George Monnat Jr Posted July 25, 2012 Share Posted July 25, 2012 I bought an Apex from Get Pumped Saltwater that I received a week ago (great deal w/ outstanding, personal customer support), but it took me a bit to gather the other parts (and work has been crazy busy). I got around to installing my Apex last week after all the parts came in and I'd assembled what I needed, but only as far as getting the pH probe calibrated and the controller logging pH and temperature. Last Saturday I bought a Netgear WNCE3001 at Best Buy when my wife got her smart phone (which I'll be using to monitor the Apex on our vacation ). I got that working on Sunday. Yesterday I finally took a meter to my float switches and read up on how to program my Apex. Last night I had my ATO pump adding water until a high float switch tripped (opened, so a NC switch) or the pH was > 8.3 (adding kalkwasser). I had a light come on at the same time. All that was really easy to set up and worked great. I got email notifications and my sump light all working, too. Today at work I soldered my float switches in the configurations that I wanted. The upper and lower switches are all actually the same switch. AutoTopoff.com sells the upper ones with mounting brackets and the lower ones with snail guards. when float switch is DOWN, the switch is CLOSED/ON when float switch is UP, the switch is OPEN/OFF Therefore, functionally the: upper float switches are NC (start DOWN/CLOSED/ON and when water rises and triggers go UP/OPEN/OFF) lower float switches are NO (start UP/OPEN/OFF and when water rises and triggers go DOWN/CLOSED/ON) I soldered the leads for the upper switches in series for an AND arrangement, so if any switch triggers it turns off the ATO pump. And I use only one of my 6 breakout box inputs. Initially I soldered the two lower switches in parallel for an OR switch just to send an email notification if the level is low and the return pump is about to suck air, but in parallel the resistance never dropped below 300Ω, which surprised me (checked multiple times). If either one is closed it should be a short. Whatever, I just left the ground side soldered and opened the other end to use as two switch inputs. I can do the OR logic in the Apex, and I will still have 3 inputs available for water-on-floor detectors, etc. I need to permanently install the float switches and test them and integrate my MP40w VorTech. And pretty up stuff, because it's a big mess. Then I'll be ready to go on vacation without excessive stress and worry. Mitch and others are correct, the Apex is easy to use, versatile and a great tool. Once you get past the intial price shock. In my case, I had to get something that's as bullet-proof as possible since I'm leaving the continent to visit in-laws and won't be able to babysit the tank on a daily basis. But with the Apex and cameras, I can at least check in on it whenever I want and get emergency notifications. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Mitch Posted July 25, 2012 Share Posted July 25, 2012 congrats! lmk if you need any more help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
subsea Posted July 25, 2012 Share Posted July 25, 2012 Apex controllers are very moderately priced. I had one of their early systems ten years ago. I just did receive my modified Apex Jr yesterday. It will wait unti after Port Aransas. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wizardx322 Posted July 25, 2012 Share Posted July 25, 2012 George if you don't have an iPhone unfortunately there is not an app at the moment for apex with Android phones. You will have to use tank manager lmk if you need more explanation Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George Monnat Jr Posted July 25, 2012 Author Share Posted July 25, 2012 George if you don't have an iPhone unfortunately there is not an app at the moment for apex with Android phones. You will have to use tank manager lmk if you need more explanation My wife got a Samsung Galaxy Note which has a full web browser. Can I access it that way same as with my laptop? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Mitch Posted July 25, 2012 Share Posted July 25, 2012 Search for AquaNotes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
(Bio)³ Posted July 26, 2012 Share Posted July 26, 2012 George if you don't have an iPhone unfortunately there is not an app at the moment for apex with Android phones. You will have to use tank manager lmk if you need more explanation I run apex widgets on android galaxy 10.1 and a Motorola atrix... There isn't an app but the widget is what you use;) it's a live feed to one of your desktop pages on an android. You can control and everything just like the iPhone app which I also use. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wizardx322 Posted July 26, 2012 Share Posted July 26, 2012 I have talked to Neptune they are working on a new app for Android if you got the app for Android before they remove it you can still use it. You need the app to use the widgets said thing is it does not work well but tell you what's going on in the tank I recommend using kenargo tank manager as long as you have web access on your phone. Never used aquanote kenargo does exactly what the Neptune app does but will give you the abilitly to change outlet programs and control outlets outside of your network and you can use it for multiple controllers not just Neptune Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted July 26, 2012 Share Posted July 26, 2012 Congrats George! I just joined the Apex family too as it is waiting for me at home for when I get back there. I may be piggy backing this thread. -Ty Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DerrickH Posted July 26, 2012 Share Posted July 26, 2012 There is an app for the apex on an andriod device. I use it every day on my Evo. Get it here Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George Monnat Jr Posted July 26, 2012 Author Share Posted July 26, 2012 Thanks to all for the information. My wife's phone has a browser (I'm guessing Chrome), and I confirmed that it lets me do everything I can do with Firefox on my laptop. That's good enough for my trip. I still have a dumb phone, and when I upgrade it probably won't be to a fancy one like hers. I'll have to deal with the Android app issues then, so any comment is welcome. Congrats George! I just joined the Apex family too as it is waiting for me at home for when I get back there. I may be piggy backing this thread. -Ty Please post at will. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DerrickH Posted July 26, 2012 Share Posted July 26, 2012 Once you get your head around the "block" like programming language needed for functions, it no more complicated than legos... If x = y then z I like the multiple failsafe features and virtual outlets. Makes things very simple as long as you name the virtual outlets and profiles with common sense. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gibs Posted July 27, 2012 Share Posted July 27, 2012 Aquanotes is the Android app I use also...it works ok but can't wait for the neptune approved version. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wizardx322 Posted July 28, 2012 Share Posted July 28, 2012 I just tried the aquanote and had same issue as the previous app for Neptune Don't like the aquanote personally as this is my opinion George I highly recommend kenargo tank manager as i have had no Issue with it. So if you got full browser this is what I recommend Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DerrickH Posted July 28, 2012 Share Posted July 28, 2012 What issues are you having with the app? Should let Henry know what problems you are having so he can update the app. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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