Problems with fusion.

[triggreef]

I wish I could just go back to the old program. At least it worked. So far I think the only benefit is that fusion can actually send an alarm notification.

I don't know whats up with the clocks but nothing seems to have a rhyme or reason anymore. I get it that one clock is real time and the other is fusion time, whatever that means. But according to both clocks and my programming my frag lights should be on and are not. I have no idea why it worked fine before with the old program. I had a power loss a few days ago so I know it has rebooted since I made any changes. I have been working a lot so I don't even know if the lights went on at all today.

Things I hate:

- I have to hit the feed button 3 or 4 or more times before it works. Then the feed cancel button never works.

- On my phone/tablet the zoom in feature doesn't work, which makes it tough for stubby fingers to hit what they mean to. The old version had the feature why would you take that away?

- Why are the outlet names shortened so much? all my outlet names have been shortened on the upgrade and some are now difficult to tell apart. Thanks for the warning. I have 40 something outlets to change names on now.

- The old dash board layout was so much easier to follow. With multiple EB8's they were each grouped separate. Now they are all just in one line with nothing really telling you whats whats aside from your outlet names. Which i my case are messed up anyhow.


So anyway heres the main problem I'm having maybe some one can help...

My dash - note the times



Note the outlet "frag_lights" and it is off



And the settings

[bemerritt]

The two clocks have to do with being in a different timezone than the apex. I would check your settings and set it to the right time zone.

Not so sure about the other stuff.

[triggreef]

apparently I'm a half-wit because I can't find anywhere on this thing that allows me to select a time or time zone.

The first clock (orange one) has the exact time where I'm at.

[kurt_n]

Originally Posted by triggreef

I wish I could just go back to the old program. ...

You realize that you can, right? Even with Fusion enabled, assuming you have all your port forwarding setup correctly, you can still access your Apex the "old fashioned" way. Or you can even disable the Fusion option (uncheck the box) and just use it like you've been able to in the past. Fusion is not a one-way road.

It sounds like they're really close in getting these last few bugs ironed out of the Fusion service... wherever those bugs may be. But it still works just fine without it!

[aleithol]

OP, sorry you're discouraged. To Kurt's point though, Fusion is not a "one way street", nor it is intended to provide 100% of the same functionality people have been able to do with standalone (and not even network connected) controllers. There are still reasons people may have to use the "old ways" of interfacing with the Apex. To your questions/statements:

- Dual Fusion clocks are documented in the Fusion release notes (click your userid upper right corner of the Fusion dashboard, and Release Notes are in the drop down, look at July 25). You have them because the time and/or timezone on your PC/Mac/Smartphone do not match what you have specified on your Apex. If you need to see and/or change those settings on your Apex, from the native/classic dashboard (it's' not available via Fusion), go to Configuration / Clock Setup. Neptune implemented them this way at user request, so people traveling away from home could figure out what was going on when operating or programming their controller remotely across multiple timezones -- it's why Neptune does not show them IF time and timezones are the same in both places.

- Feed button and in general all button responsiveness with ALL cloud-based solutions like Fusion is different than using an app or direct-connect methods you are used to with the hardwired Display and/or classic/native dashboard. Such is life when we add our home network, ISP, telephone carrier, and/or servers-in-the-sky into the mix we may not be used to using.

- Neptune quickly added after Fusion General Availability and some of our comments, the sliders over every outlet that are defaulted on for all mobile devices. They are there to keep stubby fingers like mine from accidentally pressing the wrong slider. One still must be careful with the selection of the gear icon to not effect the status of an outlet given limited space on most mobile devices, but there are smartphone options such as bigger screens for folks that need them too... I don't consider this a Fusion issue.

- Not aware of any firmware release that shortened outlet names, nor do I remember reading any issues over on Neptune Systems Community about outlet names being errantly changed since I've been on that forum almost daily for the past year. I can't comment more since I don't know what release you're on. In fact, one of the more recent firmware releases this year allowed outlet names to be up to 12 characters in length.

- Depending on your device, you can separate outlets on the Fusion Dashboard in up to 3 columns. Given the "stubby finger problem", it appears Neptune tries to minimize the number of columns on devices with less visual real-estate so the sliders are not so small they couldn't be used even with a stylus, which makes a whole lot of sense to me. I agree though, having some visual separator lines a user could add would make it a whole lot easier. I, and others, added that as a requirement to the official Fusion thread for such things quite a while back.

So, I hope that helps with some perspective from another user. Fusion isn't perfect. There are compromises needed to work with as many different device types and screen sizes as their are in the market. I personally think Neptune has done a pretty good job with that, albeit there are always refinements than can be made -- fortunately, none of those will require any user to do anything, as Neptune can deploy it on the cloud and we'll all receive immediate benefit. I would suggest two things: 1) The Fusion subforum over on Neptune Systems Community forums has many threads about Fusion and includes the clock situation, so some of your future Fusion questions may be quickly answered over there. 2) As Kurt says, if Fusion frustrates you, go back to using the native/classic dashboard and/or iOS or Android apps to control your Apex. Unlike other aquarium controller solutions out there, you have a choice. I personally use both sets of interfaces with my Apex -- Fusion for it's nicer interface and improved wizards when I'm working on my Mac and/or iPad, but I still go back to the native interface when I need to do a lot of programming given it is more responsive without the cloud and my ISP or telco data stream having to be involved with every interaction.

Good luck!

[triggreef]

Interesting. I could also use the old interface for a couple days after I downloaded fusion but I can't access it now. Any ideas our things to check?

Obviously I'm not extremely computer savvy & need to ask for help just about everything I do with this. So dumb it down for more if you don't mind.... I thought I had port forwarding all set prior to adding fusion. I was able to access from anywhere before with seldom an issue.

[aleithol]

Port forwarding is only needed when you're trying to access your Apex away from the immediate network (likely your home) it is attached to. If it was working, but you changed nothing, what catches a lot of people sooner or later is they have DHCP ON with their Apex which allows your router to change the address of devices connected to it, and then when you try to get to that location with a saved bookmark or the address you typed into the iOS or Android app, of course your Apex isn't there. Some routers may cause the address change when they reboot themselves for whatever reason. To resolve that, you need to make your Apex use a static address on your home network, then set up port forwarding so you can reach through your router to that specific address from outside your home. It's easy on some routers, more difficult unfortunately on others, and there are a million combinations as you might expect given all the different ISPs and network variations people buy and install.

THIS post has best places to go to get your networking set up. That same forum that post is in over on Neptune Systems Community is a super place if you get stuck and need help -- just be as descriptive as you can and put in pictures like you did earlier, this time of your router and Apex Networking settings if need be so the couple of networking gurus that hang out there can try to be really specific and offer assistance.

Good luck! Enjoy that tank!