Coralvue HYDROS Wifi Power Strip

A Smart and Affordable Way to Power Your Aquarium Gear

The HYDROS Power 4 WiFi Power Strip is a smart power bar designed to work with the CoralVue HYDROS platform. 

 

The Power 4 has 4 x 120V AC outlets and 4 x USB ports that are WiFi controllable using the free HYDROS app for Android and iOS/Apple mobile devices. You can turn outlets on and off wirelessly over a 2.4 GHz WiFi frequency. The Power 4 has a range of 98’, so you can place power strips around your home without any difficulty connecting to your modem or router.

 

Each of the 4 x outlets can be controlled individually while the 4 x USB ports are controlled as one. The 4 x outlets have individual LED indicators and the 4 x USB ports have a single LED indicator. The status LEDs indicate when an outlet is energized.

 

Control and Monitor Aquarium Equipment from Your Mobile Device

By using the HYDROS app with the Power 4, you can create rules and schedules to turn on and off different pieces of aquarium equipment, like pumps, powerheads, lights, heaters, algae scrubbers, UV sterilizers, protein skimmers, and whatever else you may want to control on demand or put on a schedule. The USB ports are ideal for connecting and controlling aquarium cooling fans which you can program to turn on if your aquarium water gets too hot and then turn back off automatically when the water drops back within ideal ranges.

 

Control Multiple Power Strips from a Single, Easy-to-Use Mobile App

Another great thing about the Power 4 is that you can control multiple Power 4 Power Strips from the HYDROS app. You might use a couple of Power 4’s to power your display tank, place another in the garage to use for a saltwater mixing station, and have units in each of your children’s bedrooms to turn even beginner tanks into smart aquariums. The beauty of it is that you can control all these different outlets that are being used for different purposes using a single app.

 

Be Notified If an Outlet Fails So You Can Take Corrective Action

You can also monitor the outlets on your Power 4 power strip. If an outlet fails or loses its WiFi connection, you will be immediately notified via alerts to your mobile device. This safety feature can help prevent a tank catastrophe. For example, if the outlet powering your return pump failed, you would receive a notification to let you know something is awry so that you can take corrective action. As a temporary fix, you might decide to turn on all your flow pumps and increase their speed remotely via the HYDROS app to keep the water moving and the temperature stable until you can arrive home to investigate.

 

HYDROS Power 4 Strip Specifications

Item #: HDRS-SM-SO301

Power:  AC 120V

Outlets: 4 X AC Outlets  |  4 X USB Ports

Total Power Rating: 10A/1250W

Total USB Power: 2A

WiFi Frequency: 2.4 GHz

Dimensions: 7.8 x 4 x 1.1in

Weight: 483g

 

HYDROS WiFi Outlets

The HYDROS Control system can utilize WiFi-based power outlets as part of its configuration. These outlets can be used to switch lights, pumps, heaters, and other equipment on or off as needed in an aquarium environment. 

 

The power outlets connect to the Control device via WiFi. Understandably, there are concerns about the general reliability of these outlets and the possibility of a loss of communication.

 

One thing that should be pointed out is that HYDROS talks to the outlets directly on WiFi. No cloud interaction is involved. Thus, as long as your WiFi hub is operating, the outlets will work even if the outbound Internet connection fails. 

 

The following outlines some of the safeguards that have been taken to reduce the probability of failure.

 

 

 

Warranty

CoralVue, Inc. and HYDROS hereby guarantee this product to be free from defects in material and workmanship for a period of:

 

One (1) year

Warranty is activated on the date of purchase.

 

This Standard Limited Warranty applies and is limited as follows:

 

To the product only as long as it remains in the possession of the original purchaser.

To the product that has not been subject to accident, misuse or abuse.

To the product that has not been modified, altered, defaced, or had repairs made or attempted by other than CoralVue, Inc.

That CoralVue be immediately notified in writing within ten (10) days of first knowledge of defect by owner or his agent.

That CoralVue, Inc. shall be given first opportunity to make any repairs, replacements or corrections to the defective construction within a reasonable period of time.

Under no circumstances shall CoralVue and/or the Manufacturer be liable by virtue of this warranty or otherwise for damage to any person or property whatsoever for any special, indirect, secondary or consequential damages of any nature however arising out of the use or inability to use because of the product defect.

 

HYDROS WiFi Outlets

The HYDROS Control system can utilize WiFi-based power outlets as part of its configuration. These outlets can be used to switch lights, pumps, heaters, and other equipment on or off as needed in an aquarium environment. 

