Hydros Control 2 , Control 4 and accessories question and answer thread.

jrill

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Something came up yesterday that I'm trying to figure out. I have a skim level sensor in my skimmer cup. Yesterday my skimmer went crazy and flooded the cup. The right triggers happened as far as notifications, but the skimmer was not turned off.

It's my understanding that it should turn off when the skim level sensor is wet. But it did shut it down. When I manually put the sensor under water, it kills the skimmer.

The skimmer is plugged into the power strip - which continues to get random disconnection alerts multiple times a day. The output port is setup as Skimmer.

Screenshot_20220805-225525.png


Is the power strip at fault or is this in the control unit? If it's unreliable at just killing the skimmer, how much trust should I place on more critical systems?
Maybe show the screen shot of your Skimmer and sensor setup.
 

Chee-tomorpha

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I got an X2 kit for my RO downstairs and the power strip for that kit does the same. So now I get 2x the alerts about disconnecting. Strangely, it's not at the same time. They happen at different intervals. Why is that?

You'd think if it is network related, they both would be occuring at the same time, right? Starting to see @rtparty point on the quality components.
 

n2585722

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I got an X2 kit for my RO downstairs and the power strip for that kit does the same. So now I get 2x the alerts about disconnecting. Strangely, it's not at the same time. They happen at different intervals. Why is that?

You'd think if it is network related, they both would be occuring at the same time, right? Starting to see @rtparty point on the quality components.
I have very little issues with my 4 wifi strips and no wifi can affect just one strip. Was the skimmer on a wifi strip. If so it could have been during a wifi issue. Usually when I have an issue with the strips I reboot my router and that fixes the issue. I do have a 2.4ghz access point on the other side of the tank from the router. Both are not in the same room with the tank. I have 2 wifi strips in the living room with the router. One in the kitchen and one in the garage. I also have the wifi fish feeder. The wifi strips are not made by Hydros and are sold as smart power strips under several brands names. They operate on the Tuya protocol. There are several that will pair with the Hydros.To me for the price difference and the mounting bracket it was worth a little extra cost to get the Hydros branded ones. Things that cause issues is MESH type networks and both the 5ghz and 2.4 Ghz channels having the same name and password. The wifi strips can connect to 5ghz but if they do they cannot communicate with the Hydros controller on 2.4ghz. This can change intermittently. If you have a MESH network then you are better off using a access point with a different name than you normal wifi network and have it wired via CAT5 cable to the router. Make sure the access point has only the 2.4ghz channel turned on if it has both. I used an old WRT54g router as an access point. Chances are if you have an old router that still works there is a way to change it to an access point like I did.
 

Chee-tomorpha

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I have very little issues with my 4 wifi strips and no wifi can affect just one strip. Was the skimmer on a wifi strip. If so it could have been during a wifi issue. Usually when I have an issue with the strips I reboot my router and that fixes the issue. I do have a 2.4ghz access point on the other side of the tank from the router. Both are not in the same room with the tank. I have 2 wifi strips in the living room with the router. One in the kitchen and one in the garage. I also have the wifi fish feeder. The wifi strips are not made by Hydros and are sold as smart power strips under several brands names. They operate on the Tuya protocol. There are several that will pair with the Hydros.To me for the price difference and the mounting bracket it was worth a little extra cost to get the Hydros branded ones. Things that cause issues is MESH type networks and both the 5ghz and 2.4 Ghz channels having the same name and password. The wifi strips can connect to 5ghz but if they do they cannot communicate with the Hydros controller on 2.4ghz. This can change intermittently. If you have a MESH network then you are better off using a access point with a different name than you normal wifi network and have it wired via CAT5 cable to the router. Make sure the access point has only the 2.4ghz channel turned on if it has both. I used an old WRT54g router as an access point. Chances are if you have an old router that still works there is a way to change it to an access point like I did.

I have the Skimmer plugged into the power strip. If the intermittent disconnecting can cause the system to not operate properly it does make me lose confidence in it the product and controlling mission critical stuff. I can't imagine what kind of mess I'd come home to if I was not home when the skimmer was going crazy. Luckily I just had to wipe the inside of that cabinet with the skimmate spraying all over. Can't imagine the mess of it ran like that all day. The boss would not be happy with a stinky house and wet floors.

