ACIII programming help

[steveoutlaw]

I've got my ACIII hooked up and the DC-8s in place and now I just need to figure out how to use it. The manual for this thing sucks. Can anyone at least walk me through just programming some sockets on the DC-8s for the lights? I can get to the other stuff later.

[armydoc]

I went through his same torture a couple of years ago. I've begged computer savvy friends to design a "plain language" translator but since they are all smart they don't see the need for one. I've learned some by trial and error but still a novice but I'd be happy to lend a hand. There are some SME in WAMAS so hopefully they can help you out as well.

What are you trying to do? Just turn lights on and off?

[jstlsn]

This first part defines the names you give to each outlet on your DC8

 

LT1$-A4

LT2$-A2

LT3$-A3

 

This part turns the lights on and off based on the time on the ACIII

 

If Time > 14:00 Then LT3 ON

If Time > 23:59 Then LT3 OFF

If Time > 13:00 Then LT2 ON

If Time > 23:00 Then LT2 OFF

If Time > 15:00 Then LT1 ON

If Time > 21:59 Then LT1 OFF

 

Brad

[armydoc]

Programming basics. Possibly a topic for a future meeting?

[DaveS]

This is a good idea but most ppl would probably be wanting to learn about the Apex which is somewhat different.

 

The better option would be to train people how toget thir controller Internet accessible. Then some overseas outsourced call center could support for cheap.

 

I'd be open to offer a talk at the next meeting on internetworking 101 and getting an AC/Apex online.

[Jesse]

I found this very helpful to setup my apex: http://reeftech.webs.com/Apex%20New%20User%20Guide.pdf. I have also needed to call Neptune for a faulty part and they were extremely helpful.

[Origami]

Steve, for what it's worth, here was how my old ACIII was programmed. Note, every day at 3 PM, I had a statement which issued an "alarm" for 1 minute. This alarm condition forced a status update to be sent to me at two places: My work email and by text to my phone. This way, I always had a quick reminder of how things were doing in the tank.

 

The first part of the programming is where the variables are mapped to the outlets. The second part is where the outlets are manipulated. Think of the outlets as a table that's updated once per cycle (the cycle setting is definable on setup). Once the table values are updated, the values are strobed to the outlets. Thus, if in one pass across the code, a reset outlet was set and then (in a later part in the same code) reset, when the table values are updated, the last value (reset) would be strobed to the outlet.

 

The Timer statement reads out the outlet state from the table.

 

The OSC function is the only odd function syntactically. As you can see from the code below, my kalk pump (peristaltic) ran for 25 minutes every hour (25 minutes on / 35 minutes off). Similarly, my calcium reactor was dosing for 10 minutes every hour.

 

AC-III Programming - 9/18-2010

 

Timer Names:

HT1%-A01

HT2%-A02

HT3%-A03

CRP#-A04

SK1#-A05

SK2#-A06

KLK#-A07

CO2&-A08

ALM&-A09

FAN%-B01

LT1$-C03

LT2$-C01

LT3$-C02

LT4$-C05

 

Program Statements:

