Jestersix

Apex Big Picture Questions

MolaMola

MolaMola

Supporting Member
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Hi. Controller newbie here and not techy. Need to set up Apex at remote location (school) but I am at home. Have spent hours sifting thru posts and forums and realize my problem is I have no clue about the big picture here so all the details and procedures are useless to me.
Questions:
1) Can I update firmware and temporarily set up and familiarize myself with Apex and Fusion via my home router or will this cause problems when hooking it up at school?
2) Do I have to/should I use the same computer for setting up Apex and every time I make changes in the future? (At home I use a Mac laptop but do not routinely bring it to school. At school I have a Mac desktop or Windows netbook. Should I stick with one device?)
3) At school I have a wall ethernet port right by the tank for the Apex and across the room is another wall ethernet port my desktop is connected to. Does plugging into both count as a direct connection?
-Maureen
 
I've been playing with my new-to-me Apex.

1) There won't be a problem. You just need to do the net setup again. The IP address will be different as the router it will be attached are different routers.

2) There are 2 interfaces for Apex. A local interface and web based Fusion. The local interface requires you to be logged into the same network as Apex. Fusion is web based so you don't need to be on the same network. On the local Apex it uses web pages loaded from the unit self so any computer will work. There is no software you have to download and install on your computer. Everything is in the Apex itself.

3) Yes, as long as both ports are in the network. That count's as direct connection. Neptune means not to have your computer on wifi connected to the network but to have a wired connection to the same network.

Hope this helps.
Vincent
 
Maureen,

1) Yes you can set up your controller at your home to get familiar with how to program outlets & VO's (Highly Recommended) When you are ready to move it over to the school you can just go into the network settings and change them to the schools info and reboot the controller to have the settings take effect.

I hooked the Apex on a bench and plugged in a couple night lights and table lights to watch the outlets turn on and off to make sure that my programmed outlets were doing what I wanted them to do and adjusted accordingly....I also HIGHLY recommend to read the CRM ( I know the CRM can be a bit confusing at times yet it will give you ideas on how to setup different programs to have the controller do what ever you want)

2) No I change my programming from my laptop at home, work desktop computer and even my cell phone all the time if you set it up correctly. (I use Windows based computers, but you can also use Mac desktops also ....I am not a familiar with their layout....lol

3) Yes as long as they are are on the same Network.

Marine I would highly recommend you to post on this sight....https://forum.neptunesystems.com/forum.php
Russ M is one of the Head administrator is a Network Guru and is very helpful as are other members on this sight.....and of course I will be glad to help you too.

Signing up on Reeftronics (ran by Russ M.) for Apex, Digital Aquatics and Reef Angle gives you tools and access to others programming and stats...I have got a lot of good programming Ideas from here and he offers other great tools
 
THANK YOU both so much for the clear answers!
I didn't relish the idea of having to spend a ton of time later if the change of location was a big deal. Seems like I need to stop reading and get hooked up to understand the system and test it out.
Thanks for the big manual link. I am also considering the Reeftronics site for monitoring power outage.
 
Your Welcome...

Fusion will give you power monitoring also, yet Reeftronics does too and at times I like reeftronics graphs better as it can give you a sightly different view
 
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