Apex users: Public Service Announcement

[SuncrestReef]

I tried saving it on Microsoft note, and when I try to open the folder to view it, a window pops up and all these crazy symbols and letters pop up. Totally unreadable.

The saved backup is a binary file, so it's not readable in a normal text editor like Notepad. The saved backup is only usable to load onto your Apex in the event of a failure, or if you replace your Apex with a new one of the exact same model.

The Configuration Summary report also described in my instructions above can be saved as a PDF file so you can read/copy/paste your programming if necessary.

 

[rkpetersen]

I tried saving it on Microsoft note, and when I try to open the folder to view it, a window pops up and all these crazy symbols and letters pop up. Totally unreadable.

What, the .bin file? I wouldn't expect that to be readable in note, notepad, etc.
As far as the Configuration Summary, you can save that as a PDF file as above;
alternatively, you can save it as a webpage.

 

[powers2001]

When I save a configuration to my hard drive on my laptop it's not necessarily safe. If my laptop crashed I would lose my configuration so I address a gmail email to myself and download the .bin file to it thus saving my file to the cloud.

 

[zid]

Hi
how to save back up copy from the browser
i have a red sea reefer 170, recently installed the Apex 2016 with EB6 ( Australia)
i can log into the apex local server but cannot down load a back up copy. Tried with chrome , Microsoft Edge and Mozilla firefox. It keeps on asking for user name and password when i click save configuration thanks for the assistance

 

[Jonreefer]

Hi
how to save back up copy from the browser
i have a red sea reefer 170, recently installed the Apex 2016 with EB6 ( Australia)
i can log into the apex local server but cannot down load a back up copy. Tried with chrome , Microsoft Edge and Mozilla firefox. It keeps on asking for user name and password when i click save configuration thanks for the assistance

I had the same issue kept trying the login I used to get into local.
then I tried admin/1234 and it worked

 

[zid]

Thank you Jonreefer
i changed the user name /PW as suggested and it worked much appreciated

 

[robbyg]

I actually prefer to have my own backup config files on my own computer. So I like this system.

 

[powers2001]

@SuncrestReef how do you do the opposite of SAVE which is LOAD?

 

[SuncrestReef]

@SuncrestReef how do you do the opposite of SAVE which is LOAD?

If you're restoring to a new Apex, you first need to go through the basic Apex setup to get it onto your network. Once that's done, or if you're just restoring to your same Apex that's already on the network, follow these steps:

1. From a desktop or laptop computer, browse to http://apex.local
2. Log in with the local Admin account. This username and password is different from your Fusion account. If you never set it, the default is:
   Username: Admin
   Password: 1234
   
   
3. Click the Apex menu, then click Misc
   
4. Click the Load/Save icon at the top. It looks like a hard disk:
   
5. Select Load Apex Configuration from the dropdown list:
   
   
   
   
6. Browse to find the previously saved backup file on your computer, then select which specific components to restore (you can selectively choose a portion or all of the configuration):
   
   
   
   
7. Click the Load Configuration button.

 

[powers2001]

If you're restoring to a new Apex, you first need to go through the basic Apex setup to get it onto your network. Once that's done, or if you're just restoring to your same Apex that's already on the network, follow these steps:

1. From a desktop or laptop computer, browse to http://apex.local
2. Log in with the local Admin account. This username and password is different from your Fusion account. If you never set it, the default is:
   Username: Admin
   Password: 1234
   
   
3. Click the Apex menu, then click Misc
   
4. Click the Load/Save icon at the top. It looks like a hard disk:
   
5. Select Load Apex Configuration from the dropdown list:
   
   
   
   
6. Browse to find the previously saved backup file on your computer, then select which specific components to restore (you can selectively choose a portion or all of the configuration):
   
   
   
   
7. Click the Load Configuration button.

@SuncrestReef thanks I’ll check it out!!!!

 

[RobB'z Reef]

Isnot it strange you do not have this function in the cloud? Why do not fusion save your setting to your account and offload all this coding and hassle especially when you switch or upgrade a controller...
My lights cloud tool does that..
So as my power pumps cloud tool.

That's one of the reason o depend on the cloid tool of the equipment if they have available and tey to reduce mu dependency on the controller..

lol, I guarantee their dev-ops guys have iterative backups to GitHub

 

[mike550]

So I just tried following the above steps to backup my Apex program, and the Load/Save icon is missing. This is all I have on the portal. Any thoughts appreciated!

 

[SuncrestReef]

So I just tried following the above steps to backup my Apex program, and the Load/Save icon is missing. This is all I have on the portal. Any thoughts appreciated!

Did you go to the Misc Setup menu from Fusion, or the Apex.Local dashboard? It's not accessible through Fusion. Pay close attention to steps 1 & 2 in my instructions.

 

[Roosterjack]

What happens if you forget the password for Apex Local?

 

[SuncrestReef]

What happens if you forget the password for Apex Local?

Do you have a Display module? (which came with the older Apex Classic and Apex Jr. models). Or do you know a friend with one you could borrow? If so, you can view the password through its LCD screen under System...Net Setup...Admin Password.

If you don't have a Display module, then contact Neptune Support.

 

[robbyg]

What happens if you forget the password for Apex Local?

I don’t know but I can tell you that after a power failure mine did an auto reset back to the factory default password. I have had a few power failures and unpluggings so to be fair it only happened once.

 

[RobB'z Reef]

I don’t know but I can tell you that after a power failure mine did an auto reset back to the factory default password. I have had a few power failures and unpluggings so to be fair it only happened once.

That's scary...I finally threw my hat into the ring and bought an apex. Though at this point I'm doing my best to maintain a distributed control and use it mainly for monitoring. However a factory reset even in that event isn't very comforting.

 

[WillH]

I agree with some of comments. It’s crazy there is no way to do this from fusion. Thanks for posting this!

 

[SuncrestReef]

I don’t know but I can tell you that after a power failure mine did an auto reset back to the factory default password. I have had a few power failures and unpluggings so to be fair it only happened once.

That is not a common problem. Perhaps you had a power spike that caused the reset. But a normal power outage or just unplugging the Apex from power will not normally change any of its settings or programming.

 

[robbyg]

That is not a common problem. Perhaps you had a power spike that caused the reset. But a normal power outage or just unplugging the Apex from power will not normally change any of its settings or programming.

Don't know what happened during the outage all I know was that a couple of days later I could not Login. After several tries I used that factor default one and it logged right back in. It was not a huge deal to me because it's not like I lost the programming or anything else.