If Time > 00:00 Then ALM OFF

If Time > 15:00 Then ALM ON

If Time > 15:01 Then ALM OFF

If Time > 00:00 Then SK1 ON

If Time > 00:00 Then SK2 ON

If Time > 00:00 Then CRP ON

If Time > 00:00 Then CO2 OFF

If Time > 00:00 Then FAN OFF

If Time > 00:00 Then HT1 OFF

If Time > 00:00 Then HT2 OFF

If Time > 00:00 Then HT3 OFF

If Time > 14:00 Then LT1 ON

If Time > 23:30 Then LT1 OFF

If Time > 14:00 Then LT2 ON

If Time > 23:30 Then LT2 OFF

If Time > 15:30 Then LT3 ON

If Time > 21:30 Then LT3 OFF

If Timer LT1 = ON Then LT4 OFF

If Timer LT1 = OFF Then LT4 ON

OSC 025/035 ON/OFF Then KLK ON

OSC 010/050 ON/OFF Then CRP ON

If Temp < 78.0 Then HT1 ON

If Temp < 78.0 Then HT2 ON

If Temp < 78.0 Then HT3 ON

If Temp > 78.5 Then HT1 OFF

If Temp > 78.5 Then HT2 OFF

If Temp > 78.5 Then HT3 OFF

If Temp > 78.8 Then FAN ON

If Temp < 78.2 Then FAN OFF

If FeedA 000 Then SK1 OFF

If FeedA 000 Then SK2 OFF

If FeedB 000 Then SK1 OFF

If FeedB 000 Then SK2 OFF

If pH > 06.72 Then CO2 ON

If pH < 06.68 Then CO2 OFF

If pH2 > 08.55 Then ALM ON

If pH2 > 08.50 Then KLK OFF

If pH2 < 07.65 Then ALM ON

If pH2 < 07.65 Then CRP OFF

If pH2 < 07.65 Then CO2 OFF

If Temp < 75.0 Then ALM ON

If Temp > 82.0 Then ALM ON

 

 

AquaController Ethernet Setup

DHCP Disabled

Hostname aqua

AquaController IP Address 192.168.1.191

Netmask 255.255.255.0

Gateway 192.168.1.1

Primary DNS Server 192.168.1.1

Secondary DNS Server 192.168.1.1

HTTP Port (Default 80) 80

 

 

AquaController Email Setup

SMTP Server outgoing.verizon.net

SMTP Port (Default 25) 25

From Email Address ****@verizon.net

To Email Address 703*****63@vtext.com

Alt To Email Address tom.****@***.com

Re-email Delay (Minutes) 20

Email Alarm Name ALM

Time Zone (Offset from GMT) -5

Email Enable Enabled

Email Authentication Enabled

Email Auth Login *****@verizon.net

Email Auth Password **********

Email Test

 

 

Current Readback:

Function Result

AquaController Version 3.40S_6B09

AquaController Mac Addr 00:0c:11:22:18:2e

Current Hostname aqua

Current IP Address 192.168.1.191

Current IP Mask 255.255.255.0

Current Gateway 192.168.1.1

[steveoutlaw]

Wow - so where do I put all that stuff in? Can I connect it directly to a router? Is there a special program that comes with it or all just text? I have a used one so I need to see if the username and password are still the same.

[Origami]

Reaching out, Steve.... PM me your number again.

 

The program was copied from the web interface before I broke my system down last year when moving from Ashburn. I saved it all in the text file that I basically copied for you here.

 

You can also program it from the keypad. It takes longer, but it works.

 

I believe that there's a flash eeprom in the unit that holds the program when power is lost. If you can hardwire it to your router, you can set up the IP address and the mask and should be able to communicate with the unit through the webserver that's built in. It makes it easier to program that way.

[TonyInVa]

Go to reef central were neptune has thier own section. There are many useful tutorials and manuals. Russ is great to answering questions.

[Origami]

He's on his way now. He just needed to get his PC talking to the AC-III. It was a matter of the HTTP port being remapped to port 1500 rather than the default 80.

 

By the way, Steve, when you finally get it programmed and are ready to try accessing it from the outside, you may want to re-map the port to something other than 80. Some ISP's block inbound port 80 to keep you from running a big website out of your home. I've got mine mapped to 8089, for example. And, as you know, Bob had his mapped to 1500.... Anyway, get things working internally first before changing the port mapping.

[steveoutlaw]

Thanks a bunch Tom. I'm sure I'll have more questions but I think I have enough to get me started.

[matt]

Resurfacing an old thread on ac3 setup/programming...

 

Steve (or Tom) how did you get your additional dc_ units to be fully recognized by the AC3 controller unit? I've got access to all the outlets on my DC8, but never figured out how to get my DC4 working. When I bought it, I hooked the DC4 up to the controller directly and it worked, but not when daisy chained. It's been a few weeks, but I believe I did check the type of phone cord and no issue.

 

SO...now I've got the DC8 on channel A and the DC4 is currently set to channel B via the dip switches and the DC4 is daisy chained off the DC8 again. I did a mem init after all channels were set and the both DCs had power. Later, I realized I could get the channel B outlets to show up in the status controls for the web interface (and controller faceplate display) after creating timers and a program entry....but the status controls don't turn the power off/on on the DC4. I've got a 30w light plugged into one of the outlets on the DC4 and it's on...but that doesn't represent the power state I've set for that outlet on the controller and I have no control over any of the other outlets either. Any thoughts?

Edited March 26, 2013 by matt

[Origami]

Can you post the program, including your outlet declaration statements?

 

I'm out of town this week so replying may be delayed.

