Neptune apex?

[starionesir]

I just bought a neptune apex and the seller said it has wifi built in? I knew the apex always had a ethernet port and have heard of people using gaming adapters to make it wifi but was unaware the new apex's have wifi built in? Is this true?

[mbauma]

I bought an Apex Gold about 2 months ago and it does not have built in wifi. I bought a used Netgear adapter. To my knowledge, they do not have built in wifi unless something has changed in the last 2 months.

[starionesir]

Thats what I thought as well. I've heard you can use a wifi adapter but to do firmware updates it needs to be a hardwired connection. How do you like your apex?

[mbauma]

Thats what I thought as well. I've heard you can use a wifi adapter but to do firmware updates it needs to be a hardwired connection. How do you like your apex?

It's great, right now I only have it controlling my heater, pump, skimmer and koralias. I ordered an Avast ATO that arrives on Thursday and am looking forward to getting that up and running.

The PM2 conductivity is almost dead on with my refractometer and it's really nice to walk by and see how my tank is doing :)

[kurt_n]

Thats what I thought as well. I've heard you can use a wifi adapter but to do firmware updates it needs to be a hardwired connection. ...

This is correct. No built-in wifi, and needs to be hardwired for firmware updates. Nothing has changed with the new units that are being produced.

[Texas Paul]

I just bought a neptune apex and the seller said it has wifi built in? I knew the apex always had a ethernet port and have heard of people using gaming adapters to make it wifi but was unaware the new apex's have wifi built in? Is this true?

They do not have Wifi - if you have Wifi in your home you can purchase a wifi extender (Netgear, etc.) and plug your Apex controller into the Ethernet ports on the back of the extender. Pretty easy fix. This allows you to keep the Apex controller near all the equipment. I used this method and the connection has been very stable.

[starionesir]

I have my old linksys that I used at my old house so I'm sure I probably I can use that as a repeater and have that over near my tank and then just run a hardline from it to the apex. Thanks for the info. I didn't think it was wifi either. I think the guy I bought it from is confusing wifi with the new cloud program they are using.

[starionesir]

One thing I was wondering is since apex has the soft start feature does that cause any issues with the dc pumps which also have the soft start function? Reason I ask is I have a dc pump running my protein skimmer and a dc return pump.

[mbauma]

I don't think so, I am running a Sicce 5 as my main pump and my Eshopss 200 skimmer has an internal pump and they work fine when I am feeding and they turn off and on.

[stevenic]

One thing I've found is I can't reliably turn equipment on & off from Apex Fusion, their cloud service. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. It's so flaky that I've found myself always going to the apex controller directly when I want to turn things off and I primarily use Fusion for monitoring. Anyone else have similar issues?

[hkgar]

One thing I've found is I can't reliably turn equipment on & off from Apex Fusion, their cloud service. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. It's so flaky that I've found myself always going to the apex controller directly when I want to turn things off and I primarily use Fusion for monitoring. Anyone else have similar issues?

Not at all, I may have had 2-4 instances where I could not communicate with Apex from either my phone or laptop. I am always at home when communicating so always on the same wifi. Are your problems with connection occurring over the internet from an external wifi?

[stevenic]

Gary, I can communicate with my Apex directly without issue. It's using their new Fusion service that I often have trouble. What's interesting is Fusion can communicate with my Apex because the charts are all accurate and up to date. But try to turn something on or off and it often won't even though fusion thinks it did. Should probably just post something over on Neptunes website.

[hkgar]

Gary, I can communicate with my Apex directly without issue. It's using their new Fusion service that I often have trouble. What's interesting is Fusion can communicate with my Apex because the charts are all accurate and up to date. But try to turn something on or off and it often won't even though fusion thinks it did. Should probably just post something over on Neptunes website.

I was referring to fusion, but forgot that it is not direct, but still goes up to the cloud and back even though I am sitting in the same room as the tank.

[stevenic]

See like now it's working but the other day it wasn't. Very hit and miss for me.

[mbauma]

See like now it's working but the other day it wasn't. Very hit and miss for me.

It's been working great for me, hopefully your experience will improve. Is it current?

[Pdetevis]

you need to change your port setting, port 80 is a common port and by changing it to a differ number it should help with connection thru Internet

[kurt_n]

Gary, I can communicate with my Apex directly without issue. It's using their new Fusion service that I often have trouble. What's interesting is Fusion can communicate with my Apex because the charts are all accurate and up to date. But try to turn something on or off and it often won't even though fusion thinks it did. Should probably just post something over on Neptunes website.

Check over on Neptune's forum on their own website. I recall seeing that as an early issue (slow or no response to switch changes via Fusion) but don't remember what the resolution was, or if there was any. Maybe it was fixed in the latest firmware?

[AZBigJohn]

See like now it's working but the other day it wasn't. Very hit and miss for me.

I run into the same challenge with Fusion, too. I was trying to clean my protein skimmer, and wanted to turn off my skimmer pump. I would turn it off in Fusion, move it to "off", 30 seconds later, the button would move back to "auto" and stay on.

I finally gave up and opened up the Apex and turned it off in Apex. Fusion then quickly showed it going off. As the OP said, it seems to be a hit or miss thing, but there are definitely times it does not seem to want to take commands..

[Ryanrttu]

If you can, try and direct connect the apex directly to your modem. Amazon has a 50 foot Ethernet cable for $5 here, im sure 100 ft would be $10 or so....(http://www.amazon.com/Cat5e-Network-Ethernet-Cable-Blue/dp/B000QZ001I).