Ecotech Controller?

[fagundespavinp3]

Right!!!

 

[thejuggernaut]

I think ecotech is doing it right. Design a line of products. Make them all talk to each other, then build a controller to run your entire system. Going the other way and having generic outputs makes it allot harder to get everything to talk to each other. It worked for Apple for years.

 

[SmockKnives]

I think ecotech is doing it right. Design a line of products. Make them all talk to each other, then build a controller to run your entire system. Going the other way and having generic outputs makes it allot harder to get everything to talk to each other. It worked for Apple for years.

Sounds right to me. Now if I can get my tank info to display on my Apple Watch. Which I don't have yet. lol

 

[BottomCoastReefs]

Interesting thoughts,
but i see that every single tank is just as unique as you and i and building a one size fits all is just an impossible concept in my eyes because there is always something that will be missing in the product to some and somethings that will not be needed for others. For a concept like what your proposing to work, there would have to be uniformity in tanks and equipment across all 3 spectrum of tanks; Nanos, Mid-size, and Large.
You have to consider that these are for-profit companies first no matter how much they care about the consumer money will always be priority when dishing out a product and the options they provide on the products such as 8plug power strips on their controllers are good minimum starting point for most tanks with included modular design to allow the consumer to take it as far as he or she desires.
i dont recall where i heard this saying, but you can think of it as the maximum amount of happiness for the maximum amount of people. This is how i like to think of the reasoning behind how companies design products.

 

[reef_ranch]

I think ecotech is doing it right. Design a line of products. Make them all talk to each other, then build a controller to run your entire system. Going the other way and having generic outputs makes it allot harder to get everything to talk to each other. It worked for Apple for years.

Neptune is doing the same thing but from the opposite direction. Build a controller that measures ph, temp, orp, conductivity, and can control anything that can be plugged into an outlet and/or has 0-10v interface. Then build things that will natively interface with it like the doser, a wave maker and who know what will come next? Camera? (Please!!! This one is impossible on Apex) Lights? They all want as big a piece of the aquarium market as possible and do their best to put out quality products. They have varying levels of success on the quality of their products as the threads in the forums show. But they don't have the resources of an Apple or a Microsoft and never will because the market they are in is too small.

 

[jt17]

Neptune is doing the same thing but from the opposite direction. Build a controller that measures ph, temp, orp, conductivity, and can control anything that can be plugged into an outlet and/or has 0-10v interface. Then build things that will natively interface with it like the doser, a wave maker and who know what will come next? Camera? (Please!!! This one is impossible on Apex) Lights? They all want as big a piece of the aquarium market as possible and do their best to put out quality products. They have varying levels of success on the quality of their products as the threads in the forums show. But they don't have the resources of an Apple or a Microsoft and never will because the market they are in is too small.

True resources are important but it's more about what a company stands for. Yes they all have to make a profit but that can not be the only goal. One of the other comments that Tim Marks made during his talk at MACNA was that ecotech's goal was not to just make money. That's why we don't see ecotech reactors or return pumps as there are already many good choices out there. Their goal is to make a better product that improves the quality of reef keeping. There were power heads and now we have vortechs, there were LEDs now we have radions. The Apex works for many, myself included, but there's room for improvement and after sitting through 2 hours of Neptunes Apex workshop at MACNA it was clear they have no intension of improving their controller, unless you count putting a new sticker on the same old plastic box.

 

[reef_ranch]

True resources are important but it's more about what a company stands for. Yes they all have to make a profit but that can not be the only goal. One of the other comments that Tim Marks made during his talk at MACNA was that ecotech's goal was not to just make money. That's why we don't see ecotech reactors or return pumps as there are already many good choices out there. Their goal is to make a better product that improves the quality of reef keeping. There were power heads and now we have vortechs, there were LEDs now we have radions. The Apex works for many, myself included, but there's room for improvement and after sitting through 2 hours of Neptunes Apex workshop at MACNA it was clear they have no intension of improving their controller, unless you count putting a new sticker on the same old plastic box.

