ACJR Problem

[Perry42985]

The last couple days when my MH lights are supposed to turn on, its turning my t5's off and the MH wont power up. If I go in to manual control and turn the t5's from auto to off and back to auto then they come back on. Here are the MH lights i have:
http://www.specialty-lights.com/al800psr.html
I cant find the specs for how many amps are drawn to see if its to much for the DC8
My t5s are ran with an Icecap 660.
Thanks in advance
PJ

 

[DaveJ]

What's your program look like? Do you have any temp or other control variables that turn off lights when a certain condition is met? I have mine set to turn off when certain temps are reached.... just like certain equipment goes off when a pH is reached etc.

Post your program statements first.. it may be that rather than an equipment issue.

 

[Wes]

are you using dc8 or x10?

 

[Rick]

If you can go into the controller and turn them both on manually and they both stay on, it is probably not too many amps. It is probably has something do with the T-5s running on a electronic ballast. They can really make those controllers act up. Try changing one of them to a different number in the controller. I actually have never been able to use my VHO actinics with my ACIII or ACII. I have always controlled it separately with just a regular electronic timer.

 

[Perry42985]

Its not the program list, its been the same way for a few weeks now and it just started doing this.

dc8

They both stay on fine when i do that and stay on when put back on auto, just the next time they are supposed to come on by themselves the lights turn off.

Ill switch it over to a different plug tomorrow and see if that works.

that's ridiculous, spend this much money and it wont even do what you bought it for.

Thanks again for all the help.
PJ

 

[bimmerzs]

Your program could have gotten corrupted somehow, I would not discount that. I changed out my battery once and had several issues including not being able to modify or save any new programming. You can try a hard reset by unplugging both the battery and power plug at the same time then reset the time and do a quick reverify on your program.

Cheers,

 

[melev]

I think you have too much stuff plugged into the DC8, based on what you've listed in your signature line.

I could be wrong, but it seems like the DC4 would be better suited for those lights.

 

[Ashlar]

There are noise filters that can 'clean up' the issue with electronic ballasts. But I'd like to see your program as well.

Question, though.. if you wait 5 minutes do the lights come back on? (The AC has an interval- usually 5 minutes- that it pushes commands again.)

 

[crash519]

My ACJr. program has been corrupted a few times after quick power flashes. I've actually had the exact same thing happen as you and I manually deleted the timer and re-did it. It's been working fine for over a year now.

 

[Perry42985]

I only have the 2 sets of lights, some PC fans and the heater pluged in. All the power heads and my chiller are not ran through the ACJR. Im going to try to delete the light programs and rewrite them and see if that helps b/c we have had a couple power issues in the last few days.
Thanks again
PJ

 

[Mikel]

I had a similar problem on my ACIII. Curt sent me replacement phone cords for my DC8's and the problem went away. The problem cords were grey and the new good cords are thick black ones. I think they have more shielding or something.

I have also heard of people just using a different plug and new program and changing the dip switches to fix the problem. That didnt work for mine maybe because I have 2 DC8's