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The AquaController II controls the lights, heaters, chiller, calcium reactor solenoid, and sump fan. It monitors temperature and pH, triggering an alarm if either is out of whack. It also sends a numeric page using the attached modem to alert me to a problem if I am not home.
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I plan to also trigger an alarm in the event of an extended power failure on either of the dedicated circuits that supply the tank. This will use the switched input to the AquaController and will use Power-Out Sensors to monitor the circuits. I am more concerned about GFCI trips than actual power failures, since most power failures last a short time.
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Originally, I controlled everything with X10 modules, which transmit signals over the power lines, but after several incidents with faulty control, including one that delayed our departure on vacation for 3 hours, I began to lose confidence in them. After adding the Zero Surge surge suppressors, I found that control was even more unreliable, especially on the circuit that did not have the X10 power-line interface (transmitter). I finally purchased two Neptune DC4HD Direct controllers, which connect directly to the AquaController and are much more reliable than the X10 modules. The devices on one of the electrical circuits are controlled by the DC4HD’s and the devices on the other circuit, which has the power-line interface, are still controlled using X10. I sleep much better now, thank you!
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The AquaController is programmed using the AquaNotes software. The AquaController is connected to my computer using a serial cable, which permits program downloads to the controller and uploads of logged tank conditions to the computer. My current program includes seasonal temperature variations and cyclical moon phases.
MH1$-D5 ; Halides are on DC4HD
MH2$-D6
MH3$-D7
VH1$-F2 ; VHO lights
VH2$-F4
HET%-D1 ; Heaters (one on DC4, one on X10)
CHL%-C1 ; Chiller (backed up by Ranco controller)
FAN%-D2 ; fan over sump
CO2&-D3 ; Solenoid on CO2 tank
ALM&-A1 ; Alarm module
MON$-N1 ; Moonlights
STR&-C7 ; kalk stirrer
If Time > 00:00 Then ALM OFF
If Temp < RT+-0.4 Then HET ON ; RT is seasonal temperature
If Temp > RT+0.0 Then HET OFF
If Temp > RT+0.2 Then FAN ON
If Temp < RT+0.0 Then FAN OFF
If Temp > RT+0.4 Then CHL ON
If Temp < RT+0.0 Then CHL OFF
If Temp > RT+0.6 Then MH1 OFF ; Turn off lights if too hot
If Temp > RT+0.8 Then MH3 OFF
If Temp > RT+1.0 Then MH2 OFF
If Moon 000/000 Then MON ON ; Uses moon cycle
If Sun -030/030 Then VH1 ON ; VHO on first
If Sun -015/015 Then VH2 ON
If Sun 000/-030 Then MH1 ON ; HQI on at intervals
If Sun 015/-015 Then MH2 ON
If Sun 030/000 Then MH3 ON
If Power Fail Then VH1 OFF ; Cycle lights after power
Max Change 005 M Then VH1 OFF ; failure. The IceCap ballasts
If Power Fail Then VH2 OFF ; don’t always fire back up
Max Change 010 M Then VH2 OFF
If Power Fail Then MH1 OFF ; Bring up MH last because
Max Change 020 M Then MH1 OFF ; they need to cool before
If Power Fail Then MH2 OFF ; restrike.
Max Change 025 M Then MH2 OFF
If Power Fail Then MH3 OFF
Max Change 030 M Then MH3 OFF
If pH > 8.10 Then CO2 ON ; Turn of CO2 if the pH gets
If pH < 8.00 Then CO2 OFF ; too low.
OSC 010/120 ON/OFF Then STR ON ; kalk stirrer on 10 min./2 hrs.
If Temp > RT+1.4 Then ALM ON ; Set off alarms
If Temp < RT+-1.4 Then ALM ON
If pH < 7.80 Then ALM ON
If pH > 8.60 Then ALM ON
If Switch1 CLOSED Then ALM ON ; This will be for power-out
; notification when I add the
; power failure sensors.
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10/8/04 - This summer, I managed to lose my pager, which rendered the pager notification useless. My company has pretty much phased out pagers in favor of cell phones, which do not lend themselves to numeric paging. I found a solution to this, though, at www.numericpage.com. They provide a service that acts like a paging service, but routes text messages to a cell phone instead of sending them to a pager. It also sends a copy of the page to my email address. All this for $20 a year.
The only difficulty in setting this up lay in the AquaController’s 16-digit limitation for a pager number. The service requires the caller to dial a toll-free number, enter a PIN, and press 2 to send a message other than the calling phone number. Fortunately, I was able to select a 2-digit PIN number when I signed up. The phone number in the AquaController looks like this: 18005551212,XX,2 (XX=PIN number). The comma in the dial string indicates that the modem should delay before sending the next digits. This allows time for the call to be answered or for the automated system on the other end to be ready to receive the next command. By default, the delay for a single comma is 2 seconds, which was not long enough. The normal solution is to use multiple commas for longer delays, but this is not an option with AquaController because of the 16-digit limit. I had to hook the modem up to the computer and modify its configuration to change the delay from 2 seconds to 10 seconds (ATS8=10). Then I saved the settings to NVRAM (AT&W0) so that the modem will remember the setting when the modem is powered off. The modem has a DIP switch that indicates whether to load factory settings or NVRAM settings on power up and I set that appropriately.
The lesson in this is not to lose your stinking pager.
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