High Tide Aquatics

Neptune Apex -- worth it?

JVU said:
Is there any way to see what he makes/sells, prices, etc, without using Facebook or Instagram?
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Here is a picture of the box I got from him. 2 toggle switches and 4 buttons for temporary use. I have 1 toggle set for Maintenance mode & 3 buttons set for different feeding modes. Then the plan is to use the 2nd toggle as a "Blue light mode" and last button as a temp "blue light mode".

It does look like he only sells them through Facebook and Instagram. He's just a kid in college who figured out a great product and is selling them to help fund his education.

Just FYI, it does use up the only port for the Breakout Box on the Apex base unit.

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Oakland Evan said:
Here is a picture of the box I got from him. 2 toggle switches and 4 buttons for temporary use. I have 1 toggle set for Maintenance mode & 3 buttons set for different feeding modes. Then the plan is to use the 2nd toggle as a "Blue light mode" and last button as a temp "blue light mode".

It does look like he only sells them through Facebook and Instagram. He's just a kid in college who figured out a great product and is selling them to help fund his education.

Just FYI, it does use up the only port for the Breakout Box on the Apex base unit.

View attachment 14417
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May I ask a dumb question?
What is this product use case exactly? What is it used for?
I have seen it and see ppl discussing ot before but for the life of me I did not understand the function clearly..
 
ofzakaria said:
May I ask a dumb question?
What is this product use case exactly? What is it used for?
I have seen it and see ppl discussing ot before but for the life of me I did not understand the function clearly..
Click to expand...

It’s a custom button box used to connect to the apex input port. Each button can basically be programmed to do whatever you want that’s within Neptune’s purview. Such as trigger feed schedules, stop pumps, etc etc.

The apex input port is just an 8pin din cable that enables about 6 inputs!! You can cut any 8 pin din cable and make your own or buy the stupid expensive input board from apex. Alternatively, you can make your own box too!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
thanh510 said:
It’s a custom button box used to connect to the apex input port. Each button can basically be programmed to do whatever you want that’s within Neptune’s purview. Such as trigger feed schedules, stop pumps, etc etc.

The apex input port is just an 8pin din cable that enables about 6 inputs!! You can cut any 8 pin din cable and make your own or buy the stupid expensive input board from apex. Alternatively, you can make your own box too!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
You are awesome, first time I understand what this box do ha ha.
Ok so basically with this box I can program one action or multiple actions together? Kinda like Microsoft micros..
Also is it apex only or any controller that has this type of input?
One last thing, does this box take away the input connection from the controller or does it give back the input access to regular use? As example, if I am using the 5 pin input on my controller for something, can I use both or only one?
Sorry if my sentences construction was poor btw, hope I did not confuse you.
 
ofzakaria said:
You are awesome, first time I understand what this box do ha ha.
Ok so basically with this box I can program one action or multiple actions together? Kinda like Microsoft micros..
Also is it apex only or any controller that has this type of input?
One last thing, does this box take away the input connection from the controller or does it give back the input access to regular use? As example, if I am using the 5 pin input on my controller for something, can I use both or only one?
Sorry if my sentences construction was poor btw, hope I did not confuse you.
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I think everything Harry makes is designed for Apex only.
 
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
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well, my apex did it again... woke up this morning to my return pump shut off and a flood from an overflowing skimmer. grrr...

everything was running except my return pump. I don't have any rules on it and enabled logging but don't see anything. Will probably try to swap my return to a different plug -- maybe swap with my skimmer and see if the problem persists... I don't mind my skimmer being off...

my start to the Neptune journey has not been great...
 
JVU said:
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.
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I've been trying to figure out what people have been talking about and think I finally get it - Are you saying the current Apex does not have the corded display/handheld control like on the older models?
 
MolaMola said:
I've been trying to figure out what people have been talking about and think I finally get it - Are you saying the current Apex does not have the corded display/handheld control like on the older models?
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I think that is correct, in a move to make it all cloud based they probably figured that they didn't need any sort of display which adds to the total cost of the system, although you can absolutely hook up a display to it. There's a number of videos out there where you can hook up a cheap $50 Amazon tablet and get a nice looking display, basically what you would see on your computer I think.
 
MolaMola said:
I've been trying to figure out what people have been talking about and think I finally get it - Are you saying the current Apex does not have the corded display/handheld control like on the older models?
Click to expand...
No display and no physical buttons or switches. No way to directly interact with the system sitting in front of it.
 
NanoCrazed said:
well, my apex did it again... woke up this morning to my return pump shut off and a flood from an overflowing skimmer. grrr...

everything was running except my return pump. I don't have any rules on it and enabled logging but don't see anything. Will probably try to swap my return to a different plug -- maybe swap with my skimmer and see if the problem persists... I don't mind my skimmer being off...

my start to the Neptune journey has not been great...
Click to expand...
When you say your return pump was off, do you mean the outlet on the Apex was off, or you mean the outlet was on but the return pump was not working?

Another way of asking- When your pump was not running, and you look at Apex fusion, does it say the return pump is on or off?

I personally wouldn’t just swap outlets until you figure out what is going on with some troubleshooting.
 
NanoCrazed said:
well, my apex did it again... woke up this morning to my return pump shut off and a flood from an overflowing skimmer. grrr...

everything was running except my return pump. I don't have any rules on it and enabled logging but don't see anything. Will probably try to swap my return to a different plug -- maybe swap with my skimmer and see if the problem persists... I don't mind my skimmer being off...

my start to the Neptune journey has not been great...
Click to expand...
Damn that sucks.
Do you have logging enabled on each outlet? Is the apex resetting?
 
JVU said:
It’s like deja vu all over again :)

I’m not on FB or IG, so products only sold there don’t exist to me. And this isn’t a Neptune product, which is what was being discussed. Neptune does still sell their old-school Apex Display Module, which would be alright.
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LOL, guess I should have scrolled up before responding. I'm happy to act as a middle man for you if you do want one. For what it's worth, it is not a Neptune product, but I did talk to a few Neptune employees who do own them.
 
JVU said:
When you say your return pump was off, do you mean the outlet on the Apex was off, or you mean the outlet was on but the return pump was not working?

Another way of asking- When your pump was not running, and you look at Apex fusion, does it say the return pump is on or off?

I personally wouldn’t just swap outlets until you figure out what is going on with some troubleshooting.
Click to expand...
the log showed that the pump was on (i.e., no event triggered / logged). But I don't think it's the pump controller itself since I've never encountered this issue prior to the Apex.

I did swap out the plugs between the Skimmer and the return as the quick way to troubleshoot -- reason being is that if it's the pump, it'll fail regardless of outlet; if it's the outlet, it'll fail without causing me clean up grief. and I will have a physical sign that there's an issue versus relying on my logs.
 
I hand an RD3 that kept tripping the gfi (20a). When it was plugged into the apex it would trip every couple days. When it was plugged in directly to the gfi it would still trip but only every few months. I never figured out why it was happening. I guess it’s not necessarily related to the topic though since it wasn’t an apex problem.
 
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