Pacific Sun Kore 5th dosing Fan Club

[Przemek_PacSun]

Dotty bfish for my late reply. I was in the hospital for a while and didnt get a chance to read your post.

I had to disconnect mine while I was away since my ATO was not working as expected (it will just stop dosing) and could trust it to leave it running while I wasnt there.

I am back now and looking forward to start the troubleshooting again so I will keep you all posted.

I wont be dosing the tank during this test period since, as I said, I cannot trust the doser (considering it tends to dose massive amounts of fluid despite the dose amounts being set very low and also turning all 5 pumps on without me telling it). No I dont know if this is just because the dose is not calibrated properly (I think it is but I could be wrong hence why I will start troubleshooting soon).

After I finish with the troubleshooting and if I get it to dose as it should I might put it back in the tank but, I might end up selling it tbh but I will give you my reasons when I finish troubleshooting.

At least I am glad I am not the only one having weird problems. Although again I am not saying it isnt something I have done. We will see.

Hello
I know your case, Tomasz form service informed me that he was in touch with you but you were in hospital (I hope that you're well already) and he couldn't go ahead with you due that reason.
Im 100% sure that everything will be explained and advanced troubleshooting will finally solve your problems.
I would like to be properly understood. It's not my goal or intention to say that every person which reported issue here don't have right(and they never exist).
I want to only say, that from that problems reported by some Customers here are not common(overall - compared to almost 1800 dozers sold since two years). We have only one person in technical support, if that problems would be common and usual for Kore 5th on each model/software/firmware it would almost not possible to solve it by one person.
We see that almost all that troubles are reported by Mac users(like communication problems etc) and by some Windows users which have on computers Class 3(1mW - energy saving) bluetooth modules.
From our side we try to help every one person who contact with us directly - however our support is not able to take care about reports posted here - but not reported to service directly(they are not reading every one forum and thread about our devices). They simply not offer technical support thru any forum.
Im sure that Tomasz using wireless desktop app(like Team Viewer) can connect directly with every one device(dozer, lamp etc) and check/explain everything due one/two sessions(if something is still not clear).
But clue for all above is being sure that computer used for programming/controlling our devices have built in Class 1(100mW output power - like mobile phone) BT module or if not have - using any other USB Bluetooth Class 1 (available to buy in any PC store, eBay etc).
We inform about that on our manual(available here) however I can imagine that some users try to firstly connect/use our devices without reading it(Im doing sometimes the same, however i strongly suggest to read everything here - because it should help in basic understanding how our devices works and should be programmed. And also there are some advices using proper BT modules, discovery, pairing etc.
Link to manual:
http://static.fachowcy.pl/files/3219127820/Kore_5th_manual_1.6a.pdf

So if any person here had any troubles with our device and need help - there is no better address for contact than service@pacific-sun.eu or simply calling us - 048 58 778 17 17
Thank you.

 

[Alfrareef]

Hi,

Information about correct firmware you can see on app first tab after connecting to dozer.

Actual latest is 1.5f for Mac(however there is available update to 1.6 which will be released within next few days)

2. For firmware update you need to get special app - please contact with service, they will mail it to you with some important informations regarding update procedure.

3. There is no auto updater - firmware and software revisions are always updated on our website and there you can find also newest manual/softwares.

http://www.pacific-sun.eu/download

then go to Kore 5th download link.



Regards



Przemek

Thks for the help! Tomorrow I'll reach service and wait for the 1.6 version.

If you allow me one more thing... Can you discuss placing some indication about the versions for the software, firmware and manual over the webpage so the customer can notice the updates. A release note would also be great so we can know what's been update and decide if we should update. If things are going well I don't want to risk an update without knowing the benefit.

 

[Przemek_PacSun]

Got my Kore fifth in yesterday, took me all of an hour to get it setup and running properly. I personally thought the software was a bit clunky(having to read data on every tab. One would think it would read all the data when you connect?), but well thought out, and leans toward the newbie side of programming. I am using winblows, so no issue with connecting.

My only issue is, since my phone is in my hand pretty much 24/7, there should be an android app. Instead I have to lug out the laptop to make any changes to the doser. Why can't a simple app be made for android? I wouldn't mind if all it had was the connection tab, and the dosing tab so things can be changed on the fly.

I will admit I'm not using the ATO or AWC and using it simply as a 4 head doser. So far so good. I set it up to dose 177ml, and it has dosed 177ml in 24 hours as it should have. Overall I'm pretty happy with the unit.

There will be Android app for Kore 5th and it will be released in September - it's on final tests and will be uploaded to Google store.
we will inform about that here.

