Just automated my whole aquarium for $70

[aquadog]

You probably already answered this but, .... in the event of a power outage, is the device capable of sending out alerts?

 

[gcrawford]

All of these manufacturers make their own controllers. My finnex heaters are controlled by a finnex controller. My maxspect gyres are controlled by their gyre controller. My kessil lights are controlled by a spectral controller. My ecotech return pump is controlled by a reef link. My temp is monitored by a Seneye that can send push notifications. My topoff is a 7 gallon container above the sump. I have a wifi sensor that will send me a push notification if it senses water in the floor.

I have two heaters if my tank overheats I will get a push notification and I can look at the power draw and see which is malfunctioning and turn it off.

And now I can control my tank when I am away from home if an emergency arises.

Multiple points of failure I'd say. I had a finnex heater controller fail and would have wiped out the tank if I didn't catch it myself. I went the controller free route early on and had multiple "self controlled" pieces of equipment that eventually failed. I'm not saying the power strip isn't a good product, just would not satisfy controller needs IMO. It's just that, a power strip with on / off capability.

 

[BZOFIQ]

How would you control a heater? Calcium reactor co2 solenoid based on ph readings in the reactor? Speed controlled pumps? Kessil brightness, color temp? Will it email you if the temp is too high/low? Float switch in sump to trigger an alarm for overflow condition? Lights off when overheating? ATO?

No, for that you need a different controller. Not everybody needs a formula 1 just to get to work so to speak.

 

[ImNemo]

Multiple points of failure I'd say. I had a finnex heater controller fail and would have wiped out the tank if I didn't catch it myself. I went the controller free route early on and had multiple "self controlled" pieces of equipment that eventually failed. I'm not saying the power strip isn't a good product, just would not satisfy controller needs IMO. It's just that, a power strip with on / off capability.

I would rather have multiple points of failure than a single brain that fails and wipes out everything. Even so, a simple backup battery can save everything. That is why I always run a small deep cycle backup battery to my power heads.

 

[Leadfooted]

This is great info, keep it coming please. How can an electrical rookie like myself determine when I've plugged in too much power into an outlet like this?

 

[BZOFIQ]

This is great info, keep it coming please. How can an electrical rookie like myself determine when I've plugged in too much power into an outlet like this?

Kill-A-Watt meter

 

[Ozzi-reef]

Aaaaaaaaand they make them for 240v AU, EU and UK - something unachievable for Neptune for the past 3-4 years with the EB832. Thanks for the excellent tip ImNemo - it’s going to be great to finally monitor my pumps and lights power consumption online - pity it’s not going to be on Fusion.

 

[Leadfooted]

Kill-A-Watt meter

Thank you! So these range in price quite a bit, any specific functions I should look for, are the cheap $18 one's okay?

 

[Ozzi-reef]

Ughhhh. Got too excited. Price on Amazon.com.au is $195. Well even if it’s double the price, at least it’s still an option for online power monitoring with no 240v EB832 on any horizon.
Seriously, you Yanks have no idea how spoilt you are for cheap and diverse hardware - the marginally cheaper cost of frags, off the GBR, here does not come close to making up for it.

 

[BZOFIQ]

Thank you! So these range in price quite a bit, any specific functions I should look for, are the cheap $18 one's okay?

one of these would address your needs.


link doesnt work, search amazon for

P3 International P4460 Kill A Watt EZ Electricity Usage Monitor

 

[Leadfooted]

P3 International P4460 Kill A Watt EZ Electricity Usage Monito

Got it, thank you, I've been wondering about my power for a while.

 

[aqua_code]

Does anyone know the functionality when the power strip loses internet connection? Say for example you have a doser on, and your internet drops. Will the doser continue until it regains connection? or does it automatically cutoff/stop even without internet connection? (Basically does it know the end time if it's disconnected mid loop)

Any irregular functionality here could really setup your tank for a failure. Fallback mode and hardcoding static values into the Apex allows them to prevent any issues like this.

 

[ImNemo]

Thank you! So these range in price quite a bit, any specific functions I should look for, are the cheap $18 one's okay?

I've been using this one for years. You can pick one up at lowes or home depot if you are near one. Most breakers are rated at 15 amps. I ran a separate breaker so my tank is pulling from two breakers so I have 30 amps total. I did it myself in a few hours.

