Why so many Apex connection issues

[Aaronhome27]

Didn't upload

 

[Aaronhome27]

I Thought the one caveat with running the Classic Apex off of Wifi was that you are supposed to always do updates with it wired. Are you saying you did some without? I may be misunderstanding what you're typing.

Oh no. Firmware updates were done while hard wired. Simple I/O updates can be done over wifi as the packages can't damage the operating software. Worst case on running updates is that it rejects it. If your firmware gets rejected then it's an expensive couple of bricks

 

[Amoo]

Oh no. Firmware updates were done while hard wired. Simple I/O updates can be done over wifi as the packages can't damage the operating software. Worst case on running updates is that it rejects it. If your firmware gets rejected then it's an expensive couple of bricks

I apologize, that's my misunderstanding. When you were saying updates I thought you meant firmware. I know on my old Apex Lite I still run it has the little icon that even pops up for firmware that says "ensure hard wired". For regular I/O stuff you are 100% correct and no wire should be needed.

I do have a small wifi router on mine, sec I will go get you a make and model

 

[Amoo]

https://www.amazon.com/NETGEAR-N300...8&qid=1539923161&sr=8-2&keywords=netgear+n300

 

[Aaronhome27]

I read a thread somewhere, not sure if it was here, but someone had said before the update (2 updates ago) there weren't issues with using a wifi gaming adapter. But after that update quite a few people started talking about issues that came with the update. Then the most recent update was supposed to have a fix for it. So I'm betting they haven't figured it out from the last update they did. Maybe less issues now but still some left unfixed. I'll update in a few days. I'm going to add control to my lights and see if it goes through this again. I won't be calling CS if there is. I'll try rebooting with a temporary hard wire. If I can replicate it that may help others dealing with the issue. I've been sitting here changing settings and such and it isn't causing any issues. Now adding hardware and rebooting might.

 

[Aaronhome27]

https://www.amazon.com/NETGEAR-N300...8&qid=1539923161&sr=8-2&keywords=netgear+n300

When I went to the store to get the 20 foot cat 6 cable I actually had that in hand. Almost bought it. But figured I'd give mine another go. Mine is the size of a credit card but a half inch thick. But if that one works flawlessly it may be my next buy. May be a simple issue with the one I have or something simple I did. It's my first Apex so it could be user error. But that's why I finally broke down AND emailed CS. I had another question that I asked 4 seperate times and never did get an answer. My feed timer in fusion works great but when I click it on the display unit it doesn't shut my pumps off. That's a major reason I called. I couldn't shut down to feed. Fusion was down and the display wouldn't shut down.

 

[Amoo]

Keep in mind mine is a sample size of 1, but I've had that thing for a few years now without a hiccup.

 

[Aaronhome27]

Wow. Where did all of the negative comments go? I kind of though they added to the conversation as they were question and misconceptions that weren't correct.

 

[Jlentz]

FWIW when I finally ditched the gaming adapters and ran a hardwired cat5 a lot of weird little problems disappeared. Totally worth it IMO.

You’ve got a max length of ~300’ I’ll bet you can find a path that doesn’t require drilling holes.

 

[shred5]

Yea I those wireless adapters can be sketchy sometimes.
Neptune CS should have looked into that and that is bad on their part instead of just blaming your router which it could be also.
I figured it might be that almost right away. Only reason I didn't is you didn't say which apex you had in the first post.

 

[Tegridy Reef]

I have the same issues super annoying

 

[Fritzhamer]

Running cable, as annoying as it is, is totally worth it. I ran one cable to each floor and placed a switch at each location. This allows several more hardwired appliances to be fed off that one line. For example in my basement the single Ethernet line from my router feeds the switch which feeds; my office computers, printer, 3D printer, TV, two gaming systems, a NAS appliance, the Apex, and a GHL doser.

All of them are now hardwired and have rock solid and super fast connections. All off that one Ethernet run.

 

[shred5]

Running cable, as annoying as it is, is totally worth it. I ran one cable to each floor and placed a switch at each location. This allows several more hardwired appliances to be fed off that one line. For example in my basement the single Ethernet line from my router feeds the switch which feeds; my office computers, printer, 3D printer, TV, two gaming systems, a NAS appliance, the Apex, and a GHL doser.

All of them are now hardwired and have rock solid and super fast connections. All off that one Ethernet run.

Agreed, if you can it is always better, less latency too...
I hate wireless but I also like not having cords..

 

[Aquavaj]

Have you tried it with the IOGear adapter out of the cabinet? While wireless can penetrate walls they can greatly affect signal strength. Also why is the ethernet cable coming out of the IOGear black and the one going into the Apex blue? Is there another device in between?

 

[revhtree]

Sorry didn't read through all the comments. Is it just losing connection and then will not reconnect?