 

(Sent from my phone)

 

 

[ctenophore]

Are you using a 4-conductor phone cable from the DC-8 to the DC-4? i.e., are there four copper pins in the head, or just two?

[matt]

Well, I was really slow to get back and follow up on my request for help. I don't have the AC3 available outside my home network, and I'm most often on the boards when I'm not at home. Finally posting here again...despite that I probably should've just started a new topic to begin with.

 

ctenophore - I'm 99% sure it's a 4-conductor phone cable.

 

tom - here is (finally) my cut and past of my code. This is almost entirely just the default stuff...I only added in timers and code so I could see the DC4 outlets in the status view where I've tried to manually turn on/off outlets without success. The AC is not running my system yet, just sitting in place waiting for me to finish configuring after I solve the DC4 problem. Any thoughts on why the B channel DC4 wouldn't be working?

 

LT1$-A01

LT2$-A02

PM1#-A03

PM2#-A04

HET%-A05

COL%-A06

OZN&-A07

CO2&-A08

ALM&-A09

LT3$-B01

LT4$-B02

PM7#-B03

PM8#-B04

 

If Time > 08:30 Then LT1 ON

If Time > 21:30 Then LT1 OFF

If Time > 09:30 Then LT2 ON

If Time > 20:30 Then LT2 OFF

If Time > 09:30 Then LT3 ON

If Time > 20:30 Then LT3 OFF

If Time > 09:30 Then LT4 ON

If Time > 20:30 Then LT4 OFF

If Temp > 77.0 Then COL ON

If Temp < 76.5 Then COL OFF

If Temp < 76.0 Then HET ON

If Temp > 76.5 Then HET OFF

OSC 010/010 ON/OFF Then PM1 ON

OSC 010/010 ON/OFF Then PM2 OFF

If Feed cycle Then PM1 OFF

If Feed cycle Then PM2 OFF

If Feed cycle Then PM7 OFF

If Feed cycle Then PM8 OFF

If ORP < 365 Then OZN ON

If ORP > 385 Then OZN OFF

If pH > 08.45 Then CO2 ON

If pH < 08.35 Then CO2 OFF

If Time > 00:00 Then ALM OFF

If pH > 08.50 Then ALM ON

If pH < 08.00 Then ALM ON

If ORP > 450 Then ALM ON

If ORP < 300 Then ALM ON

If Temp < 75.0 Then ALM ON

If Temp > 78.0 Then ALM ON

[Origami]

When I bought it, I hooked the DC4 up to the controller directly and it worked, but not when daisy chained. It's been a few weeks, but I believe I did check the type of phone cord and no issue.

 

SO...now I've got the DC8 on channel A and the DC4 is currently set to channel B via the dip switches and the DC4 is daisy chained off the DC8 again. I did a mem init after all channels were set and the both DCs had power. Later, I realized I could get the channel B outlets to show up in the status controls for the web interface (and controller faceplate display) after creating timers and a program entry....but the status controls don't turn the power off/on on the DC4. I've got a 30w light plugged into one of the outlets on the DC4 and it's on...but that doesn't represent the power state I've set for that outlet on the controller and I have no control over any of the other outlets either. Any thoughts?

Make sure that the 4 dip switches on the DC4 are positioned (left to right) as follows: ON OFF OFF OFF This will set up the unit as B00 through B03.

 

The leftmost phone connector is (according to the manual) is the daisy-chained input. The rightmost connector is the output.

 

Double-check to make sure that your DC8 is programmed to be on an A address and not a B address. A conflict may result in unexpected behavior.

 

If this still doesn't work, then try reversing the order of the DC8 and the DC4 in the chain (that is, have the DC4 feed the DC8) just to see what happens. You can also swap phone cables to see if the problem follows the cable.

 

tom - here is (finally) my cut and past of my code. This is almost entirely just the default stuff...I only added in timers and code so I could see the DC4 outlets in the status view where I've tried to manually turn on/off outlets without success. The AC is not running my system yet, just sitting in place waiting for me to finish configuring after I solve the DC4 problem. Any thoughts on why the B channel DC4 wouldn't be working?

 

Code looks fine on first glance.

[matt]

Thanks Tom, I'm hoping to finally have some tank time tonight to tinker after I put the boys down.

 

I'll check those things and hopeully this is just an id-10-T error

[Origami]

Hopefully that's all it is!