Power outage: Big problems with Apex

[DaytonaJoe]

I need some help asap. Woke up at 4am to the sound of power returning, not sure how long it was out for. I immediately noticed that although the apex display was powered up, nothing else was. Skimmer, return pump, powerheads, etc, all powered down. The display menu navigation was completely messed up: sometimes screens would freeze, partially load, or not load at all. The buttons were unresponsive or would register twice. Eventually I was able to restart the apex and some of the stuff powered on.

The apex is still glitchy, menu buttons aren't working like normal. My lights never came on today. The return pump turns off every once in a while and then powers back up a few minutes later. I'm a bit worried that I'm going to leave for work one of these days and everything will power down for the 8 hours I'm gone. Any suggestions?

 

[L8ndeb]

I use this unit to power my controller during an outage. If will power just the controller only, but will help prevent it from going haywire when the power shuts down and turns back on. BTW, the item in the link is missing parts, but you get the drift of what you can use.


http://www.ebay.com/itm/BELKIN-BU3D...erruptible_Power_Supplies&hash=item20cc3ed7ec

Unless you have a generator with an auto on and service switching, I don't think you could power everything for your tank with a UPS for an 8 hour period. Of course what you have to run will determine the run length.

What some of us do, is use some sort of UPS to power the controller (only), router, and modem. Then, when an outage occurs, we get an email notification.

I am sure others will chime in with other possible options.

 

[DaytonaJoe]

Hmm that looks like a good option to prevent my problem in the first place, but I think you misunderstood my issue. The power has returned, but my apex is now malfunctioning. I'm trying to get everything plugged into the apex to function normally but half of my stuff won't power up. I've gone ahead and plugged my return pump and lights directly into the wall so I can be sure my tank won't be without water flow while I'm at work. I'm looking for opinions about what actually happened to the apex and what I need to do to fix it.

 

[L8ndeb]

Hi Joe,

No, I understand your issue, it's just I don't have a resolution. I do know some folks have had success with rebooting the controller. You might try that. If you do not have a wall wart powering the controller, then just unplug the EB8 from the wall outlet, wait about 30 seconds or so, and plug back in. If you have a wall wart, both it and the EB8 must be unplugged. Worth a shot.

 

[DaytonaJoe]

Ah okay I see, thanks for that. I'll try it right now I did try restarting the controller, but havent tried unplugging yet

 

[DaytonaJoe]

Well I tried what you suggested and it seems like the things that weren't working previously are working now. So I'll check it out in an hour and see if it's all still working (things were on and off all day today, seemingly at random). I hope it worked!!!

 

[bazineta]

So here's the thing; power within specification is fine for electronics. The complete absence of power, while it presents obvious challenges, is also, relatively speaking, not all that bad a thing, since when power is reapplied, things will tend to come back up in the normal manner.

It's the momentary out of specification conditions that are the killers; i.e., a sag or rapid fluctuation condition (nearby lightning strike, for example, or the power company botching a switching operation) can cause the kind of weird behavior that you witnessed, whereas in the case of a complete loss and restart you'd likely have been fine.

While a UPS for the whole tank is often not attainable (though having enough backup to at least provide some oxygenation is often possible, even on a very large setup), having a small UPS and a wall wart to protect just the Apex is huge peace of mind.

 

[DaytonaJoe]

So here's the thing; power within specification is fine for electronics. The complete absence of power, while it presents obvious challenges, is also, relatively speaking, not all that bad a thing, since when power is reapplied, things will tend to come back up in the normal manner.

It's the momentary out of specification conditions that are the killers; i.e., a sag or rapid fluctuation condition (nearby lightning strike, for example, or the power company botching a switching operation) can cause the kind of weird behavior that you witnessed, whereas in the case of a complete loss and restart you'd likely have been fine.

While a UPS for the whole tank is often not attainable (though having enough backup to at least provide some oxygenation is often possible, even on a very large setup), having a small UPS and a wall wart to protect just the Apex is huge peace of mind.

