Apex Auxiliary Power Port/Generator Question

[aggieoil11]

Does the Apex Auxiliary Power port provide power to the Apex head unit if the EB(s) the head unit is connected to lose power?

I know the conventional wiring is to plug the Aux Power port into a conventional outlet which well tell the Apex it has lost power and power down non-essential functions, but I'd like to use it a little differently.

In the past, my experience with the Apex is that it was not the most resilient coming back online after power outages (about 30% of the time, I'd have to cycle power to get it to reboot effectively). In my new tank, in conjunction with a whole home generator, power outages wont be as big of an issue, but I will still have to navigate the 10 - 15 second period where shore power has gone offline, and the generator has not powered up yet. My system will have pumps and lights split to multiple separate power bars on multiple different circuits so if one EB fails to reboot properly, I wont be dead in the water as long as the Apex head unit still functions.

My thought was use a UPS on the Auxiliary Power port such that as power goes out, the UPS will still power the head unit (although all aquarium functionality will have ceased) until the generator powers up, restoring functionality - and hopefully reducing the likelihood that the Apex will need to be cycled to restore all function. Is this possible?

 

[TheHarold]

Does the Apex Auxiliary Power port provide power to the Apex head unit if the EB(s) the head unit is connected to lose power?

I know the conventional wiring is to plug the Aux Power port into a conventional outlet which well tell the Apex it has lost power and power down non-essential functions, but I'd like to use it a little differently.

In the past, my experience with the Apex is that it was not the most resilient coming back online after power outages (about 30% of the time, I'd have to cycle power to get it to reboot effectively). In my new tank, in conjunction with a whole home generator, power outages wont be as big of an issue, but I will still have to navigate the 10 - 15 second period where shore power has gone offline, and the generator has not powered up yet. My system will have pumps and lights split to multiple separate power bars on multiple different circuits so if one EB fails to reboot properly, I wont be dead in the water as long as the Apex head unit still functions.

My thought was use a UPS on the Auxiliary Power port such that as power goes out, the UPS will still power the head unit (although all aquarium functionality will have ceased) until the generator powers up, restoring functionality - and hopefully reducing the likelihood that the Apex will need to be cycled to restore all function. Is this possible?

Correct, the auxiliary power port can power the apex when it loses power. I also do that to avoid the internet disconnection issues you mentioned.

You can code using the EB8/EB832's power status as well, "If power eb832 then..... " in your alarms.

 

[aggieoil11]

Awesome - that's what I was hoping.

 

[SuncrestReef]

I have a whole-house generator with automatic transfer switch. Mine takes about 30 seconds to cut over to generator power during an outage. To keep things running, I have my EB832 plugged into the UPS, and the Apex auxiliary power adapter plugged into a regular wall outlet. The Apex remains powered since the EB832 is on battery, but the Apex can still detect the outage since the wall outlet is dead. This allows me to program various devices to power off during an outage if the generator hasn't kicked on in the expected timeframe, preserving the battery life, and to send me an alert.

Here's how I have the power cords connected:

This is from my tutorial on Apex Power Monitoring where I walk through setting this up: https://www.reef2reef.com/ams/neptune-apex-programming-tutorials-part-4-power-monitoring.698/

 

[315wall]

You could also add a smart socket to reboot your apex if you ever need to do so remotely.