Hydros Owners: how happy are you long term?

reefiniteasy

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1st XP8 had 2 outlets malfunction within a week of setup. 1 started working again a couple days later after a full power cycle. The 2nd outlet never worked properly again. It was stuck ON at all times. The LED notification light would be blue meaning off but it still had power. Carlos had me send them the XP8 to someone in Florida so they could "put it under the microscope" to see what failed so quickly.

I got the replacement XP8 and day 1 an outlet got stuck ON once again and only came back after a full power cycle. It is currently working again but I switched it from controlling a halide to running my ozone generator.

Yes, I've had 3 wifi bars replaced by CV all for malfunctioning. They completely power cycle randomly and CV can't track any issues with my setup. I'm not exceeding any loads or doing anything crazy. Most of them are just set to ON.

Not sure what's funny about people sharing their experiences :face-with-monocle:


What was plugged in to each of the outlets when they died or got stuck, the halides?
 

rtparty

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What was plugged in to each of the outlets when they died or got stuck, the halides?

Yes, halides. Carlos had me switch one of the ballasts just in case it was the issue. It wasn't.

It's not an amperage thing or overloading the XP8. CoralVue has zero answers or solutions
 

n2585722

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1st XP8 had 2 outlets malfunction within a week of setup. 1 started working again a couple days later after a full power cycle. The 2nd outlet never worked properly again. It was stuck ON at all times. The LED notification light would be blue meaning off but it still had power. Carlos had me send them the XP8 to someone in Florida so they could "put it under the microscope" to see what failed so quickly.

I got the replacement XP8 and day 1 an outlet got stuck ON once again and only came back after a full power cycle. It is currently working again but I switched it from controlling a halide to running my ozone generator.

Yes, I've had 3 wifi bars replaced by CV all for malfunctioning. They completely power cycle randomly and CV can't track any issues with my setup. I'm not exceeding any loads or doing anything crazy. Most of them are just set to ON.

Not sure what's funny about people sharing their experiences :face-with-monocle:
High current is not the only cause of relay failure. Have you heard of a back EMF pulse. An example is the older cars that had points which were contacts. The back EMF pulse from the ignition coil would eventually destroy the contacts of the points due to the back EMF pulse that was generated by the ignition coil when power was remove by the points. That pulse would cause an arc across the contacts which would slowly destroy the contacts on the points. If some thing generates a larger back EMF pulse with more current it can actually fuse the contacts together which will cause the contact to stay connected even when they are suppose to be off. The other failure mode of this is no contact even when the relay is on. This has nothing to do with on current since this happens when the contact open and any relay would eventually fail if it is exposed to long enough. A higher current relay may last longer eventually fail if the pulse is strong enough.
 

rtparty

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High current is not the only cause of relay failure. Have you heard of a back EMF pulse. An example is the older cars that had points which were contacts. The back EMF pulse from the ignition coil would eventually destroy the contacts of the points due to the back EMF pulse that was generated by the ignition coil when power was remove by the points. That pulse would cause an arc across the contacts which would slowly destroy the contacts on the points. If some thing generates a larger back EMF pulse with more current it can actually fuse the contacts together which will cause the contact to stay connected even when they are suppose to be off. The other failure mode of this is no contact even when the relay is on. This has nothing to do with on current since this happens when the contact open and any relay would eventually fail if it is exposed to long enough. A higher current relay may last longer eventually fail if the pulse is strong enough.

Carlos and Tullio both said a halide ballast won't cause a failure like this.

I'd have to question the quality of the relay used by CV since I haven't ruined any other relay or plug with these same halide ballasts.

Reefkeeper, Apex, multiple Amazon smart plugs, etc. None of them have failed like this for me. So that tells me there is something wrong in the XP8 design, construction, quality, or something else
 

n2585722

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Carlos and Tullio both said a halide ballast won't cause a failure like this.

I'd have to question the quality of the relay used by CV since I haven't ruined any other relay or plug with these same halide ballasts.

