diy apex lunar string

[Member No. 1]

Just a FYI...
If you want your moon lights to be on every night at the same time and at a predetermined intensity, you can do it with virtual outlets and profiles. That's how I have mine set up. This will ramp the lights up or down and control brightness.
You don't have to use the Moon program.

 

[jjoos99]

Just a FYI...
If you want your moon lights to be on every night at the same time and at a predetermined intensity, you can do it with virtual outlets and profiles. That's how I have mine set up. This will ramp the lights up or down and control brightness.
You don't have to use the Moon program.

How is this done? Im not good with my programming within apex.
thanks
Jeff

 

[Member No. 1]

How is this done? Im not good with my programming within apex.
thanks
Jeff

PM Sent

 

[Member No. 1]

To do this you will need 2 profiles.
This can be done in Fusion
Profile 1
This will ramp the moon lights down from a start percentage to a finish percentage over a fixed time.
1. Go to the profile tab, (looks like a file folder) then select an unused profile.
2. In the Name box, call it Lunar_Down
3. In the Type box, select Ramp
4. Set Ramp Time to 30
5. Set Start Intensity to 100
6. Set End Intensity to 10
Then click the save button.

Profile 2
This will maintain the moon light intensity at your predetermined setting.
1. Same as above if your'e not already in the profile page.
2. Name this one Lunar
3. Select Ramp
4. Set Ramp Time to 1
5. Set Start Intensity to 1
6. Set End Intensity to 1
Then click save.

You can adjust all these settings later to your personal liking.

Now go to your Lunar Outlet and click on Advance type.
Under configuration copy and paste this code.

Fallback OFF
Set OFF
If Time 21:59 to 22:29 Then Lunar_Down
If Time 22:29 to 01:00 Then Lunar

My Atinics go off at 22:00 (10:00pm) so I wanted my moon lights on before they went off.
So what the above coding does is it turns my moon lights on 2 minutes before my antinics go off and at 100% intensity. Then it ramps the moon lights down to 1% over the course of 30 minutes. Then they stay at that intensity until 1:00 am
then shut off.

Hope that helps.

 

[jjoos99]

Thanks I just installed the coding. Is it possible instead of having it set to 1% to have it follow the actual moon phases as in brightness? I like the idea of having the moonlights on for the timing that I want but would be nice to vary the brightness according to the moon cycle.
thanks
jeff

 

[Member No. 1]

As you want no, but you could set up multiple profiles with different intensity levels that come on at different times during the night.

 

[Member No. 1]

Or you could have 2 profiles one Lunar_Up and Lunar_Down. Up would ramp up from 1% to maybe 80% over 3-4 hours the Down would ramp down from 80% to 1% over the same time. You would have to code your lunar outlet differently. This would mimic a moon rise and set over 6-8 hours.

 

[ca1ore]

I've always set the moonlights as follows:

Set Moon_Dim
If Moon 000/000 Then ON
If Time 09:00 to 20:00 Then OFF

Moon_Dim is a ramping profile that sets the intensity to 1%. So the moon LED's are always at 1% during the night and still follow the moon cycles form the seasonal table.

 

[jjoos99]

Member no. 1
Im not sure the coding will work with the older legacy lunar sim module? I entered your coding and I no longer get any moonlighting. what does ca1ore's set moon_dim code do? Everything I read on nuptune's forum tells you to write it as
set off
if moon 000/000 then on.
thanks
Jeff

 

[Member No. 1]

A couple of questions...
Do you have the Lunar outlet set on AUTO? Turn the outlet to ON, do the LED's come on?
Did you use the same code I gave you? If so your moon lights won't come on until 10:00pm.

Simon's Set Moon_Dim, he is using a Profile call Moon_Dim to control the intensity the LED's are on. At 100% they are really bright.