 

The power outlets connect to the Control device via WiFi. Understandably, there are concerns about the general reliability of these outlets and the possibility of a loss of communication.

 

One thing that should be pointed out is that HYDROS talks to the outlets directly on WiFi. No cloud interaction is involved. Thus, as long as your WiFi hub is operating, the outlets will work even if the outbound Internet connection fails. 

 

The following outlines some of the safeguards that have been taken to reduce the probability of failure.

 

 

 

Monitoring

HYDROS does not treat the outlets passively. Control 2 and Control 4 devices monitor each WiFi outlet continuously at a rate of at least once a second. HYDROS communicates with each outlet and verifies that it is returning the correct status. If the state is incorrect (for example, if the outlet was switched ON or OFF manually), HYDROS will immediately switch the outlet back to where it should be.

 

If the HYDROS Control device cannot communicate or verify the status of an outlet, an alarm will go off, and it will send a notification email or SMS text to the user.  This process allows the user to know if an outlet disappears or malfunctions immediately. 

 

On the Smart Plug WiFi outlets which support current measurement, HYDROS can also verify if the device's current consumption is within the expected range. So, for example, if a heater is supposed to consume 400 watts, an alert can be sounded if it is less than 350 watts (probably will be zero if it failed).

 

Fault Tolerance

Even though HYDROS monitors all outlets continuously, it is better to avoid communication loss in the first place. HYDROS devices support the ability to have multiple WiFi hubs.  (see Figure 1)

 

The first drawing is a typical home WiFi environment with HYDROS:

 

In this configuration, it is clear that if the router/hub in the center fails, all communications will be lost. This scenario is relatively unlikely, especially with a modern, good-quality router. However, anything can fail, and this does constitute a single point of failure. (See Figure 2)

 

 

However, reconfiguring the network as follow ensures the single point of failure disappears.

 

Now we have two WiFi hubs, and each device can connect to either of them. This redundancy allows the network to survive the loss of either hub. The hard-line between the two hubs handle the situation when some devices connect to Hub A and others to Hub B. Installing additional hubs can provide triple or even quadruple redundancy. 

 

Multiple hubs can also be used to increase coverage area by locating them apart from each other.

 

 

 

Damage Mitigation

Even though the network can be configured to avoid any single point of failure, it is still possible that a total WiFi failure could occur. Of course, HYDROS notifies the user immediately, but perhaps he or she is unable to act on it. This notification would take place even if WiFi or Internet connectivity is lost. In this case, the message will originate from the HYDROS Cloud servers. When communication is lost, the outlet will remain in the last state it was told to be in (if it were ON, it would stay ON).

 

To further failsafe the system, it is good to take active steps to minimize the potential damage caused by failures. These steps are good recommendations with or without the presence of WiFi outlets. Controllers can fail. Many aquarium controllers are not built to tolerate a saltwater environment. These controllers are subject to internal failure at any point due to salt creep and internal arcing. In a recent incident, many existing aquarium controllers failed due to a faulty software update. Numerous hobbyists lost livestock and equipment as a result. Of course, anything electronic is capable of failing, so it is always a good idea to provide secondary backups for critical systems. 

 

When using a heater, it is recommended to select one with a built-in thermostat. Set the heater's internal thermostat a little higher than the desired temperature. For instance, if it is desired to have the tank at 78°, set the thermostat on the heater to 80°. The HYDROS system will switch the heater on and off as needed, but the thermostat on the heater will never activate. Since that thermostat is never activated, its contacts will never wear or arc. 

 

 

WARRANTY

CoralVue, Inc. and HYDROS hereby guarantee this product to be free from defects in material and workmanship for a period of:

 

One (1) year

Warranty is activated on the date of purchase.

 

This Standard Limited Warranty applies and is limited as follows:

 

To the product only as long as it remains in the possession of the original purchaser.

To the product that has not been subject to accident, misuse or abuse.

To the product that has not been modified, altered, defaced, or had repairs made or attempted by other than CoralVue, Inc.

That CoralVue be immediately notified in writing within ten (10) days of first knowledge of defect by owner or his agent.

That CoralVue, Inc. shall be given first opportunity to make any repairs, replacements or corrections to the defective construction within a reasonable period of time.

Under no circumstances shall CoralVue and/or the Manufacturer be liable by virtue of this warranty or otherwise for damage to any person or property whatsoever for any special, indirect, secondary or consequential damages of any nature however arising out of the use or inability to use because of the product defect.