (and I use), as well as relatively complex break-out box workarounds for physical switches... But it would be very handy to have a physical switch for each outlet or an easy plug-in accessory with physical switches, with an easy wizard setup.
Click to expand...

I think that for every person that would find them helpful, there are two people that would turn them off accidently and scream about it. You can put something like this on the outlets if you want (which may be a better solution because you can choose which items you think need it) - https://www.amazon.com/Luxtronic-Gr...ocphy=9032058&hvtargid=pla-586714618934&psc=1

Also, there are these boxes from Harry Singer that come in various configurations.

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Thales said:
I think that for every person that would find them helpful, there are two people that would turn them off accidently and scream about it. You can put something like this on the outlets if you want (which may be a better solution because you can choose which items you think need it) - https://www.amazon.com/Luxtronic-Gr...ocphy=9032058&hvtargid=pla-586714618934&psc=1

Also, there are these boxes from Harry Singer that come in various configurations.

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Click to expand...
You’re probably right about the scream about it part :(

For me personally, they wouldn’t just be for outlet on/off, but rather to be able to control the Apex from the tank when I don’t have my phone or I can’t connect. I would program them, like for feed modes, emergency shut off of multiple pumps, low power mode for PGE PSPS, etc, and probably change my mind as I go.

I realize there are other DIY and hobbyist-made products like the Singer box, but none have been compelling enough to peak my (admittedly very casual) interest. Plus I’d rather deal with a real business than through someone on FB or IG where I can’t even see what’s available. If Neptune made one I’d buy it though.
 
Thales said:
I think that for every person that would find them helpful, there are two people that would turn them off accidently and scream about it. You can put something like this on the outlets if you want (which may be a better solution because you can choose which items you think need it) - https://www.amazon.com/Luxtronic-Gr...ocphy=9032058&hvtargid=pla-586714618934&psc=1
Click to expand...
Those aren't a half bad idea, assuming the width would fit between plugs, at the very least it could fit on the ends and you could use for that skimmer or whatever you may want to emergency shut off without having to go through any control panel nonsense. Although do they still have special relays on plug 4 & 8 like they did with the old Aquacontroller?
 
ofzakaria said:
I hope you are not getting a controller reset issue. Not sure about the new Alex my old one used to reset all the time and when it does it turn off then on outlets by itself..
Did u not get any notification?
Click to expand...
I didn't get anything...

Came home to that mess. Thankfully i had a master kill switch ahead of the apex. Otherwise trying to whip out my phone battle an overflowing sump would have made a frantic situation even more so...
 
So I bought an Apex unit for our new tank and although it’s very powerful, it lacks some polish (I’m a software engineer)

The icons. Horrible choice. There’s 21 of them all neatly lined up and I can only remember 2 of them. I know that over time, I will remember more but this is a very poor design decision. A drop down menu with actual words would make it much more usable.

The length restriction of some names is archaic. It’s even worse than the 8.3 file names of the DOS days.

Alerts are terribly done. They were shoe-horned into the same programming paradigm as outputs, so only one will trigger and notify you. This seems silly for such an important feature of an aquarium controller/monitor. When you get alerts you should be able to get all of them and snooze the ones that are less critical.

The box with additional outputs is not scrollable when you unlock the dashboard, so there may be lots of outputs hidden beyond the border. It took me ages to figure this out. Finally I had to add all the unknown outputs to the dashboard in order to reveal the ones I was interested in. And then remove the ones I didn’t care about.

All that being said, it is an amazing piece of equipment with nearly endless upgrade potential.
 
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