 

[Member No. 1]

I've always set the moonlights as follows:

Set Moon_Dim
If Moon 000/000 Then ON
If Time 09:00 to 20:00 Then OFF

Moon_Dim is a ramping profile that sets the intensity to 1%. So the moon LED's are always at 1% during the night and still follow the moon cycles form the seasonal table.

Simon,
Just discovered, instead of using a Ramp Profile you can use a Percentage.
This will follow the moon phase but at a reduced brightness.

Set Off
If Moon 000/000 Then 10 (Or whatever you want for a percent)


Read here...
https://forum.neptunesystems.com/showthread.php?20677-Programming-Enhancements-in-AOS-5-03-and-4-53

 

[jjoos99]

A couple of questions...
Do you have the Lunar outlet set on AUTO? Turn the outlet to ON, do the LED's come on?
Did you use the same code I gave you? If so your moon lights won't come on until 10:00pm.

Simon's Set Moon_Dim, he is using a Profile call Moon_Dim to control the intensity the LED's are on. At 100% they are really bright.

Yes they will come on if I manually control them. I printed out your code and entered it in just as you wrote other then changed the time some. I can give you permission to pull up my fusion and see if I have dont something wrong. Send me your access name via pm and I will add it to my account.
thanks
Jeff

 

[Member No. 1]

Jeff,
Not sure if it will work with the older legacy lunar sim module.
I think you'll need an LSM for it to work as coded.

Page 93 here:
https://www.neptunesystems.com/downloads/docs/Comprehensive_Reference_Manual.pdf

And here:
https://www.neptunesystems.com/downloads/docs/aquaMoon-Rev-1.0b.pdf

 

[ca1ore]

Simon,
Just discovered, instead of using a Ramp Profile you can use a Percentage.
This will follow the moon phase but at a reduced brightness.

Set Off
If Moon 000/000 Then 10 (Or whatever you want for a percent)


Read here...
https://forum.neptunesystems.com/showthread.php?20677-Programming-Enhancements-in-AOS-5-03-and-4-53

Interesting .......

 

[jjoos99]

Jeff,
Not sure if it will work with the older legacy lunar sim module.
I think you'll need an LSM for it to work as coded.

Page 93 here:
https://www.neptunesystems.com/downloads/docs/Comprehensive_Reference_Manual.pdf

And here:
https://www.neptunesystems.com/downloads/docs/aquaMoon-Rev-1.0b.pdf

Thats what I was thinking. I couldnt pass up the price on the legacy module. Fellow club member gave it to me. Thats why I wanted to make up my own string. I have all of about $4 in it. So from reading the manual I cant tell if the legacy module will actually dim the string of leds for the different moon cycles. It does have a pot for max brightness but doesnt mention if it dims or not with the moon cycle. I may post up on the neptune forum.
thanks

Jeff

 

[gonereefing654]

Does the LSM simulate moon phase by dimming only? Or does the “moon” cross the tank by controlling each leds brightness separately?

 

[Member No. 1]

Does the LSM simulate moon phase by dimming only? Or does the "œmoon" cross the tank by controlling each leds brightness separately?

No, all 3 or however many LED's you have are all connected together.
The LSM will, if using the MOON program set to your location, will follow the moon phases. Rise, Set, New, Full.

 

[ca1ore]

OK, so as noted above, I soldered white LED's in place of the standard blue ones. Logic being that the moon is cool white, not blue. However, the white LED actually look less natural to my eye than the blue ones did :lol: so I've gone back to the blue ones. I guess that's why we experiment with things.

 

[oreo57]

Yea, no matter the white it usually has a yellow tone visible to the eye. I assume that was the issue..

moonlight IS 4000k-ish but your eye, at those low light levels, doesn't respond well to colors lower than blue..thus loooks blue/white..


On a fancier than needs to be level.. White LEd w/ a light blue filter..
KODAK WRATTEN 2 Optical Filter / 47A

will cut most yellow out of the light..
shouldn't be "as blue" as a blue LED in the end..