There is certainly room for improvement in Neptunes products, but the same can be said for every product out there. To say Neptune has no intention of improving their product is just wrong. It updates its software constantly, and, like I mentioned is developing new components designed specifically to interact seamlessly with its controller. The DOS doser is a good example, coupled with the DDR reservoir, the level of control you can have over dosing is amazing, I'm not sure what additional functionality you want in the controller itself, but it's silly to say that Neptune is going to flat out ignore market pressures and leave well enough alone. If it does, it will die as a company. That is not what I'm seeing.

Oh, and you can bet that Ecotech's goal is to make money. Their market is high end equipment, so they pick their product mix carefully. But these guys want to sell as many units as they can at as high a profit margin as possible. That goal leads to innovation and quality.

 

[Lonelyreef]

I really like ecotech products but a controller would be great there reef link is a dumb downed apex why not go all out with a controller and an app that controls all aspects of the system. Seems like the next logical step in there progression as a company. That and a t5 fixture with LEDs and instead of big clusters use smaller ones more spread out with 120 degree lens.

Ecotech makes great products but there innovation stopped at the vortech pumps. I want to see them coming out with more new products and push the envelope.

 

[jt17]

There is certainly room for improvement in Neptunes products, but the same can be said for every product out there. To say Neptune has no intention of improving their product is just wrong. It updates its software constantly, and, like I mentioned is developing new components designed specifically to interact seamlessly with its controller. The DOS doser is a good example, coupled with the DDR reservoir, the level of control you can have over dosing is amazing, I'm not sure what additional functionality you want in the controller itself, but it's silly to say that Neptune is going to flat out ignore market pressures and leave well enough alone. If it does, it will die as a company. That is not what I'm seeing.

Oh, and you can bet that Ecotech's goal is to make money. Their market is high end equipment, so they pick their product mix carefully. But these guys want to sell as many units as they can at as high a profit margin as possible. That goal leads to innovation and quality.

I don't disagree. All I am saying is the apex setup is not user friendly. You have to know something about computers to get it connected online and it doesn't sound like they are trying to change that. I do like the modules they are developing and that is the only way for a controller system to be able to adapt to future innovations. I don't dislike neptune, my apex has saved my tank a couple times, I love apex fusion because it's user friendly. It's the setup that needs improvement.

Oh, and I said making money wasn't their only goal

Just trying to see better product and hoping the designers read these posts.

 

[reef_ranch]

[emoji106]

 

[RandoReefer]

Thanks everyone for your input! Great discussion. [emoji106]

Just trying to see better product and hoping the designers read these posts.

I'm sure they are. [emoji4]

 

[gatekeeperdi]

Great ideas. I've got a GHL profilux plus II, a 4 head doser and a power bar that is currently giving my grief, one minute it works but then it doesn't, so I'd certainly be interested in any Echotech developments along these lines.

 

[fredro]

That would be ideal. The more products they can make to communicate easily with a controller the more overall products they would sell. I'll bet the ReefLink already has most of the software needed for the project. For instance.. say I need to buy a new skimmer. And I have a Ecotech controller that wirelessly controls their branded product. I have a choice of brand x or an Ecotech skimmer that has a built in wireless float switch that tells me when the cup is full and shuts the skimmer off if it is? Hmm I'm buying the Ecotech skimmer. Some will say, "wireless float switch that is witchcraft". Actually I worked on a home lighting project that used remote switches that were wireless and didn't need a battery. The physical motion of the switch activating created enough energy to send a signal to the controller. And these switches are cheap because they are simple.

The wireless skimmer idea wouldn't even need o be that complicated for integration of a switch. Think of it this way... Most newer, top f the line skimmers use DC, variable speed pumps. All you'd have to do is to make the skimmers motor controller house an EcoTech RF module (like all other EcoTech products) and then it could have a wire going to the skimmer cup. This would allow for remote control of the DC motor through EcoSmartLive and also for transmission of the float switch signal through the module, to EcoSmartLive.

