Connecting Apex on a University Wifi Network

[CoulsonLantz]

I use apex controllers to control pH in ocean acidification experiments on coral but only have used older models that could directly connect to my mac/pc with an ethernet cable (dont usually have internet in these far off locations). I recently purchased the newest model (Apex 2016) to use at a research station which does have wifi but connecting to this network has to be done on a login page on a web browser.

How does one connect the Apex to a wireless network at a university or business that does not have a simple WPA2 wifi password, but instead a login screen etc.?

If this is not possible, could anyone advise how I could still communicate with my Apex in the absence of access to the university's router? Can I directly connect my computer to the Apex 2016 as was possible on the earlier models with an ethernet cable?

Thank you. It may sound strange, but I dont need the Apex to monitor anything and dont really need the wifi capabilities...I just need to give it commands and let it do its thing (control the pH)

[RussM]

How does one connect the Apex to a wireless network at a university or business that does not have a simple WPA2 wifi password, but instead a login screen etc.?

That is not possible.

Can I directly connect my computer to the Apex 2016 as was possible on the earlier models with an ethernet cable

Yes, you can do that just like you did with the Apex Classic models. You'll need to give the Apex and computer both static IP addresses.

However, there is another option when using the Apex (2016). It is called Lock Access Point Mode. What this does is enables the Apex to broadcast a wireless network name of Apex Setup_##### (##### is the Apex's serial number), which you can then connect to with a computer or mobile device. No static IP address configuration is needed w/ Lock AP Mode. See the Wi-Fi Lock Access Point Mode topic near the end of this page in the Apex (2016) Get Started Guide.

[CoulsonLantz]

Thanks Russ,

That Lock Access Point Mode is pretty cool! Nifty little feature that will work perfectly for my needs! Appreciate the fast response

[fiwizebrafish]

Hello,

Oh how I wish I would have seen this thread before purchasing the Apex 2016, but so thankful that I have now found it. The Lock Access Point Mode saved me! I too am working at a research center with WIFI, but need a username and password combo to join the WIFI.

However, I am wondering if in the Lock Access Point Mode it is possible to connect to the fusion cloud? I have spent many hours today trying to get the Apex Fusion app working, however, I can't get a token to be sent to me. I have read on other threads about people having a problem with this, but didn't find a clear answer.

At the moment, I have to be in the facility, connected to the APEX-XXX, then logged into the apex.local to be able to view the parameters. As you can imagine, this is not ideal or convient or helping me in any way.

Also, can the Apex 2016 be connected to an iPhone and a Kindle at the same time?

Thanks in advance for any and all help!

[Krazie4Acans]

There is another solution to this that may work better for some. Newer gaming adapters has support for username/password authentication. You could use one of those (configured to connect to the WiFi network) plugged into the LAN connection of the Apex and disable the WiFi connection of the apex. This would allow for actual network connection (as long as Domain membership is not required) and would work with fusion as well. You would have to update the game adapter settings each time the password changed.

That might be a better option than Lock AP mode.

[fiwizebrafish]

Hello again,

I asked our campus IT guy and sadly a gaming adapter is not allowed. So, I was thinking of the following solution, but first wanted to put it out here on the forum to see if I am just crazy or it might work.

I have a Kindle Fire that is connected to the university’s WiFi. Would it be possible to buy an Ethernet adaptor and hookup the Kindle to the Apex and then through the Kindle’s WiFi send the data to the Fusion app? Basically, I would use the Kindle like a laptop. Or does the Apex via Ethernet connection need to be connected directly via the router (which probably isn’t allowed on campus)?

I am looking at the fire stick and the ugreen ethernet adapter as a possibility. That way an internet connection can be formed and I can charge the Kindle at the same time.

Or should I just buy a Neptune Display unit? And if I had to go this way is there still a way to send notifications to a phone?

In in the end I need the parameters displayed in the facility and a possibility for alarms to the on call phone. How I get these two things doesn’t really matter in the end. So all suggestions are welcome!

Thanks in advanced!!

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[zombie]

Probably not on a kindle since it's incredibly unlikely you can run the apex Ethernet to it and do a "router mode" on the kindle. There is a way to do so with a PC or Mac, but depending on the universities security settings, even that might get blocked.

You might be an engineer if...You have no life and can prove it mathematically.

[fiwizebrafish]

Thank you all who have answered my questions so far, but I sadly I am still searching a solution. So, first I want to see if this idea would work and if so then I will run it by my IT guy. I am 99.9% about to give up trying to find a way to connect the Apex 2016 to the University's Wifi. My last solution (at least for now) is that I buy a portable WIFI device and a pre-paid SIM card and setup the WIFI device in the facility.

My two questions are:
1) Would the Apex be able to connect to a portable WIFI device?
2) Anybody have an estimation of how much gigabytes the Apex would us uploading and downloading from the cloud?

Thanks in advance!
Jessica

[zombie]

The apex can connect to a portable WiFi device, but unless that device supports multiple WiFi channels and passthrough, it will not do you any good. One of those would be no different than connecting your phone to the apex WiFi in hotspot mode.

You might be an engineer if...You have no life and can prove it mathematically.

[zombie]

The apex can connect to a portable WiFi device, but unless that device supports multiple WiFi channels and passthrough, it will not do you any good. One of those would be no different than connecting your phone to the apex WiFi in hotspot mode.

You might be an engineer if...You have no life and can prove it mathematically.

Unless you are talking about a WiFi hotspot cellular device like they offer at phone carriers. One of those would work.

You might be an engineer if...You have no life and can prove it mathematically.

[fiwizebrafish]

Hello. It would be a WiFi hotspot device (portable WiFi/travel Wifi device), with a SIM card (either prepaid or via a contract). And if we are now thinking/talking about the same thing, then it should work?

It would only be used for the Apex and in this case do you think 500 mb would be enough each month for it to upload/download via the cloud (Fusion app)?

Sorry for all the questions! I know just enough about electronics to get myself in trouble.

[zombie]

500mb is probably enough. You will find out fairly quickly the exact usage, but I presume it's pretty small.

You might be an engineer if...You have no life and can prove it mathematically.

[blz85]

Having the same issue. Could i use my own router to connect to the wpa2 and just connect my apex to my router which is connected to wpa2?

[zombie]

Having the same issue. Could i use my own router to connect to the wpa2 and just connect my apex to my router which is connected to wpa2?

Probably. You would need to run it by IT since they might whitelist MAC addresses and ip addresses.

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[mil3sdavis]

Probably. You would need to run it by IT since they might whitelist MAC addresses and ip addresses.

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk

I would think that the University IT department should be able to put in a mac address exception for the Apex itself to bypass their authentication, assuming you can figure out what the mac address of your Apex is. I'm not sure if Neptune has made that info easy to find or not. If its not listed somewhere (its not in Fusion from what I can tell, I'd have to check the local interface when I get home later), you should be able to figure it out by connecting it to a computer on the same subnet, ping it and then check the ARP cache.