I have the two strips and entire Hydros systems connected to and old router setup as an AP on my Google Mesh. I only have the 2.4ghz band broadcasting and at first it seemed good. But after a couple days it went back to multiple alerts a day. I'll reboot and see if it helps.

The signals are strong where the units sit, and I don't have issues with the controls X2 and X4. It's just the strips that continue to have disconnected alerts.

I have the Hydros branded power strips that came with the X2 and X4 kits. Is it possible that the non branded ones work better? If so, what ones have people used?

I tried to use some of the smart plugs from TP Link Kasa but couldn't get it to find the device. I had used a couple of them to control lights on other tanks and never had issues with them.
 

n2585722

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I have the Skimmer plugged into the power strip. If the intermittent disconnecting can cause the system to not operate properly it does make me lose confidence in it the product and controlling mission critical stuff. I can't imagine what kind of mess I'd come home to if I was not home when the skimmer was going crazy. Luckily I just had to wipe the inside of that cabinet with the skimmate spraying all over. Can't imagine the mess of it ran like that all day. The boss would not be happy with a stinky house and wet floors.

I have the two strips and entire Hydros systems connected to and old router setup as an AP on my Google Mesh. I only have the 2.4ghz band broadcasting and at first it seemed good. But after a couple days it went back to multiple alerts a day. I'll reboot and see if it helps.

The signals are strong where the units sit, and I don't have issues with the controls X2 and X4. It's just the strips that continue to have disconnected alerts.

I have the Hydros branded power strips that came with the X2 and X4 kits. Is it possible that the non branded ones work better? If so, what ones have people used?

I tried to use some of the smart plugs from TP Link Kasa but couldn't get it to find the device. I had used a couple of them to control lights on other tanks and never had issues with them.
Kasa is a different protocol. If it looks like the Hydros wifi strip but a different color then chances are it is the same. I use the XP8 at my tank and now my return, skimmer, heaters, cooling fans and power for my refugium lights are now powered by it. It is a comtroller with only outputs and is designed and built by Hydros. It connects to the collective with a command buss cable. It can also power several other controllers through the command buss. There is a setting in the output setup for what to do if input not available. So if for some reason you loose the control input you can have it turn off the skimmer or what ever you are controlling with that output. The wifi strip will remain in whatever state it is in when communication is lost. I do not use the wifi strips to power ATO pump, AWC pumps, dosing pumps or RODI solenoids. I have used them with my return, skimmer, heaters and cooling fans before getting the XP8. I use drive ports for the ATO, AWC, dosing pumps. I also use drive ports for powering the solenoids for the RODI.

You might want to reboot both the access point and the router. I am using my WEv2 as my wifi master at this time. One time when I had all the wifi devices not communicating I switched the wifi master to my X4 and all of them started communicating. I switched it back to the WEv2 and had the issue with the wifi devices again. I rebooted my router and then they started working with the WEv2 again. Since that was the only thing I rebooted it had to be the one with the issue. I am not sure why the router was allowing the communication with the X4 but not the WEv2 but it was stopping it for some reason.
 

Chee-tomorpha

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I placed a help ticket with CoralVue on Tuesday but haven't heard back them. I've been getting 20-30 email notifications each day and have become a thorn - I thought I could live with it, but it is impossible with my inbox flooded with the notifications.

I'm troubleshooting on my own now since support is slow to respond, or non-existent - time will tell. I've already attempted to reboot everything. Started with the modem, mesh, AP, X2/4 controllers, and unplug the power strips, in that order. This did not help as I continued to get notifications today.

I'm going to turn on static IPs for each of the X4, X2, and two power strips today. I am hoping this may stabilize it somehow - I'm swinging in the dark. I will report what happens with it.

Does anyone have any troubleshooting tips?
 

JeffB418

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I placed a help ticket with CoralVue on Tuesday but haven't heard back them. I've been getting 20-30 email notifications each day and have become a thorn - I thought I could live with it, but it is impossible with my inbox flooded with the notifications.

I'm troubleshooting on my own now since support is slow to respond, or non-existent - time will tell. I've already attempted to reboot everything. Started with the modem, mesh, AP, X2/4 controllers, and unplug the power strips, in that order. This did not help as I continued to get notifications today.

I'm going to turn on static IPs for each of the X4, X2, and two power strips today. I am hoping this may stabilize it somehow - I'm swinging in the dark. I will report what happens with it.

Does anyone have any troubleshooting tips?
Just in case, have you checked your spam email folder to make sure they haven't responded?
 

