Reef Angel Questions

archie&jughead · Post by **archie&jughead** » Thu Nov 24, 2011 6:27 pm

Hi, I am thinking of purchasing the Reef Angel Controller and have a couple of questions

1) I will be purchasing an AI Sol Super Blue. There is a cable that connects to the ?ATO outlet on the RA Head unit. Will I be able to control the AI Sol Super Blue, to the same degree as if I bought the AquaIlluminations Controller?

2) I would also like to use the ATO low AND high level switch. But is this possible, given the fact that I also want to control my AI Sol Super Blue? It appears there are only 2 ATO outlets

3) Regarding wireless features, must I have a computer turned on, in order for the RA Unit to be "live" on the web? For example, if I turn off all my computers, but leave my router on, when I go travelling, can I still get access to the status of my RA, and be able to control it using the WWW or my iPhone?

4) What is the measurment of the Relay Box? I want to see if it can fit in my cabinent.

5) Is there a waiting time for the Reef Angel Kit + Wifi Attachement? My new aquarium is supposed to come in the next 2 weeks...

Thanks in advance!

binder · Post by **binder** » Thu Nov 24, 2011 9:05 pm

archie&jughead wrote: 3) Regarding wireless features, must I have a computer turned on, in order for the RA Unit to be "live" on the web? For example, if I turn off all my computers, but leave my router on, when I go travelling, can I still get access to the status of my RA, and be able to control it using the WWW or my iPhone?

I can only answer on one of these, others will have to chime in on the rest.

The RA unit has its own webserver built in. If you have the wifi module, the RA will connect directly to your router and no other computer will need to be on. The only thing you will need is to have a dynamic domain name point to your routers ip (I use the http://dyn.com/ service for a free dynamic hostname as do lots of other people). Then make sure that you have the default port on your router point to the wifi module. Once you do that, you can use the internal webserver or the iphone app to monitor and control the status of your RA.

curt

binder · Post by **binder** » Thu Nov 24, 2011 9:07 pm

almost forgot, if you want to see what the web interface looks like, I've got a publicly accessible RA unit for testing purposes and demonstration.

http://curtbinder.dyndns.info:2000/wifi

Feel free to browse to the page and look at it. Or if you have the iPhone app, you can also test things out on that site too.

curt

rimai · Post by **rimai** » Fri Nov 25, 2011 9:52 am

1. Yes, but not to the same extent of the AI controller. You will be able to do it even better!!!

All 3 channels can be controlled individually in whichever way you wish. Ain't that coool!!

2. No. RA only has 2 ATO ports and one has to be used for the AI cable. You could still use two float switches connected in series though. The second one would be acting as redundancy.

3. See Curt's post above

4. It is about 8x4x3.

5. In stock.

tkeracer619 · Post by **tkeracer619** » Tue Nov 29, 2011 11:55 pm

rimai wrote: You could still use two float switches connected in series though. The second one would be acting as redundancy.

This is really how you want to do it anyways. It keeps the backup out of the water so it has little chance of getting build up on it. All it takes is a tiny snail, tube worm, limpet, or sponge and your now relying on the controller to time out before a flood. If you go away on vacation and the first float gets stuck on the ATO will still function just at a slightly higher water level.

Mount the floats in two connected pvc caps with holes drilled in them to reduce these things growing on it.

This is how http://www.autotopoff.com does their dual float switches. I give it an A+
http://autotopoff.com/products/DT1/

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