aquacontroller question

[B.rian]

so i recently received my aquacontroller jr. with dc8. i have it programmed to run my day lights and my sump light. i thought i had it programmed to run my heater, but the temperature is definitely below what i set it at. i programmed it at

if temp < 79.7
then het on

if temp >80.0
then het off

and i have het at A05.

the temp is now 79.5 and the heater hasn't kicked on yet. am i doing something wrong? i thought the dc8 outlets were setup in order:

A01 A02 A03 A04
A05 A06 A07 A08

can anyone shed any light on this. i appreciate the help.

 

[MikeG]

That should work fine. Try to turn the heater on manuallt with the controller and see if it turns the outlet on.

 

[customclimates]

Is your probe calibrated correctly? My probe was / is off by 9 degrees. Neptune claimed this can happen & is the norm. It can be offset in the set up. I put three thermostats in my sump & they all read the same temperature so it was easy to figure how off the probe was.

 

[RayD]

You can calibrate the temp probe to make it say basically whatever you want it to say! What I did was take a good old fashioned mercury thermomter and calibrated my AC probe to match that. Works perfectly.

I do have a backup heater installed however, just in case.

 

[customclimates]

What I did was take a good old fashioned mercury thermomter and calibrated my AC probe to match that.

I just threw three in just incase there where slight temperature differentials between them.

 

[B.rian]

i just turned it on manually through the aquacontroller, but the heater didn't turn on. it is a finnex heater with one of the turn dial thermostats, so i should at least see the green LED light up saying that it is on. i tried it in other outlets on the dc8, and it turned on in those outlets. any other suggestions?

 

[this is me]

The window is too narrow. Try it with at least 1 degree difference. It might be oscillating.

 

[MikeG]

So you are saying that outlet on the DC8 wouldn't turn on manually from the controller, but the other outlets would turn on manually fine? Sounds like a problem with the DC8, not the controller or the heater if that is correct.

 

[MikeG]

The window is too narrow. Try it with at least 1 degree difference. It might be oscillating.

If he turned the outlet to be on constantly manually and it didn't turn on it is not the heater.

 

[B.rian]

yeah, i turned it on manually through the aquacontroller, but the heater LED does not light up. all other outlets work. the manual also says that i should set the temp difference about .3 degrees apart, so i don't think the window is too narrow.

 

[this is me]

Does the heater even work? On a regular outlet.

 

[MikeG]

yeah, i turned it on manually through the aquacontroller, but the heater LED does not light up. all other outlets work. the manual also says that i should set the temp difference about .3 degrees apart, so i don't think the window is too narrow.

Try to plug something that you know works like a pump into that outlet and turn it on manually to make sure the DC8 is fuctioning properly. As well as plug the heater directly into the wall as suggested.

 

[B.rian]

yeah, the heater definitely works. i plugged it into a new outlet and it lit right up. i also tried putting the sump light into the problematic outlet and it doesn't work. i just sent reefgeek an email about the problem, so hopefully the will be able to respond soon. it is definitely a problem with the outlet.

on a side note, the instructions were kind of confusing for setting up the controller, with all of the control module names and what not, and it was even more confusing when i was trying to make an outlet work that didn't want to work. i thought i was loosing it for a little while there.

 

[this is me]

Do this.
Pull out the phone jack from the outlet to the controller. And reset the controller. And try it again.

 

[Reef55]

post your entire code here, including your outlet define statements please

 

[Dave McReeferson]

I found the outlets on my DC's did were not exactly where the diagram shows them to be, either I have an oddball set, or the diagrams can be misleading. Try plugging it into one of the other outlets and manually switching off the address you think it is at, you may find the order is the reverse of what you interpreted it to be, as I did...

 

[RayD]

Also check to make sure that the heater socket is actually programmed to be on Ax (whatever you have your heater in). And check the dip switches. If you're running only one DC8 the factory defaults should be fine for the switches.

 

[JayM]

I haven't gotten to program my ACIII yet, and youse guys is making me a-scared

 

[Peter Fernandes]

I was dealing with things turning on randomly with my AC3.....until today....so far so good. I had to move my Ballast further away from the unit and as of now I've yet to witness some random event.

I love it! You know the way a little boy loves his dog!

Still knocking on wood.

 

[MikeG]

I haven't gotten to program my ACIII yet, and youse guys is making me a-scared

Just give me a call when your ready Jay