I am a diehard EcoTech fan and would love nothing more than to see an aquarium that was controlled by Linked up EcoTech products. I would assume that it may be easier to make a few other products that have RF modules in their "brain," like a heater with a controller box attacked, that can be linked to EcoSmartLive. This way, like their current products, any customer can buy their product alone and have it function by itself, or you can link the product wirelessly through the ReefLink and control it through ESL.

There's a fine line between the advanced/tech savvy customer and the entry level customer that doesn't know, want to know, or need to know how to do anything complicated or advanced with their tank. I would consider myself an advanced customer that would love lots of DIY options with custom inputs/outputs and sensors, but that's not all people and I can assume that a company that makes and sells high end products, that the people that buy aren't always like me. Sometimes the people that can afford the best are the least technologically inclined. Having said that, as much as I would like the higher tech product to be produced, it likely wouldn't be from EcoTech and that includes anything past a brain that has a ph/ORP probe. I think you may see a dosing pump from EcoTech, like the Neptune DOS, later down the line, along with a heater, but like I said, I think all the upcoming things will be modular and self-inclusive. Also, EcoTech is a small company and if you consider the Neptune Community and their size, along with the Tech Support required to have to help customer as the products become more complex and advanced, it's just not really feasible for them at this point, nor does it seem like something that's really their "cup of tea."

I would LOVE an advanced controller from EcoTech with all the bells and whistles, but I think that the new products we will be getting will be along the lines of what they've been giving us.

 

[SPotter]

I came across this thread while searching to see if there are any recent rumors about ETM introducing a controller. I had an apex for 4 yrs and grew frustrated with equipment reliability and consistency so made the switch to GHL Profilux a little over a year ago. Significantly more expensive than Apex and a lot more difficult to initially set up if you don't think like an engineer or have a windows computer. Support is extremely difficult to get from the company itself but fortunately there were several very experienced reefers that use the system and they were able to help me get started. I've been using it for a little over a year now and have grown frustrated with it because its not apple friendly and the support has diminished significantly. So, I am once again thinking about switching back to Apex but if there was slightest chance that ETM is coming out with their own controller I would continue to hold off on making a switch. I have transitioned a lot of my equipment over to DJ Strips and would only need something to provide readings for temp and ph, provide redundancy control for heater and chiller functions and to program my mh. I had thought about switching over to the Seneye system and using digital timers for mh's and t5 components, but that as well is not Apple friendly. Some suggested I just buy a cheap windows based laptop and that is a consideration but I already have too many electronics in my house and thought of adding one more is not appealing to me.

 

[reefwiser]

I can see Ecotech adding functions to their cloud. Would love to see them buy the mindstream system to monitor parameters. It would be a good fit. I use their lights and powerheads so I am using their system and really smart pumps and lights are the future as computers on a chip are so cheap their really is not a need for a computer in a box anymore. Just a hub that allows the various parts of your system coordinate

 

[SPotter]

I can see Ecotech adding functions to their cloud. Would love to see them buy the mindstream system to monitor parameters. It would be a good fit. I use their lights and powerheads so I am using their system and really smart pumps and lights are the future as computers on a chip are so cheap their really is not a need for a computer in a box anymore. Just a hub that allows the various parts of your system coordinate

totally agree. Unless ETM can come out with a pump that pushes 6000 gph I would still like to be to control my return pump, heaters, chiller, skimmer, metal halides and t5's. I am serious considering selling off my ghl and going old school with digital timers and dj power strips. I was recently away for 5 days and my ghl that is hard wired to my router lost contact with my network somehow. I couldn't access the tank and honestly it didn't bother me one bit. I sometimes feel like the set up and troubleshooting of the electronics causes me more stress than anything else.