Grid Connect - Wifi power control for your aquarium!
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- Опубликовано: 11 июл 2024
- A massively overlooked component of any decent sized aquarium is the power distribution. We all run a ridiculous amounts of devices on our tanks and the way you control that and share that power can be a huge deal in ease of maintenance.
I've been running a server rack with 4 PDU's for about 5 years now and whilst it has been good, Im not sure if it is the path I want to take with my new tank. Everyone seems to be talking about these commonly available wifi boards from Bunnings Warehouse lately, so I thought I'd give one a try and take you through the setup process.
More information on the grid connect range from Bunnings can be found here:
www.bunnings.com.au/our-range... 
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Just came home from Deer Park Aquarium, was thinking about these devices and thought I’d do a RUclips search and bang, I find your vid. If I had only done it earlier I would have asked you directly! Awesome review.
Hahaha my pleasure :)
Thorough and inclusive,great job,Bret
Thank you! I appreciate that :)
Just setting up a new tank you are king thanks sam
Great idea
Haha glad it was of use mate :)
Mate thanks for this little gem ! I have been looking for a solution for a while and this just fits went out and brought 3 and installed and it’s awesome!!! And you saved me $300 so thanks mate!!
Bloody awesome!
Merci pour ta vidéo PARKER !!! 👍👍👍
merci d'avoir regardé Guy!
@@ParkersReef Avec plaisir comme d'habitude mon ami !!! 👍👍👍
I have 3 of these on my current system. Best thing ever. Even got the arlec led strip lights for the cabinet.
nice one!
They are great, I have them on 2 different tanks. works amazing for putting ATO on short interval timers and for water changes etc.
Nicely done!
Hey Sam I use these and work ok. The voice application has saved me by allowing me to turn off a heater when i had both hands in the tank. However i have had a feed mode not turn back on after the allotted time, but using the schedules and alarm settings has saved me. Highly recommend it.
Good stuff,
Thanks for sharing :)
Awesome product and great review though
Thanks for watching!
Yep been using these for 6 months or so. I use the Tuya Smart app. The smart network got attacked one the first week that I put it in, luckily I had non important stuff on it, things went on and off , it went haywire, couldn’t re-initialise everything. Day later it all came good and has been rock solid since. I will not run my heaters nor return pumps on it, why I 95% trust them :) these are dirt cheap :) and work,
nice one, wise not using critical functions via it though :)
I use a different variant (more expensive) made by TPLink that is controlled by a reef-pi instance. Its direct to device so if the internet goes out, the reef pi will directly control/manage the device. They make single, single with power monitoring and three plugs all wifi controlled. I can still use the kasa app to control/know status or vpn into my home network and check parameters on the reef pi such as PH, temp, power consumption, ORP and soon to be ammonia (testing a sensor based on easily purchaseable parts) so i almost have a poor man's version of an Apex. I also get historical reporting via the cloud.
Would you mind sharing the device name or url? Thanks
Very nicely done!
@@crazykm1020
Of course! the latest version of reef-pi can be found via the reef2reef forums and on its website (Google "reef-pi") and the current version which runs on a raspberry pi supports a different number of tp link smart plugs such as the hs 100 and hs 110. I have both running off the reef pi and the good thing about it is that the reef pi communicates directly to the smart plugs and doesnt rely on the internet service.
There are instructions in the reef2reef thread by searching but if you ask, someone is bound to tell you (including me!)
Would like it if they had an ability to switch on after X minutes to set up "feed mode" which I do not think is possible. Certainly not possible from my wifi powerbar. Would always go for a wifi powerbar for basic timing functions and just so much easier to control for maintenance tasks. Great video and anyone reading this... don't forget your drip loops.
You can do feed timer type operations. They have time delay functions :)
Getting more functional then. Good as I hate remembering to switch things back on.
Nice video Sam, went out and bought one so thanks for the tip! Reckon Arlec owes you a few beers ;-). Out of interest, would you be comfortable putting your critical reef life support equipment on this? If so I’d be keen to know which items and how you might configure this.
I would certainly be cautious with the return pump or something else critical, but that being said I don't know why - I have been using the Grid connect for a while now (and using similar devices for a few years) without any trouble
Nice job as usual Sam. Just my two cents worth - I also have my whole system on its own breaker from the board (Garage) however I have my Gyres and closed loop pumps on one of the other house circuits. Just in case the Garage circuit trips (water leak or earth leak - who knows right) at least I still have some form of circulation running until I get back to it. Obviously this won't help if the all house power goes down but that's another story!
