I do not use wifi power bars for things like ATO, AWC and dosing. The reason is if for some reason there is a wifi communication issue when one of those pumps are on it will remain on until communication is restored however long that takes. Even though it very rare for me to have a wifi issue I do not want to risk it. I use drive ports for all ATO, AWC and dosing situations. If it was alerts for wifi issues those need to be fixed if at all possible. Most all of my alerts are for internet issues since my internet is down multiple times in a day. I did turn off email notifications and only get push notifications for the alerts. The only alerts you cannot turn off individually is the ones for the controller not communicating to the cloud. Below is a list of my push notifications for almost a week. There are no alerts for any of the 5 wifi devices, but most are for controllers not checking into the cloud because the internet was down too long. Aquarium Control is the name of my collective so most of those are important alerts. In the first screenshot are the alerts when the fresh saltwater tank ran low and did not trigger the low float switch for some reason. Once I got the float issue fixed it automatically transferred the water in the mix tank to the fresh salt water tank. That triggered the mix low alert. The RODI was turned on and the mix tank was refilled with DI water.
I just put a bunch of Wyze smart plugs in the trash. I moved everything to Hydros. I constantly had issues with them not following the schedule and If the internet is down they do nothing.
Well I guess they are just like any other product. There are defective ones out there.
Get one of the pro packs with the XP8. It does not have a wifi power strip, but the XP8 is a 8 AC outlet controller. The pro pack comes with a command buss cable and two terminators so you can connect the XP8 to the other controller in the pro pack ane create a collective. The pro pack comes with either an X4 or X3 for the other controller. I prefer the X4 for a first controller since it has more sense ports and also has two drive ports. The two controllers will act a one large controller. If you run out of a port then just get a controller with those ports and a command buss cable and add it to the collective.It will continue to work without wifi or internet. The only way to connect to it if you do not have wifi or internet is via bluetooth. For the app to work it needs internet but if you have it on a phone just turn off wifi and start the app. Then connect with bluetooth. In bluetooth mode all you can do is override output to off, auto or on. You can still see all the inputs and their state. I have 2 of the XP8's one in the garage and one at the tank. I also have 4 wifi power strips and a wifi fish feeder. Three of the power strips are just used for testing things now since I got the XP8's. The way the wifi strips work is they will not transition between on and off unless they get a command to do so from the controller. So if communication is lost they will stay in whatever state they are in when communication is lost unless there is a power outage then they come back up in off after the wifi strip reboots. That is why I use drive ports for things like ATO, AWC and dosing. You can run things like return pumps, skimmers and heaters that have a backup to turn them off without an issue. I would have a backup on all my heaters regardless though. I have them plugged into a XP8 now and stilo have a backup with the thermostat on the heater itself. I also have two heaters in two different outlets which are controlled separately.
I used mine to run 8 feet of MH/T5 lights so I used 5 Wyze plugs that operated daily as on/off timers for 12 lamps plus
It is very rare for me to have issues with the wifi power strips and when I do a reboot of my router will fix them. The MESH type networks do not get along very well with Hydros but with them you can alway add a wired access point with a different name than your current wifi network. Also another issue is the 5ghz channel and the 2.4ghz channel cannot have the same name. If they are the sane see if you can change the name of one. If so I would change the 5ghz channel since there will more than likely be fewer devices you will have to reconnect to it. I added a space and 5ghz to the end of the name on my 5ghz channel. I also own my own router and it is separate from the cable modem. Some of the ones provided by the internet providers the wifi goes out if you loose internet. You do not want that to happen if you use wifi strips. You can safely use things that would not be a problem if they did not turn on or off at there given times. I ask myself if the wifi stops with it either on or off will it cause a major issue if yes it goes on a XP8 or drive port. if no then I use the wifi strips.
