Neptune Systems has announced that they are well underway in using the newly released development kit for third party aquarium controllers to get jiggy with wireless VorTech pumps. Curt Pansegrau, president of Neptune Systems had this to say:
The feature rich interface module allows for the market leading VorTech pumps to be used to their fullest potential. With development underway and prototypes already running in the lab, we are pleased to be the first controller company to utilize this versatile wireless interface technology. The AquaBus based VorTech interface module will allow for the independent control of multiple pumps. In addition, firmware updates of both the interface and the VorTech pumps as wells as reporting of pump status and diagnostic information is possible. Like all Apex accessories the VorTech Interface Module is also plug-n-play, so setup and configuration is extremely easy. Internal development has already begun with working prototypes running in the lab. Beta testing will begin shortly with full production scheduled in Q1 2010.
Although the announcement (of the dev kit) was made days ago, it seems that the usual suspects have been working on this project in some form or another for quite some time. GHL has announced that they “are in communications” with EcoTech Marine but we get the feeling they will remain more tight lipped about how they roll out this new feature on the Profilux, until it is much much closer to release time. We are certain that Digital Aquatics will have something to say soon but we won’t hold our breath for IKS, Elos or Lighthouse to volunteer their plans any time soon. We are very excited to see that Neptune System is already on the ball and we look forward to seeing these beta EM wifi boards to start strutting their stuff. Hopefully the development kit will allow for the VorTechs to be controlled to perform functionality beyond their current default programming.
