Feature Suggestions

seaner said:
It would be a great feature if the OS for the Apex Neptune was released as open source. So as users, we can recommend bug fixes, and suggest and write code that can be used to create product enhancements. It would be beneficial to the whole user community :)
Click to expand...

But from Neptune's viewpoint, can you imagine having to support/troubleshoot a system that has had user enhancements done? As a manufacturer you're kind of losing control over your own product and jeopardizing the apparent quality of your product to those outside the existing user community.
 
How about a maintenance reminder function tied to a calendar?
ie. change bulbs every 6 months, Water change once a week, feed anemone, etc.. Competitors have this function and is very useful especially if you have someone watch your tank when you are out of town.
 
The reminder is a great idea. Seems pretty reasonable and not to difficult. I could even have it remind me to take out the trash on Thursday night so my wife doesn't have to.
 
kurt_n said:
But from Neptune's viewpoint, can you imagine having to support/troubleshoot a system that has had user enhancements done? As a manufacturer you're kind of losing control over your own product and jeopardizing the apparent quality of your product to those outside the existing user community.
Click to expand...

I agree with you. And if a user loads a non supported OS, then it should invalidate the warranty, or Neptune can request that a supported and updated OS is installed for an end user to recieve support from them.

A better idea would be for Neptune to release the code to the public through a SVN/CVS. In turn, the user community can supply the coded enhancements. Neptune would still have control over the OS, and the features it supported. It would be the user community (people buying the product and using it) that would benefit greatly.

Honestly, I think we could all benefit from our recommendations on this thread.
 
liver said:
How about a maintenance reminder function tied to a calendar?
ie. change bulbs every 6 months, Water change once a week, feed anemone, etc.. Competitors have this function and is very useful especially if you have someone watch your tank when you are out of town.
Click to expand...

I was thinking the same thing. It would be a great feature to have a built in calendar in which it had the ability to set the reminders as one offs, or reoccurring (with duration).
 
I'm posing this question to the the Neptune support staff. Is it possible to setup a SVN/CSV for myself and other members to check out source code and submit modifications?
 
Crap I'm guessing you can't make comments now then? That's a bit negative. Would really like to be able to do that.


seaner said:
Yeah, and the ability to send email to different mailboxes (phone/work/home) depending on what alarm was triggered. If there was an emergency with my setup, then a text message to my phone would be great.
Click to expand...

Second that! If there is water on the floor I want the thing to raise all h$$$, blow up my phone, text my girl friend, text my great aunt in the retirement home, and everything else. If the temperature is just a little warmer then normal an e-mail to my hotmail account would be enough.


More icons would be nice as well.
 
Crap I'm guessing you can't make comments now then?(Never mind, answered in another thread) That's a bit negative. Would really like to be able to do that.


seaner said:
Yeah, and the ability to send email to different mailboxes (phone/work/home) depending on what alarm was triggered. If there was an emergency with my setup, then a text message to my phone would be great.
Click to expand...

Second that! If there is water on the floor I want the thing to raise all h$$$, blow up my phone, text my girl friend, text my great aunt in the retirement home, and everything else. If the temperature is just a little warmer then normal an e-mail to my hotmail account would be enough.


More icons would be nice as well.
 
So is this just us talking amongst ourselves dreaming or is someone sharing this with Neptune?

I would really like to see graphs of the outlets. For instance if you accidentally have your power heads programmed to be off at night time after looking through the graphs you could see on and off all day and then off all night.... Make sense? Worded well? Just have a value of 1 if on and 0 if off.

It would be even better if it had wattages, but not required to be beneficial.
 
This is a user forum so the chatter is amongst ourselves but Neptune stops in now and then to check on things and has read this thread.

I can report that graphing outlet states is in the next firmware. I don't know what it will look like in the end but it might be similar to what I allow you to see using the Apex utilities on my website.
 
Gordonious said:
Cool. Any word on when we might see a new firmware update?

headed to check out your site now.
Click to expand...

Nothing official; it was shown at MACNA so I'd guess within a few weeks if the past can be used to guess the future.
 
Sorry if I'm missing something anyone take a YouTube vid of this or write an article? What other features did they talk about coming now. Were you a MACNA? I missed out this year. :-(
 
There is a thread with some imaged but the short of it...

* EB4 HD - as it sounds, a 4 port heavy duty relay controlled energy bar
* AquaIlluminations controller (VDM)
* New Firmware:
* New graphing (graphs outlets and probes)
* Ability to name probes (up to 8 characters)
* You can enable/disable probes from the website
 
Sounds nice. I saw something about the EB4 HD, didn't seem all that impressive until I started figuring out what all I needed to control via the last two outlets on the EB8.

As far as another suggestion for Neptune. The high tech little RO filters only use a couple of reminders and probes to tell you when things need to be changed. Who has a Neptune controller and doesn't have an RO unit? Being about to hook up flow meters to tell how much water has gone in/come out of an RO and being able to keep track of the TDS would be a huge +.
http://www.tdsmeter.com/products/fms2.html
http://www.tdsmeter.com/products/fms2.html
 
Gordonious said:
Being about to hook up flow meters to tell how much water has gone in/come out of an RO and being able to keep track of the TDS would be a huge +.
http://www.tdsmeter.com/products/fms2.html
Click to expand...

+1 on the flow meter. If a module was created that incorporated a flow and TDS meter, then a breakout box or a breakout box plug-in should be incorporated into the design. This module could streamline water changes (multiple flow meters), top-offs, and ro/di equipment replacement. It would be an added benefit if the module could include a sensor for detecting leaks on the floor. Maybe the water sensors could be daisy chained......
 
Would take some creative programming to make the IO break out box communicate with a meter to give any single besides on or off. It would likely be done in another way. Perhaps plugged into the control port or a new module. I also doubt one would use it for water changes as most flow meters are either inaccurate or go through air line sized tubing.(would take forever to do a water change through this sized tubing and it would likely jam up)
 
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