 

[Alfrareef]

and for iOS?

 

[Przemek_PacSun]

Thks for the help! Tomorrow I'll reach service and wait for the 1.6 version.

If you allow me one more thing... Can you discuss placing some indication about the versions for the software, firmware and manual over the webpage so the customer can notice the updates. A release note would also be great so we can know what's been update and decide if we should update. If things are going well I don't want to risk an update without knowing the benefit.

Yes, I will talk about that - maybe app will contact with our servers and check latest revision available and if there will be new - notification window will appear. It's really good idea!

 

[bohrio]

Hello
I know your case, Tomasz form service informed me that he was in touch with you but you were in hospital (I hope that you're well already) and he couldn't go ahead with you due that reason.
Im 100% sure that everything will be explained and advanced troubleshooting will finally solve your problems.
I would like to be properly understood. It's not my goal or intention to say that every person which reported issue here don't have right(and they never exist).
I want to only say, that from that problems reported by some Customers here are not common(overall - compared to almost 1800 dozers sold since two years). We have only one person in technical support, if that problems would be common and usual for Kore 5th on each model/software/firmware it would almost not possible to solve it by one person.
We see that almost all that troubles are reported by Mac users(like communication problems etc) and by some Windows users which have on computers Class 3(1mW - energy saving) bluetooth modules.
From our side we try to help every one person who contact with us directly - however our support is not able to take care about reports posted here - but not reported to service directly(they are not reading every one forum and thread about our devices). They simply not offer technical support thru any forum.
Im sure that Tomasz using wireless desktop app(like Team Viewer) can connect directly with every one device(dozer, lamp etc) and check/explain everything due one/two sessions(if something is still not clear).
But clue for all above is being sure that computer used for programming/controlling our devices have built in Class 1(100mW output power - like mobile phone) BT module or if not have - using any other USB Bluetooth Class 1 (available to buy in any PC store, eBay etc).
We inform about that on our manual(available here) however I can imagine that some users try to firstly connect/use our devices without reading it(Im doing sometimes the same, however i strongly suggest to read everything here - because it should help in basic understanding how our devices works and should be programmed. And also there are some advices using proper BT modules, discovery, pairing etc.
Link to manual:
http://static.fachowcy.pl/files/3219127820/Kore_5th_manual_1.6a.pdf

So if any person here had any troubles with our device and need help - there is no better address for contact than service@pacific-sun.eu or simply calling us - 048 58 778 17 17
Thank you.

Thanks Prezmy I know Tomasz will look after me well, as he always had.

Your tech support is excellent I am sure of that. I am a bit disappointed with the delivery damages claim though, but thats a different story, it could have been lost in translation

 

[Przemek_PacSun]

and for iOS?

Unfortunatelly - iOS not support any serial/RFCOMM communication profiles.
Why? We don't know(because their Mac OS X support it).
Probably it's sourced by $ - Apple want to earn on every peripheral device which use their BT resources and we heard than probably in one of next revisions of their iOS this communication profile will be included and supported(but it's not 100% sure information now).
iOS is only one system worldwide which not support it(in true - support, but need additional microprocessor which have to be bought from apple which will "decode" transmission between phone CPU and external BT peripheral device...
Thats how it's looking already about iOS support layer...:hmm6:

 

[Alfrareef]

I see. Let's hope Apple change it's mind (not usual...).
Thanks for your commitment over the support.
rgds,
FM

 

[thaireef]

Update and WARNING about Pacific Sun

Update and WARNING about Pacific Sun

UPDATE and WARNING:

After returning the defect doser to Pacific Sun in Poland, I am now in the situation were after 4 months I still have no doser and Pacific Sun also has my money.

I have due to all the troubles with them requested a refund to end this in a good, decent and fair way. They refused to give me my money back, although they have my money and I have nothing to show for it!

I would highly recommend EVERYBODY to stay far away from this very unprofessional and unethical company. Never in my life, have I experienced such horrible customer service.

With more than 120 days now waiting for a doser I paid for, you would think that a responsible and reasonable company would simply just pay the money back and accept that this has taken way to long and has been unfair to me as a customer. However, this is not the case with a company like Pacific Sun.

I therefore warn all from buying anything from this company. If the product is defect or need service, you will for sure be very disappointed in how they treat their customers. If something is wrong, then this company will just blame you, Apple or someone else. They will never admit to any kind of fault at all.

If you read back in this tread, you will notice that I am not the only one who have experienced Pacific Suns horrible customer service.

Therefore, for your own sake. Stay clear of this company!

 

[thaireef]

After having this unit for months...I'm finally ready for a review from start to finish(Finish, because its now unplugged.).

