Plugging an inkbird directly into APEX bar?

[BanjoBandito]

I'm slowly migrating equipment over to the APEX energy bar...does anyone plug their inkbird directly into the APEX? Would this cause issues? I'm thinking it'll give me some layered (redundancy) for temp. control.

 

[dank reefer]

I have mine connected to my energy bar.

here is my programing on the outlet. I let the inkbird do all the switching on and off, and the APEX will shut it off only if it goes over that temp set.

Fallback ON
Set ON
If Tmp > 78.3 Then OFF

 

[BanjoBandito]

I have mine connected to my energy bar.

here is my programing on the outlet. I let the inkbird do all the switching on and off, and the APEX will shut it off only if it goes over that temp set.

Fallback ON
Set ON
If Tmp > 78.3 Then OFF

OK perfect, that's exactly what I want. The APEX to just monitor it and cut the power if for some reason the inkbird fails out and starts crankin' the heat.

 

[BanjoBandito]

now I gotta tackle makin this LED work with the Apex and VDM.

 

[Vamsi]

This is what I have

Fallback OFF
Set ON
If Power Apex Off 001 Then OFF
Defer 003:00 Then ON
If Tmp < 78.0 Then ON
If Tmp > 80.0 Then OFF

 

[BanjoBandito]

This is what I have

Fallback OFF
Set ON
If Power Apex Off 001 Then OFF
Defer 003:00 Then ON
If Tmp < 78.0 Then ON
If Tmp > 80.0 Then OFF

So (and excuse me I'm knew to APEX language) what this is doing is sensing if the heat is too high it's shutting off the inkbird for 3 hours, then deferring to temp ranges if to turn it back on?

 

[Miami Reef]

So (and excuse me I'm knew to APEX language) what this is doing is sensing if the heat is too high it's shutting off the inkbird for 3 hours, then deferring to temp ranges if to turn it back on?

I’m pretty sure that’s 3 minutes in Apex world.

 

[BanjoBandito]

I’m pretty sure that’s 3 minutes in Apex world.

So the purpose of that program is to catch any sort of apex temp probe issue?

 

[Vamsi]

If I loose power, the inkbird will get power after 3 mins. I don’t want all the equipment to get turned on at the same time and risking tripping the power bar - esp if I am not at home. You can remove line 3 and 4 if you don’t want to stagger your equipment start.

 

[BanjoBandito]

If I loose power, the inkbird will get power after 3 mins. I don’t want all the equipment to get turned on at the same time and risking tripping the power bar - esp if I am not at home. You can remove line 3 and 4 if you don’t want to stagger your equipment start.

perfect, thank you so much!

 

[ZombieEngineer]

This is what I have

Fallback OFF
Set ON
If Power Apex Off 001 Then OFF
Defer 003:00 Then ON
If Tmp < 78.0 Then ON
If Tmp > 80.0 Then OFF

That isn't going to work the way you expect. When you use the apex as an override to a heater controller you need something more like this

Fallback ON
Set ON
If Tmp > 80.0 Then OFF
Min Time 030:00 Then OFF

Or

Fallback ON
If Tmp < 79.5 Then ON (Needs to be above your heater setpoint)
If Tmp > 80.0 Then OFF


Then add to one of these methods any additional failsafes and control methods like

If Output Return = OFF Then OFF
If Power Apex OFF 001 Then OFF

 

[BanjoBandito]

That isn't going to work the way you expect. When you use the apex as an override to a heater controller you need something more like this

Fallback ON
Set ON
If Tmp > 80.0 Then OFF
Min Time 030:00 Then OFF

Or

Fallback ON
If Tmp < 79.5 Then ON (Needs to be above your heater setpoint)
If Tmp > 80.0 Then OFF


Then add to one of these methods any additional failsafes and control methods like

If Output Return = OFF Then OFF
If Power Apex OFF 001 Then OFF

I'm using Dank Reefer's suggestion right now:

Fallback ON
Set ON
If Tmp > 78.3 Then OFF


Which I presume means if the apex senses the temp (for me) above 82 it'll cut the power to that outlet.

 

[ZombieEngineer]

I'm using Dank Reefer's suggestion right now:

Fallback ON
Set ON
If Tmp > 78.3 Then OFF


Which I presume means if the apex senses the temp (for me) above 82 it'll cut the power to that outlet.

You also need the min time line.

Without that line what will happen is once the temp reaches your setpoint, it will turn the heater off, then like 20 seconds later the tank will be cool enough that it's no longer true, turn it back in and the process will repeat and destroy your heaters.

Min Time makes it so whenever that safety trigger happens, the heater has to be off for at least 30 minutes before it's allowed to turn back on and start warming the tank again.

I would advise against 82 for your safety setpoint. 81 or less is much safer since 83+ can be deadly to certain species of coral. 1 to 2 degrees above your inkbird setting is a good setpoint.

 

[BanjoBandito]

You also need the min time line.

Without that line what will happen is once the temp reaches your setpoint, it will turn the heater off, then like 20 seconds later the tank will be cool enough that it's no longer true, turn it back in and the process will repeat and destroy your heaters.

Min Time makes it so whenever that safety trigger happens, the heater has to be off for at least 30 minutes before it's allowed to turn back on and start warming the tank again.

I would advise against 82 for your safety setpoint. 81 or less is much safer since 83+ can be deadly to certain species of coral. 1 to 2 degrees above your inkbird setting is a good setpoint.

OK. I'm stealing this line of code from you then -

Fallback ON
Set ON
If Tmp > 80.0 Then OFF
Min Time 030:00 Then OFF


as my assumption is that'll cover what I want and also turn it off for 30 min. regardless. I'm still learning this apex stuff here. Just got my photon hooked up to it....holy potatoes, what a process. lol.

 

[Vamsi]

perfect, thank you so much!

If you want to stagger. Make sure you turn off power monitor - Disable the setting.

 

[BanjoBandito]

If you want to stagger. Make sure you turn off power monitor - Disable the setting.

explain.

 

[ZombieEngineer]

explain.

This explains when to enable vs disable power monitoring

How-To Guide: Slides from the Apex Power Monitoring and Management presentation given at MACNA2013

This attachment contains some of the slides from the presentation I gave at the APEXusers meetup at MACNA. ------------------------------------- Updated with some enhancements from the presentation given at RAP 852

forum.neptunesystems.com

 

[Vamsi]

Sorry for the late reply, this is a shorter version of the explanation. https://forum.neptunesystems.com/showthread.php?22519-If-Power-Apex-Off-001-Then-ON