Profilux II plus aquarium controller

[Slick Fork]

So I'm sitting at home last night and my coralife powerbar failed.... so I was planning a DIY powerbar with heavy duty timers and all the good stuff and my wife asked how much it would cost to put it all together. Once she determined that it would be too pricey to let me continue.... I got my birthday present a couple of weeks early...



This morning I found a nice little box waiting with my coffee and am now trying to figure out all the gadgets on my new profilux controller!!

Anyways, aside from the announcement I do have a few quick questions, there will probably be tons more as I set this up afterwork tonight.

1) I've noticed it says in several places in the manual to not use an interface cable that didn't come from GHL as there are signals being transmitted that are meant for the remote display. My laptop doesn't have a serial port, however I do have a serial to usb connector that I purchased from Best Buy. If I connect that GHL cable to the profilux and Then use the USB-> SERIAL adaptor to hook up to my computer will I have any issues?

2) I can't find any information on these dimmable light bars other than the fact that they are over a hundred bucks each, could someone fill me in on size/wattage, etc. They do look neat... has anyone actually tried the "lightning storm" feature? Is there some benefit to corals/fish or is it just a "because we can" feature?

3) I noticed that there was mention of Dimmable sockets in the thread, will these function on the same idea as the Seio multicontroller? Any rough guesses as to when we might see these?

4) I am currently running a Giesseman eco 230 2x250watt HQI, 2x54watt T-5 fixture over the tank, does anyone know if the t-5 ballast is dimmable? I e-mailed Giesseman earlier but haven't heard back yet

Being at work instead of home setting this up is killing me!!!!

Cheers

[Draven]

I can answer the RS232 question. I read this in another forum and is a direct quote from Matthias.

"ProfiLux Plus II has as standard a built-in RS232-interface, always. This can be used to connect it to PC (to RS232, or if not available, to USB using a standard RS232-USB-converter) or to connect an external display, ProfiLux View."

I cant answer the other questions because I am not familiar with them.

[Matthias Gross]

Regarding our dimmable LED-light bars:
They have blue and white LEDs for moonlight (great effect in combination with the moon phase program of ProfiLux), red LEDs to simulate sunset (the light is more red at morning and evening) and white high-power LEDs to create flashes. The LED-groups can be dimmed independently.
The length is about 60cm, diameter is 20mm. They have only a small wattage (2.5W) because they are only designed for effect-lighting and not for replacement of the MH or fluorescents.
One bar is usually ok to illuminate a tank of about 1.5m, for longer tanks i recommend to use more of them.
I don't want to tell some pseudo-scientific arguments for this light (as maybe some other manufacturers do for their products). I am not sure if there are confirmable benefits for the fishes or corals, but it just looks really good. Maybe someone will now complain that thunderstroms my drive the fishes crazy - but in nature they have them also.

Dimmable sockets
They can be used to supply dimmable devices (eg some pumps, heater, conventional lamps) with a variable voltage. Coming soon.

Giesemann
I don't know this lamp but they usually don't equip non dimmable lamps with dimmable ballasts. That means: The ballast must be replaced in the case you want dimm the fluorescents.

[Matthias Gross]

Originally Posted by jdjeff58

I have been attempting to display a graph of my parameters and all I can seem to get after I 'read and save data' and then 'display graphics' is ......

It seems there is a problem in the import function with your time/date format. Try to fix this with the new ProfiLuxControl II 3.03, i hope i get that released this weekend. Still typing source-code...

[Slick Fork]

Thank you for the response Matthias, Nice when the producer will say "just cause it's cool" instead of making up reasons we NEED to have it!

I have another question regarding the temperature probe and it's location relative to the heater's. I have stuck the probe in my sump baffles just before the return compartment. I have my heater's right in the return compartment of the sump, is my probe location ok? Should I maybe be measuring the temperature in the display? I really don't want the wires in the display tank but maybe that would make more sense?

In the baffles, it gets to measure all the water as it passes through but now I'm thinking maybe it will always read "cold" because it's the last spot in the circuit before the heaters, and keep the heaters running non-stop. Any thoughts?

