Kamoer XS2 AWC review Series

[RobB'z Reef]

Hey all, I thought I would post this here in case anyone might be interested in AWC solutions. This will be a 3 part series, Episode 1: The unboxing, Episode 2: Configuration and application demonstrations, Episode 3: Final installation and thoughts after running it for a few weeks. I am releasing these on IGTV and YouTube but will cross post here as well.

BLUFF (Bottom Line Up Front):

BRS just started offering the X2SR but it's complete overkill for most tanks out there. It moves a whopping 900ml/min and at almost $500 is probably not the best investment unless you have a giant tank or enjoy pouring salt water down the drain. The X2S moves a more reasonable 300ml/min range and if you are changing out 5 gallons or less a day like most of us it's priced pretty reasonable (less than $270) for a WiFi controlled stand alone unit that also includes an integrated ATO with continuous rated stepper motors. Downside, it's not currently retailed in the US market and you can only get it thru AliExpress. But obviously I got one so it's not exactly a show stopper.

Episode I


**EDIT** I fat fingered the title, it's X2S sorry!!

 

[SPR1968]

Great review and thanks for taking the time to do it

 

[RobB'z Reef]

long overdue follow up video of demonstration and review. Due to time constraints I just combined 2 & 3 into one.

 

[twin_decks]

long overdue follow up video of demonstration and review. Due to time constraints I just combined 2 & 3 into one.

Hi Rob, great review, very nice video. I also have a X2S and it's been working great for last year or so, I'm very happy with it. Reliable Wifi is a challenge, but mainly due to needing 2.4G.

I ignored the recommended setup and I do use it for simultaneous water changes, which it allows you to configure manually. Once the pumps are calibrated it can do this accurately. I do 20 litres AWC a day slowly on medium. I have sensors in my sump for high, Low and Salinity as a backup. my X2S sits 50 meters away in a salt mixing room and I use RO tubing for Salt Water and Drain to the DT.

One question I have, and wondered if you knew, what is the correct adjustment of the screws that put pressure on the pump tubing. It is clearly adjustable, but no instructions. I suspected that with my long RO tubing it might need to be adjusted, but I only have guesswork.

Cheers.

 

[RobB'z Reef]

Hi Rob, great review, very nice video. I also have a X2S and it's been working great for last year or so, I'm very happy with it. Reliable Wifi is a challenge, but mainly due to needing 2.4G.

I ignored the recommended setup and I do use it for simultaneous water changes, which it allows you to configure manually. Once the pumps are calibrated it can do this accurately. I do 20 litres AWC a day slowly on medium. I have sensors in my sump for high, Low and Salinity as a backup. my X2S sits 50 meters away in a salt mixing room and I use RO tubing for Salt Water and Drain to the DT.

One question I have, and wondered if you knew, what is the correct adjustment of the screws that put pressure on the pump tubing. It is clearly adjustable, but no instructions. I suspected that with my long RO tubing it might need to be adjusted, but I only have guesswork.

Cheers.

Hi! thanks for watching, it was my first equipment review and I'm new to video editing on top of it... You know to be completely honest, kudos to you for thinking outside the box. It never occurred to me that the pumps might work simultaneous in dosing mode! Haha, now that I know this I will likely use the same method myself and that changes quite a bit of my perspective on the unit itself. Thank you for that feedback. I'll update the description in my review on youtube and credit you for the tip! I'm still satisfied over all and the unit is probably 20 feet away from my sump and like you said, moves water like a champ.

Unfortunately I don't have any recommendations on the screw adjustments. Their documentation leaves a bit to be desired and at the distance I'm at it seems to be performing optimally at this point. What are you observing in your setup that leads you to believe that an adjustment there might be helpful?

 

[twin_decks]

Hi! thanks for watching, it was my first equipment review and I'm new to video editing on top of it... You know to be completely honest, kudos to you for thinking outside the box. It never occurred to me that the pumps might work simultaneous in dosing mode! Haha, now that I know this I will likely use the same method myself and that changes quite a bit of my perspective on the unit itself. Thank you for that feedback. I'll update the description in my review on youtube and credit you for the tip! I'm still satisfied over all and the unit is probably 20 feet away from my sump and like you said, moves water like a champ.

