Reef Discussion

[Clownfishy]

Anyone considering one of these when they come out? Looks like it could have a lot functionality for the price. Just not sure I want to be one the early adopters!
https://www.reefai.com/what-is-reef-ai/

 

[ezza]

It seems to not be AU compliant plug-wise. The USB port thing appears to be made of wood.

They've fixed the price between the Seneye and the other thingy. This really doesn't have much useful stuff as far as tests go for the lower price point. At least Seneye + will measure PH, ammonia, oxygen, temperature and Light... Plus general connectivity.

I wouldn't jump on it right away.

 

[MagicJ]

@ezza, I am pretty sure @Clownfishy lives in England.

They seem to have some sort of affiliation with Reef Angel, or at least they are selling some of their products. Keep in mind that most of these things are based around the Arduino microcomputers, which is an open source platform, so a lot of products would be inter changeable to a certain degree.

I am always a little wary of 'Cloud-Based controls' - you have lifetime access - but what happens if the business fails? Will it still be around in 2 years, or 5 years??

Stainless steel covers on the temp sensors is also a concern - no matter what grade a SS they have used it will eventually rust.

 

[Franklin Dattein]

I made a deal with ReefAI and will be selling their gear in Australia, with local warranty and support, as soon as it is available.

I will be selling it with and without my software, the REEFmate (which isn't cloud based, by the way).

Having that said, I am also looking forward to getting my hands in the first units.

@MagicJ that is a fair point, but keep in mind all they do is open source, so I would expect to see more people (like me) producing software compatible with their hardware and even reproducing the hardware.
Also, soon there will be communities built around it. Once an open source project becomes successful, it rarely dies. It normally change maintainers.

@ezza they just started doing business, but they already have outlets with AU compatible plugs. However, as you may know 220v gear is illegal in au, unless certified. As soon as I get the first units I will take it through the expensive certification process.

Regarding the wood look, they actually offer a number of different options for their enclosures, including cedar and your usual black plastic. The cedar one looks really nice.

Have another look at their products, it is a bit difficult to see everything together, but they actually offer everything a controller can possibly do and for a fair price.


I have been monitoring the Aquarium controller market for over a decade and I am yet to see a more promising product.
Their design uses modern technology and allows anyone with a bit of programming skills, to build on top of it. All those people building RPI controllers can easily hook ReefAI peripheral and forget about hardware development.

The Reef Angel is a similar concept, but it has very limited in terms of computational power and is difficult to customise, reason why I believe it isn't very popular, even amongst makers.

The ReefAI hardware compares to the Vertex Cerebra and Digital Aquatics Archon, in terms of technology and computational power.

Amongst many other cool things, with the REEFmate and ReefAi you will be able to use existing Reef Angel extensions(good for existing owners) and program it with a drag and drop interface, called Node-red.

Stay tuned.

 

[MagicJ]

@Franklin Dattein congratulations on the pending business - I hope it goes well for you.

Like you, I have been playing with Arduino's for a few years now. From full controllers, LED controllers, Dosing systems etc the potential is endless. What I am not convinced about is the ability to commercalise any of these products - the potential market is not large and the ability of the Chinese manufacturers to produce items at low cost leaves a lot of what I do squarely in the DIY market.

I am guessing that getting certification for the 240v equipment will not be cheap or quick and I wish you luck.

 

[Asa Herring]

From all that I can tell, this is a fantastic product. I can’t wait to buy one. I have been hanging around for a long, long time, looking for anything about this system, other than the equipment in the videos that are posted on their Facebook account and Youtube. How long should I wait? I have sent e-mails and messages but get no response. From what I have read, this makes many people uncomfortable in addition to me.
I can understand that they could burn up a lot of valuable time just answering information requests and that they may have decided that they don’t have the resources to deal with the general public. That’s fine.
Never the less, someone could write up the reasons why they can’t respond to us or just make a video explaining that. They could answer a few of the most popular non-hardware questions that they must be aware of. If they can’t supply support, they should just say so!
Perhaps they could say if they will offer it at some guessed at season in the future or will it only be a system for sophisticated users that can hook things up and write code for themselves. That may be the permanent plan or just until they have more money coming in and therefore more staff to deal with the public. Perhaps the people that buy product do get support at some level but how could I buy something from someone that I cannot interact with in any way or get one way feedback from some other channel? What if part or all of it doesn’t work for me? What happens then?
Do any users hang out on any forums? Does anybody have a running blog? I’m I just over looking them? I would like to see or read about anyone that is using these products but it seems like everything is a secret.
I would like to see a video on how it hooks up. I’d like to see how it works on any home or office aquarium, even one that is owned by the company. How do you hook up the software in and example system? Can you customize it and what level of knowledge do you need to do that, now and in the future. Does this system even come with a manual? Perhaps in a video, they could show a few pages to see if it is text only, or some polished document …or a video of its own? Simple or fancy, at least a potential customer could make up his or her mind on whether they are up to using the product. …or is it just a loose collection of parts that work on the factory bench?

 

[MagicJ]

@Asa Herring :welcome

@Franklin Dattein have you received any updates?

It looks like the name has been changed to Reef POM due to some legal action

 

[Franklin Dattein]

@MagicJ
They recently shipped only 40% of my order, which was placed 1.5 years ago. The remaining parts have no ETA!
They under estimated the development time by a huge margin and it is needless to say, I am very disappointed.

I will comment on the quality of the products, once I receive them.

I am not alone and there is a private chat on FB, with at 3 other fellows waiting for the same amount of time...

My recommendation is to wait, until their products is readily available and tested.

 

[Asa Herring]

No I have not gotten anyone to contact me in any way. I have not been able to talk or correspond with anyone that has a unit.
I would really like to like this product but my drop dead date for buying some type of controller is fast approaching.
Franklin Thank you for the little bit of information that you provided about this product.