AC3 Programming Guide

I'm creating this thread to put some basic AC3 programming information for those that are new to the Neptune AquaControllers.  This is an absolute newbie guide so things will be presented as basic as I can.  I'm doing this because I think the AC3 user's guide sucks for programming guidance.  I know that these statements will work for AC3 and AC3Jr, but there are some differences with the new Apex controllers.  I'm pretty new to this stuff too and I won't get into anything advanced, just the basics for now.
This guide is going to assume that you have connected your AC3 to your network and that you can access it with your PC.  Also, I'm going to assume that you have a DC8 (Direct Connect 8 - 8 outlet controllable power strip) connected, a temp probe and a pH probe.  Here goes.
So I have my devices plugged into my DC8. How do I know what outlet is what?
Your DC8 is arranged with outlets 1-4 across the top row and 5-8 across the bottom row (the dip switches and control ports are closest to the bottom row).  Each outlet is addressed by a three alphanumeric character identifier according to the configuration that you have set with the dip switches on the DC8.  We'll assume that you have it set to A and 1-8, so with this configuration, your outlets are identified as A01 - A08.
I go into the Program Editor in the web interface and I see two sections, Timer Names and Program Statements.  What are these?
Timer Names is where you create an identifier for each of your devices and indicate where the AC3 can locate that device.  For example, I plugged my heater into outlet A02 on my DC8, so in the Timer Names box, I will type this:
  HET%-A02
This basically associates outlet A02 to the HET identifier.  We will use that in the Program Statement section.  The Program Statements sections is where the conditions are designated that indicate when and outlet is to be turned on or off.
I have my heater plugged into A02.  I can see that my temp probe is tracking the water temp, so now what does my program need to look like in order to make my heater keep my water at 79 degrees?
First, we'll assume that you have the Timer Names set up to have the following timer configured:
  HET%-A02
Now, we put in the conditions where we want the power to outlet A02 to turn on or off.  These conditions are:
  If my water is colder than 77, turn the heater on.
  If my water is equal to 78 degrees, turn the heater on.
  If my water is hotter than 79 degrees, turn the heater off.
These three conditions translate to the following Program Statements
  If Temp < 77.0 Then HET ON
  If Temp = 78.0 Then HET ON
  If Temp > 79.0 Then HET OFF
Notice that all temps are specified with one decimal place present.  If you don't specify one decimal place, you will get an error.  The Temp label is used to determine the current temp of the tank based on the temp probe.  Later, we'll do more help control the temp in other ways.
I have my return pump on A05 and I want it to always be on.  How do I tell it to turn on and stay on?
First, let's create a Timer Name.  We'll call it RTN so it would look something like this:
  RTN%-A05
Now for this condition, we'll base it on the time.  So the condition where we want to power to outlet A05 to turn on is:
  At any time of the day, turn my return pump on.
To achieve this with Program Statements, we would put in this:
  If Time > 00:00 Then RTN ON
This statement will turn on and leave on the outlet associated with the "RTN" timer as long as there is power present.
I have my light plugged into outlet A03.  I want my lights to come on at 3:00 PM and turn off at 10:00 PM.  How do I do this?
First, let's create the Timer Name.  We'll call it MH1 so it would look something like this:
  MH1%-A03
For the condition, we want to have a turn on time and a turn off time, so the conditions are:
  Turn my lights on at 3:00 PM
  Turn my lights off at 10:00 PM
To achieve this with Program Statements, we would put this in:
  If Time > 15:00 Then MH1 ON
  If Time > 22:00 Then MH1 OFF
Notice that all times are expressed in 24 hour format with hours and minutes.
I have moonlights and I want these to come on opposite of the main lights.  They are plugged into outlet A04.  How do I do this?
First, let's create the Timer Name.  We'll call it MNL so it would look something like this:
  MNL%-A04
For the condition, we want to have a turn on time and a turn off time, so the conditions are:
  Turn my moon lights on at 10:00 PM
  Turn my moon lights off at 3:00 PM
To achieve this with Program Statements, we would put this in:
  If Time > 22:00 Then MNL OFF
  If Time > 15:00 Then MNL ON
Notice that all times are expressed in 24 hour format with hours and minutes.
My tank is overheating when my lights are on, what can I do?
To help cool the tank, we'll mount a small fan so that it can blow across the water surface of your tank between the lights and your water.  Once that's mounted, we'll plug it into A01.  Now, we create the Timer Name.  We'll call it FAN so our Timer Name would look like this:
