I need to get a controller. I can't afford the Gold nor do I feel I need it to be that robust. I know the lite has been discontinued but I have been able to find one used for 6 months. My question though is which one should I get? I want to monitor Salinity, Temp, Ph, leak detection, control on/off of T5, Kessil, control mp10 (1 right now but may get a second). The lite I am looking at comes with the Energy8 bar and the Jr comes with 4. Price will be about the same ($300) I am leaning towards the Lite but wanted opinions. Thanks
Apex lite or Jr?
- Thread starter Shaunv
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I'd say the lite, but my concern would be since it is discontinued how long with Neptune continue to support it? Say you want to add a Dos, well you have to update the firmware to do that. Maybe they won't release an update like that for the lite, and then you are sort of stuck with a system that can't be upgraded or expanded. With the Jr, I don't think you can check pH without purchasing the pm2 module, for another $85. I guess if you don't mind the potential "limitedness" of the lite, that's the one I'd go with. The EB4 is really going to fill fast, you could always pay another $150 for the EB8 down the road?
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I say if you think you will use the gold then save and just go for that, dont waste the money on ones that arent going to do what you want, leading to you eventually buying the gold anyway and spending more money then you needed to. For one the eb8s are well worth it and the eb4s are kind of a waste as you never know when you'll need an outlet or be upgrading tanks and need something more.
Do not get a Jr. You are only allowed 5 modules (the controller counts as one and so does the display), so you could not monitor and control everything you want (yoy would need PM1, PM2, leak detection module, VDM, extra outlets, display, WXM, and controller) thats 8 modules and you are onky allowed 5. There is merit in getting the lite and just adding a PM2, leak detection, WXM, and VDM since it would save you about $100. However, the lite has less memory, so if you make complex code like I do, you will experience "1% club" issues more frequently such as random reboots and controller lockups
That would be a good way to get extra outlets cheap. If you go this route, remember to only plug things into it that you do not want to monitor the amps on and will be Fallback OFF (want the device to turn off if communications are lost to the apex) as there is no amp monitoring or fallback selection on a DC8.
Thank you everyone for the suggestions. After doing more research, I've decided to wait and save up for the Gold unit. I think that it would be the best route. The Jr. Seems fairly useless and the Lite may cause more headaches than it's worth. Who knows, by the time I save up, maybe there will be other options that have been proven and or less expensive.
Great idea. Lets put an inaccurate ammonia probe, which should never read above zero unless you are doing something seriously wrong with your tank, a pH and conductivity probe, which require frequent calibration and last a couple years at most, and enclose them in a capsule with electronics that will be destroyed is even the tiniest crack happens to the gasket. Sounds like 300 bucks down the drain for a year of "use".
Thay one looks somewhat promising, but definately not on the same playing field as an apex. The thing that really irks me about the reef AI is that it is web server controllable and configurable only. That means if your internet ever goes down, a communication component fails (router, wifi bridge, etc), their server is having maintaince, their server is down, etc. then you have no access to your controller. I have had a few times that my tank literally would have crashed if I didnt have a way to access my apex without fusion. If they ever resolve this, it may be a reasonable competitor if you dont need to integrate with ecotech or AI.