acjr question...

macawmagic

In Memoriam
I'm about to buy the acjr. I was just wondering if the people on here that have one or who are thinking about buying one and have researched it could give me their opinions. My plan is for it to run the lights, fans, chiller, powerheads, and I think that's it. maybe if we had a couple people interested we could find a group buy deal or something...not sure if anyone else is interested in getting one. let me know.
keith

question is...to run the chiller on this...do I need to get that dc4 heavy duty, or can i run it off the normal dc8?
 
AcJr is great if you don't need a web interface (the only reason I ended up with an Aquatronica instead of Ac Jr or even RK2).

For a chiller you probably will be okay running it on the DC8, but you may blow the fuse on it. Check to see how much amperage your stuff is going to use (it should list it on the chiller, I dunno if ballasts list it or w/e). The specs from neptunesys for the DC8 are Max 6 Amps, total current must be less than 15 Amps. The DC4HD is Max 12 Amps, total current must be less than 15 Amps. I think chillers run somewhere around 3 Amps depending on the size (i'm sure it's variable with chiller size) so someone like Manny who runs 2 chillers needs something more substantial than a DC8 if he wants his lights, pumps, heaters, chillers, etc all on one circuit. I think you'll probably be okay, but still check how much amperage you'll be drawing. I know that when I had my chiller, heater, pumps, lights, etc all on one power strip connected to one outlet in the wall, the plug would get warm to hot depending on how long the chiller ran. That's why you're supposed to use a few different circuits, including/especially a dedicated circuit for just the tank to be on, since everything related to the tank sucks up so much juice.

BTW I believe that most houses' internal wiring is a heavy enough gauge to handle 25+ Amps standard, because we looked into it when a friend of mine installed one of those stupid commercial hand blowdriers that he bought off ebay, and it took up 18-20amps or something incredible like that, and he wired it into his apartment and wanted to make sure the in-wall lines could handle it.

I'm sure Steve (oaigos) can give a better opinion though.
 
You can run all your lights & chiller from the controller using the remote X10's if you need.This way you can plug into different circuits in the house.You will need an X10 interface to control them(only one interface needed,no matter how many X10 outlets are run).If you go this route,price the X10's on ebay,as you will save a lot of $$$.HTH
 
The chiller has a high magnetic starting load, I would get at least a 30 amps rating device to switch. The 15 and 20 amps will work fine but you are taking a change in the long run of either burning the contacts or having the contacts stuck in the on position.
 
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