  FAN%-A01
For the condition, we want to:
  Turn the fan on if the tank temp exceeds 79.5 degrees
To achieve this with Program Statements, we would put this in:
  If Temp > 79.5 Then FAN ON
  If Temp < 79.5 then Fan OFF
This will cycle your fan on and off as your tank temp exceeds the 79.5 degree threshold.
So here's our Timer Names so far:
  FAN%-A01  
  HET%-A02
  MNL%-A04
  RTN%-A05
And here's our Program Statements so far:
  If Time > 00:00 Then RTN ON
  If Temp < 79.0 Then HET ON
  If Temp = 79.0 Then HET ON
  If Temp > 79.0 Then HET OFF
  If Temp > 79.5 Then FAN ON
  If Temp < 79.5 Then FAN OFF
  If Time > 15:00 Then MH1 ON
  If Time > 22:00 Then MH1 OFF
  If Time > 22:00 Then MNL OFF
  If Time > 15:00 Then MNL ON
My lights won't power back on after a brief power outage because the metal halide starters are too warm to trigger the starter.  How do I fix this?
There's a built in Power timer that's reset upon power on.  If you put in the following command, your AC3 will wait 10 minutes before allowing the metal halides to be turned on.  In this example, we use the MH1 timer again to represent our metal halide lights.  The necessary program statement to accomplish this is:
  If Power 010 Then MH1 OFF
The Power timer can be used for anything that you want to have started after shortly after a power outage. 
After a power outage, my skimmer floods due to the increase in water in the sump.  How can I fix this?
This is another great place to use the Power timer.  Allow the return pump to run for a couple of minutes before turning on the skimmer to normalize the water level in the sump and prevent the skimmer flooding from occurring.  Since we don't have a timer established for the skimmer yet, the following is what we'll add to the program to accomplish this.  The timer name will be:
  SKM%-A03
And the program statement will be:
  If Power 002 Then SKM OFF
I want to turn off my powerheads and return pump for 15 minutes while I feed my tank.  Also, I need to have my skimmer off for a few minutes longer than my return pump so that the sump water level can return to normal operating levels.  How do I do this?
Obviously, this is what the feed timers are there for.  Feed timers are different than other programming in that it requires that you manually invoke them vs. execute based on a predetermined parameter like time or pH level, etc.  For this example, we'll have one timer name for powerheads, one for return pump, and one for skimmer.    We'll plan for the powerheads to come on first, then the return pump one minute later, and finally the skimmer 3 minutes after that (4 minutes after the feed timer ends).  If you have more powerheads or other devices to include, add them as needed.  This requires three steps:
[*]Set up the length of the feed timer in the AC3.  This has to be done directly on the device and not using program statements.[*]Set up program to be executed for the particular feed timer[*]Execute the feed timer when it's time to feed.
Step 1 - Set the length of the feed timer
Go to your AC3 and click Select to get the Main Menu.
Click Down until Setup is the selected option - click Select
Timer Setup should be the first option displayed - click Select
Click Down to Feed Intervals - click Select
Click Down until you get to the Feed Timer you wish to modify.  For this example, We're going to use Feed Timer A - click Select.
Click Up / Down to adjust the number of minutes that you want the timer to last - click Select
Click Down until Exit is the selected option - click Select
Click Down until Exit is the selected option - click Select
Click Down until Run is the selected option - click Select
Step 2 - Set the program to be executed for the timer
We already have timer names for Return Pump (RTN) and Skimmer (SKM) so we'll add one more for powerhead (PWH)...so in the Timer names, we add
  PWH%-A06
And the program statements would look like this:
  If FeedA 000 Then PWH OFF
  If FeedA 001 Then RTN OFF
  If FeedA 005 Then SKM OFF
To me, this is a little counter-intuituve since we really want them to turn on after this amount of time and not off, but if you think about it like as a suppression vs. a on/off command it makes more sense (at least to me).  For example, if you think of "If FeedA 000 Then PWH OFF" as "when Feed A cycle is invoked, suppress PWH for the Feed A cycle minutes + 0 additional minutes", it might make the commands make more sense to you.
Step 3 - Invoke the timer
From the AC3 console, click Down until you see the desired timer, the click Select.  This invokes the cycle.  It can also be done by invoking it from the web interface if you're using firmware version 3.4 or greater.  When this is invoked, you will see a count down on the console with the option to end the feed timer early.  The countdown is displayed in seconds.
More to come...

