Neptune Apex Controller USB replacement RTL8812AU

[SecondCityCorals]

Hi Folks,

I have a Neptune controller that went kaput on me that I decided to take apart. Inside the Apex is a tiny little USB dongle. If anyone ever has their wireless crap out on them, but the ethernet and controller itself still works. You can easily purchase a RALINK RTL8812AU for about $15 and try replacing it. I hope maybe someone out there has this issue and I can save you having to buy a brand new apex. I verified this by plugging in the USB dongle on Linux, updating my USB IDs, and then typing "lsusb" to get:


Bus 003 Device 008: ID 148f:5370 Ralink Technology, Corp. RT5370 Wireless Adapter

It uses this Linux driver:

[root@home ~]# ethtool -i wlp0s20u1
driver: rt2800usb
firmware-version: N/A
expansion-rom-version:
bus-info: 3-1:1.0
supports-statistics: yes
supports-test: no
supports-eeprom-access: no
supports-register-dump: no
supports-priv-flags: no

Here is one if you want an idea of what it looks like. This is not my ebay auction fyi.

The sad thing I am learning about my taking apart the Neptune Apex controller? This unit is EASILY end user servicable, IF Neptune didn't essentially weld everything in place. The SD card that runs the unit? It will only last so long. SD cards like this are exceedingly cheap flash storage. Flash storage, especially in SD cards eventually dies. There is also a "cmos" like battery in this thing that could also be easily replaceable. Its battery will eventually die. But they welded it in.

The SD card? It'll eventually fail on you. Think of how many camera cards you've used that only last a handful of years. The SD card is in a traditional slide in SD card slot. But they chose to make it impossible to remove.

There are three stackable units with probes on it, easily taken apart. Neptune could just....ship you a replacement module for you to stack in and save you guys so much money. Ecotech does this. Want to replace the wireless chip in your Ecotech? Sure, they just ship you one. I had a few parts in my Ecotech break. I emailed Ecotech support and said hey if you just send me the parts, I can fix this on my own and it'll save us the shipping, support time, co2 generated etc and save me some money. I had parts a few days later.

Their design choices.....I'm just kind of angry at how easily serviceable this controller could be by the end user but Neptune made choices to make that almost impossible. Its like this controller is designed to only last 4 or so years.

 

[blaxsun]

Modular would be great, so maybe we'll get that in the next generation...

 

[ConsummatePro]

Hi Folks,

I have a Neptune controller that went kaput on me that I decided to take apart. Inside the Apex is a tiny little USB dongle. If anyone ever has their wireless crap out on them, but the ethernet and controller itself still works. You can easily purchase a RALINK RTL8812AU for about $15 and try replacing it. I hope maybe someone out there has this issue and I can save you having to buy a brand new apex. I verified this by plugging in the USB dongle on Linux, updating my USB IDs, and then typing "lsusb" to get:


Bus 003 Device 008: ID 148f:5370 Ralink Technology, Corp. RT5370 Wireless Adapter

It uses this Linux driver:

[root@home ~]# ethtool -i wlp0s20u1
driver: rt2800usb
firmware-version: N/A
expansion-rom-version:
bus-info: 3-1:1.0
supports-statistics: yes
supports-test: no
supports-eeprom-access: no
supports-register-dump: no
supports-priv-flags: no

Here is one if you want an idea of what it looks like. This is not my ebay auction fyi.

The sad thing I am learning about my taking apart the Neptune Apex controller? This unit is EASILY end user servicable, IF Neptune didn't essentially weld everything in place. The SD card that runs the unit? It will only last so long. SD cards like this are exceedingly cheap flash storage. Flash storage, especially in SD cards eventually dies. There is also a "cmos" like battery in this thing that could also be easily replaceable. Its battery will eventually die. But they welded it in.

The SD card? It'll eventually fail on you. Think of how many camera cards you've used that only last a handful of years. The SD card is in a traditional slide in SD card slot. But they chose to make it impossible to remove.

