Profilux II plus aquarium controller

[Matthias Gross]

Hi niloc,

bullit67 wrote he did NOT connect metal halide lamps to the socket which seems to make trouble.

To your case
The powerbars are even designed for 15A switching current. The relays are applicable for 250/16A.
The problem is the high so called inrush-current of inductive loads (here are the coils of your ballast inductive). At the moment of switching on the metal halide we have a current of up to 150A for some miliseconds! This current peak is to short to blow the fuse (otherwise your housefuse would also blow) but in some cases long enough to damage the relays.
This problem is always given with switching coils (eg ballasts for metal) and there are these solutions:
- use of an inrush current limiter
- spread the load to several sockets (maybe you connected some lamps to one socket?)
- use of an digital electronic ballast. (These electronic ballasts are standard in our metal halide lamps)

I know that other manufacturers of switchable powerbars have these problems too. Some solved it by the use of electronic switches. But these have the disadvantage that the can't shut off small loads (eg valves).
Others solved it using more sensitive fuses - here we have the problem that higher non inductive loads can't be driven either.

And could you please give me the exact watts for metal halide lamps you connected to the socket? Maybe you have the model/producer of your lamp/ballast?

Greetings

Matthias

[niloc16]

matthias,

i only have one metal halide lamp connected to this power bar. it is a 400w lumen max2 reflector with and aquaconnect 14k bulb and a 400w icecap electronic ballast. the other bar i have has 2 of these same units on it but are programmed to come on 1 minute apart from each to reduce the large load all at once on the power bar.

colin

[support@proline]

Hi Matthias
The ballast colin is using is the same ballast we had on the fixtures @ MACNA
so they are a bit different than your european version of electronic ballast
There will be a intial start up surge ,with most these ballast.
Colin how is the W-LAN working for you?

[niloc16]

the WLAN is not working, i have not attempted installing it in about a week. i was getting extrememly frustrated so i left if for a bit and actually played with the controller, got it setup in the tank finally. but possibly this week i may try again. matthias and bigblue have given some ideas to try so i'll try that. by the sounds of it my issue is my wireless network and since i've only used the wireless internet for about 3 months i'm pretty inexperienced in troubleshooting and setting up the network.

[Dave C]

Originally Posted by support@proline

Hello Psyire
Thank you for sharing your experience ,I don't want to hijack the thread ,however ,I am not sure why you think aquatronica is more felxible ,I have not had the opportunity to play around with the Elos Controller much ,but as far as profilux ,It has way more features than Aquatronica ,The programing is alot more advanced & has way more failsafes for each feature ,We had these units unveiled @ MACNA this year ,so the reason that there are currently more northamerican users for aquatronica is that ,profilux is new here ,Matthias Gross ,Designer /Programmer of Profilux did take it's time to make sure all commponents are UL tested & tested the north american versions for few months before production. (unlike other brands)
There are alot more Profilux users in germany than Aquatronica ,I do have family in Colonge germany & visit quiet frequently ,you can find profilux in many aquarium shops ,in case of aquatronica it was distributed by fauna marin in the past & only in a few shops
http://www.ghl-kl.de/Produkte/Aquari...e_handler.html

http://aquatronica.de/haendler.html
Also GHL won an award for this controller in 2005
http://www.ghl-kl.de/Produkte/Aquari.../uber_uns.html.


I do frequent some of the aquatronica boards & I believe more than anything majority of the posts are about the flaws ,problems & part replacements they need.I have read your post & I believe you are very knowledgable aquarist &very hands on & familliar with aquatronica ,but I believe it will be hard to judge a unit without Having experience with it,I amsure given the chance you will be very impressed with profilux .
We have our first shipment of Profilux plus II units on the way they should be here shortly & I will be doing a overall review ,specially on all the new componnents & I hope you get the chance to read it .
Along Many extra features of profilux ,what sets them Apart
1- advance programing
2- Better quality probes ,specially the conductivity probe in case of aquatronica they use a graphite one ,profilux uses platinum probes that is actually meant for SW
3-The Dimming light options that come stock with unit
4- Powerbars are alot better quality & they can handle 30 amps between the 8 sockets,in case of aquatronica is only 15.
Also each socket has a seprate fuse.
5- the W-LAN option that is already out & tested makes this unit alot easier to work with.
6- Combo Interfaces instead of having to buy a seprate interface for each option .
& many ,many more ,as I promised I will keep you guys posted very soon.
& also I have to agree with you RK2 dosen't even play in the same playgrund.
Regards
Proline

I was pretty sure this post would come back & bite someone in the butt. I wish you lots of luck with this controller & I don't doubt that it will be working for you soon. This thread & the issues pointed out show that no matter how well tested something is in advance of it's issue to the customers there can always be problems. That works for Aquatronica & Profilux as well as any other brand. It would be unfair at this point to make a broad statement like "the majority of the posts about Profilux are about the flaws ,problems & part replacements they need" but at this point that would fit.