I have the same opinion toward Apex. I would make my own controller before I would use one of theirs. The one I would make would be connected via wifi and not hardwired. I even have CAT5 cables run from a distribution box in the garage to all the bedrooms, living room and the building in our back yard. One is used as a command buss cable for my Hydros now to go from the garage to the tank in one of the bedrooms. I have one form the living room to the box and then to another bedroom to connect an access point there. The rest are no longer used. I only have 4 hardwired connection points on my router and one is used for the access point. The three others go to 3 decided that do not have a wifi connection and only a wired connection. Luckly all of those are near the router in the living room. I have used wifi only with my tank controller since I set the tank up 7 years ago and have had no issues using wifi. The only issue I have is internet. I goes out several times a day. I can power down my router and my Hydros will continue to control everything at the tank but I use XP8's. I have disabled the wifi for well over an hour without any issues other than having to use bluetooth to check on the tank with a phone. My iPad does not have mobile on it and the app has to have internet to work. It does work on my phone with wifi turned off using mobile to connect. When the router was powered off the heaters, return pump, cooling fans, ATO, AWC and RODI control continued to work without any issues. All 9 of my controllers are in the same collective and continued to act like a single controller. I got my first one in November right after the Hydros was released. I have had no hardware failures. I have had no real wifi issues that a router reboot did not fix. I can go weeks without any. I do not have a MESH router. It is an ASUS RT-AC1200. My access point is a repurposed Linksys WRT-54g router. My access point has the same name and password as my router does so all my 2.4ghz devices can connect to either without causing any issues.
You keep saying that, but not everyone can make that work. I bought this system, *specifically* for it's ability to control my AWC, which requires a wifi power bar (they didn't have a hard wired one at the time). Had they included a disclaimer that you shouldn't use their wifi power bars for these applications, I certainly wouldn't have bought it.
Again, not an option for everyone. My AWC fill pump and ATO are too far away and draw too much power for that to work. In order to even get the AWC working properly, I had to move my ATO from the (very reliable) Tunze system over the the Hydros. The little tiny Tunze pump draws a hair too much power so the Hydros wouldn't even try. I ended up having to use the drive port to control a relay and a relay to turn the ATO pump on and off.
That's where I'm headed. I wouldn't buy any more of their stuff since it, empirically, does not work properly. It really shows what they think of their customers when they release this garbage.
Can I have it? I will pay shipping.
Not all MESH networks will have an issue , but it more likely with those types of networks to have issues than the ones that are not MESH.
My tank is 35ft from my garage where my ATO and AWC pumps are at. So they have to push water up to my attic and across to the wall next to the tank. Then down inside the wall to a wall plate then from there to the sump. The drain pulls water from the tank to the pump in the garage using the same route. It hen has to push it back up to the attic and across to a wall with the kitchen sink. It then goes down inside that wall and out into the kitchen sink drain. All the pumps have a check valve on the output. I put one on the drain since it was using the kitchen sink drain. I did the fill to match. The ATO and All For Reef dosing pump use the same tubing to the tank so they also have the check valve. These are small Intllab dosing pumps. I was using these with my other controller before getting the Hydros. They are the fist thing I used the Hydros for and since they are 12v pumps I ditched the power packs and got a cable with the DC connecter for the pump from Mouser and added a GX12 2 pin connector to the other end. This was before Hydros even had a dosing pump to hook to the drive port. I also added two more X2's to my collective for 4 more drive ports. ai also use drive ports to control the solenoids for my RODI that is also in the garage. I believe the X2's are only $150 each and have 2 drive ports and 2 sense ports. At this time I have 18 sense ports in use and 10 drive ports in use. All 4 0-10v input ports and all 4 0-10v output ports on an X4 in use. I do have a WEv2 that the 0-10v inputs and 0-10v outputs are not currently used but I have plans for some of them. I was using 4 wifi strips but since ai now have 8 wired outlets at the tank and 8 in the garage only one has anything currently plugged into it and that is my wife's globes and light houses in the living room. One is in the kitchen where I do maintenance on the dosing pump. I use a 12v power pack and an outlet setup as a simple dosing pump to test it and also set the flow rates on the Intllab pumps. all 4 are still paired with the Hydros system and I have some of the outlet used with outputs gut there is nothing plugged into the outlets. Below is a photo of my pump shelves and pumps along with the solenoids for my RODI. The Hydros automatically refills my DI storage tank and my mix tank. I do have one Hydros dosing pump now and it is my ATO pump. The AWC pump in the photo is a modified Intllab dosing pump with two heads. Also there is a photo of the wall plate for the tubing at the tank.