There are three stackable units with probes on it, easily taken apart. Neptune could just....ship you a replacement module for you to stack in and save you guys so much money. Ecotech does this. Want to replace the wireless chip in your Ecotech? Sure, they just ship you one. I had a few parts in my Ecotech break. I emailed Ecotech support and said hey if you just send me the parts, I can fix this on my own and it'll save us the shipping, support time, co2 generated etc and save me some money. I had parts a few days later.

Their design choices.....I'm just kind of angry at how easily serviceable this controller could be by the end user but Neptune made choices to make that almost impossible. Its like this controller is designed to only last 4 or so years.

Thanks for this info: do you know if there are any other compatible usb wireless dongles that will also work with 5 GHz networks, rather than just the 2.4 ghz that the Neptune version uses?

 

[mjafif]

Hi Folks,

I have a Neptune controller that went kaput on me that I decided to take apart. Inside the Apex is a tiny little USB dongle. If anyone ever has their wireless crap out on them, but the ethernet and controller itself still works. You can easily purchase a RALINK RTL8812AU for about $15 and try replacing it. I hope maybe someone out there has this issue and I can save you having to buy a brand new apex. I verified this by plugging in the USB dongle on Linux, updating my USB IDs, and then typing "lsusb" to get:


Bus 003 Device 008: ID 148f:5370 Ralink Technology, Corp. RT5370 Wireless Adapter

It uses this Linux driver:

[root@home ~]# ethtool -i wlp0s20u1
driver: rt2800usb
firmware-version: N/A
expansion-rom-version:
bus-info: 3-1:1.0
supports-statistics: yes
supports-test: no
supports-eeprom-access: no
supports-register-dump: no
supports-priv-flags: no

Here is one if you want an idea of what it looks like. This is not my ebay auction fyi.

The sad thing I am learning about my taking apart the Neptune Apex controller? This unit is EASILY end user servicable, IF Neptune didn't essentially weld everything in place. The SD card that runs the unit? It will only last so long. SD cards like this are exceedingly cheap flash storage. Flash storage, especially in SD cards eventually dies. There is also a "cmos" like battery in this thing that could also be easily replaceable. Its battery will eventually die. But they welded it in.

The SD card? It'll eventually fail on you. Think of how many camera cards you've used that only last a handful of years. The SD card is in a traditional slide in SD card slot. But they chose to make it impossible to remove.

There are three stackable units with probes on it, easily taken apart. Neptune could just....ship you a replacement module for you to stack in and save you guys so much money. Ecotech does this. Want to replace the wireless chip in your Ecotech? Sure, they just ship you one. I had a few parts in my Ecotech break. I emailed Ecotech support and said hey if you just send me the parts, I can fix this on my own and it'll save us the shipping, support time, co2 generated etc and save me some money. I had parts a few days later.

Their design choices.....I'm just kind of angry at how easily serviceable this controller could be by the end user but Neptune made choices to make that almost impossible. Its like this controller is designed to only last 4 or so years.

I have the same issue . Tried buying some WiFi dongle on Amazon but non seem compatible . Can you please help me find a compatible one so I can fix my apex please

 

[juarec0201]

Any luck? I tried searching for that model but none came up. I ordered one as close as I could get. Hoping it works

 

[theatrus]

Can’t vouch for which modules do or don’t work, but at minimum stick to the same chipset (Rt5370).

 

[juarec0201]

I tried one with that spec from Amazon, did not work. Could not find the one OP posted about.

 

[theatrus]

Its quite possible Neptune only tries to limit based on the USB VID/PID for devices they know about. Not much help on that front if another device ships with a different combo.

Use a wired ethernet to wifi bridge device?

 

[juarec0201]

I needed to change out the sd card. Figured I would do the WiFi dongle as well since I read it can go bad while I was at it. So far everything works just had to rewrite my programming.

 

[PR_nano]

FYI you can replace the SD card. I recently had to do at Neptune recommendation. It did solve my issue. The only thing is there is a lever holding it together that opens the opposite direction than removing the card itself.