General Tips

• On DC8s, those with serial numbers of 9000+ use relays for switching ports 4 and 8.  This makes them more sensitive for lower wattage devices.
• If you have a lower wattage device on DC8 with a SN lower than 9000 and have problems controlling it, using a splitter on that outlet to control multiple items with a single outlet...for example, multiple powerheads instead of putting each powerhead on it's own outlet.  You loose some flexibility, but you gain reliability.
• www.kenargo.com is a wealth of information.  If you have an AC3, do yourself a favor and check out what this site has to offer.
• Joel Tesdall has developed a nice management software application to help with managing the AC3 called ReefTrakker.  All GIRS members get a free license.  Go to www.reeftrakker.com to download it and PM Joel (jtesdall) for a license key.
• If you have authentication enabled, but you don't want to have to worry about typing credentials in when you log in, bookmark your AC3 URL like this  http://usernameassword@ac3httphostname:ac3httpport.  If your username is admin, password is 1234, hostname is myac3 and port is 8080, then your URL would be http://admin:1234@myac3:8080/
• User's Guides for the various controllers and components can be found here http://www.neptunesys.com/index.php...Itemid=48.   They are not very good, but sometimes the diagrams are helpful.
• On a DC8, when setting your device identifier and outlet numbers, only switches 1-3 are used.

I hope this is helpful.  Add question for things that you would like to see covered.
--AJ

 

Well, that was the idea. The users guide sucks so I thought I would try to put stuff down, but put it down in a more practical manner than what's available elsewhere.

--AJ

 

I believe that it's iPhone specific. Also, I don't believe the AC3Jr comes with Ethernet or the ability to add it....you have to use a serial cable for it. If you're comparing features of the different aquacontrollers, I've found www.aquariumcontrollers.com to be a helpful site.

--AJ

 

Good stuff Matt. I've been reading up on the feed timers, still trying to figure them out. That and the oscillate function. This helps. I'll incorporate it into the guide.

--AJ

 

Honestly,  I would like for this to be a resource for our members where some of the programming stuff can be explained.  Plus, after I don't have to touch it for a while, maybe a place where I can refresh my memory on why I set something up like I did.  The stuff I've covered so far is pretty straight forward, but I would like to do more to incorporate some of the things that are not used as often..for example, I'm going to try to incorporate some float switches and virtual timers.  I'll cover it all here in this thread.
--AJ

 

Ah consistency...don't you love it!! Minutes in one place and seconds in the other...and you have to know it well enough to keep track of it all...one more thing to learn.

--AJ

 

Yeah, I can do that when it gets a little more complete, but I like the interactive nature of the forums for now as people can ask questions and suggest new stuff to be added. I'm still researching and adding more from day to day...in fact, today I added info about the "Power" system timer to control startup events after a power outage. Cool stuff!

Great to know about the ReefTrakker stuff. Thanks for the reminder.

--AJ

 

Added the feed timer stuff tonight and some Power commands late last week for anything special that might need to be done in case of a power outage. I know I'm learning a lot about the capabilities of my AC3 getting it up and running on this tank I have going. Even with all that I have in there, I know I'm just scratching the surface of the capabilities of this controller...much more to come.

--AJ