 

[Aaronhome27]

Something on the Apex is causing issues. The iogear isn't even dropping signal at all. My son has now logged over 12 hours of gaming using it for fortnite which requires a good signal so there is no lag. It didn't have any issues. It dropped out today. I also couldn't log into it on classic page either even with it wired. When I checked it the IP address had changed. This was without doing a reset. So something is up. Just not sure what. I shut my pumps off to do a quick water change and I had no way of turning them back on. The display wasn't even working. After 2 rests it started working. Now my feed timers don't work on the display unit itself. I'm leaning towards either I got a lemon or there is some corrupt data on it causing issues.

Now, on a positive note. I got a very good and thorough email from Neptune. They set an appointment time today here shortly. They asked if that was a good time and I told them it was. But I never heard back so hopefully they can log into it and see if there is an issue. This email was much more personalized to my issue and not a canned or copy paste response.

 

[Aaronhome27]

Have you tried it with the IOGear adapter out of the cabinet? While wireless can penetrate walls they can greatly affect signal strength. Also why is the ethernet cable coming out of the IOGear black and the one going into the Apex blue? Is there another device in between?

The wifi is on the black cord. And I have pumps on the blue cord.

The system runs great. I can update profiles, turn switches etc with no issues. Then later on I'll have little glitches doing the same thing.

 

[Aaronhome27]

Running cable, as annoying as it is, is totally worth it. I ran one cable to each floor and placed a switch at each location. This allows several more hardwired appliances to be fed off that one line. For example in my basement the single Ethernet line from my router feeds the switch which feeds; my office computers, printer, 3D printer, TV, two gaming systems, a NAS appliance, the Apex, and a GHL doser.

All of them are now hardwired and have rock solid and super fast connections. All off that one Ethernet run.

I wish it was possible. My tank sits in a corner with doorways / walkways on both sides leading to different rooms. Both have solid headers and a second floor over top with joist running parallel. No way to get through that with wire. The ceiling has all plumbing, and heat runs running cross way from the tank. If I were inclined to rip out my ceilings there may also be issues there. All wiring is run through another part of the rooms. The tank litterally sits in the worse place for doing anything like that. But I bought the Apex with advice from a Apex rep who told me they work great on wifi. That I'd just need to do initial set up on a wired connection. After doing all updates I could run it from wifi from there in out. That's why I went the route I did. I couldn't justify $800 for a wifi unit as I was already treading some seriously dangerous ground with the boss (wife) over this I needed accessory especially after going $1000 over my skimpy budget already in this 24 gallon box of water. . Lol

 

[Fritzhamer]

Something on the Apex is causing issues. The iogear isn't even dropping signal at all. My son has now logged over 12 hours of gaming using it for fortnite which requires a good signal so there is no lag. It didn't have any issues. It dropped out today. I also couldn't log into it on classic page either even with it wired. When I checked it the IP address had changed. This was without doing a reset. So something is up. Just not sure what. I shut my pumps off to do a quick water change and I had no way of turning them back on. The display wasn't even working. After 2 rests it started working. Now my feed timers don't work on the display unit itself. I'm leaning towards either I got a lemon or there is some corrupt data on it causing issues.

Now, on a positive note. I got a very good and thorough email from Neptune. They set an appointment time today here shortly. They asked if that was a good time and I told them it was. But I never heard back so hopefully they can log into it and see if there is an issue. This email was much more personalized to my issue and not a canned or copy paste response.

Again internet devices don’t work this way. Your Xbox can use any one of tens of thousands of ports, which will all default to open on any router. It uses protocols that again will always be open and routable. Your apex is going to be using a few protocols on ports that I guarantee your Xbox is not using.

That your apex works when hardwired shows that it functions perfectly. That it doesn’t function perfectly when plugged into the Iogear device means it doesn’t work with the Iogear device. Give it to your kid and make it for Xbox use only.

Find out what adapter people have success with and buy one of those and move on or pickup a 2016 apex or apex el and call it a day. Personally I wouldn’t trust anything (and I mean anything) to an Iogear device much less my tanks life support system. I’d go with the best and most reliable if this is going to be your apex’s connection to the world.

That being said I’ve owned the classic and the 2016 and the 2016 is worth every last penny. It’s an amazing piece of equipment. I’d sell the classic with the adapter and pick up an Apex El, set the WiFi up and move on with your life, never to worry about WiFi again.

 

[Rakie]

As a non internet expert I can tell you my Apex was all but worthless until I used a direct connection with a Cat 6e cable. I honestly can't tell you why exactly -- in theory it should have been fine, but it had problem after problem after problem until I directly connected it.

I'm not sure whats going on inside the Apex, but it does have some funky issues with daily operation while wireless in my experience. I couldn't even guess why... The only buzzword that comes to mind is "optimization issues", which may be some issue with porting and utilizing ports which aren't open perhaps. I couldn't say.