JeffB418

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I got the [email protected] automated response for registering on the support site, but have not received anything else since then.
Do you have facebook? Join the FB group and that will give you more visibility to support. I know many CV employees are going to RAP Cali this weekend but that shouldn't slow support down.
 

rtparty

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I placed a help ticket with CoralVue on Tuesday but haven't heard back them. I've been getting 20-30 email notifications each day and have become a thorn - I thought I could live with it, but it is impossible with my inbox flooded with the notifications.

I'm troubleshooting on my own now since support is slow to respond, or non-existent - time will tell. I've already attempted to reboot everything. Started with the modem, mesh, AP, X2/4 controllers, and unplug the power strips, in that order. This did not help as I continued to get notifications today.

I'm going to turn on static IPs for each of the X4, X2, and two power strips today. I am hoping this may stabilize it somehow - I'm swinging in the dark. I will report what happens with it.

Does anyone have any troubleshooting tips?

Facebook group. Only way I got some of my stuff replaced was brining it up there
 

n2585722

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I placed a help ticket with CoralVue on Tuesday but haven't heard back them. I've been getting 20-30 email notifications each day and have become a thorn - I thought I could live with it, but it is impossible with my inbox flooded with the notifications.

I'm troubleshooting on my own now since support is slow to respond, or non-existent - time will tell. I've already attempted to reboot everything. Started with the modem, mesh, AP, X2/4 controllers, and unplug the power strips, in that order. This did not help as I continued to get notifications today.

I'm going to turn on static IPs for each of the X4, X2, and two power strips today. I am hoping this may stabilize it somehow - I'm swinging in the dark. I will report what happens with it.

Does anyone have any troubleshooting tips?
Until you get it figured out just turn off email alerts and just use the push notifications. I only use push notifications since I have the app on my phone and iPad and I get the push notifications on both. Email would just be a duplicate of the push notification anyway.
 

Chee-tomorpha

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I put in my request to join the FB group.

I am 50/50 with using my phone and being on the computer due to work/life. It's a pain to delete all those email notifications, but it at least gives me some kind of peace of mind - even though it is a major pain to keep up with it.

So far aside from the skimmer note shutting down and the constant notifications. The systems seem to be working. I was putting up my DIY mesh lid the other day and dropped the DT level sensor into the tank and it shut down my return pump as I had set it up to be - so that is a plus, I just hope it works when it is required, unlike the skimmer scenario.
 

reefiniteasy

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I put in my request to join the FB group.

I am 50/50 with using my phone and being on the computer due to work/life. It's a pain to delete all those email notifications, but it at least gives me some kind of peace of mind - even though it is a major pain to keep up with it.

So far aside from the skimmer note shutting down and the constant notifications. The systems seem to be working. I was putting up my DIY mesh lid the other day and dropped the DT level sensor into the tank and it shut down my return pump as I had set it up to be - so that is a plus, I just hope it works when it is required, unlike the skimmer scenario.

When it comes to the skimmer sensor, I had a defective one that was replaced. Is the plastic clear in the middle or pitted? I’m just curious.
 

Chee-tomorpha

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When it comes to the skimmer sensor, I had a defective one that was replaced. Is the plastic clear in the middle or pitted? I’m just curious.
It is smooth if I remember it correctly. The sensor was new, tank is about 21 days old today. The sensor worked when setting up initially, and after cleanup. But for some reason during the skimmer event it didn't shut down the skimmer. By the time I smelled and open the cabinet, the sensor was under water, and it was no longer just skimmate in the cup.

I have since lowered the sensor location to about halfway in the cup and set alerts to red to warn me sooner should it happen again. I've been pretty diligent checking daily. I am emptying and flushing the cup whenever I do drain the cup.
 

Chee-tomorpha

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I think I solved the problem with my power strips. I ordered a cheap network switch to replace the wireless router in my office since it was mainly used for that purpose before turning the 2.4ghz band back on for the Hydros. My office network is taken care of, I moved the AP to a mesh puck in the kitchen with a clear shot to the tank. Ever since then, I've not received a single alert from either power strip - after all the alerts about being offline. Fingers crossed.

If this really does fix my issue, it would be a user error on my behalf and for anyone who is having issues. Get your WiFi as close to the units as possible.

Note: the X4 has a clear shot to the AP while the X2 is a floor below.
 

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