Reefkeeper, Apex, multiple Amazon smart plugs, etc. None of them have failed like this for me. So that tells me there is something wrong in the XP8 design, construction, quality, or something else

I got the number of the relay off the CoralVue video of the XP8 and it is PC520-1C-24S-X. According to the Picker data sheet it is a 20 amp relay. It has a 80 amp inrush rating also. The circuit breaker on the XP8 is 15 amps which is below the rated current of that relay. So I don't think it is a design issue. Here is a link to the datasheet https://pickercomponents.com/pdf/Relays/PC520.pdf .
 

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I got the number of the relay off the CoralVue video of the XP8 and it is PC520-1C-24S-X. According to the Picker data sheet it is a 20 amp relay. It has a 80 amp inrush rating also. The circuit breaker on the XP8 is 15 amps which is below the rated current of that relay. So I don't think it is a design issue. Here is a link to the datasheet https://pickercomponents.com/pdf/Relays/PC520.pdf .

I'm sure CV would be happy if you figured out so they know what to do in the future or what to look for at least.

The Hydros will be offline this week so I'm not too worried going forward
 

n2585722

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That doesn't help the rest of us that bought this system specifically for features like this.

Remember when you said "I am not sure what work arounds you would be talking about"
This is *exactly* what I'm talking about.

Yeah, I'm not doing that. It's less work to just unplug the pumps. Plus, as I recall, the whole reason I even spent the extra time and money to integrate my ATO into the AWC is because they didn't play nice together the other way.
I know this sounds sarcastic but it's really not meant to be, but I have so little confidence in this controller that I truly don't believe it's going to do what I want it to do. There's going to be some seemingly unrelated setting I'll need to change or there's going to be some other reason why it won't function properly because of some quirk in the firmware.

Just to illustrate how little I trust this device, I have to pay more attention to this tank, with a controller, than my other tank without a controller. I'm so sick of having to check to make sure things are running when they should be running and not running when they shouldn't be. I hate how often I have to set a timer on my phone to remind me to get up and check on it and how often I'm glad I did that because I found it doing the wrong thing.

I really want to like this thing, but it's almost certainly going to end up in the garbage at some point or another.

I mean, just re-read what you told me to do in order to pause my AWC for a few days. That's an unacceptable workaround for something that should be so very simple.



All the information is here if they want to read it. Perhaps you could invite them to this thread. I've put so much effort and so many hours into trying to get some basic functionality out of this thing, I don't have the energy or patience to do it all again on a new message board.
Ok, I have done some testing and I have the ATO still woking when I paused the AWC. Tonight I actually assigned the actual port for the ATO pump to the ATO within the auto water change with it paused and it is still topping off when needed. I have had it paused since last night. The first two screenshot are the settings I used for the auto water change output settings. These were taken after setting the ATO pump to the auto water change. The third screenshot is the schedule I used. It has the same timing as my actual AWC. It followed my actual AWC before I paused it. I used the output in the fourth screenshot to pause it using the depends on statement in the schedule. It is set to off if on. I manually turned it on last night after the last auto water change schedule. It is a constant type output and is set to normally off. I went in and set it to on by clicking the icon. The last few top offs tonight have been done by the ATO in the auto water change. Hope this helps.

E3226969-644C-4217-8F0D-F4CBB744ABEC.png

F8A9F4FB-B9D7-406B-AA22-BA958B8F299D.png


943DE999-05BF-4791-8571-CD0382C10BFF.png


1696E23B-E6A9-4D10-B673-7B8C9CC97A4F.png
 

Joe31415

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I'll have to look at that later. But I'm gonna be honest. That looks like way too much work for something that should be built in. I'm just so sick of running into issues with things that I consider to be basic functionality.

But I had *another* problem already.
As I mentioned in an earlier post, I ended up turning the AWC back on and unplugging the AWC drain and fill pumps. Yesterday, I noticed the tank was really low and the ATO wasn't coming on (the water level sensor said Dry).
Best I can guess is that at some point during the time the Hydros thought the AWC was running, the water level just happened to drop below the sensor. Then, if I'm correct, it would have switched from drain to fill, but since the fill pump was unplugged, it never reached the sensor, so it continued to fill, meaning it never exited the AWC program, meaning the ATO was never turned back on.