Packaging and Hardware
First, I was very, very impressed with packaging. Beautifully done and everything looked high quality with extras of everything. I got the optical sensor with ATO and AWC. I was happy when I opened the box.

Unboxed it, laid everything out...I got a CD even though I'm a US customer buying from a US vendor, no big deal I was able to download everything online. It was also missing the power supply and the temperature probe. Annoying but I wasn't planning to use it for weeks so I emailed pacific sun who then referred me to my vendor (VERY quickly replaced the missing parts, no questions asked).


Software
As pretty much everyone agrees, this is some of the WORST software and least user friendly software ever. I feel like this is someones junior college programming project that they threw together at the last second, I really hope they did not pay someone to create this software.

After months of cursing at it, updating it, emailing support about it, I offered to rewrite a user friendly UI FOR FREE if they would share the source code (well have my brother do it, but still...) He also makes apps, so I'm sure that would come with it as well. This is how badly I wanted this system to work.

Here are the details of my issues:
MAC
-There is no firmware update function, with some digging you'll find you need a separate program.
-There is no memory file export function and "Support" won't help you without sending the file.
-Standing right next to it with a dongle, when entering values into the boxes, hitting save, then hitting read to check: Completely random results. It generally takes me 5-20 tries to get the settings just right for each value. Saving that value, then hitting read to make sure it took...oh great it changed a different value. Repeat until insane. Calibration, same issue...Calibrate, save the value...check the value...oh cool! something completely different! repeat, repeat, repeat, take a break and then repeat.

I was never able to get DC2 to function with the AWC using a MAC. So I switched my ATO to my salt water reservoir and got AWC working that way...It would pump out X amount of water, DC2 never kicked on...only the ATO.

I've tried this all on windows and on MAC, ZERO reliability.

FUNCTIONor disaster averted...
So...After finally getting it all figured out on my own(support couldn't get past the fact that MACs don't save memory files, and when I borrowed a PC to send them one...they had zero input on it), to a point that I thought was working the below incidents happened over the course of about a month:

Incident 1:
Wake up to a sump with about a 1/4 inch of space remaining before overflow! quickly unplug the Kore 5th which had been working flawlessly all day... drain the sump to the correct level and add salt quickly before scrambling to work(luckily this is a newly setup tank, I only had a few zoas and a goby...)SG changed from 1.025 to 1.021. At this point AWC was off just using ATO.

Incident 2:
This one has happened multiple times...when updating the dosing values, it somehow changes what days(Advanced tab) to dose on turning them on and off randomly. I've never changed that page at all. It seems when changing dosing amounts, it scrambles that page. When i fix that page, it scrambles the amounts. So im never certain the dosing is correct.

Incident 3:
More like error here...On the main page, when you check status-every time I click read, I get different values dosed, none of which really make sense based on the settings. I basically use the markings on my dosing containers to be sure I'm not nuking the tank.

Incident 4:
This one is the last straw, happened this morning...I wake up to hear a terrible sucking noise from my sump....oh surprise surprise, the AWC which was set to change ZERO liters and placed on the dosing pumps instead of DC pumps (because on a MAC you can't just unclick the box, and no dosing pumps 4 and 5 aren't hooked up to anything) had nearly drained my sump. Luckily I have enough volume in my tank that I was able to lower the speed of the return pump and my tank will limp on while I'm at work today.

Summary:
I could never ever recommend this doser to anyone. I honestly wouldn't even feel right selling it. I really, really wanted this to work in fact I designed my stand and system around it. Even when I thought I had it running okay, I couldn't trust it. Support has been pretty terrible though I've never been helped by przmek. Without a US based support line, I end up waiting 24 hours plus to get a response that doesn't even begin to solve my issues.

Before anyone jumps in and tells me their goto fixes:

*Pumps and dosers are calibrated (These get reset on FW updates)
*I'm on the latest FW 1.5f i believe? Downloaded it this week.
*I'm standing close to the unit with a dongle (which should be inlcuded if the giant antenna'd BT module included isn't on par with cell phone BT which works flawlessly)
*I'm not using any other BT in the room...
*I've tried wiping everything and starting from scratch with the new FW.

I have the exact same experience and the doser they sent me also did crazy things. The AWC nearly emptied my tank twice. It was pure luck that all my fish did not die. I tried for days to get it to work, but finally had to give up.

The fact is, that you can simply not trust the doser at all and as you also say, the software is the worst ever.

I also had great expectations for this doser, but have since terribly regretted even looking at it. Furthermore, support and customer service is horrible. I would be ashamed, if I was selling a product like this.

