New to the forum but know my way around everything Aquatronica Related.

[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?

[robbyG]

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.

[robbyG]

I just realized I might not have answered your primary question.
Yes everything can be done from the ACQ115 control unit. As a matter of fact I never created any of my programs from anything but the control unit.

I like to be able to see and hear what is happening as soon as I finish a program and also I want to test and make sure it works and does not have any conflicts with other programs.

With the ACQ115 you can buy the USB module and plug it into a Laptop and that makes everything available via the PC when you run the aquatronica windows PC software for the ACQ115. (I mean everything!)

You can also buy the Ethernet module and monitor everything including getting really nice looking graphs of your data and see your current status.

If you have an iPhone or iPad you might want to look at Aquamonitor.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X1ORdRqucVA

He is porting it over to the Touch controller, but the current version works great with the ACQ115 on any iPhone or iPad. so long as you have the Ethernet module and are wired to your home network

You cannot program the ACQ115 via Ethernet like you can with the ACQ140 (touch) but you can turn plugs On or Off or set them to Auto from anywhere in the world.

Rob

[mrhasan]

The sequence function of ACQ115 does need a PC and cannot be programmed via controller but I have never been able to determine what this is for anyways. So probably won't be a big deal.

Man you have been in this hobby longer than I my age haha. Sorry to hear about your prior experience with your old fishes; I guess that is just part of the hobby.

[robbyG]

Originally Posted by mrhasan

The sequence function of ACQ115 does need a PC and cannot be programmed via controller but I have never been able to determine what this is for anyways. So probably won't be a big deal.

Man you have been in this hobby longer than I my age haha. Sorry to hear about your prior experience with your old fishes; I guess that is just part of the hobby.

Your right, and if I remember correctly so does the email. Unfortunately that became useless a few years after they released the module as all email went SSL. Your right about loses being part of the Hobby, that's why I try not to put anything in my Tank that I am not at least 90% sure that it is going to survive. Unfortunately what stings the most is when you have dotted all the I's and crossed all the T's and then Murphy comes in and shows you who the boss is.

The Sequence programs are great, it's the only way you can setup an automatic water changing systems.

On a Smaller scale it's great for setting up fish feeding sequences.

1) Main Pump Off
2) Power Heads Off
*) You can now Add the food by hand
4) Wait 4 minutes
5) Turn Powerheads back on "Stir up any food that may have settled"
6) wait 1 min
7) turn powerheads back off
8) Wait 2 minutes (let fish pick up remaining food)
9) Turn on Powerhead
10) Turn on main Pump.

Rob

[mrhasan]

Hey Rob,

I experienced a very weird thing with the controller today and wanted to share to see whether you have any input (I have already sent it off to the support to see what they got to say about it).

So while trying to access the controller via IP today, I couldn't get into it. When I walked up to the controller, it wasn't waking up but everything was running fine. So I rebooted the whole system and it showed a blackout of 18hrs 54mins. The controller itself has been dead for that long but the powerbar has been working on backup program. The apartment didn't get any power outage. The powerbar and the controller is connected to the same outlet and the powerbar kept on working all these time but the head unit was dead for that long.

Very weird. Kinda freaked out and trying to come up with a reason as in why this happened.

[robbyG]

I had that issue once about a month after I got my controller. I had the display set to power save mode and locked. I am not sure but after that I just left the display on and unlocked and it has not happened again in 11 months. I did report it to AQT as I think it has something to do with the power saving mode for the display.

New firmware should be out in 10 days, that I hope fixes the problem.
Although I now prefer to keep the screen on 24/7 so it's non issue for me.

Other possibility if you were not using the screen saver mode is that you might have had a voltage sag that locked up the unit. I am not sure if your area is prone to that, if so I suggest either a small UPS just for the controller adapter or you could buy a Fridge Guard for a few bucks.

Rob