Now, that one I'll take partial responsibility for. I tried to trick the Hydros and it reacted in a way I didn't expect. But this still goes to show that scheduled tasks need a pause button and this is another good reason why having the ATO and AWC so closely intertwined is a bad idea.

It's set to exit at midnight, I assumed that was an override specifically in case something was going wrong (like a bad level sensor not reporting the it's full).

I also find it odd that, within the AWC program, I can tell it what wattage the ATO can safely run at, but I'm not seeing similar settings for the AWC pumps. I thought I could set that so 0 watts would exit the program, but then I guess I don't know what actually happens when it goes outside those power ranges. Just an alert? Trigger it to do something (or stop doing something)?
 

n2585722

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I'll have to look at that later. But I'm gonna be honest. That looks like way too much work for something that should be built in. I'm just so sick of running into issues with things that I consider to be basic functionality.

But I had *another* problem already.
As I mentioned in an earlier post, I ended up turning the AWC back on and unplugging the AWC drain and fill pumps. Yesterday, I noticed the tank was really low and the ATO wasn't coming on (the water level sensor said Dry).
Best I can guess is that at some point during the time the Hydros thought the AWC was running, the water level just happened to drop below the sensor. Then, if I'm correct, it would have switched from drain to fill, but since the fill pump was unplugged, it never reached the sensor, so it continued to fill, meaning it never exited the AWC program, meaning the ATO was never turned back on.

Now, that one I'll take partial responsibility for. I tried to trick the Hydros and it reacted in a way I didn't expect. But this still goes to show that scheduled tasks need a pause button and this is another good reason why having the ATO and AWC so closely intertwined is a bad idea.

It's set to exit at midnight, I assumed that was an override specifically in case something was going wrong (like a bad level sensor not reporting the it's full).

I also find it odd that, within the AWC program, I can tell it what wattage the ATO can safely run at, but I'm not seeing similar settings for the AWC pumps. I thought I could set that so 0 watts would exit the program, but then I guess I don't know what actually happens when it goes outside those power ranges. Just an alert? Trigger it to do something (or stop doing something)?
All I did was add another output and set the AWC schedule depends on setting to that output. If that output is off the schedule will run as intended. If that output is on the schedule will not start but the ATO will continue to run. I named the output I added to ATO Pause. The only settings I change on the schedule to do this was setting the depends on to that output and set it to off if on. So if that output is on the schedule will not run. Do not use the depends on on the AWC output or it will halt the ATO along with the drain and fill outputs. My ATO pump is still on the AWC output ATO and it is still working with the ATO pause output set to on. If I turn the AWC pause output off and the AWC starts to run and the water level were to drop during a scheduled water change the ATO would quit working like yours did since I do not have a fill pump connected to the AWC output to fill to the full sensor.

The auto water change will not complete until the full sensor is wet. So if you do not have a pump to fill and the water level drops below full during the water change time when it is active then the ATO is halted until you intervene. That is normal since you would not want the ATO to fill with DI if the drain pump worked and the fill pump failed.

The drive ports, XP8 outlets and the single wifi outlet have power readings. The wifi power strip with the 4 AC outputs and USB ports does not have power readings so you cannot set a power setting when using the wifi strip outputs. So if your drain and fill pumps are on those outputs that is why there is not power settings.
 

n2585722

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I'll have to look at that later. But I'm gonna be honest. That looks like way too much work for something that should be built in. I'm just so sick of running into issues with things that I consider to be basic functionality.

But I had *another* problem already.
As I mentioned in an earlier post, I ended up turning the AWC back on and unplugging the AWC drain and fill pumps. Yesterday, I noticed the tank was really low and the ATO wasn't coming on (the water level sensor said Dry).
Best I can guess is that at some point during the time the Hydros thought the AWC was running, the water level just happened to drop below the sensor. Then, if I'm correct, it would have switched from drain to fill, but since the fill pump was unplugged, it never reached the sensor, so it continued to fill, meaning it never exited the AWC program, meaning the ATO was never turned back on.