[niloc16]

althought my experience with the W-LAN feature has been bad, that is only one feature of the unit and my fault for not knowing how to setup wireless networks. every other feature on this unit has been amazing and extrememly easy to setup and use. everything has its minor flaws and in my experience it has been the 'lack of experience' with the unit that i run into issues.. once i found my way into the menus it was easy. there does sound like there is an issue with the power bars so far with lighting and relays sticking but i'm sure it will be resolved.

although i have sounded negative on this post lately with the WLAN feature, i am still a major supporter of the controller itself. the quality of the components is amazing. i believe the controller will have to get a track record in north america before a strong statement can be made of it being better then all the rest. i post my issues on here, be it negative or positive, so that other people that may have the same issue will resolve it or understand the unit better not to attack the controller and convince others to not buy it or vice versa.

we all have it easy compared to Fudge. when he got the first controller before everyone there was not this post to go into to ask for help or input and all the manuals were in german. i got alot of insight into the controller before buying it from following his experiences. so now that i have blabbed on forever, my point being is that this controller is a very good investment and i hope that my negative issues do not sway people from researching it further

[support@proline]

Very well put Colin
The purpose of forumS like this would be to discuss ,new ways ,methods ,news & equipment ,as I have mentioned before as a wholesaler /distributor our loyalty is to the consumer ,if a product ,does not work ,there is no point for us to support it we neither manufacture ,nor the design it,if the consumer not satisfied with the product makes it imposible for us to carry that brand,therefore the reason for having people test products,......
Dave as far as the other post ,I still stand behind all those statements,as far as the quality of the unit & the probes ,it does not take much to see if it's suprier than other brands.
As far as all the other statements ,still nothing has changed either,We already have users that have installed the W-LAN already ,as colin stated himself the fact that he has not installed the W-LAN ,does not mean that there is a problem with this module however if there were mutiple people unable to calibrate their probes & the face plate of thier units were falling off @ the same time as well ,I guess that would have been a problem
Dave if what you are using serves it's purpose ,there is no reason changing or considering another system ,however for all the profilux users here & also in Germany& other countries ,I am sure they had they own reasons
to pick profilux over other brands based on their own research as It was the case for us as a company.
you might say , we are being biased to the product we carry ,the resean is we commit many hours of research and testing of the products we carry to assure our customers are happy & that is that ,not because we manufacture them.
In any case colin please keep us posted of your progress
btw ,what is your ORP reading now?
Doug what's up my friend ,you have been quiet for a while

[Matthias Gross]

Hi Colin,

thanks your comments above.

Tunze control:
i don't know your configuration, i guess you connected 2 pumps with the cables ProfiLux-Tunze1 and ProfiLux-Tunze2, these 2 cables are connected over an Y-cable to one 1-10V-port of ProfiLux.
Further i guess this is port L1L2, then these settings should be done:
1. assign the function current pump1 to 1-10V-interface 1, set min-voltage to 3V and max-voltage to 8V
2. assign the function current pump2 to 1-10V-interface 2, set min-voltage to 3V and max-voltage to 8V
3. do the other current settings as needed (mode, percentage, times,...)

WLAN
i don't understand why you can't get it running. In earlier posts you wrote you had connection until you set the settings to factory defaults. So you have been very close to the target... Try it again next weekend...

Redox and all your other problems
seems you could solve them finally

In general (for all users): ProfiLux is a complex device with a lot of features. It has about 1000 settings which can be altered. We tried to develop a mostly self-explaining user interface but it is strictly recommended to read the manual completely and accurately (even if you think it is not neccessary because you think you'll guess how to do the configuration), only then you will be able to get the most benefit from the manifold features.
And if there are still questions ... don't hesitate to ask me for support!

[SuperFudge]

Good to hear it`s comin along all, you bunch of rookies !

Heh, cant wait till the end of the week here....im going to upgrade the unit a little bit, ill let you know how things go with some pics.

Dave,
if youve come here simply to troll...please take it elsewhere.



Marc.