 

[ImNemo]

Does anyone know the functionality when the power strip loses internet connection? Say for example you have a doser on, and your internet drops. Will the doser continue until it regains connection? or does it automatically cutoff/stop even without internet connection? (Basically does it know the end time if it's disconnected mid loop)

Any irregular functionality here could really setup your tank for a failure. Fallback mode and hardcoding static values into the Apex allows them to prevent any issues like this.

I'm at work now but I can test it out and let you know this evening.

 

[Sarlindescent]

IMO, I think some people are looking at this in a different manner than myself. This can be used as a simple timer bar for any number of things and it cleaner than 6 plug in timers that go out of wack every time a power outage occurs or on off switches so I don't have to unplug every water change. It provides these features on sale for $50 instead of 500, granted you lose a temp and ph probe.

With advanced programing, or a reefpi, the potential expands, but for people that can't afford or justify an apex, the kasa bars are very useful.

For a high end reef, I will have an apex, but I supplement it with these over more powerbars. I run an undersized primary heater with a built in controller(neotherm) on these, a powerhead, and primary or secondary return pump. This provides me with an insurance policy through greater redundancy while still giving me control-ability remotely. If my apex brain dies, I don't nuke my tank. If my heater dies on, my tank cannot cook. If my heater dies off, my temps don't plummet. If my return dies, I have a backup. With several thousands of dollars worth of coral, I don't want my controller dying costing me way more than the $50 I get these for. However, I also don't want to crawl under my stand every time I do a water change.

 

[aqua_code]

IMO, I think some people are looking at this in a different manner than myself.

I agree makes timer and outlet based control accessible to many people.

From a technical perspective, all the controllers incorporate conditional statements into the outlet control. Naturally people will try to do that with this solution. That was discussed with IFTTT earlier in the thread.

It seems like these wifi power bars need to connect to an API to be fully functional. The benefit of aquarium controllers is they can operate in a fallback mode when the API is inaccessible. If the wifi power bar temporarily stores the values, it provides alot more confidence in test cases.

If there's something like a hurricane or power outage, do you want to be manually switching all the outlets on and off? Even if your backup battery is running - if this power strip can't access the API it will potentially sit there doing nothing.

 

[clm65]

Does anyone know the functionality when the power strip loses internet connection? Say for example you have a doser on, and your internet drops. Will the doser continue until it regains connection? or does it automatically cutoff/stop even without internet connection? (Basically does it know the end time if it's disconnected mid loop)

Any irregular functionality here could really setup your tank for a failure. Fallback mode and hardcoding static values into the Apex allows them to prevent any issues like this.

I have been using one of these on my tank for several months and am extremely happy with it. That being said, I think you hit on a weakness it seems to have. A few weeks ago my power went out for an hour or so. It happened about a half hour before my lights were scheduled to turn off. When power came back on, the lights came back on, even though it was after the time they were scheduled to turn off. So it seems that the power strip takes action (i.e., on or off) only at the scheduled time, and if it doesn't have power at that time, it skips the action. At least this was my experience for one event - I have not tried to replicate it to verify it is repeatable. For this reason, I would have a hard time recommending it for a dosing pump. I'm not sure what would happen if only the internet connection was lost during a scheduled action - I haven't tried that one.

 

[ImNemo]

All I can say is they all have the potential to fail so you better have a backup plan. When I lost power to my Apex the screen went blank and never came back on. When I got home my whole tank was shut down. Luckily I caught it shortly after or it could have went south fast.

That's when I decided to hook up a battery backup to my powerheads to at least have a chance.

 

[jhatfield]

That's easy enough to test, either unplug the plug and plug it back in or flick your breaker off than back on - see behavior.

Just ordered one to test.

If this thing just does that one simple thing, default to ON after power outage, that would be a game changer for me.

 

[PRock]

Does anyone know the functionality when the power strip loses internet connection? Say for example you have a doser on, and your internet drops. Will the doser continue until it regains connection? or does it automatically cutoff/stop even without internet connection? (Basically does it know the end time if it's disconnected mid loop)

Any irregular functionality here could really setup your tank for a failure. Fallback mode and hardcoding static values into the Apex allows them to prevent any issues like this.

Schedules and timers are local to the device, so if your internet goes out it won't impact existing settings on the device. In addition to the cloud functionality, they also have a local protocol that works if the cloud service is unavailable but your local WiFi is still functioning. The gotcha is that they just store state change events in the schedule, so it knows to turn off the socket at 8pm, and turn it on at 8am, but doesn't understand that it should be off between 8pm and 8am, so if your power is out when a timer or schedule should do something, that something won't happen, and the switch will come back up in the state it was when the power was lost.