Now, that one I'll take partial responsibility for. I tried to trick the Hydros and it reacted in a way I didn't expect. But this still goes to show that scheduled tasks need a pause button and this is another good reason why having the ATO and AWC so closely intertwined is a bad idea.

It's set to exit at midnight, I assumed that was an override specifically in case something was going wrong (like a bad level sensor not reporting the it's full).

I also find it odd that, within the AWC program, I can tell it what wattage the ATO can safely run at, but I'm not seeing similar settings for the AWC pumps. I thought I could set that so 0 watts would exit the program, but then I guess I don't know what actually happens when it goes outside those power ranges. Just an alert? Trigger it to do something (or stop doing something)?
I'll have to look at that later. But I'm gonna be honest. That looks like way too much work for something that should be built in. I'm just so sick of running into issues with things that I consider to be basic functionality.

But I had *another* problem already.
As I mentioned in an earlier post, I ended up turning the AWC back on and unplugging the AWC drain and fill pumps. Yesterday, I noticed the tank was really low and the ATO wasn't coming on (the water level sensor said Dry).
Best I can guess is that at some point during the time the Hydros thought the AWC was running, the water level just happened to drop below the sensor. Then, if I'm correct, it would have switched from drain to fill, but since the fill pump was unplugged, it never reached the sensor, so it continued to fill, meaning it never exited the AWC program, meaning the ATO was never turned back on.

Now, that one I'll take partial responsibility for. I tried to trick the Hydros and it reacted in a way I didn't expect. But this still goes to show that scheduled tasks need a pause button and this is another good reason why having the ATO and AWC so closely intertwined is a bad idea.

It's set to exit at midnight, I assumed that was an override specifically in case something was going wrong (like a bad level sensor not reporting the it's full).

I also find it odd that, within the AWC program, I can tell it what wattage the ATO can safely run at, but I'm not seeing similar settings for the AWC pumps. I thought I could set that so 0 watts would exit the program, but then I guess I don't know what actually happens when it goes outside those power ranges. Just an alert? Trigger it to do something (or stop doing something)?
Ok, I decided to add a separate fill pump and remove the fill pump head from the AWC pump to test this closer to what you have. I had a spare drive port and pump to do this with. Now waiting for the next AWC that is scheduled to see if my plumbing is ok on the fill pump and it works. Hopefully the 11 minute drain does not remove too much water from the sump also. The return section is kind of small. I turned off the AWC pause output so the drain and fill pumps should run on the next water change. I had no issues with the ATO when the AWC was paused. The pump with the green pump head is now the fill pump and the one below it is the drain pump. The Hydros pump is the ATO. All three are now controlled via the AWC output called Test AWC. Since this is just temporary for a few day I didn't run the power cable through the cable compartment and also the same for the tubing. If I decide to keep this format in place ai will run the tubing and power cable correctly.

9956851E-0DB6-4242-B24D-DFE7C219261D.jpeg
 
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n2585722

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I'll have to look at that later. But I'm gonna be honest. That looks like way too much work for something that should be built in. I'm just so sick of running into issues with things that I consider to be basic functionality.

But I had *another* problem already.
As I mentioned in an earlier post, I ended up turning the AWC back on and unplugging the AWC drain and fill pumps. Yesterday, I noticed the tank was really low and the ATO wasn't coming on (the water level sensor said Dry).
Best I can guess is that at some point during the time the Hydros thought the AWC was running, the water level just happened to drop below the sensor. Then, if I'm correct, it would have switched from drain to fill, but since the fill pump was unplugged, it never reached the sensor, so it continued to fill, meaning it never exited the AWC program, meaning the ATO was never turned back on.

Now, that one I'll take partial responsibility for. I tried to trick the Hydros and it reacted in a way I didn't expect. But this still goes to show that scheduled tasks need a pause button and this is another good reason why having the ATO and AWC so closely intertwined is a bad idea.

