Ecotech radion + wifi adapter

[spicytuna]

Ok, let's get a serious conversation going. I have searched countless threads via RC, ecotech support and google. The best I have came up with is a handful of people boasting they hooked up a wifi dongle successfully, but no one has yet to explain how they actually did it.

IME, a wifi dongle requires software on a PC and needs to be configured to the router. Although I have not touched the radion configuration software, I'm not going to assume it supports a wifi configuration with 3rd party hardware.


I myself am in a serious predicament, I bought a radion, which I did plenty of research on the lighting system. However I feel a little fooled by there advertisement. Based on price point and comparable products, I would have never expected the radion to not be truly wireless, or not come with apps compatible to apple devices. Let alone not support a more convenient connection, like an Ethernet port. Atleast give me some controllability out the box.

I have been building DIY LEDs for over 5 years, reefing for 10 and programming various devices and software since I was 11(java, cgi pearl, html, xhtml, macromedia, sim card repgrommaing and not flashing either im talking writing full scripts) i know those are all ancient languages, but unfortunately i lost interest in computers by age 14, i was born to be a mechanic and work with my hands. I am now 28 soon to be 30, and a desk job scares the heck out of me.

I do not want to turn this into a bashing thread. Although I am extremely biased towards tunze products and own almost there entire catalog, that's just my preference. I have no vice with ecotech. I just happen to love German engineering and enjoy handbuilt products.


I do apologize for the rant, but let me explain my situation and I do hope someone out there can help to collaborate a work around.

I have not ownded a PC in almost 5 years. I only own an ipad 4 and an iphone 5. No, I'm not an apple fan boy. I just so happen to get a 20% discount from verizon through my employer. It's much cheaper for me to not have wifi, and are local Internet service is extremely expensive, and verizon LTE puts it to shame. Lately I currently have a 6gb plan and I need to upgrade either my data plan or buy a new device to add more data to my shared plan. So I have been looking at the new verizon Mifi devices. Basically wireless 4g LTE routers that are mobile or can stay plugged in at home. I have no use for a mobile router since all my devices have cellular already, but I could sure use the extra shared data that device would give my plan and I could leave it plugged in, right next to the radion. Fortunately it comes with a female USB port, so I could plug it directly into the radion. Now for configuration and compatibility, that's the grey area I'm worried about. I know wifi adapters need configured through a connection manager, but from my experience, plugging your pc directly into the router usually does not require much or any configuration at all because there's no need for security check points. Your hard wired to the connection.

As of now here are the options I'm looking into:

1) buy the Mifi device and attempt to get a connection directly from the radion( if that fails, which is a possibility because I have no way of configuring it)

2) buy a cheap laptop less then $200 to connect to my Mifi device and run an extended USB chord to the radion which would be permanent. To some this may be a waste, but realistically, I would not mind owning a dedicated PC to control my radion and my reefkeeper controller. Any old laptop would work, as I would be reformatting and stripping it of any software I would have no use for.

2) skip the Mifi device. Just buy a cheap laptop and call it a day. With ecosmart live still being in beta, it may be in my best interest to wait it out before I commit to a device on my verizon plan that would serve no use to me but only to control the radion.

My goal is to control my radion via my ipad through the ecosmart live website. Yes these measure might be excessive, but I take totally responsability for not doing the correct amount of research on this unit before I bought it. Who would have guessed at that price point and ecotech being one of the leading companies as far as technological advances right now in the hobby they would not offer simple plug and play options right out the box. I'm also a little disappointed the fixture came with no controllability out of the box. However, shame on me.

So wether any of you choose to contribute to this project, I intend to keep it updated as I source out a solution to my problem.

 

[hcker99]

Your easiest/best solution would be get a cheap laptop ($50-$100) and a wireless router ($25-$50). The laptop does not need to be anything special. Just something running XP with a couple gigs of memory. An Ebay or Geeksdotcom refurb would work just fine for this. The wireless router is so your not eating into your Verizon data. You would then download an RDP app to your phone/ipad and be able to log into that laptop while on your wifi network. So you'll open the RDP app on your IPAD > Input the laptops IP address > Connect to the laptops desktop > Start the Ecotech Config utility > Adjust and show off your lights




Or you could just use the laptop with your mifi and use Ecosmart Live

 

[BigAl2007]

I don't have anything to contribute but I'm "following" to hopefully learn about this for another project.