I think the worst of it all, is that Pacific Sun will do anything to blame others (including the customers), instead of realising and fixing the problems. As a customer this is by far the most frustrating thing. I have actually never experienced a company being this stubborn and unwilling to accept any mistakes at all. It is at the point, were you start to believe that you have been scammed. The only thing that went smoothly in my case was payment. After payment... I have had to constantly ask about status of my doser, before I got any answers from them. So seems they like the money, but have huge problems with their customer service and quality assurance.

I for sure will never buy anything from them again. Been over 4 months since I paid for the doser and all I have is a bank account with 500 EURO lost. But thanks a lot for your review. It clearly shows (like other posts here), that I am not the only one having problems with this company and doser.

 

[mrtint]

can someone show me how their optical sensor is set up? I am currently only running the float switch that doesn't really work all the time. Right now the only way I can get the ATO to work somewhat normal is to select optical sensor as high water alarm (optical sensor isn't even plugged in) and select short beep after refill and upper sensor enabled. If I do this the the upper sensor ONLY controls the ATO. bottom sensor does nothing. If I try to set up like it should work (bottom float up....top float down) it just runs all the time.
SO.......I figured maybe ill just set up the optical sensor for the ATO but I have no idea how. can someone explain how to set it up? does it face down pointed into the water or do you aim it across the sump (across top of water level in sump)?

 

[wcharon]

It should be across the sump and you have to select Optic as main ATO.

 

[mrtint]

Will it fill to that height


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[wcharon]

Across top water level.... It depends on your sump. In my case it fits. If not you will have to make or buy a bracket to extend it.

Hope that helps...

 

[mrtint]

Pacific Sun Kore 5th dosing Fan Club

Okay so I aim is across and set it as main ATO. What are the float sensor settings? Or do I just unplug that one and not use it?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[lovetoreef]

I wanted to share my experience with this doser system ... I have used it for close to 9 months now ... certainly I don't take advantage of many of it's features, but, I use many of them. Some background - I have a 400 ish gallon total system ... 3 tanks with a large sump/refugium ... 180 gallon main sps system, 90ish gallon anemone system and 30 gallon lps system ... all tied together ... I use a Neptune apex jr for main control and Neptune DOS for 2 part

I use the Kore 5th to dose my supplements ... namely coral accel, coral vite, magnesium, acropower and chromaplex ...

pros:

programmability
reliability
accurate
stirrer
easy of setup

cons:
lack of wifi connection - still have to use a blue tooth connection

in all honesty, the only knock I have on it is that you have to use a blue tooth connection - I purchased the system thinking the wifi feature was around the corner, but, that obviously has been delayed.

my other main concern was support being they are from Poland - but, in all honesty, they have been one of the most responsive companies I have dealt with. very prompt to reply to emails ... plus, I had an issue establishing a connection with a new laptop and after troubleshooting via email, they logged in remotely and corrected the issue in 5 minutes

so all in all, I have been very happy with the doser and highly recommend it.

 

[NATCAP_Reefer]

I totally agree

I totally agree

I wanted to share my experience with this doser system ... I have used it for close to 9 months now ... certainly I don't take advantage of many of it's features, but, I use many of them. Some background - I have a 400 ish gallon total system ... 3 tanks with a large sump/refugium ... 180 gallon main sps system, 90ish gallon anemone system and 30 gallon lps system ... all tied together ... I use a Neptune apex jr for main control and Neptune DOS for 2 part

I use the Kore 5th to dose my supplements ... namely coral accel, coral vite, magnesium, acropower and chromaplex ...

pros:

programmability
reliability
accurate
stirrer
easy of setup

cons:
lack of wifi connection - still have to use a blue tooth connection

in all honesty, the only knock I have on it is that you have to use a blue tooth connection - I purchased the system thinking the wifi feature was around the corner, but, that obviously has been delayed.

my other main concern was support being they are from Poland - but, in all honesty, they have been one of the most responsive companies I have dealt with. very prompt to reply to emails ... plus, I had an issue establishing a connection with a new laptop and after troubleshooting via email, they logged in remotely and corrected the issue in 5 minutes

so all in all, I have been very happy with the doser and highly recommend it.

 

[Alfrareef]

Hi Przemek.
The doser is running ok.
The only issue is with the display that keeps flashing and displaying strange characters so fast that i cant read it. What can i do to solve this?
TIA.
AR

 

[wcharon]

Try to reboot the unit. Turn it off and then on again.

That helped me. The unit didn't get well disconnected from the computer.

Hope that helps.

 

[Alfrareef]

Thks!
I'll try later and let you know. Hope it doesn't lose any configurations...