Hydros Wave2 Frustration - Issues out of the box

[William Norman]

I had high hopes for the Hydros setup after reading all the great reviews.

I purchased a Wave v2 - a new 4k Icecap Gyre, the fish feeder and a number of individual plugs.

I am very technical, for the first 20 years of my career I built enterprise & commercial software. I have numerous home automation tools that I have been running for years.

I was able to get the Wave 2 setup with new gyre and my existing 1K , but my first frustration is their documentation. It looks like their change control between the original wave engine and V2 has not been performed properly as there is conflicting information. Their youtube videos and written documentation needs work. They have lots of info, its just not organized for someone to start using their controller from scratch. From using questions others had and the facebook page I had working. Much longer than it need to take.

Great. Now on to the 2nd task - getting the wifi plugs and fish feeder working. - What a nightmare. Support has tried to help, but I still dont have anything working properly.

First you open the box of the Hydros Smart plug and you get instructions in the box that tell you download another app and perform setup. Well this is wrong. You dont need to do this. But unless you go online and read Hydros web page instructions, you wouldn't know. Ok some manufacture process issue - I could live with that, but......

Second - I go to my Hydros app - no menu that matches what the instructions say for adding wifi. Now it is the weekend. So I spend an hour looking on line and reading to try and figure out what's wrong. I send an email to support which is not open till Monday. Great. Ill wait. Support answers me and informs me that it does seem to be an issue and will let the programmers know and they will send a fix in the next update. I email back - I ask when should I expect an update a week, a month ? No answer - Should I return this stuff as it might be a 6 months or a year ?? - No answer. I ask the facegroup if they know how often they do updates and what my issue is. A couple of people suggest that I should try creating a collection with just the wave 2. - Fantastic - I did that, now I have a menu for creating wifi devices. - Setup one plug - no issue, works. I can turn the plug off that controls my return pump when I turn on feedmode. When feedmode ends the plug turns back on. I try setting up a second plug. First plug says not connected. ???? Maybe something is wrong with the second plug, I try the 3rd plug. Both 1 and 2nd plug now say not connected. 3rd plug connected. Restart everything. First plug connected, 2nd and 3rd not connected. ??? Ok maybe problem with plugs. Lets try fish feeder. Again instructions for using feeder in box not correct, but I guess this and I go online to find fish feeder instructions. Get fish feeder setup, Guess what same thing I can only have one plug working or the fish feeder working. Even though the wave 2 supports 8 wifi connected devices. I can only have 1 connected at time. Ok Ill wait till support figures out what is going on and Ill just live with the fish feeder for now.. = Guess what - that doesn't work. It is setup to feed once a day. - nothing happens. I tell it to manually feed via the app - I also tried on website. Says its feeding, but the feeder just sits there.

Third - This morning - I want to setup my tablet on the tank so I can see whats going on with Hydros along with the other devices that I have setup on tablet Dont have any issues with the other websites and apps on tablet. I try setting up the app. - Incorrect email address/password. What ?? It works on my phone and home computer fine! Go back and double check everything. I have correct email and password. Wont work. I go an try another tablet - same thing. Ok lets try resetting my password. - Invalid email!.. This is the email I have been using for ever and for 3 weeks now with Hydros. - My guess is due to my email address being short. It is thinking that my email address is too short to be valid even though I setup everything with this email

I am very excited to see their new announcements at MACNA, but if this is how their products work, ill go back to something else.

 

[n2585722]

What kind of tablet are you trying to use the app on? I use an iPad and have not had any issues.

As for the wifi device setup issue. If you just have the WEv2 and no other controller the after each paring or pairing failure wait 3 minutes then reboot the WEv2 from the app. Wait 3 minutes before doing the next pair or retrying. This is a work around that one user came up with until the next update. It does seem to work and will take a little longer to get every thing setup. For some reason it will only pair one and then it will not pair again until the controller is rebooted. this has been reported like you mentioned. It showed up after the last update. That is something that most of the users very seldom do once they have things setup.

I have a WEv2 in my collective, but before I added it I tired paring a wifi strip to it and it worked without an issue but it was before the last firmware update. I have is setup as my wifi master on the collective and that means it controls all the wifi devices which is 4 wifi power strips and a wifi feeder. I do have other Hydros controllers in the collective though. The only pumps I am controlling with it is 2 MP10's.

 

[William Norman]

What kind of tablet are you trying to use the app on? I use an iPad and have not had any issues.

As for the wifi device setup issue. If you just have the WEv2 and no other controller the after each paring or pairing failure wait 3 minutes then reboot the WEv2 from the app. Wait 3 minutes before doing the next pair or retrying. This is a work around that one user came up with until the next update. It does seem to work and will take a little longer to get every thing setup. For some reason it will only pair one and then it will not pair again until the controller is rebooted. this has been reported like you mentioned. It showed up after the last update. That is something that most of the users very seldom do once they have things setup.

I have a WEv2 in my collective, but before I added it I tired paring a wifi strip to it and it worked without an issue but it was before the last firmware update. I have is setup as my wifi master on the collective and that means it controls all the wifi devices which is 4 wifi power strips and a wifi feeder. I do have other Hydros controllers in the collective though. The only pumps I am controlling with it is 2 MP10's.