Thank you for the response, I think I am going to have to start looking for one. After a day of running I have realized the problem is not solved. Some of the items attached to my apex still don't work and the menu navigation is all sorts of messed up. Neptune was quick to reply to my email. They want to connect to my apex remotely, which requires some port forwarding on my part that I am not completely comfortable with. They said they'd walk me through it though so we'll see what happens tomorrow

 

[L8ndeb]

Thank you for the response, I think I am going to have to start looking for one. After a day of running I have realized the problem is not solved. Some of the items attached to my apex still don't work and the menu navigation is all sorts of messed up. Neptune was quick to reply to my email. They want to connect to my apex remotely, which requires some port forwarding on my part that I am not completely comfortable with. They said they'd walk me through it though so we'll see what happens tomorrow

Don't worry about the Telnet. I went through an issue also that required Telnet, and they will get you fixed up.
The link I posted earlier is a good inexpensive UPS for just the controller.

 

[DonCorsean]

As some have mentioned these type of devices are sensitive to power inconsistencies that can wreak havoc with the sensitive circuits contained within them. When I setup my profilux on my new system it will be on a UPS system that will isolate it from spikes/surges/brownouts etc..


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

 

[DaytonaJoe]

Well, I was able to set up the port forwarding surprisingly easily. Next thing I knew Neptune was emailing me that they made an adjustment and it's fixed. They said it was not an adjustment I could make on my end, so I am curious what happened but they didn't seem too excited to explain it to me. They were very quick to do something about it though so I am very happy for that!

 

[timry2]

Ive had the same problem, then my APEX stop working and the probes began to give me bad readings, Apex Status Nov 02 2012, 08:47:52 Temp1 19.2, pH 2.35, ORP 921 with the heaters on trying to heat the tank. Paul over at Neptune was very helpful but was not able to diagnose the APEX unit through Telnet. I might send the unit in for repair or buy something new. now I am back to the old school ways.

 

[prop-frags]

Well, I was able to set up the port forwarding surprisingly easily. Next thing I knew Neptune was emailing me that they made an adjustment and it's fixed. They said it was not an adjustment I could make on my end, so I am curious what happened but they didn't seem too excited to explain it to me. They were very quick to do something about it though so I am very happy for that!

Great to hear that they got you fixed up. Their remote access tool is very handy and impressive.

 

[Paul Boutin]

I've experienced a similar issue today with the power. I was moving my tank and unplugged the apex from my UPS to move it. It was unplugged for about 20 min. When I plugged it back in it never came up. Meaning all outlets were not powered and no status lite came on. I plugged in my PM1 and it's lite was solid yellow. I cant connect to it on the network or even locate it on the network.

Paul at Neptune seemed baffled.

Any thoughts?

-Paul

 

[Paul Boutin]

I've experienced a similar issue today with the power. I was moving my tank and unplugged the apex from my UPS to move it. It was unplugged for about 20 min. When I plugged it back in it never came up. Meaning all outlets were not powered and no status lite came on. I plugged in my PM1 and it's lite was solid yellow. I cant connect to it on the network or even locate it on the network.

Paul at Neptune seemed baffled.

Any thoughts?

-Paul

 

[supacharged21]

I recently had a similar issue when going adjust the top off on the tank, via the controller display. I noticed the selections were jumpy/lagging and would go into different menus. I wound up unplugging the unit, and then plugging it back in and everything seemed ok. This happened maybe 2 x times on different occasions.


After a week or so I came home to find my tank completely powered down. I immediately wen to the apex and tried to reboot it and then unplug it to do a hard reset. I know I had my fallbacks set to on the tank to keep things running, so I am not sure why this happened. ( On a side note I noticed that my Playstation 3 asked to setup my display format, which means there was a power outage)

I originally had the controller connected via netgear wireless adapter. I was dealing with inconsistencies with connection using this for some reason. I then used the back of my at&t uverse dvr and ran an ethernet from that. This method seemed to work the best, then I moved out to a new area......

Now I have comcast and have not had access to the controller from 02/2012 due to not having a way to hardwire upstairs, and the router is non wireless.


Today I wound up installing the latest firmware 4.2 to the controller directly from my laptop. This made the controller act normal again. It was the first time ever updating firmware.

My next step is getting control back to a computer and getting a wireless router from comcast and trying the netgear again. At least if do it this way I can still setup on a computer and not have to use the module.