It's set to exit at midnight, I assumed that was an override specifically in case something was going wrong (like a bad level sensor not reporting the it's full).

I also find it odd that, within the AWC program, I can tell it what wattage the ATO can safely run at, but I'm not seeing similar settings for the AWC pumps. I thought I could set that so 0 watts would exit the program, but then I guess I don't know what actually happens when it goes outside those power ranges. Just an alert? Trigger it to do something (or stop doing something)?
The water chare ran without an issue using the auto water change regimen. I will let the one run in the morning then turn on the ATO pause output to stop the afternoon water change. After that I will turn it off so the evening one will run on schedule.

8B4621B8-C36B-4325-8FBA-6A282ECDAF7F.png
 

Joe31415

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Why does everything about this device have to be such a nightmare.

I replaced my router. Should be no big deal, right?
I gave the hydros control and wave engine the new credentials, they connected and I thought all was fine.
What I didn't realize is that the wifi power strips...the devices that don't have their own wifi settings, have to be updated as well. In the mean time, they just did nothing, or at least maintained whatever they were doing before. I didn't realize there was a problem until I noticed the AWC wasn't happening (which nearly caused a flood due to the way I have some plumbing set up).

Fine, whatever, I check the Hydros website and follow the directions for how to re-pair the wifi strips. I forgot that I almost returned all this equipment the day I got it because pairing the wifi power strips was so frustrating I assumed they were broken.
One of them connected just fine.
The other one I've been struggling with. And while trying to figure that out, the first one started turning on and off and on and off and on and off over and over until I pulled the plug.

The other device, is even worse. The lights don't blink like the directions say they will. The Hydros will pair with it *immediately*...immediately as in I'm quite sure nothing happened, it just reported that it's paired. In fact since after it "paired" it has all 4 outlets set to on. However, even with it unplugged, the status is still "Responding", so clearly the app has no idea what's going on.

In short, I can't connect either wifi power strip.

Now I remember why I don't change anything on this equipment once it's actually working. The stress this device causes me every time I change anything gets me so angry.

The only upside is that I put this on my QT, so other than flooding a spare bedroom, the worst it can do is kill a few corals/inverts. I don't have to worry it's going to crash my DT.

What a complete waste of money this has been, not to mention my time and all the stress.
 
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n2585722

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Why does everything about this device have to be such a nightmare.

I replaced my router. Should be no big deal, right?
I gave the hydros control and wave engine the new credentials, they connected and I thought all was fine.
What I didn't realize is that the wifi power strips...the devices that don't have their own wifi settings, have to be updated as well. In the mean time, they just did nothing, or at least maintained whatever they were doing before. I didn't realize there was a problem until I noticed the AWC wasn't happening (which nearly caused a flood due to the way I have some plumbing set up).

Fine, whatever, I check the Hydros website and follow the directions for how to re-pair the wifi strips. I forgot that I almost returned all this equipment the day I got it because pairing the wifi power strips was so frustrating I assumed they were broken.
One of them connected just fine.
The other one I've been struggling with. And while trying to figure that out, the first one started turning on and off and on and off and on and off over and over until I pulled the plug.

The other device, is even worse. The lights don't blink like the directions say they will. The Hydros will pair with it *immediately*...immediately as in I'm quite sure nothing happened, it just reported that it's paired. In fact since after it "paired" it has all 4 outlets set to on. However, even with it unplugged, the status is still "Responding", so clearly the app has no idea what's going on.

In short, I can't connect either wifi power strip.

Now I remember why I don't change anything on this equipment once it's actually working. The stress this device causes me every time I change anything gets me so angry.

The only upside is that I put this on my QT, so other than flooding a spare bedroom, the worst it can do is kill a few corals/inverts. I don't have to worry it's going to crash my DT.

What a complete waste of money this has been, not to mention my time and all the stress.
Sorry about the issues. I have never had an issue paring the wifi strips but I usually set them near my router when I do and have the device I use with the app installed on the same channel I want the wifi strips on. Pairing is how the wifi strips get setup on the wifi. I would have set the new router up with the same credentials as the old one so there would have been no need to setup any of my devices I use to the new router. It would be set to them.
 

n2585722

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Why does everything about this device have to be such a nightmare.

