Apex questions- breakout box, alarms missing,

[reefinmike]

Hey all, this apex stuff is addictive. Initially i just bought a jr to control a heater. Well after adding a vdm, EB 8 and most recently- PM1, I would've been better off just buying the newest model! I decided to take advantage of the temp probe port on the pm1 by adding a second probe for redundancy and to monitor both the display and sump. Naturally the IO port needed a breakout box with float switches- 3 in the sump, one in the skimmer cup, ato and kalk reservoirs.

PROBLEM 1- I ordered 6 of the vertical mount switches from bulk reef supply and cant seem to get any of them to function properly. i twisted all black wires together to go in the ground and each individual white dashed wire to l1-6. Some switches seem to flip from open to closed on the apex app after 10-20 seconds, some never switch, some will switch one way but not back to the original position. I reversed the wiring. Moved switches to different ports, tried only one switch at a time, restarted the fusion app on my phone between flipping switches, opened fusion on the desktop, isolating a switch far away from any possible electrical interference. Nothing seems to get reliable input from the switches. I lthink brs is an excellent company and i learn a lot from their videos. I would find it hard to believe they are pushing junky products under their name. I must be doing something wrong for 6 switches to be faulty.

PROBLEM 2- I started working on setting up alerts and after 5 months if owning it, I was surprised to learn there is an audible alarm built into the apex "œbrain". All this time I only had an email alert icon on my apex dashboard. There is no warning and alarm alert buttons. I can access and turn them on under the output menu but i cant find out how to get them on my dashboard nor can i find anyone else with this issue. Tried on my phone and computer with no luck.

 

[reefinmike]

Problem 1 solved! I read somewhere that apex fusion refreshes data every 30 seconds or so. I assumed everything was instantaneous both ways since equipment shuts off less than two seconds after i turn it off on my phone. I had the switch controling a light bulb and it shut off wuickly when toggled back and forth. Fusion doesn’t show the switch very reliably. I will have to see if updating the firmware will help.

 

[homer1475]

I ran into the same issue when first setting up the BO box. While my switches worked, fusion never showed them changing. It;s then that I realized fusion only updates every 30 seconds and my switches were switching back before fusion was updated.



As far as the other, my audible alarm comes from the display unit not the actual apex brain, and I have switches in fusion for base alarm, and email alarm. This is the old gold apex and not the "new" apex.



While I've never owned a JR, I would assume they are basically the same.

 

[Member No. 1]

Yes, Fusion only polls the Apex every 30 seconds. So there could be a delay.
However, log into Apex local, and since it's on the local network on that dashboard you will see almost instance response. No more than 5 seconds.

More on alarms from the manual pg 59

https://www.neptunesystems.com/downloads/docs/Comprehensive_Reference_Manual.pdf

Alarms and Warnings
The Apex has the ability to trigger three different types of Alarms and Warnings: Email Alarm, Sound Alarm and
Sound Warning. These virtual outlets exist by default with every Apex base unit. They are called EmailAlm_I5,
SndAlm_I6 and SndWrn_I7.
For the two sound outlets select your sound via the Display module System "“ Sound Setup or if you have one of the
more recent firmware versions, from the Misc Setup web page. To program them, select the outlet from the Outlet
Setup page. Select "˜Advanced' for the control type. Then in the Advanced Setup box you can enter your alarm
statements. Note that the speaker on the Apex display module is not that loud. Also, the Apex Jr. does not come
with a display module so while you can define a sound, you have no speaker. In any case, for a solution that will
really get your attention look in the FAQ for the "˜Failed Circuit Alarm'.
You can test for any valid condition in your email alarm, sound alarm or sound warning. They can be different
from each other or the same. An example warning condition might be If Temp > 83 Then ON and the alarm might
be If Temp > 85 Then ON.
Here's a sample email alarm outlet program:
[Email Alarm Outlet]
If Temp > 85 Then ON
If Temp < 75 Then ON
If Power EB8_3 OFF 000 Then ON
If Power EB8_4 OFF 000 Then ON

NOTE:
The controller will only report on a single alarm condition at a time. If multiple alarm conditions are
true, the last TRUE condition will be the one reported in the email. In the above example, if you had a
power failure that affected both EB8_3 and EB8_4, your email message would list EB8_4 as the condition
since that's the last true statement it encountered.

 

[reefinmike]

Thanks for the input Homer and Member#1. Homer- yes, I meant the alarm is built into the display. I always assumed that was the "brain" people reference. Member- Funny that the manual says the junior doesn't come with the display. Maybe they didn't before but my junior came with one.

Now I see why apex doesn't include a printed manual- 164 pages!!! unfortunately it does not say anything about the alarms not appearing on the fusion dashboard. I started to do the firmware update to rule out that possibility but put it off for a little while. my apex has an ethernet connection but it looks like they want me to cut out the wifi connection on my computer which means I have to unplug everything and move it to the room the router is in! I will be able to live without seeing the alarms on my dashboard for now. I can still program the alarms it the outputs menu but they do not show up in fusion. They are not in the bar up top to hide unused outputs. Google searches show nobody having a similar issue and any video or tutorial i find regarding the audible alarm shows the buttons on the fusion dash by default.

Eventually I will get over on neptune's forum when I get to writing code for everything but I have one more apex issue that I forgot about. I setup a webcam for when I'm away for extended periods using an old iphone and an IP camera app. it works fine when being viewed on the computer but I have to restart the iphone app every time I want to check on the tank. If I switch to another app and open fusion a minute later the camera will be blank as if it is getting no data feed. not a major issue but it is a slight annoyance.

 

[Member No. 1]

Buy yourself a 25'/50'/100'/Whatever' Cat5 cable and do the update that way. I use a 100' one. This way anytime you want to update you don't have to move the computer. Or download the update to a laptop, then bring that close to the Apex.

I have both a Apex Classic on my frag tank and a Apex 2016 on my main tank.
Both running the latest firmware. Fusion is up to date.
My Apex Classic has them, I have them hidden whereas my Apex 2016 doesn't have them. So maybe the videos you saw were of a classic.

Anyone with a Jr., Classic, 2016 care to elaborate?
Maybe because the Classic shipped with a display, where the Jr. and 2016 didn't?