AFS by Neptune Programming help

[boozeman27]

Hi all! I have a Neptune AFS and I set up programing as they state in the manual but something is not right. Hopefully the experts here can help. I used this example from the Neptune documentaion.

One final example. Here we want a complete feeding workflow: Initiate Feed cycle  turn off return and skimmer  wait 1 minute  feed  wait 10 min  turn on return  wait 5 min  turn on skimmer

Here’s how you would accomplish that. First, you’ll need a virtual outlet (for information on how to create virtual outlets, see the Comprehensive Reference Manual).
We’ll start with a simple one time a day, single rotation feeding but you can adapt for any number of feedings:

[FeedControl] Set OFF
If Time 12:00 To 12:01 Then ON

[skimmer] Set ON
If Outlet FeedControl = ON Then OFF
Defer 15:00 Then ON

[return] Set ON
If Outlet FeedControl = ON Then OFF
Defer 10:00 Then ON

[feeder_9_1] Set OFF
If Outlet FeedControl = ON Then ON
Defer 1:00 Then ON

So I did all of the above settings except I called my virtual outlet "FeedControl"
The feed cycle initiates but the return pump and skimmer never come back on, even after 10 and 15 min respectively. I have my return and skimmer on Auto, and the Feeder and FeedControl are also both on Auto. When the time programmed hits, the pump and skimmer turn off and then the feeder spins and drops food after 1 minute. That part works. However, after that both the feeder and the FeedControl stay on "ON" and my return and skimmer never come back on. Any ideas?

 

[boozeman27]

Do I need to enter the Defer statements in seconds? Is it deferring 10 hours instead of 10 minutes?

 

[boozeman27]

Here is all of my programming;

[FeedControl]
Set OFF
If Time 11:00 to 11:01 Then ON
If Time 15:00 to 15:01 Then ON
If Time 16:10 to 16:01 Then ON

Return Pump
Fallback ON
Set ON
If FeedA 000 Then OFF
If BoB_4 CLOSED Then OFF
If Output vFeed = ON Then OFF
If FeedD 000 Then OFF
Set ON
If Output FeedControl = ON Then OFF
Defer 010:00 Then ON

Skimmer
Fallback OFF
Set ON
If FeedA 000 Then OFF
If FeedB 000 Then OFF
Defer 005:00 Then ON
If BoB_3 CLOSED Then OFF
If Output vFeed = ON Then OFF
If FeedD 000 Then OFF
Set ON
If Output FeedControl = ON Then OFF
Defer 015:00 Then ON

Feeder
Set OFF
If Output FeedControl = ON Then ON
Defer 001:00 Then ON

 

[Engloid]

You're turning on the AFS for only a 1 minute interval. If I'm not mistaken, somebody told me that it would not work unless you set it for 2 minutes on, to get one revolution. Try that and see if it helps.

 

[Engloid]

Do I need to enter the Defer statements in seconds? Is it deferring 10 hours instead of 10 minutes?

Yes. 10 minutes would be 000:10
I have seen that apex sometimes doesn't even like it as 00:10. I don't know why it likes the three zeros better.

 

[jml1149]

Yes. 10 minutes would be 000:10
I have seen that apex sometimes doesn't even like it as 00:10. I don't know why it likes the three zeros better.

Sorry, 10 minutes would be 010:00. MMM:SS. Apex doesn't recognize hours.

From the code above:


Return Pump
Fallback ON
Set ON
If FeedA 000 Then OFF
If BoB_4 CLOSED Then OFF
If Output vFeed = ON Then OFF
If FeedD 000 Then OFF
Set ON <- Why are there two set ON's?
If Output FeedControl = ON Then OFF
Defer 010:00 Then ON

Skimmer
Fallback OFF
Set ON
If FeedA 000 Then OFF
If FeedB 000 Then OFF
Defer 005:00 Then ON
If BoB_3 CLOSED Then OFF
If Output vFeed = ON Then OFF
If FeedD 000 Then OFF
Set ON <- Why are there two set ON's?
If Output FeedControl = ON Then OFF
Defer 015:00 Then ON

 

[boozeman27]

Thanks for the help! Working great now!

 

[jml1149]

No problem

 

[MtrSkllz]

Disclaimer: I just got an apex myself and i am still learning to code it.

Here is all of my programming;

Skimmer
Fallback OFF
Set ON
If FeedA 000 Then OFF
If FeedB 000 Then OFF
Defer 005:00 Then ON
If BoB_3 CLOSED Then OFF
If Output vFeed = ON Then OFF
If FeedD 000 Then OFF
Set ON
If Output FeedControl = ON Then OFF
Defer 015:00 Then ON

From my understanding you can only have one "Defer" statement per function per output. For example you could have one "defer on" and one "defer off" per output. More than that and i am not really sure what happens, I just know it does not work.

Those zeroes after the feed statement are a built in defer, so to have the skimmer stay off 5 minutes after your feed cycle you would only need to put

If FeedB 005 Then Off

Also is there a reason you want your skimmer to fallback off?

In my opinion your skimmer code should look like this

Skimmer
Fallback ON
Set ON
If FeedA 000 Then OFF
If FeedB 005 Then OFF
If FeedD 000 Then OFF
If BoB_3 CLOSED Then OFF
If Output vFeed = ON Then OFF
If Output FeedControl = ON Then OFF
Defer 015:00 Then ON

Actually on second thought, if your return pump is already being turned off you should be able to just use that for most of those functions

Fallback ON
Set ON
If FeedB 005 Then OFF
If BoB_3 CLOSED Then OFF
If Output Return_Pump = OFF then OFF
Defer 005:00 Then ON

That should do it

 

[Engloid]

Yeah, apparently, I made a simple mistake also by saying 000:10 was 10 minutes, when it's 10 seconds. sorry.