I replaced my router. Should be no big deal, right?
I gave the hydros control and wave engine the new credentials, they connected and I thought all was fine.
What I didn't realize is that the wifi power strips...the devices that don't have their own wifi settings, have to be updated as well. In the mean time, they just did nothing, or at least maintained whatever they were doing before. I didn't realize there was a problem until I noticed the AWC wasn't happening (which nearly caused a flood due to the way I have some plumbing set up).

Fine, whatever, I check the Hydros website and follow the directions for how to re-pair the wifi strips. I forgot that I almost returned all this equipment the day I got it because pairing the wifi power strips was so frustrating I assumed they were broken.
One of them connected just fine.
The other one I've been struggling with. And while trying to figure that out, the first one started turning on and off and on and off and on and off over and over until I pulled the plug.

The other device, is even worse. The lights don't blink like the directions say they will. The Hydros will pair with it *immediately*...immediately as in I'm quite sure nothing happened, it just reported that it's paired. In fact since after it "paired" it has all 4 outlets set to on. However, even with it unplugged, the status is still "Responding", so clearly the app has no idea what's going on.

In short, I can't connect either wifi power strip.

Now I remember why I don't change anything on this equipment once it's actually working. The stress this device causes me every time I change anything gets me so angry.

The only upside is that I put this on my QT, so other than flooding a spare bedroom, the worst it can do is kill a few corals/inverts. I don't have to worry it's going to crash my DT.

What a complete waste of money this has been, not to mention my time and all the stress.
Try rebooting your wifi master before trying pair the wifi strip.
 

JeffB418

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Why does everything about this device have to be such a nightmare.

I replaced my router. Should be no big deal, right?
I gave the hydros control and wave engine the new credentials, they connected and I thought all was fine.
What I didn't realize is that the wifi power strips...the devices that don't have their own wifi settings, have to be updated as well. In the mean time, they just did nothing, or at least maintained whatever they were doing before. I didn't realize there was a problem until I noticed the AWC wasn't happening (which nearly caused a flood due to the way I have some plumbing set up).

Fine, whatever, I check the Hydros website and follow the directions for how to re-pair the wifi strips. I forgot that I almost returned all this equipment the day I got it because pairing the wifi power strips was so frustrating I assumed they were broken.
One of them connected just fine.
The other one I've been struggling with. And while trying to figure that out, the first one started turning on and off and on and off and on and off over and over until I pulled the plug.

The other device, is even worse. The lights don't blink like the directions say they will. The Hydros will pair with it *immediately*...immediately as in I'm quite sure nothing happened, it just reported that it's paired. In fact since after it "paired" it has all 4 outlets set to on. However, even with it unplugged, the status is still "Responding", so clearly the app has no idea what's going on.

In short, I can't connect either wifi power strip.

Now I remember why I don't change anything on this equipment once it's actually working. The stress this device causes me every time I change anything gets me so angry.

The only upside is that I put this on my QT, so other than flooding a spare bedroom, the worst it can do is kill a few corals/inverts. I don't have to worry it's going to crash my DT.

What a complete waste of money this has been, not to mention my time and all the stress.
Try this. Reboot your collective from the app using the top right menu then under device properties, very bottom “reboot collective”. Then proceed and relink/reconnect your first Wi-Fi device to hydros. Once that links upload the config. Wait 30 seconds. Then reboot your collective again. Using the method above. Once your devices reconnect, then relink/reconnect your next Wi-Fi device. Upload config. And repeat. See if that works.
 

Joe31415

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I usually set them near my router when I do
They're within feet of the router.

and have the device I use with the app installed on the same channel I want the wifi strips on
It is.

I would have set the new router up with the same credentials as the old one so there would have been no need to setup any of my devices I use to the new router.
I did at first, for that reason. But then I moved it over to a guest network along with all my other IoT devices. Whether or not that's when the problems started, I don't know, since it was at least a full day after moving them to the new network before I noticed the problem.

