Programming my Heaters to turn off when my Lights are on.

[atomic081]

Hey all,
I posted about this months ago and I thought It was working until recently. I have( 5) 400w Metal Halides and 4 500w Heaters. To have them all on two Energy bars (two circuits)I need to make sure the lights and the heaters don't run at the same time. I was told to program it like this:

Fallback OFF
If Tmp < 77.0 Then ON
If Tmp > 78.0 Then OFF
If Output Halide1 = ON Then OFF
If Output Halide1 = OFF Then ON
If Output Halide2 = ON Then OFF
If Output Halide2 = OFF Then ON
If Output Halide3 = ON Then OFF
If Output Halide3 = OFF Then ON
If Output Halide4 = ON Then OFF
If Output Halide4 = OFF Then ON
If Output Halide5 = ON Then OFF
If Output Halide5 = OFF Then ON


But this runs the heaters ALL the time when the Halides are off. So my tank has slowly creeped up to 81 deg.


Any suggestions? I've not done much programing since college 20 years ago.

 

[SPR1968]

Let’s see if we can get you some help, I use Apex but that’s beyond my abilities!

@SuncrestReef

 

[92Miata]

I'm not an Apex guy - I am a software developer though - so this is a bit of a guess:

I think these:
If Output Halide1 = OFF Then ON

Are basically overriding ' If Tmp > 78.0 Then OFF'

 

[atomic081]

I'm not an Apex guy - I am a software developer though - so this is a bit of a guess:

I think these:
If Output Halide1 = OFF Then ON

Are basically overriding ' If Tmp > 78.0 Then OFF'

yea it has to be something like that.....I just dont know how to fix it.

 

[92Miata]

yea it has to be something like that.....I just dont know how to fix it.

Just remove all the If Output HalideX = OFF then ON lines.

Leave the If OutputHalideX = ON then OFF lines.


That way the only line that's turning the heater on is
If Tmp < 77.0 Then ON



Edit:


Fallback OFF
If Tmp < 77.0 Then ON
If Tmp > 78.0 Then OFF
If Output Halide1 = ON Then OFF
If Output Halide2 = ON Then OFF
If Output Halide3 = ON Then OFF
If Output Halide4 = ON Then OFF
If Output Halide5 = ON Then OFF

 

[atomic081]

Just remove all the If Output HalideX = OFF then ON lines.

Leave the If OutputHalideX = ON then OFF lines.


That way the only line that's turning the heater on is
If Tmp < 77.0 Then ON



Edit:


Fallback OFF
If Tmp < 77.0 Then ON
If Tmp > 78.0 Then OFF
If Output Halide1 = ON Then OFF
If Output Halide2 = ON Then OFF
If Output Halide3 = ON Then OFF
If Output Halide4 = ON Then OFF
If Output Halide5 = ON Then OFF

That makes sense! Thanks so much!!!

 

[atomic081]

That seems to have done it!! Thanks again, My fish and my wallet are happy!!!

 

[rkpetersen]

One additional tip:
The temperature probe can go bad. It's rare, but it happens.
Usually when it fails, it displays an impossibly low temperature.
Not ideal, as this will cause the heater to stay on, trying to get to the normal temp while actually cooking everything.
To avoid this, you can add this or similar line at the very end.
If Temp < 70.1 Then OFF
This will stop heating if something is wrong with the temp probe.
Of course it's a good idea to have alerts for out of range temperatures as well.