Apex keeps losing power! Firmware upgrade did not help.

[mr&mrsfish]

Hi,

I have asked about this problem a couple times over the last few months. My apex keeps losing power even though I have no evidence that power is actually lost. When this occurs, everything in my aquarium turns off. A couple people suggested I try updating the firmware. A month ago, I updated the firmware to the most recent version.

Well, the updated firmware did NOT solve the problem. Over the last month, the apex has supposedly lost power twice.

Is my unit defective? I really need to get this issue resolved. Is there a way to contact Neptune directly about this problem.

Thanks.

[bazineta]

Neptune Systems - Contact Page

[milkman55]

I have the same problem even after I upgraded to the firmware that "solved" this problem. Since it's a false "power out" and does not cause any issues, I just ignore it and figure they will fix it in some future release. It does seem like it's less frequent than it used to be before the firmware upgrade. Right now it shows 12/04 as the last power outage.

[swearint]

I recently reported the same issue to Neptune. Curt had me send him a core dump and once he looked at it determined that it had received an invalid command that caused it to reboot. He theorized that it could have been a malicious attack/port probe. He suggested that I switch my http port to something other than the default 80. I have done this, and will report if things improve.

Todd

[r0ck0]

Would these false power state changes effect the ability to use a UPS batter backup? Causing frequent switches to battery power, turning off ports that are not enabled for backup power?

I am thinking about setting up a UPS but not too eager to test it out if there is a known bug with the power state monitoring.

[SPotter]

I have the same issue and never pay much attention to it.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[RussM]

Originally Posted by r0ck0

if there is a known bug with the power state monitoring.

I too have experienced this. It's not a problem with power state monitoring - that function is working exactly as it is supposed to. Nor is there an actual power loss (at least in my case.) What happens is that the controller reboots, which is reported as a power loss of about 36 seconds (once again, in my case) each and every time. I can correlate the majority of these events directly to network activity - specifically, accessing the web server.... similar to what Todd (swearint) was told.

Sometimes I'll get 3-5 reboots a day, other times I'd go a week or more without a reboot. For my system, the reboots don't cause me any problems.

FWIW... 10 days ago I wanted to experiment with something, so I did a backup, initialized the Apex, did my experiment, then I initialzed it again, and finally restored the backup. I have not had a spurious reboot since.

[mr&mrsfish]

I received the same message from Curt. He had me switch from port 80 to something else. I'll let everyone know if this solves my problem.

I've only been around the tank a couple times when the "power loss"/"reboot" occurred. All of these times, my lights went off, all my pumps stopped, etc. I could have solved this problem by setting the fallback feature to on but decided I'd rather address the source of the "power loss". Thanks all.

[connecticut cichlids]

I just recently setup my apex, just to get it going, and web connected. There are no probes or equipment hooked up to it yet, as I do not have my tank up yet. But according to the iPhone app my apex lost power and restored it at the same time 12/4/2010 @ 11:17 a.m.
Hasn't done it since. But I do know that it did this a few days after I upgrade to the current firmware version. And I'm also using port 80 on my 2wire router..

[swearint]

Originally Posted by r0ck0

Would these false power state changes effect the ability to use a UPS batter backup?

It might affect your backup strategy. I use a UPS, it supplies power to the Apex via the secondary port (12VDC). And I run my main pump off of it, independent of the Apex. When the Apex reboots, anything running off of the EB8s should default to the Fallback state specified for each outlet as mr&mrsfish indicated.

Todd

[swearint]

Originally Posted by swearint

I recently reported the same issue to Neptune. Curt had me send him a core dump and once he looked at it determined that it had received an invalid command that caused it to reboot. He theorized that it could have been a malicious attack/port probe. He suggested that I switch my http port to something other than the default 80. I have done this, and will report if things improve.

Todd

Reporting back on this issue. Since changing the port, my Apex has been running for 20 days without a reboot. Previously, the longest duration was about five days.

Todd

[RussM]

Originally Posted by swearint

Since changing the port

Did you change the actual port setting on the Apex, the forwarded (public) port in your router, or both?

[swearint]

Originally Posted by RussM

Did you change the actual port setting on the Apex, the forwarded (public) port in your router, or both?

Both. I was not sure if both needed to be changed, but I was following the instructions in Alan's guide.

Todd

[swearint]

There has been one other benefit I have noticed since making the change. Previously, when accessing my Apex from the office I would get frequent page hangs. I would have to hit the stop button or refresh for the page to complete. Now the pages are completing properly and loading much faster. This could also more likely be the result of routine IT maintenance done over the holidays, but I wanted to mention it just in case.

Todd