Allen

 

[SeedlessOne]

I dont have a Radion nor do I know a lick about one.

I am however in the IT consulting business..\

There are wifi dongles that are setup from a computer first and then plugged into your device.

 

[hcker99]

Unfortunately just a wifi dongle wouldn't work as you would still need to run the ecotech connection manager utility from a computer.

 

[spicytuna]

Your easiest/best solution would be get a cheap laptop ($50-$100) and a wireless router ($25-$50). The laptop does not need to be anything special. Just something running XP with a couple gigs of memory. An Ebay or Geeksdotcom refurb would work just fine for this. The wireless router is so your not eating into your Verizon data. You would then download an RDP app to your phone/ipad and be able to log into that laptop while on your wifi network. So you'll open the RDP app on your IPAD > Input the laptops IP address > Connect to the laptops desktop > Start the Ecotech Config utility > Adjust and show off your lights.

I like this a lot!

Either way I'm going to be using my verizon data plan. A regular router would require home Internet. I'm going to use a mobile hotspot router. I doubt the radion will use much data at all, but the device gives me an extra 2 gigs for $10/month which I very much need.

The highlight is I can bypass ecosmart live. I don't wanna be sol when there server goes down. Would much rather use the PC software. Thank you for your input.

I dont have a Radion nor do I know a lick about one.

I am however in the IT consulting business..\

There are wifi dongles that are setup from a computer first and then plugged into your device.

I'm curious though if the radion would accept the dongle though. Ecotech is very tight lipped about there specs and comparability. From threads I did read, the radion did not acknowledge the dongle.

 

[hcker99]

I like this a lot!

Either way I'm going to be using my verizon data plan. A regular router would require home Internet. I'm going to use a mobile hotspot router. I doubt the radion will use much data at all, but the device gives me an extra 2 gigs for $10/month which I very much need.

The highlight is I can bypass ecosmart live. I don't wanna be sol when there server goes down. Would much rather use the PC software. Thank you for your input.





I'm curious though if the radion would accept the dongle though. Ecotech is very tight lipped about there specs and comparability. From threads I did read, the radion did not acknowledge the dongle.

If your just going to be adjusting your lights while your home in front of the tank (I can't imagine why anyone would do it while not home) then you would just setup the router as your "Private Network". No internet line needed for that.

The only time you would actually need internet or to use your mifi would be to download updates to the software/update the radions firmware/use ecosmart live.

 

[hcker99]

Let me know if you want me to explain setting up a router for just wireless LAN functionality.



BTW: I wouldn't be in a huge rush to play with ecosmart live. I almost bricked 2 of my radions last night and spent many hours trying to reset and get then back to how they worked before. So I'm done with it until it's out of Beta.

 

[spicytuna]

If your just going to be adjusting your lights while your home in front of the tank (I can't imagine why anyone would do it while not home) then you would just setup the router as your "Private Network". No internet line needed for that.

The only time you would actually need internet or to use your mifi would be to download updates to the software/update the radions firmware/use ecosmart live.

I think I'm just going to go the cheap laptop route and long USB cable to start. As far as updates and downloading the software, I can always hotspot the PC off my iPhone/ipad.

 

[spicytuna]

Let me know if you want me to explain setting up a router for just wireless LAN functionality.



BTW: I wouldn't be in a huge rush to play with ecosmart live. I almost bricked 2 of my radions last night and spent many hours trying to reset and get then back to how they worked before. So I'm done with it until it's out of Beta.

I would much rather use the software then the ecosmart live as well. However it was my first option so I could use my ipad. However you made a great point, I will only be programming the lights when I'm home, so the wifi is a waste.