[jdjeff58]

Originally Posted by Slick Fork

I have another question regarding the temperature probe and it's location relative to the heater's. I have stuck the probe in my sump baffles just before the return compartment. I have my heater's right in the return compartment of the sump, is my probe location ok? Should I maybe be measuring the temperature in the display? I really don't want the wires in the display tank but maybe that would make more sense?

I'd be interested to hear what people have to say about this. I was using a similar logic when I was trying to decide where to put my heater and probe.

To me, it makes more sense to measure the temp of the display. The problem with that is that if the heater is not in the display, it could take a while before the temp reaches the setpoint (or control temp) and larger than desired temp swings could result. Having the heater in the display would more than likely cut down those swings. But who wants to clutter up their display like that. The other thing that I know is that it is practically impossible to have a completely uniform temp...even in the display. No matter where we measure the temp...it's always only going to be the temp at the tip of the probe. Good circulation will provide a more uniform temp, but it will still vary from spot to spot. If we do measure the display, we will only know the temp near the surface of the water.....we are limited by the length of the probe. If there is a heater in the display as well, the temp near the heater will most likely be warmer. There has to be a reasonable compromise made in terms of placement of the heater and probe when performing any kind of temp control.

My sump goes from left to right with 3 chambers (drain/skimmer, fuge, return)So I put my heater (500w titanium) in the drain/skimmer section of the sump (draining down from the display) where the water is getting the most agitation. My temp probe is in the next section over (fuge) measuring the water as it flows over the first baffle. My third section is the return section....pumping what I believe to be 78°F water back to the display.

The Profilux seems to be holding well. My heater is not on constantly. I'm one of the more fortunates to have my tank in the basement where it never gets over 70°F...even in the summer.

But it is an interesting topic as I put some thought into this myself. I have a seperate temp controller that I just temporarily dropped in the display to see what kind of temp is up there. I have the probe dangling in the center of the display in the current from the power heads. With the profilux controlling at 78, I'm getting a reading that fluctuates somewhat. But it is between 77.8 and 78.1

I just started cycling my 120g tank a couple of weeks ago...along with setting up the Profilux. I put this topic on the backburner for the time being. But with the test I just did, I can say that the placement of heater and probe that I chose is working well.

[niloc16]

to be honest its not necessary to have an exact measurement of temperature. its more important to control the fluctuation of morning to evening temperature. so even if the display is 78 degrees and the sump with the heaters is going at 79 - 80 degrees it's not really a concern in my opinion. have the profilux shut the heaters off 2 -3 degrees above what your system temperature is first thing in the morning.

[jdjeff58]

It's best to have the probe downstream from the heater in the sump. Putting the probe upstream will cause the temp control loop to play constant catch up with itself. I try to place my probes where I can have the most exact temp that I can get. That's the whole point of a temp control loop....to MAINTAIN temp. at the setpoint.

[Reefer Rob]

Well, you lost me. Your saying you put your temperature probe in the warm water that flows off your heaters? This keeps your tank temperature more constant? Remember you are controlling cooling as well as heating. The best place for the probe should be in the tank IMO. I have mine inside one overflow measuring the temperature of the water coming out of the tank.

[Matthias Gross]

Hi All!

Firmware 3.03 & ProfiLuxControl II V.3.03 is completed!

I could not implement all wished functions, but i think i could add a lot of new features. The next upgrade is in work...
These are the news:
- dosing pump functions
- LAN/WLAN-settings adjustable with ProfiLuxControl or over ProfiLux directly
- manual override for sockets
- measurement memory extended, new export/import for measurement data (so i hope it will work now with your date and time format - waiting for feedback)
- temperature dependend shut-off for MH
- and some things i forgot now

Here are the new files for download:
http://www.ghl-kl.de/Produkte/Aquari...LuxII_V303.pdf
http://www.ghl-kl.de/Produkte/Aquari...rolII_V303.exe
http://www.ghl-kl.de/Produkte/Aquari...LuxII_V303.zip

In the next days i will write a new step-by-step tutorial for the LAN/WLAN-setup with firmware 3.03. Maybe you'll work it out before that.