Not a bad idea at all mate, good thinking
Damn, and I just invested in a PDU fir the frag tank
Nothing wrong with PDU’s! I’m just exploring if there are other options
Hi Sam, have been looking at these options, thanks for another great vid, just jumped on Bunnings website (NZ) they make us pay $59.95 for the same product...go figure, we need to solve the riddle of power outage push notification or similar if you or anyone else has any ideas? Thanks!
Yeah power outage used to be easy with an android phone, a cheap SIM card and a $3 app. But android now longer allows autonomous message sending :/
I have 3 of these and love them, not just for reef stuff, handy if you think you left the human heater on. Just a thought I'm going to try. Set it a schedule to always be on with the timer every day of the week, like you did in the first take.. then it should turn on?? I'll give it a try
You can try that. For some reason my other grid connect devices won’t turn on after power outage, but this one did?!
Either way, that little hack gets the job done
@@ParkersReef Yeah just tested and if i don't have the schedule the default is to turn them off once the board gets power again. However if i have it scheduled to be on 12:00 am - 12:00 am they turn on once power comes back on. That might even be easier as you can still turn on/off using the physical power button ;)
That will actually save me as i have noticed in the past that the heater didn't go back on for my freshwater shrimp tank once power had gone out.
Kicking goals mate!
Just an update to anyone reading this make sure you have at least 1 minute off (12:01 on/ 12:00 off) otherwise it thinks you want to cycle one full day on then one full day off. if you change it to be off for a set minute it will only turn off for that minute then back on for all other minutes of the day
I came home from 4 days away and... half the lights in the house were off - arrrghhhh...
Feel like I am catching up - just watched the Kamoer doser - great choice.
I would rather go with the Ecotech doser except I think it's overkill for dosing small amounts and you cannot control it remotely. I think that is a must have for people who have automated testing (like kH but don't let the device do auto adjustments). Yeah for me it's a big thing Ecotech is missing.
So I come home and power is out - yes on my tank - I worked out having everything on the same circuit was bad after my heater exploded.
Lucky I had battery backup on a pump - but my heater (I realised this like hours later after I restarted the return) had cracked and when I put it in the bucket this grey stuff came out - I run Purit as a "just in case" - so lucky I did.
Anyhow my point is the next day I got a heavy German made powerbar with swtiches and a long extension cord so I could put my heaters, return and a 470nm reef light I turn on manually - on a different circuit.
I did have a smart powerbar but it didn't last long - it shorted out. I think the reef controllers are probably better made but I went and got a timer bar with like LCD and buttons from fish street - it's simple and works for putting things on a schedule and, best of all for me, it takes EU, AU, UK and US plugs - and I have all of them. I think I will get another one (although my order took ages to arrive with C19).
But right now I regret saving my money and not getting a SICCE Return Pump, which would have alerted me if the power went out.
After this experience I am glad I have a heavy duty powerbar for my heater and also with switches, whilst I have my skimmer, ATS light and my big gyre pump on timers - I only run my skimmer at night and I have the big gyre off in the evening so LPS get puffy ;)
oh no, I hope everything will be ok!!!
@@ParkersReef Well I looked on Reef2Reef and they just say do a water change and run carbon - I was running Brightwells Purit and added more (that's an awesome product to just have in a bag in the sump) and I did 2 x 10-15% water changes - 1 immediately - another 2 days later.
The corals haven't skipped a beat except maybe a goni frag which doesn't seem so extended. I got it as a bit of a tester/canary in the first place - so I'm watching it.
Saturday I am going to pick up 2 clams - so I will do another WC Friday night and change out the Purit.
We'll see - my tenuis is super shaggy - I only just got that Purit a couple of weeks before - so glad I did ;)
Sounds like you dodged the bullet nicely, well done!
Came here looking for a solution, what a pain, I have for 3D printers so fans are not spinning whilst in use. Unfortunately if there is a very minor power outage this board will take too long to resume
seems to be pot luck if the boards you get will have the remember option or not
I've had one socket stay on even with the blue light go off. Got warranty replaced. The plug was turning a wave maker on and of every half hour for half the day. Two weeks it failed.
So I vowed never to use it for anything that is life dependent like heaters or filters.