 

[mfinn]

I think the cheap laptop would be your best option.
As far as ESL is concerned, you aren't connected all the time. Only if you want to change settings on the Radion. Connect, set it and leave.

 

[t0pcat]

Reefangel has a RF module that controls Radions, it's USB so i am guessing all you need is the software and a front end to control them....

I think its crazy that ecotech dont offer this option....

 

[d2mini]

Ok, let's get a serious conversation going. I have searched countless threads via RC, ecotech support and google. The best I have came up with is a handful of people boasting they hooked up a wifi dongle successfully, but no one has yet to explain how they actually did it.

IME, a wifi dongle requires software on a PC and needs to be configured to the router. Although I have not touched the radion configuration software, I'm not going to assume it supports a wifi configuration with 3rd party hardware.


I myself am in a serious predicament, I bought a radion, which I did plenty of research on the lighting system. However I feel a little fooled by there advertisement. Based on price point and comparable products, I would have never expected the radion to not be truly wireless, or not come with apps compatible to apple devices. Let alone not support a more convenient connection, like an Ethernet port. Atleast give me some controllability out the box.

I have been building DIY LEDs for over 5 years, reefing for 10 and programming various devices and software since I was 11(java, cgi pearl, html, xhtml, macromedia, sim card repgrommaing and not flashing either im talking writing full scripts) i know those are all ancient languages, but unfortunately i lost interest in computers by age 14, i was born to be a mechanic and work with my hands. I am now 28 soon to be 30, and a desk job scares the heck out of me.

I do not want to turn this into a bashing thread. Although I am extremely biased towards tunze products and own almost there entire catalog, that's just my preference. I have no vice with ecotech. I just happen to love German engineering and enjoy handbuilt products.


I do apologize for the rant, but let me explain my situation and I do hope someone out there can help to collaborate a work around.

I have not ownded a PC in almost 5 years. I only own an ipad 4 and an iphone 5. No, I'm not an apple fan boy. I just so happen to get a 20% discount from verizon through my employer. It's much cheaper for me to not have wifi, and are local Internet service is extremely expensive, and verizon LTE puts it to shame. Lately I currently have a 6gb plan and I need to upgrade either my data plan or buy a new device to add more data to my shared plan. So I have been looking at the new verizon Mifi devices. Basically wireless 4g LTE routers that are mobile or can stay plugged in at home. I have no use for a mobile router since all my devices have cellular already, but I could sure use the extra shared data that device would give my plan and I could leave it plugged in, right next to the radion. Fortunately it comes with a female USB port, so I could plug it directly into the radion. Now for configuration and compatibility, that's the grey area I'm worried about. I know wifi adapters need configured through a connection manager, but from my experience, plugging your pc directly into the router usually does not require much or any configuration at all because there's no need for security check points. Your hard wired to the connection.

As of now here are the options I'm looking into:

1) buy the Mifi device and attempt to get a connection directly from the radion( if that fails, which is a possibility because I have no way of configuring it)

2) buy a cheap laptop less then $200 to connect to my Mifi device and run an extended USB chord to the radion which would be permanent. To some this may be a waste, but realistically, I would not mind owning a dedicated PC to control my radion and my reefkeeper controller. Any old laptop would work, as I would be reformatting and stripping it of any software I would have no use for.

2) skip the Mifi device. Just buy a cheap laptop and call it a day. With ecosmart live still being in beta, it may be in my best interest to wait it out before I commit to a device on my verizon plan that would serve no use to me but only to control the radion.

My goal is to control my radion via my ipad through the ecosmart live website. Yes these measure might be excessive, but I take totally responsability for not doing the correct amount of research on this unit before I bought it. Who would have guessed at that price point and ecotech being one of the leading companies as far as technological advances right now in the hobby they would not offer simple plug and play options right out the box. I'm also a little disappointed the fixture came with no controllability out of the box. However, shame on me.

So wether any of you choose to contribute to this project, I intend to keep it updated as I source out a solution to my problem.

Holy moly, you typed this all on an ipad? Props to you, sir! :beer:

Carry on.