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Originally Posted by Phurst  Some nice looking stuff there. I'm particularly excited about the RK Elite. |
Me too. I have followed all the RC threads and keep up on the DA site as they reveal features.
They still seem on the fence as to what wireless module they will develop (or develop first), Zigbee or 802.1x wireless. The 802.1x would be more standard with existing home computers/networks, but they claimed it would cost about $200. Zigbee would be much much cheaper, but the last thing I need is a Zigbee dongle sticking out of my laptop. I would be happy just to get a wired ethernet module that I can hook into my existing wireless router.
I am a bit uncertain of whether the RKE would add or reduce complexity in my 55g setup. While other people see automation, I see automation marred by
potential points of failure. The RKE is more complicated than an RK2, ACjr - and perhaps even a AC3. My setup is so simple, that many features of the RKE would just go unused. For people with more complicated setups, it could be very useful. The price seems very reasonable for a very extensible system.
Being the subversive person that I am, I am already thinking of how I can just buy two $90 RKE power Bars (sans RKE) and just use them as (cap-sense) switched outlets...
Seriously, the
RK2 would be perfect for me as long as I was willing to hook up a
PC for logging/web serving. Even though logging temps is useful, and accessing stats over the web can offer some peace of mind, neither are essential to successful reef keeping. The one thing I worry about the RK2 is that there is no lock on the control panel to keep kids from changing settings. I would mount it high up on the back wall, but would always be paranoid that the kids would find a way to reach it. I asked the DA rep if they could just modify the firmware to add lock-out functionality, and he replied that it could be done if every last bit of internal memory in the RK2 wasn't already spoken for. There is absolutely no room left.