Both Samsung - I tried first on my tab a then on my S8. I think the log in issue is that maybe in all the frustrations I changed my password and didnt write it down again, but now I cant reset it.

I terms of the reboots I tried that also. I deleted both, then added one, then rebooted, then added second. Then the first is not connected. Reboot. The first connects but not the second.

 

[n2585722]

Is the Samsung an android device? I am not familiar with those tablets.

If you are locked out due to the password then you will need to submit a support ticket here https://support.coralvue.com/submit_ticket .

 

[William Norman]

Yes the Samsung are android. I will submit a ticket, it is just annoying that I cant do it myself, along with all the other problems I have had. Support is trying, I am wondering if they are rushing out too many products and not making sure the ones they have are solid.

 

[areefer01]

You may have said this already but have you tried the app on your phone? If so does it work there?

 

[n2585722]

Yes the Samsung are android. I will submit a ticket, it is just annoying that I cant do it myself, along with all the other problems I have had. Support is trying, I am wondering if they are rushing out too many products and not making sure the ones they have are solid.

That is odd I have had my X4 since November 2020 and the others I have got along the way. I am up to 9 controllers in my collective. I got my WEv2 I think the first of February this year. I use it as my wifi mater in the collective and before adding it to the collective I made a collective with only the WEv2 and paired a wifi strip to it to test that. I have not had any issues other than when I first got it and that was because I was unfamiliar with the controllers. I had a few questions. I had questions when I first got my Digital Aquatics RKE. This is normal and is a learning curve with any controller since they are complex devices. Now I am helping others that have questions when first getting into the Hydros system. I am able to answer most things about either the Hydros or Digital Aquatics systems. I was a Team DA member and a DA beta tester for several years. I am now a beta tester for Hydros.

 

[2 Blue Shoes]

I had high hopes for the Hydros setup after reading all the great reviews.

I purchased a Wave v2 - a new 4k Icecap Gyre, the fish feeder and a number of individual plugs.

I am very technical, for the first 20 years of my career I built enterprise & commercial software. I have numerous home automation tools that I have been running for years.

I was able to get the Wave 2 setup with new gyre and my existing 1K , but my first frustration is their documentation. It looks like their change control between the original wave engine and V2 has not been performed properly as there is conflicting information. Their youtube videos and written documentation needs work. They have lots of info, its just not organized for someone to start using their controller from scratch. From using questions others had and the facebook page I had working. Much longer than it need to take.

Great. Now on to the 2nd task - getting the wifi plugs and fish feeder working. - What a nightmare. Support has tried to help, but I still dont have anything working properly.

First you open the box of the Hydros Smart plug and you get instructions in the box that tell you download another app and perform setup. Well this is wrong. You dont need to do this. But unless you go online and read Hydros web page instructions, you wouldn't know. Ok some manufacture process issue - I could live with that, but......

Second - I go to my Hydros app - no menu that matches what the instructions say for adding wifi. Now it is the weekend. So I spend an hour looking on line and reading to try and figure out what's wrong. I send an email to support which is not open till Monday. Great. Ill wait. Support answers me and informs me that it does seem to be an issue and will let the programmers know and they will send a fix in the next update. I email back - I ask when should I expect an update a week, a month ? No answer - Should I return this stuff as it might be a 6 months or a year ?? - No answer. I ask the facegroup if they know how often they do updates and what my issue is. A couple of people suggest that I should try creating a collection with just the wave 2. - Fantastic - I did that, now I have a menu for creating wifi devices. - Setup one plug - no issue, works. I can turn the plug off that controls my return pump when I turn on feedmode. When feedmode ends the plug turns back on. I try setting up a second plug. First plug says not connected. ???? Maybe something is wrong with the second plug, I try the 3rd plug. Both 1 and 2nd plug now say not connected. 3rd plug connected. Restart everything. First plug connected, 2nd and 3rd not connected. ??? Ok maybe problem with plugs. Lets try fish feeder. Again instructions for using feeder in box not correct, but I guess this and I go online to find fish feeder instructions. Get fish feeder setup, Guess what same thing I can only have one plug working or the fish feeder working. Even though the wave 2 supports 8 wifi connected devices. I can only have 1 connected at time. Ok Ill wait till support figures out what is going on and Ill just live with the fish feeder for now.. = Guess what - that doesn't work. It is setup to feed once a day. - nothing happens. I tell it to manually feed via the app - I also tried on website. Says its feeding, but the feeder just sits there.

Third - This morning - I want to setup my tablet on the tank so I can see whats going on with Hydros along with the other devices that I have setup on tablet Dont have any issues with the other websites and apps on tablet. I try setting up the app. - Incorrect email address/password. What ?? It works on my phone and home computer fine! Go back and double check everything. I have correct email and password. Wont work. I go an try another tablet - same thing. Ok lets try resetting my password. - Invalid email!.. This is the email I have been using for ever and for 3 weeks now with Hydros. - My guess is due to my email address being short. It is thinking that my email address is too short to be valid even though I setup everything with this email

I am very excited to see their new announcements at MACNA, but if this is how their products work, ill go back to something else.

I read some reviews about Hydros and connecting the wifi powerbars being difficult.
In my experience however, it was not difficult at all. I have a control 2 with two wifi powerbars that connected with in 10 minutes and have been running for six months with no problems what so ever. I do have apple devices, I wonder if that might be part of my success?