AquaBus Wireless Expansion Module (WXM)

[milkman55]

Two questions on the new WXM -

Does anyone know the maximum distance the Vortech can be from the WXM to receive the signals? My sump and Apex are in the basement and my display and Vortechs are upstairs about 12 ft and over about 15ft, so say 25 ft away.

Website says it controls these modes -

"Supports Ecotech's Constant, Reef Crest, Lagoon Random, Pulse, Sync and Anti-Sync modes."

I don't see anything about feed mode or night mode? Anyone know if these are supported without touching the Vortech? I would like to control the feed mode through the Apex and anything would be better than the current method of controling the night mode.

[apjohnson]

I have the same question about night mode. I hate the fact that powering down your Vortechs erases your night mode program. I would prefer to have it controlled by my Apex.

As far as range goes, if I had the WXM, I would treat it just like one of the Vortech control units and use the same recommended guidelines that they publish in their user's guides. Here it is from the MP40W user's guide:

Operational Range
The wireless signal range is roughly 10 feet when drivers are within a direct line of site. Masters and slaves must all be set and operating near one another to avoid signals being missed. If a pump generates a red/blue error message, this means that the master and slave pumps were not close enough to one another when they were setup. Depending on other electromagnetic interference or other variables, wireless range can vary between 2 and 10 feet. The wireless signal will not pass through water.

Now, this is not to say that the WXM device is not much more powerful than a standard Vortech control unit...just saying that in light of the lack of specific guidelines from Neptune, this is what I would use.

--AJ

[milkman55]

I hope that is not the answer.

I guess alternatively, I could mount the WXM under the display were the Vortech controllers are and then run a USB cable downstairs to the Apex.

The only issue is I planned to control multiple tanks with one WXM? I have a frag tank in the basement with a Vortech in addtion to the ones upstairs on the display.

[milkman55]

Anyone know the distance the WXM can be from the Vortech controllers?

[RaKe]

I would be interested to know as well. I will be getting the WXM and the Apex shortly (apparently they are back ordered) and my current acIII is in the basement and I have ran a phone cable up to the main tank that allows me to control the DC8 and lunar lights from the basement. So I guess I would like to know, can the new units be controlled the same way or do they require the usb connections?

[RussM]

According to a well-known reefkeeping blog, the WXM actually uses a circuit board provided by Ecotech Marine - possibly the same wireless interface & control circuitry used in the ES drivers. Therefore, I suspect that the max distance limitation between WXM and WWD or ES would be roughly the same as between Vortech drivers.

As for feed and night modes, that is a function of the programming used in the Apex.... yes, you can do them. See the Unofficial VORTECH is READY thread - there's more discussion of this in there.

[milkman55]

Thanks for the update. I found the unofficial Vortech thread after I posted, but it did not have the distance info. I emailed Neptune and they responded that the distance is variable between 10 and 50 ft depending on the type of substrate you are going through. If I run into a distance issue, I will just run a USB cable and mount the WXM closer to the Vortechs.

Like you said, looks like everything else can be done through programming.
I just bought a second MP40W to use on my 120 gal and can't figure out why I would need the ES controller with everything I can do with the Apex and WXM module.