Try rebooting your wifi master before trying pair the wifi strip.
Rebooting my what? I'm not sure what you mean by wifi master? Though I think I've rebooted nearly everything there is to reboot.

Try this. Reboot your collective from the app using the top right menu then under device properties, very bottom “reboot collective”. Then proceed and relink/reconnect your first Wi-Fi device to hydros. Once that links upload the config. Wait 30 seconds. Then reboot your collective again. Using the method above. Once your devices reconnect, then relink/reconnect your next Wi-Fi device. Upload config. And repeat. See if that works.
I'll try anything but I've rebooted the collective as well as both devices many, many times trying to get this up and running. The problem is that the wifi strips don't properly pair with the hydros anymore. Sometimes the hydros reports them as responding, but it has no control over them. Sometimes the hydros reports them as responding when they're not even plugged in.
I finally had to unplug them when one of them has all the outlets stuck on and the other is turning all the outlets on and off and on and off and on and off over and over and over.
 

n2585722

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Guest networks usually do not work because devices are not allowed to interact with each other on guest networks and the controllers and wifi strips need to interact. The wifi master is the controller that controls the wifi devices in a collective. If you only have one controller then it is the wifi master.
 

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They're within feet of the router.


It is.


I did at first, for that reason. But then I moved it over to a guest network along with all my other IoT devices. Whether or not that's when the problems started, I don't know, since it was at least a full day after moving them to the new network before I noticed the problem.


Rebooting my what? I'm not sure what you mean by wifi master? Though I think I've rebooted nearly everything there is to reboot.


I'll try anything but I've rebooted the collective as well as both devices many, many times trying to get this up and running. The problem is that the wifi strips don't properly pair with the hydros anymore. Sometimes the hydros reports them as responding, but it has no control over them. Sometimes the hydros reports them as responding when they're not even plugged in.
I finally had to unplug them when one of them has all the outlets stuck on and the other is turning all the outlets on and off and on and off and on and off over and over and over.

Understand what you're saying. It is a legitimate issue if you try to pair two wifi strips consecutively. Exactly as you're saying correct right down to reporting RESPONDING when actually unplugged. Both Jeff and I have observed it and reported to CoralVue. The workaround for the time being is careful order of operations. Follow Jeff's instructions closely. Pair the first wifi strip. Associate an output to the new strip. Upload configuration Confirm you can control the output with a quick ON OVERRIDE and observe it actually operate or the small red outlet led at least change state. Reboot the collective. Pair the second strip and associate an output in the same manner then upload changes again.
 

Joe31415

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Understand what you're saying. It is a legitimate issue if you try to pair two wifi strips consecutively. Exactly as you're saying correct right down to reporting RESPONDING when actually unplugged. Both Jeff and I have observed it and reported to CoralVue. The workaround for the time being is careful order of operations. Follow Jeff's instructions closely. Pair the first wifi strip. Associate an output to the new strip. Upload configuration Confirm you can control the output with a quick ON OVERRIDE and observe it actually operate or the small red outlet led at least change state. Reboot the collective. Pair the second strip and associate an output in the same manner then upload changes again.
I did that this morning before I left for work. It did appear to pair properly. In the 5 minutes that I had to play with it, it seemed like the app could properly control everything (ie I could manually turn outlets on and off). I left the wifi strips plugged in, but nothing plugged into them. The strip that was turning on and off constantly was usually fine for the first few minutes before it would start acting up. Hopefully it's still okay when I get home.
 

Joe31415

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Someone want to take a guess at why the hell my hydros is doing a water change at the wrong time?
I just happened to notice that my fill pump was running. Concerned, I ran to the tank assuming it would have been overflowing, but the water level in the sump was way down, indicating it had removed water first.
I *assume* it's doing a water change, however, my AWC schedule is set to run at 21:00 and only takes about two hours. Right now it's 7:20.
To make it worse, I have to leave for work before it's going to finish. The most I'll be able to do is keep an eye on the app to make sure the fill pump shuts off after the water level sensor changes from dry to wet.
 
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