Digital Aquatics Archon Owners Thread

[shellsea]

Just to let you all know I DID finally get the Archon. Packed nicely and delivered as promised. I hope to get my RKE disconnected and the Archon up and running this weekend. Taking the opportunity to clean up my wire runs and remount modules. I hope this forum can evolve into a sharing of tips and tricks for programming and tank husbandry solutions.

 

[blrrobinson21]

That would be great. Im planning on going with the Archon. I have no internet at the house, downside of living in the country. The Archon seems like it will still be fairly user friendly without internet.

 

[delmo]

I've been a RKE user for 5 years and preordered an Archon setup on Black Friday, wanting a change from the quirkiness of the RKE like:
1) The way the system crashes whenever you disconnect the network cable, or any module. A random Alarm will flash and the friggin lights turn off, only to begin the morning ramp up again! That's frustrating.
2) You have to disconnect any module from the system to update it (see number 1)
3) If you remove a module from the system and never use it again, it remains as a ghost module unless you completely erase all of your programming and reset it ALL over again.
But I have defended them for years because, well, I owned it, and was stuck on the inside, so since I have pretty much 1 of every module in my setup, and 5 PC4s it made financial sense to hopefully get a better brain in this system with the Archon. Well, their backyard garage way of customer service, public relations, (lack of) announcements, lying about release dates/shipping dates, finally has rubbed me the wrong way for the last time. Not to mention their lack of innovation. I have cancelled my order and I have a complete Apex system coming next week!
I truly feel like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders. I called Neptune 3 different times and they actually answered the gd phone every time (unlike DA) and they answered my questions! Yeah! So needless to say I'll have a large RKE system for sale soon.
I thank Eric over at DA for being the only person to ever pick up the phone (1 answer for every 10 tries)
I also find it ironic that the only time In the last year that I received a reply to any of my emails, was my email cancelling my order, so thank you for that too.

 

[DaveMorris]

For those of you that will be or have already received their Archon, check out the thread on the DA support forum that shows some step by step with the screens. It is very easy to program and a couple of the beta testers have already written and uploaded code to their units to modify things on it. This is possible because of the open source that has been used in the process. I think you will be very impressed by what it has to offer.

 

[janes_mw]

I've been a RKE user for 5 years and preordered an Archon setup on Black Friday, wanting a change from the quirkiness of the RKE like:
1) The way the system crashes whenever you disconnect the network cable, or any module. A random Alarm will flash and the friggin lights turn off, only to begin the morning ramp up again! That's frustrating.
2) You have to disconnect any module from the system to update it (see number 1)
3) If you remove a module from the system and never use it again, it remains as a ghost module unless you completely erase all of your programming and reset it ALL over again.
But I have defended them for years because, well, I owned it, and was stuck on the inside, so since I have pretty much 1 of every module in my setup, and 5 PC4s it made financial sense to hopefully get a better brain in this system with the Archon. Well, their backyard garage way of customer service, public relations, (lack of) announcements, lying about release dates/shipping dates, finally has rubbed me the wrong way for the last time. Not to mention their lack of innovation. I have cancelled my order and I have a complete Apex system coming next week!
I truly feel like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders. I called Neptune 3 different times and they actually answered the gd phone every time (unlike DA) and they answered my questions! Yeah! So needless to say I'll have a large RKE system for sale soon.
I thank Eric over at DA for being the only person to ever pick up the phone (1 answer for every 10 tries)
I also find it ironic that the only time In the last year that I received a reply to any of my emails, was my email cancelling my order, so thank you for that too.

+1 on this comment. Just put my name in place of his and EXACTLY the same story and outcome. I too cancelled my order.

It is sad that Dave is far better in communicating than actual DA employees. Sad Sad state of affairs.

mike

 

[cidbozek]

The manual writer guy states "you can graph anything". Can I graph my cal,alk,mag? Can I change colors on the screens?

