Controllers

[alrha]

anyone use controllers on their tanks?
i got a ReefKeeper but the fuse blows on my 1300W of lights alone. I am thinking of trying the Aquacontroller instead but would love to hear if anyone here has used it or something similar.
Thanks.

 

[wedfr]

i just orderd one ill let you know what i think when i get. I had trouble with teh reefkeeper when i had one a year or so ago.

 

[FRY]

what you can do is add a slave relay forthe lights alone

 

[FRY]

your blowing the fuse inside the reek keeper right? its only 15 amp fuse are there any other loads on the reefkeeper if there is your to close to max load 1800 watts so you should only be runing 1400 watts to be on safe side of your load

 

[alrha]

i was running only 1300W and it blew the fuse - twice!
my whole tank is running on only one 15A circuit breaker (along with TV, room lights, etc) so it must be less than 15A.
I plugged in two aquaspace lights each with 2 plugs. so it ends up 4 plugs - 2x150W & 2x500W.

 

[wedfr]

alrha HQI ballasts dont draw only 150 and 250 watts.

I think its more like 185W for the 150's and 320 per 250W bulb

so youre pulling 370 + 640 + 640 if im understanding correctly what you have. so you are at about 1650W

 

[wedfr]

not to mention the intial in rush which is probably blowing your fuses. Try staggering the turn on times for each lamp but you still are probably going to go over on teh last lamp being lit

 

[alrha]

cool, i never knew that. so why do they call them 150's if its really 185's? when i contacted digital aquatics i told them exactly which fixture i had (even sent them a link to it) - funny how they didnt know that.
1650 is still below the 1800 and shouldnt blow the fuse, but at least now i can understand why the fuse blew (at least its close to 1800).
the lights are staggered, one comes on every hour for 4 hours and they shut the same way (makes a real nice sunrise/miday/sunset effect.

On:
9:00am (150W)
10:00am (150W)
11:00am (500W)
12:00pm (500W)

Off:
8:00pm (500W)
9:00pm (500W)
10:00pm (150W)
11:00pm (150W)

 

[wedfr]

i think the problem you are having is that at 12pm you already have 1000W running an then turn on the other 500 which is really 600+ but the thing with these lights are that there is an intial inrush of current when the bulb fires of about 4-6 amps so itll put you over the 15 amp max. One thing you can try is having the last light to fire be one of the 150's or of course get a differnt controller

 

[alrha]

i'm gonna go with another controller, because there is really no point in using this if it can barely manage my 4 lights. if i'm gonna use it just for that, i may as well just use four timers. i would have wanted to also use it to control my sump light (96W) and moonlights (4W) and fans and heater (300W). doesnt seem like this controller can handle that, so i will have to look for a different one.
The downside to the Neptune is that X-10 decreases reliability and leaves more room for error. Unless i go with the direct connects, but that pushes the cost up even higher.

 

[wedfr]

yeah i hate x10's but what else can you do gotta use what available. Direct connects for the ACII are out for me way too much $$$

 

[alrha]

i've never looked at ORP, so i just stuck with the Aquacontroller Jr. I got the DC4's as i dont want to worry about the reliability of X-10s. Furthermore, the way i see it, i would have to buy heavy duty power strips to plug the modules in anyway. assuming i can fit 3-4 modules per strip that would take 3-4 strips (~120) and 12 modules (~$180) to control 12 devices (the max of the Jr). the DC4's from Premium aquatics are ~$100 each, so the cost comes out similar, but without the risk of X-10 and of course with a cleaner look.
The total ended up costing me about double the Reefkeeper, but now i can control 12 devices (rather than 8) plus i can control pH (which would have costed ~$200). so the cost comes out about the same, only with the added flexibility of the aquacontroller.

[ April 08, 2005, 04:21 PM: Message edited by: alrha ]

 

[wedfr]

oh so you already have the AC Jr. Let me know what you think of it

 

[alrha]

nope, just ordered it from premium aquatics. should ship out monday.
did you order yours with X-10? or DC4?

 

[FRY]

the dc4 is a slave to the main controller looks like you can use seperate feed for dc4 i whould try to use a outlet from different circuit if you can one for lights and other for controller ,sump and heater hqi ballast and lamps when they go bad they can short out and blow the circuit this way just the lighting is lost and the pumps ,heater and controller still works better then looseing everything

[ April 09, 2005, 01:00 AM: Message edited by: FRY ]

 

[wedfr]

i laready had some x10's so i was just gonna set it up with that but now looking at it i am going to order a dc4, i hate x-10's

 

[FRY]

wedfr
are you useing activehome model interface cm15a from x10 with activehome pro software

 

[wedfr]

i havent used them yet. I just had to x10pro appliance modules sitting around so i thought id use them. What kind of setup are you using Fry and how do you liek it?

Hey did anyone come and get those fans you had? i was hiping to get them setup

 

[FRY]

i sent you email on fans sorry about delay,on the x10 ,im useing it on my 100 gal dicus tank i have solinod valve to feed fresh water into tank on water changes also going to use a way valve solinod valve to switch from sump to feed source with same pipe from sump pump to top of tank and fresh water feed when making water changes,so far this is working safe still testing but x10 on 12 gal nano tank i worry about have to find out why x10 not respond to comand from computer all the times i plain on controling pumps and heater with software whem making water changes shut off pumps ,heater,turn on fresh water valve to fill tank then then reverse ,i allready shorted a heater when making water change

 

[Melt]

AlRHA..i just saw your post..i have the aquacontroller....you should get the aquacontroller 2 ..their was a post on reefcental saying people have bugs in the new ones and it have to go back to the compaNY to fix..

I PM you my number call me.. before monday..just get it with the probes and order your x-10 from www.x10.com it's way cheaper ..i think 5 for $55 and free shipping..