Help, woke up T5's were on, tank run on ACIII

[smarsh97]

So I woke up at 7:30 and my T5's were on. My tank is run by an ACIII. In the ACIII web interface it shows that they are off. I am not sure what to do about turning them off at this point.

 

I could just manually turn the switch on them and then when I get home turn them back on, but not sure if that is a good idea.

 

Any help greatly appreciated. I read through both the ACIII book and the DC8 book and can't find anything pertaining to this.

 

TIA

 

Sandy

[jnguyen4007]

Sandy,

 

Is this the first time this happened? Take a look and make sure that your light is plugged into the correct outlet on the DC8. Then take a look at your programming and make sure that it's set up correctly.

[smarsh97]

Yes, this is the first time it has done this. I have had it successfully running on the tank for about 4 months.

 

I did check my internet interface and it says the lights are off, yet they are on.

 

We did have some power outages last night, not a lot but a few. I am assuming that the power went out after I went to sleep and that the T5's kicked on but I am not sure why.

 

I think that I am going to unplug them from the DC8 and wait for a minute and then plug them back in and see if that works.

 

I have all ready reset the ACIII with no change.

 

Sandy

[tonkadawg]

I'm not familiar with the DC8 but I've had this happen when running x-10s. There's a jumper that needs to be cut, once done, it fixes the problem. Maybe the DC8 has something similar

[smarsh97]

I'm not sure what you mean by a "jumper". This has not happened until this time.

 

I unplugged the T5's and then plugged them back in and it came back on. This is not affecting my halides that are on the other 3 plugs in that row. The only one being affected is the T5 plugged into that A04.

 

I have to leave for work in a bit. I think for the time being I am going to manually turn them off on the light itself. Then I will turn it back on when I get home from work which is when they are supposed to come on and see what happens.

 

I am wondering if that socket has gone bad or something. I am not sure if there is a way to reset the DC8

 

Sandy

Edited May 12, 2008 by smarsh97

[jnguyen4007]

Yes, this is the first time it has done this. I have had it successfully running on the tank for about 4 months.

 

I did check my internet interface and it says the lights are off, yet they are on.

 

We did have some power outages last night, not a lot but a few. I am assuming that the power went out after I went to sleep and that the T5's kicked on but I am not sure why.

 

I think that I am going to unplug them from the DC8 and wait for a minute and then plug them back in and see if that works.

 

I have all ready reset the ACIII with no change.

 

Sandy

 

 

That is weird....

[smarsh97]

It is weird. I am not sure what is going on. We have had this minor power outages (minor being just a few minutes) for the last couple of weeks and nothing happened then. Even last night when they were happening while I was awake they did not come on. So I have no clue what is going on.

 

I may call Neptune. Surely they have seen something like this before and will know what to do. All the other plugs are working fine. I just checked the interface again and it kicked the heaters on so they are working. The Halides are not on so I am assuming that they are working.

 

When I first woke up I thought maybe the time had gotten screwed up on the ACIII but in checking that it is correct as well. So I have no clue at this point.

 

Thanks for the help. I will let you know what I find out.

 

Sandy

[tonkadawg]

I'm not sure what you mean by a "jumper". This has not happened until this time.

 

 

http://www.neptunesys.com/hardwareFAQ.htm

 

see point #4. Like I said, this pertains to X-10 modules and may not apply to DC8s.

[smarsh97]

oh okay, thanks. I think before I do that I will call them just to make sure that is what I should be doing.

 

I would hate to do it and then it not be the right thing to do and with the way my luck is running these days that would be the case.

 

Thanks for the clarification.

 

Sandy

[flowerseller]

The T5's may not be drawing enough voltage for whatever reason.

This will not allow them to be controlled by the DC8.

Unplug the T5's and plug them back in, they will be off.

You may need to add more watts to that socket.

 

Yes, it can happen sometimes but not always.

[ctenophore]

Try manually turning off the T5s' DC8 outlet via AC3 or aquanotes, then set back to Auto. I've had this happen occasionally with my VHOs (Icecap ballasts). Just setting to manual then back to auto fixes it for me.

[smarsh97]

Okay, according to the gentleman who answered the phone at Neptune, my particular DC8 uses A04 as a relay of some sort and can't handle the inrush of wattage or something to that affect. So he told me to plug them into A01-A03 or A05-A07. He said something gets stuck when there is an inrush. He told me to give it a good whack and it will unstick it. LOL That is exactly what he said.

 

So I have them set up on A07 and we shall see.

 

so after all that was said and done, now it is not recognizing my heaters that are on A05 and A06. This was not a problem before. Now it is. Okay, nevermind. I got those fixed. I unplugged them for a few minutes and then plugged them back in and they were fine. whew

 

Sandy

Edited May 12, 2008 by smarsh97

[kngfisher]

had same broblem w/ my T5s then I got a socket expander .... adding even a small night light to incease the load also worked.

[smarsh97]

do you have a picture of that Kingfisher. I am not sure what you are talking about.

 

TIA

 

Sandy

[kngfisher]

 

you can also run an extention cord to the outlet the T5 currenlty plugs into then plug the T5 into the extention cord and a small night light into another socket in the same extention cord therby increasing the load on the socket of the DC8. Extention cord is cheaper then Socket Expansion.