I put off getting a controller of any type because reading through their stuff online, they just seemed "complicated". You needed a bunch of different modules and there is a "lite" version and a "regular" version, etc, etc.
I finally bit the bullet, primarily because I wanted to control my LEDs with something besides an on/off timer.
I posted a question on the Neptune site explaining my system and what I wanted to do and asking which components I needed. I got a response within a couple hours which basically said an Apex (regular, not lite) with 1 EnergyBar 8 and a temp probe, plus "aquasurf" cables to connect from the "variable speed" ports to the LED drivers to control the lights. I ordered the system from Aquacave, but it was shipped directly from Neptune. Cost around $450.
I had the system for a couple weeks before I got around to hooking it up, again primarily because I thought it was going to be a huge, complicated project. I finally picked up the manual Monday night and read through it, cover to cover in around an hour, and thought "that doesn't sound so bad..."
So Tuesday night I plugged the pieces together on the den floor near the router (I only had a 7' ethernet cable handy, so I couldn't put it over by the tank yet). There are three main pieces. The controller itself, which is surprisingly small, the EnergyBar8, which looks like a beefy surge protector, and a small LCD display screen unit. The controller module plugs into a USB-ish port on the EB8 and the display piece plugs into the controller. Easy so far. Then I plugged the ethernet cable from the router to the controller.
With very low expectations, I went over to my PC and typed http://apex">http://apex</a>, and instantly got an Apex login prompt. I put in the default login and password, and I was in...
The menus were very easy to use, I set my time zone, then went and re-labeled the outlets on the EB8 from what they were set to by default to what I wanted to plug in (main pump, K4 left, K4 right, ATO, lights, heater, alk, calc) and set up the timings. It took about 15 minutes, mostly because I couldn't decide how I wanted the timings to go. There are wizards for setting up the outlets depending on whether you are setting up a pump or light or heater, etc.
So yesterday, I went and got a 50' cable so I could reach from the router to the tank, plugged everything into the appropriate outlets, and I was up and running, "under control". I spend the more time rearranging power cords in the stand than anything else.
Setting up the LEDs on the "variable speed" ports would have been a little more complicated, except there is a page on reefledlights.com that shows how to do it. It turns out that you *don't* need the special cables, you just need a standard ethernet cable. The "variable speed" port uses a standard RJ45 ethernet cable connector. They just re-purpose the wires in the cable. They use wires 1/2 as +/- for one channel and 5/6 as +/- for the other. That would have been tricky to figure out, but the page on reefledlights has a nice picture. So I plugged in an old ethernet cable, cut off the other end, hooked the appropriate wires from the cable to the +/- control inputs on the drivers, and I was good to go.
You set up the "variable speed" ports similar to the outlets on the EB8. The trick here is that to model sunrise/sunset, you need to set up "profiles" for the "ramps". This was surprisingly easy to do. There's a drop down menu for "profiles", which has a wizard for a ramp. You just set start percentage power, end percentage power and the duration for the ramp. I set up five different ones, moonrise, sunrise, midday, sunset, moonset. Then you go to the variable speed port you want to program (which I relabeled bluelights and whitelights), and put in a few lines of "code" to say, from this time to this time use "moonrise", from this time to that this use "sunrise", etc. Again, the sample code on reefledlights was really helpful as a start. I'll post the code my code as an example later tonight.
So I'm up and running. I need to drill a hole in the floor so I can run the cable through the crawlspace instead of across the livingroom floor. I'm sure I'll fiddle with all of the timings for the pumps and lights for a while before I get them to where I really want them.
I haven't set up the alert emails yet, but I'm hoping it is just as easy as it has been. I think I just need to set up a Gmail account and point the controller to it. Hopefully I'll get to that tonight.
Anyway, my initial experience is very very favorable. I'm very glad I picked up a couple used K4s instead of a Vortech and put the $$ into an Apex first.
I finally bit the bullet, primarily because I wanted to control my LEDs with something besides an on/off timer.
I posted a question on the Neptune site explaining my system and what I wanted to do and asking which components I needed. I got a response within a couple hours which basically said an Apex (regular, not lite) with 1 EnergyBar 8 and a temp probe, plus "aquasurf" cables to connect from the "variable speed" ports to the LED drivers to control the lights. I ordered the system from Aquacave, but it was shipped directly from Neptune. Cost around $450.
I had the system for a couple weeks before I got around to hooking it up, again primarily because I thought it was going to be a huge, complicated project. I finally picked up the manual Monday night and read through it, cover to cover in around an hour, and thought "that doesn't sound so bad..."
So Tuesday night I plugged the pieces together on the den floor near the router (I only had a 7' ethernet cable handy, so I couldn't put it over by the tank yet). There are three main pieces. The controller itself, which is surprisingly small, the EnergyBar8, which looks like a beefy surge protector, and a small LCD display screen unit. The controller module plugs into a USB-ish port on the EB8 and the display piece plugs into the controller. Easy so far. Then I plugged the ethernet cable from the router to the controller.
With very low expectations, I went over to my PC and typed http://apex">http://apex</a>, and instantly got an Apex login prompt. I put in the default login and password, and I was in...
The menus were very easy to use, I set my time zone, then went and re-labeled the outlets on the EB8 from what they were set to by default to what I wanted to plug in (main pump, K4 left, K4 right, ATO, lights, heater, alk, calc) and set up the timings. It took about 15 minutes, mostly because I couldn't decide how I wanted the timings to go. There are wizards for setting up the outlets depending on whether you are setting up a pump or light or heater, etc.
So yesterday, I went and got a 50' cable so I could reach from the router to the tank, plugged everything into the appropriate outlets, and I was up and running, "under control". I spend the more time rearranging power cords in the stand than anything else.
Setting up the LEDs on the "variable speed" ports would have been a little more complicated, except there is a page on reefledlights.com that shows how to do it. It turns out that you *don't* need the special cables, you just need a standard ethernet cable. The "variable speed" port uses a standard RJ45 ethernet cable connector. They just re-purpose the wires in the cable. They use wires 1/2 as +/- for one channel and 5/6 as +/- for the other. That would have been tricky to figure out, but the page on reefledlights has a nice picture. So I plugged in an old ethernet cable, cut off the other end, hooked the appropriate wires from the cable to the +/- control inputs on the drivers, and I was good to go.
You set up the "variable speed" ports similar to the outlets on the EB8. The trick here is that to model sunrise/sunset, you need to set up "profiles" for the "ramps". This was surprisingly easy to do. There's a drop down menu for "profiles", which has a wizard for a ramp. You just set start percentage power, end percentage power and the duration for the ramp. I set up five different ones, moonrise, sunrise, midday, sunset, moonset. Then you go to the variable speed port you want to program (which I relabeled bluelights and whitelights), and put in a few lines of "code" to say, from this time to this time use "moonrise", from this time to that this use "sunrise", etc. Again, the sample code on reefledlights was really helpful as a start. I'll post the code my code as an example later tonight.
So I'm up and running. I need to drill a hole in the floor so I can run the cable through the crawlspace instead of across the livingroom floor. I'm sure I'll fiddle with all of the timings for the pumps and lights for a while before I get them to where I really want them.
I haven't set up the alert emails yet, but I'm hoping it is just as easy as it has been. I think I just need to set up a Gmail account and point the controller to it. Hopefully I'll get to that tonight.
Anyway, my initial experience is very very favorable. I'm very glad I picked up a couple used K4s instead of a Vortech and put the $$ into an Apex first.