BTW the replacement unit failed in one socket two weeks later running the same wave maker. The cheap relay solenoid might not like certain spikes.
yeah perhaps that is a little too frequent of use for it? That being said, I've had a solenoid pump switch on and off every 5 mins (5mins on, 5mins off) for the last couple years on a grid outlet (just a single outlet) without issue - but doesn't mean they are all good... Hopefully you experience some better results now :/
@@ParkersReef I still have 3 boards just doing lights for 3 tanks (including dud socket one). Like imagine I had a hard current during the day and off at night then one night come downstairs for something and the tank is whirling with current flow.. bonkers stuff.
Made the mistake of purchasing the Arlec Grid Connect Smart 4 Outlet ($19.98) at Bunnings. Dose not individually control each outlet.😢 Back to Bunnings to trade it for the Arlec Grid Connect Smart 5 Outlet Powerboard at $43.58👍
Ah really?! That’s no good!
I have tried these but if Australia's biggest NBN provider does upgrades every 2 weeks like they do in my area, the board sometimes fails to reconnect, I think if it can't connect it does nothing. Not sure can't remember.
That’s interesting! Shouldn’t matter what happens on the external network as long as your internal network remains the same
@@ParkersReef I agree, but for some reason after some upgrades I have to reboot the modem for anything to work, including other devices. Would be good if the microcontroller had it's on real time clock and program memory on board so once set up it could be totally independent
Bought one a few weeks ago, so far so good very handy hidden away in the tank cabinet.... ps. Can I have your Pokémon go trainer code?🤞
Hahaha sure, although I haven’t played this whole time we’ve been home:
My Trainer Code is 2328 7044 3961
Hi! What happened if your wifi router is no longer working ? Does the timer function is still working ?
Pre-set timers will execute regardless of the internet connection if they were set via the product user interface. If the timer is set via a scene or automation it will not execute if there isn’t internet connection to the router the products are paired.
Hey Sam, are you still using this powerboard? If so, how has it fared and any issues? Thanks.
Sure am, running a bunch of them! Apart from one morning when they had a server outage, no issues (Y)
@@ParkersReef Great to hear, thanks for the reply!
I don't like any power board or outlet that doesn't have a manual switch. It gets annoying when you just want to turn something off for a minute, you have to get your phone, open the app, select the board and turn of the switch. I use Xiaomi outlets everywhere and they have a memory feature like you were pointing out and also a manual switch on top. They are about $30 ea though and you need a hub. They also have power meter built in so you know what wattage everything is drawing. They in my opinion, are by far superior to what you have there although the cost is higher. Just my 2 cents
Thanks for the info, I’ll check them out :)
If you are looking for the power meter enabled simple single powerpoints, grid connect also has their single outlet with power monitoring which retails at about $20. These have a manual switch and can monitor power, and does not require a hub.
www.bunnings.com.au/arlec-grid-connect-smart-plug-in-socket-with-energy-meter_p0135442
So do these default to on, i was very wary as default to off after an outage is a death sentence for tanks!
they look to your schedule and either switch on or off. Almost as good as "remember state"
Судя по комментариям люди потерялись где-то в прошлом 🤣.
Я отвечаю на каждый комментарий
Ever have any issue when power goes out it doesnt turn back on need to hit reset button, something always happens when i go away works for weeks then drops out as i get message when it goes offline
Not since I put in the rule that if the master is off, to switch the outlets I want back on again 👍🏻
Thanks Man, that's reason I went straight to Parker Reef.. 4x emails to Arlec no one could help
@@cheekonv Always happy to help!
@@ParkersReef how did you set this rule up? My power went off briefly this morning and the outlets didn’t turn back on until I pressed the master switch. Ps - I don’t have any schedules set. Everything is on permanently - I use the app to power cycle outlets when required.
@@TheDazzabozza hey mate, there is a rule you can set where by if the "master" is off, turn particular (or all) outlets back on. Just need to be mindful that if you do manually switch them all off, it will turn them back on again :D
can you turn then off individually from a google home
Sure can
@@ParkersReef ok thanks
As of Nov 2022 looks like this product is now discontinued...
Oh wow really?
@@ParkersReef Bunnings seems to have a 4 socket one now (instead of the 4+1) but the reviews are not good
First
First again!!
Yep not letting anyone taking it from me
Pokémon Go.. 🤢
hahaha yeah, I haven't played it since the lockdowns began. Before then, it was a great activity for my daughter and I to do together on weekends though :)