@David Childs Thank you for the kind comments.
@Deep Reef Thanks!!
With that Said, below the steps on programming a Mitras Light Bar
Com Interface:
First From the System Panel you need to set the Serial Port to Mitras Light bar through the Communication Interface on the P4 or Expansion Box. Once you set it for one it will be set for all .
Enable lightbar and set channel * (This will be a beback)
The Next Step is to Setup your Light Channels in the Mitras Lightbar I first only Clicked the Mitras Lightbar is present and the default channels and by default it set them 1-10 I went in and changed to them to match what my light composer light source illumination channels said. (After I pushed my light schedule so this is a be back step to verify the channels here match what composer said.
We have a couple ways of doing it by individually programming each illumination channel that was assigned to the Mitras lightbar or using Light Composer. (Use Light Composer
)
Within the GCC Desktop add click on the + and expand Illuminations and then choose Light Composer
This was actually great option, I already created my projects and actually saved them locally so I can always load them again in the future and adjust, but to start you would choose the Mitras Lightbar you have purchased listed in the Templates and choose it (Also for Mitras 6x and 7X lights, or even the Simulation Light Bars you can find default templates for them by scrolling down)
Depending on the template you chose after you click ok you will be presented with the type of light or size (mine were 160's)
Once you have selected your type of light and click ok your brought into composer:
The top of the section is the Illumination Channel you want to assign on the LEDs on the light (Please note, Currently and GHL is aware of this you seem to be limited only to the first 10 channels, you can not change them)
The middle section is predefined schedule that was in the template, the LED intensity for each channel.
Clicking on one of the times allows you to see the spectrum your going to have at that specific period time as shown below.
If you click new your presented with the same options above where you can adjust the lamps specific to this light, and see the Spectrum results. You can also select predefined colors, set overall brightness, and even absorption your looking for.
Below is a Sample of me adjusting the light values and the new spectrum being displayed for that time interval as you can see adjusting the channels allows you to see the spectrum results your creating.
You can also test your schedule by clicking the test illumination which plays your light schedule.
Once you have transmitted your light schedule to the system, you will now have data in the Illumination Channels reflected in the Assigned Illumination Channels that were shown in the screen shot above top labeled at the top table Light sources.
Example, here is what my Channel 5 looks like
I named mine the actually Channel names of the actual LED. But you can name them anything you wish. Each LED will have it own channel and configuration. You will notice from the Illumination channels you use is where you set what other simulations you want to impact this channel of LED, Respond to Rainy Days, Darken by Clouds, Darken by thunderstorm, depends on moon phase season lighting.
You can also adjust the channel to turn down if the temperature in your tank gets to warm by checking the Temp.. -dep light reduction.
Adjust Moon, Clouds and Rainy Days
Under Simulation is where you set the start and end time for your Moon phases to impact the channel. As you can see my lighting schedule is normally 6:00am to 6:00pm I ramp up the lights again to the moon-phase at 7:000pm to 5:00am. You can also set cloud settings, and rainy days (I am still playing with these)
Thunderstorm Adjustments:
I have not played with this, but you can also have the channel programmed for Thunderstorm effects.
Season Tables:
One of the cool things also is you can have an overall season table added to your lights. Doing this will overlay an overall brightness value of your lights based on the seasons. So for example you may have your lights set to 100% in your schedule but in January if the Season table says the brightness is 80% is will turn the overall brightness down to 80%. Again you can apply this to the channels you wish to have impacted by the season table.
Apex Light Options example:
Apex does this a bit different, you do this via the the web browser on the device or through the apex fusion and have the ability to also select the times, choose values, but the spectrum is is not displayed within the application. I would show mine but it already offline, so the below is example from the Neptune Apex Site. (Want to also stress the below is not the complete picture of the what Apex can do with the lights more of an example to show how they interface with lights and schedule them)
You can also do advance programming and use profiles which allow you to also set the light channels and then code them through the apex programming language for example:
If Time 08:00 to 10:00 Then sunrise
If Time 10:00 to 16:00 Then daytime
If Time 16:00 to 18:00 Then sunset
If Time 18:00 to 08:00 Then moonlight
Your Profiles have the light settings your looking to do for that period of time
GHL Mobile App:
You can also adjust the light channels in the GCC App, but what is really nice is you can quickly at a glance see from within the App, and the GHL website the illumination channels and brightness values , and you can also display them on the touch.
Last you can set your overall Acclimation period for your lights. this is done in the through the Acclimation in the Illumination section. Doing this lowers your lights intensity at the start time and slowly has it rise to the end time.
Acclimation:
For example you have your maxim light intensity at 80% if you start your acclimation at 50% to start and end at 100% your lights will start at 40% and rise to 80% at the end time of the acclimation.
Hope this helps some people see how easy it is to program the Mitras Lightbar, but also the advance features you can do with it.
