Quote:
Originally Posted by trilinearmipmap
OK my question is if I went for the cheap Aquatronic controller ACQ115 without any web interface, and I don't have a PC (Mac person) and I don't want to emulate Windows on a Mac, how well can I program/control this thing just using the controller input itself?
|
You can program it very easily. It's a lot easier than the Apex because it's all menu driven.
1) You pick a Input device from the menu for example a float switch for High Tank Level.
Inside that Float switch you can create programs for it. Not code programs, but you make associations that act like code.
So you tell it if the float switch = High (and then hit Next)
This gives you the options of what to do if the float switch is High.
So you can select the Plug for the return Pump and tell it that you want it to turn off.
You can set how long after the float switch goes high before the Return Pump switches off. In case you have a wave maker in your tank.
You can set a time out if you want to so that if the water remains high for over a certain amount of time the Pump must stay off for a certain amount of time even if the switch has gone back to normal
The Reason for that is that lets say you have something big blocking your overflow, you don't want the pump to go off and then when just enough water trickles past the block 3 seconds later the pump starts again. That would have your pump oscillating on and off every 3 seconds. So you set a minimum Off time of 30 seconds or a minute or whatever you want.
You can also set a time that is the maximum time the switch can be low or high before the unit locks the Plug Off. You then have to manually go in and reset the timeout. This is great in cases where real damage can occur unless someone with knowledge inspects the problem before turning back on the device. For example flooding your floors. It is also great for pressurized ATO systems. You can make sure the solenoid only runs for a certain amount of time. For example if you know the Max time to top off is 40 seconds, you can set it that if the ATO is running for 60 seconds then something must be wrong so lock it down.
You also have XYZ programs that work on multiple parameters.
For example on my Tank the ATO will only come on if the water in the sump is low and the salinity is higher than 1.023 If these conditions are not met I get an alarm and an SMS message on my phone.
With the older controller the SMS can be used to get all the readings from your tank and the Web module works fine on the older controller, you can view the controller status and change settings. The only thing that does not work is the email because it cannot handle SSL security.
The new touch controller can do SSL.