Wade Posted September 12, 2016 Share Posted September 12, 2016 So I when I got up yesterday morning and walked past my DT heading to make coffee I noticed everything was still. Apparently there was a brief power outage which caused the GFCI outlet to trip once the power came back on. The Apex log shows the power was off for 2.5 hours. Everything looks ok, but time will tell on the SPS. All that being said, would having a dedicated circuit using a GFCI breaker instead of a GFCI outlet have been more stable and most likely not have tripped when the poser came back on? I know any conversation about what might have happened is all supposition so I'm just asking for your opinions and experiences with similar situations. I guess what I'm trying to determine is what's the best way to set up the electrical circuit that supports a DT. Thoughts? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cliff Posted September 12, 2016 Share Posted September 12, 2016 No matter what the situation is and no matter what you are running on the circuit. A dedicated circuit with a GFCI breaker is always more reliable. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan H Posted September 12, 2016 Share Posted September 12, 2016 If you can get a dedicated circuit, do it. It's a good piece of mind to know other appliances aren't going to accidentally trip the breaker your tank is on. Not to mention our tanks can pull a pretty good amount of juice so it's nice to know it's got it's own breaker. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timfish Posted September 12, 2016 Share Posted September 12, 2016 +1 on the dedicated circuit. Penn Plax also mskes a nice little battery operated air pump that only turns on when power is off and runs several days with just 2 "D" cell batteries and is very inexpensive. There are also good battery backup options for some pumps and controllers. I would not use a UPS designed for a computer, they only run for a couple hours irregardless of the load. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+FluxCapacitor Posted September 13, 2016 Share Posted September 13, 2016 You know it'd be nice to build a circuit with a 3g cell phone radio in it that could text you when it drops power.... I'm sure some of the more expensive reef controllers offer this functionality but you would have to rely upon your wifi connection having power for this to work without a cell radio. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JasReef Posted September 13, 2016 Share Posted September 13, 2016 The Apex does send a message as soon as power is lost. I believe since it is cloud based it can let you know the connection is down. I am not 100% on that but I know everytime my power has went out I get an email and text. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+FluxCapacitor Posted September 17, 2016 Share Posted September 17, 2016 ^^Does it connect over wifi? Oh I think I see what you're saying, if the cloud/internet detects that your device has gone offline it'll send you a message from it's centralized servers. That makes sense. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan H Posted September 18, 2016 Share Posted September 18, 2016 You can set up your Apex to know when there's a power outage. Then if you put your router on a battery backup, and the Apex can send out an alert as soon as power is lost. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Isaac Posted September 18, 2016 Share Posted September 18, 2016 make sure your cable/dsl/fiber modem/router and any other "gear you use between the apex and the internet is on backup... more often than not, when the power goes, these services stay up for at least 10 mins (they have their own battery backups). So when apex detects power lost, it'll email on "Apex Off" if you have the 12v extra plug on it (NOT on the UPS) "If Power Apex Off 003 Then ON " This assumes you have the EB8 on a UPS and the system is still powered up in order for you to even detect it re: GFCI... breakers are best. if you use a "plug" with one, over time the heat from the power increases its sensitivity to... variations which are really not ground faults. I have a GFCI on my UPS... if the UPS goes down, the 12v "Extra power" is powering the apex, and i get an EB8 power email. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+FluxCapacitor Posted September 18, 2016 Share Posted September 18, 2016 So, my main concern was that I've had instances where the internet has gone out for hours at a time regardless of the power being turned back on (aka "Austinite" runs into a pole while drunk driving and texting). In this circumstance, it would not matter much that the power was restored if the internet didn't come back up. A cloud based server that checks it's "clients" could easily get around this, or a 3g cell radio in a microcontroller setup that has battery power to it could do the same. I also don't have an Apex and am considering to find another option other than an Apex, whether that be some janky home brew stuff like I'm thinking of with the 3g card, or some other reef controller. It kind of bugs me that the Apex "just now" came out with a wifi version when for a tech guy like me this should have been a consideration to begin with. I like ethernet cables only for my gaming consoles to reduce lag and don't wish to run cables everywhere. I'm not knocking the Apex I'm just thinking there are other, better, options out there whether they're more expensive or less known, etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Isaac Posted September 18, 2016 Share Posted September 18, 2016 I think if you use the fusion website it has a "lost communication" alert? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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