Apex Gold display slowness/lag and clock display jumping. Is this normal?

[jasonwongzero]

Hi, I just installed my new Apex Gold. Coming from an old, but reliable AC3 system.

I have pretty much everything working correctly, but the overall system seems slow and laggy, especially coming from the AC3. I'm not sure if it's my system or if all Apexes are this way. Here are a few observations:

1) The clock on the LCD display module updates irregularly. The seconds will tick by, but sometimes a second will hold for awhile and then the system will skip through the next second or two. This is very obvious and always present. I have never seen a normally timed display of seconds.

2) The menu navigation is inconsistent. Sometimes I can scroll through the menu normally (although it is *always* slower than what I experienced on the AC3)... other times the system will completely ignore a navigation command. At times the unit may ignore 1 out of three or four button presses if it's unhappy. I can reproduce this reliably by rapidly navigating the menus. This makes some things, such as selecting a feed mode difficult. I might enter the feed screen and then the system will jump to feed mode without letting me cycle through A-D.

3) I noticed that I had a really hard time calibrating the temp probe. On the calibration screen, I would enter a new degree reading and the compensation value wouldn't update. It took several tried to get the calibration to stick.

Here's what I have configured:
Apex Gold using DHCP and Ethernet (Firmware: 4.33_BD14)
Apex Fusion connected
Float/waterbug switches via legacy breakout box
Legacy DC8 for Kessils and Reefbrite LEDs
EB8 for Heaters, Skimmer, etc
Tunzes on variable ports

I have tried plugging the display module into the main unit, into the EB8 and into the PM2. but I have the same problems. I'm running the latest firmware and I have updated the firmware on the display.

Is this normal Apex behavior?

Jason

[zombie]

1 is completely normal. The webpages refresh every 10 ssconds and fusion every 30 seconds. I get better response time with the android app if I need things to be instantaneous.
2. Is not typical on my display. I have experienced the wrong feed cycle triggering than I wanted if I let it sit on any one for more than 1 second.

3. The only time I have had an issue like you are describing was when the temp was fluctuating between one value and another 0.1 degrees higher. As soon as it held the temp steady, calibration took just fine.

[jasonwongzero]

1 is completely normal. The webpages refresh every 10 ssconds and fusion every 30 seconds. I get better response time with the android app if I need things to be instantaneous.
2. Is not typical on my display. I have experienced the wrong feed cycle triggering than I wanted if I let it sit on any one for more than 1 second.

3. The only time I have had an issue like you are describing was when the temp was fluctuating between one value and another 0.1 degrees higher. As soon as it held the temp steady, calibration took just fine.

Thanks for the response!

To be clear, in regards to 1, I mean the seconds on the physical Apex LCD display itself, not on a webpage or app, but on the Apex hardware.

For number 2, it is certainly less than one second for it to select feed. I would guess on my unit it feels like half a second or less.

Jason

[zombie]

Just reread #1. Mine does that too.

[bobbravo2]

Yep. It's a little slow. Sounds normal to me. I do hope they release an updated head unit. The one we have now acts like a DOS Computer from 1997

[jasonwongzero]

Yep. It's a little slow. Sounds normal to me. I do hope they release an updated head unit. The one we have now acts like a DOS Computer from 1997

Ok, yes, I suspect what I'm experiencing might just be 'normal'. It was just surprising to me that it seems/feels significantly slower than my old AC3.

I could literally press the AC3 buttons as fast as possible and I would always end up on the correct screen. I had memorized certain button presses to get me into particular menu items.

On the Apex, it's not really possible to navigate that way. I have to press each button slowly, visually confirm that it registered and then continue step by step.

Other than that I love the controller.

Jason

[jasonwongzero]

So I had my tank service guy take a look at the Apex and he believes there's definitely something wrong with my unit. It's become almost impossible to navigate the physical display due to the lag and inconcistent registering of button presses. Filed ticket with Neptune.

[jasonwongzero]

To close the loop on this, the display was defective. Got it replaced under warranty and the response of the unit is 100x better.