Unfortunately I don't have any recommendations on the screw adjustments. Their documentation leaves a bit to be desired and at the distance I'm at it seems to be performing optimally at this point. What are you observing in your setup that leads you to believe that an adjustment there might be helpful?

I found that my pumps have very different performance for flow rate. At Fast, I get 200ml/min from Drain and 390ml/min for SW. My theory is that Drain is pulling water UP from sump to where my SW Mixing station is, the SW pump is sending water down to tank, a height difference of about 2 meters (i'm in UK, so talking litres and meters....). Perhaps the gravity causes extra work for pump to pull water up ? What is cool about the X2S is I can calibrate the pumps and it accurately can take 10 litres out while replacing 10 litres, but due to flow rate it takes longer take the water out causing a temporary rise in sump water when doing a simultaneous AWC. I mitigated this problem with medium flow rate, which gently does a background water change on a schedule, i use the fast setting if I need a more rapid large water change.

Does that make sense ?

 

[jgirardnrg]

Following

 

[RobB'z Reef]

I found that my pumps have very different performance for flow rate. At Fast, I get 200ml/min from Drain and 390ml/min for SW. My theory is that Drain is pulling water UP from sump to where my SW Mixing station is, the SW pump is sending water down to tank, a height difference of about 2 meters (i'm in UK, so talking litres and meters....). Perhaps the gravity causes extra work for pump to pull water up ? What is cool about the X2S is I can calibrate the pumps and it accurately can take 10 litres out while replacing 10 litres, but due to flow rate it takes longer take the water out causing a temporary rise in sump water when doing a simultaneous AWC. I mitigated this problem with medium flow rate, which gently does a background water change on a schedule, i use the fast setting if I need a more rapid large water change.

Does that make sense ?

Makes complete sense! Yeah I would expect your see reduced flow rate with the added head pressure from the elevation. My installation is all horizontal so I didn't test that out. Makes me wonder if those are for dealing with elevation. Might be interesting to play with it a bit and see. I'm cool with metric even though we're still stuck over here with freedom units lol . Appreciate your insight.

 

[Lerequin]

I ignored the recommended setup and I do use it for simultaneous water changes, which it allows you to configure manually.

Thanks @twin_decks. There is one caveat though, the ATO is disabled in dosing mode

The wifi setup was a nightmare! The X2S would not even connect to a 2.4Ghz only network. The reason is the X2S does not support WPA2 security. It works with an old router set to WPA/WPA2 security.

Have you tried to connect a float switch to the S3 and S4 ports? I wonder if this is hardwired or if Kamoer decided to enable these two ports only on the X2S-R software...

 

[RobB'z Reef]

Thanks @twin_decks. There is one caveat though, the ATO is disabled in dosing mode

The wifi setup was a nightmare! The X2S would not even connect to a 2.4Ghz only network. The reason is the X2S does not support WPA2 security. It works with an old router set to WPA/WPA2 security.

Have you tried to connect a float switch to the S3 and S4 ports? I wonder if this is hardwired or if Kamoer decided to enable these two ports only on the X2S-R software...

They aren't enabled, I tried hooking sensors up to them and got nothing out of them. Yes, WiFi is definitely finicky. It works half way decent once I got it on a non mesh router (some Asus model I picked up at best buy cheap) that's just set to broadcast 2.4. I've dedicated it for all my wifi aquarium devices.

The disabled ATO doesn't surprise me!

 

[Lerequin]

Another grief with the X2S is the water change will still happen even if the volume exceeds the measured waste or new water tanks capacity

And because there is no cloud service, you can't check the levels or stop the schedule remotely. Why didn't Kamoer add this failsafe in software? What's the point of developing a firmware and an app if it cannot do more than a dumb timer?

 

[RobB'z Reef]

Another grief with the X2S is the water change will still happen even if the volume exceeds the measured waste or new water tanks capacity

And because there is no cloud service, you can't check the levels or stop the schedule remotely. Why didn't Kamoer add this failsafe in software? What's the point of developing a firmware and an app if it cannot do more than a dumb timer?

Definitely no frills