Eh mines been running 24/7 for 15 years with no crashes. The new controller CPU unit was a drop in replacement unit that has been in place for 5 years using the same power bars and modules and that has also not crashed. Also I am using a ton of XYZ logic programs that are based on multiple readings to make a decision. Every aspect of my tank is automated except for feeding. I use to do that also but found it was nice to feed them myself and also have a reason everyday to check and inspect the tank.
Ecotech taking on Neptune
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User1
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In my reply I was strictly saying all things have room to fail - doesn't matter if it is Ecotech, GHL, Neptune, or even NASA. It is up to us, the hobbyist, to have fail safes built in. While I personally do not know you I'm pretty sure you have redundancy built in. I do and it has nothing to do with the controller I'm using (not saying you said that).
2Wheelsonly
Valuable Member
I hope powerbars stay in the mix for a long, long time. The last thing I would ever want to do is be forced to upgrade equipment that's working fine with an additional $200 premium because it has some silly wifi chip that performs poorly. Things like turning off my water surface fans at night, ATS lights, etc...
Having entire tank full of IoT devices talking on wifi is not as cool as it sounds. To me, it's a nightmare cess pit of consumer grade junk that will fail when you need it most.
Having entire tank full of IoT devices talking on wifi is not as cool as it sounds. To me, it's a nightmare cess pit of consumer grade junk that will fail when you need it most.
2Wheelsonly
Valuable Member
You're just lucky. If you're saying electronics don't fail because you have not seen a failure is a pretty big claim. If you had that mentality in IT then you'd probably end up being a help desk flunky your entire career. My fish room is cleaner and more organized than some people's bedroom; my Apex unit has failed 3 times in the last 11 years. It's never corroded, never on fully loaded circuits, never as issue with abuse; it just simply failed and needed to be replaced. That's not user error, that's just life and understanding that all things can fail.
There is a reason billions of dollars are spent on making sure large aircraft designed for passengers don't need all their engines to fly. If you have an expectation that things don't break then you are playing a game you wont ever win.
Most people just don’t know how unreliable WiFi really is. I just hope Echotech does not try to make wireless power bars. It’s fine for lights and power heads, but I don’t want a float switch to activate my ATO and then the power bar does not receive the command to shut it off!
They could use power bars with wired ports in them and redundant software in the power bar but it still adds another layer of possible issues when WiFi is in the mix.
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2Wheelsonly
Valuable Member
Esp with water involved. I have the hardest time with my wireless devices that sit behind a huge tank of water built into the wall lol. Water + wifi = ugh.
Njdevils1220
Active Member
I think it's nice each company is developing their own wifi based ecosystem but I think it would also be foolish to try and make their products non apex ready. The fact you can take equipment from different brands and interconnect them within one ecosystem or controller such as Neptune System or GHL is what people really want. I would hate to have to live with 100 different apps on my phone to run my equipment because lets face it, who runs 100% of one reef equipment manufacturers products? I know I don't. Everyone has their things they are good and bad at making.
LOL of course I know electronics fail. I have been designing electronic devices for 35 years!
I built my system with failure in mind and have constantly upgraded the redundancy when something unexpected happens. I have redundancy on every important part of the system and I don't just rely on email alerts when something goes out of whack. I also have an SMS module on my controller with it's own battery backup that will alert me via text message of a problem, even if the power dies.
My electronics are in a completely sealed cabinet away from anything involving water and as I said I have had just about zero failures. The only thing that I have had die is one temp probe which lasted about 13 years. I have two in my system and if any one of them reads outside the hysteresis point I get alerted. Also my controller is set to the outside range of my temp and the inner range is controlled by an Aqua Logic Nema 4x. I have never had a failure of my controller or power bars and that is because the design of the hardware and software is rock solid. I have looked at the circuit board in great detail and that's how I know the hardware design is solid. My opinion of the software is based on using it for so many years and not finding a single fault in it's core functionality.
It's ironic that you mention aircraft since the guy who designed all of Aquatronica's products was a lead designer for a company in Italy that made control modules for fuel systems in Aircraft and Cars. At some point around 2003 they decided to make a control system for Aquaculture and he was given the task since he was also avidly into SW aquariums as a hobby. He later got frustrated when they would not let him create more modules for the system so he offered to buy out that division of the company along with a few other employees. They then expanded the product line and continued the business from their own building.
BTW If you had any doubts about how seriously I take redundancy, you should know that I have a complete brand new Deluxe ACQ 140 system in my closet, still in the box. I also bought duplicate modules for everything not in that box. Even the expensive SMS module and spare dosing pumps.
I am always weary that some part may fail so I like to have every spare part on hand.
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2Wheelsonly
Valuable Member
No doubts whatsoever; was making a general statement about electronics and failures. I learned the hard way myself, my Apex was doing so much it made things really complicated when it broke. I have scaled back my reliance on it big time.
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I would never due to the poor customer service and treatment of customers in general as forbid if anyone has issues down the road , they will find a way to pose negligence on behalf of the customer.
No consumer confidence here at all !!
No consumer confidence here at all !!
One thing I should clarify is that Ecotech is using Bluetooth and not WiFi.
As I said in another post, that makes me even more nervous as Bluetooth is not even as reliable as WiFi. Also if a phone or tablet is the main interface it becomes more worrying as Apple and others keep upgrading their Bluetooth systems and that has often caused me to have connection problems with my devices until they get in a stream of complaints and then roll out a patch.
As I said in another post, that makes me even more nervous as Bluetooth is not even as reliable as WiFi. Also if a phone or tablet is the main interface it becomes more worrying as Apple and others keep upgrading their Bluetooth systems and that has often caused me to have connection problems with my devices until they get in a stream of complaints and then roll out a patch.