 

[DaveMorris]

The manual writer guy states "you can graph anything". Can I graph my cal,alk,mag? Can I change colors on the screens?

That would be referencing "anything" that the Archon is monitoring or controlling. As far as screen colors, if you know how to write code there is a way to load your own into the system since it is open source compatible. (I'm not a programmer so if that reference doesn't make sense I apologize)

 

[DaveMorris]

It is sad that Dave is far better in communicating than actual DA employees. Sad Sad state of affairs.

mike

Well thank you for the compliment, but I realize that it comes out of frustration. I can say that one of the original reasons for Team DA to exist was to help communicate things to the online world. Several of us try our best to help folks with questions and bring up new info as much as possible. I have no idea why the Company has such a bad track record for "officially" releasing information. All I can say is several of us have conveyed our concerns along this regard and we leave it up to DA to handle business the way they want. I'm mostly happy that they are moving forward in developing new hardware such as the Archon. It is a great unit and there is a lot of beta support for it. The online manual for it is very well written and is continuously being updated as new features are being written into the Archon. That is a huge step forward for DA. The RKE and RKL manuals leave quite a bit to be desired. The Archon manual is much, much better.

 

[blrrobinson21]

I've been out of the game for a while and these controllers are kinda new but I'm curious. With the Archon and the fact that it doesn't have a handheld controller and everything is done by wifi on another device, when you're looking at your tank or see your tank for the first time for the day how do you check temperature pH and other items quickly at a glance.

 

[n2585722]

I use my iPad to check up on the tank.

 

[DaveMorris]

iPhone will work very easily as well.

 

[blrrobinson21]

I guess it syncs up really quick when your near the tank without have to open an app and wait for it to download? I just figured it would be nice to have something with a display that had the common info for a quick visual check.

 

[delmo]

A little update in regards to the DA support forum here on RC going away. As I suspected, it is merely a billing issue and will be resolved as soon as the accounting folks at DA can get a hold of accounting folks here at RC. I am sure it will be resolved in a few days.

That's odd, I still don't see them listed.

 

[DaveMorris]

That's odd, I still don't see them listed.

Yeah, I haven't talked to anyone at DA recently about it so I have no idea whats up with it at this point. Maybe they felt it was a waste of money since they have their own support forum already. Who knows...

 

[n2585722]

Shellsea how is it going with the Archon? Any questions?

 

[shellsea]

Shellsea how is it going with the Archon? Any questions?

Thanks for asking. Not yet. I got message from DA Eric right after delivery to update the flash drive. Great response from them lately. I will do that tonight and set it up. I spent the weekend cleaning up my wires and getting ready for the switch.

 

[n2585722]

FYI, since you are adding this to your existing modules. Use the on/off function first then program to the function you wish. This clears the RKE/RKL programming form that output apparently. I found this out when trying to program the ALC.

 

[shellsea]

Thanks N258, good to know. I hope to hear from Eric today re: the flash drive. I can't seem to get it updated right. My lack of tech skills, not DA's.

 

[shellsea]

Reset

Reset

FYI, since you are adding this to your existing modules. Use the on/off function first then program to the function you wish. This clears the RKE/RKL programming form that output apparently. I found this out when trying to program the ALC.

Thanks for this tip again N258etc and here is one I can share w/ all. After updating my flash drive as directed by DA support or anytime the Archon sits offline for awhile, I could not find the Archon network on my phone or ipad. A simple reset for 10 seconds solved the problem. Thanks Eric at DA for the follow up and the good tip.

 

[n2585722]

I assume you are up and running now. It will take awhile to get used to it. After using it for a couple of weeks I had to return to the RKE for control for a week or two. It was no fun going back. Even though it was just a couple of weeks. Another tip. When entering temp and hysertisis values make sure and add a decimal and a 0. Even if not needed. Example 78 enter as 78.0 or .1 as 0.1 just to make sure it take it. Also when scrolling on the iPad or phone be careful you don't turn on or off an output. I have done this by accident several times.