Aqua Controller 3

I'm not hoooked into a router, but directly to the laptop via an ethernet cable. I think I have to do it this way, as I currently use a mobile broadband card on the laptop for internet connectivity. I just thought I may have not configured the ethernet on the AC3 correctly. Serial #, IP, DNS, and other info appears</em> to be set right, but they aren't talking...
 
A direction connection probably requires the use of the serial cable which I don't think is included. If you're connected directly via ethernet without a router, there's nothing to intelligently manage the address routing so the PC will probably never see the AC3 with that setup.
 
If you are connecting 2 host computers together directly (without a hub or switch in the middle), you need an Ethernet cross-over cable. See here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethernet_crossover_cable">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethernet_crossover_cable</a>

You will also need to set the IP address, subnet mask and default gateway on your ACIII and your laptop. Let me know if you need help with this part.
 
Excellent guys. Thanks.

Schwaggs, I will pick up a crossover on my way home tonight and give that a shot. I think </em>I have the rest of it configured correctly, just did not know about the lack of a hub/switch requiring the use of a crossover. Makes sense though. Appreciate the help.
 
Thanks Map. I picked up the crossover cable yesterday, but ran out of hours in my day to give it a try. Hope to get to it tonight.
I've found a number of sources for programming suggestions and am a little intimidated by the seemingly limitless possibilities. I like the idea of many of the backup lines of programming such as those that
1. turns on a heater at 78
2. turns OFF the same heater if above 82
Many folks seem to only use line 1, but line 2 can really save your arse if there is a communication failure, a heater "sticks", or a probe goes bad.
 
Crossover cable worked great, and I discovered that I was really overcomplicating the connection/communication. All I really needed to do was assign an IP address to the AC3, and type that address in IE. I KNOW that was mentioned above, but never registered in my thick head.
Anyway, now that I am working on the programming, is there a resource (book, link, PDF, etc.) that has the programming language options? It's VERY cumbersome to cycle through all the options on the AC3 and take notes. A hard copy list would be fantabulous.
 
<span style="font-family: Arial">The only resource I know is the programming section of the user manual http://74.52.105.194/%7Eclp/images/downloads/AquaController3_3.20_web.pdf">http://74.52.105.194/~clp/images/downloads/AquaController3_3.20_web.pdf</a>

The next best thing is to look at others programs to get some ideas on what you can to. In that spirit, I have posted my program with some notes below:
</span><span style="font-family: Courier">
LT1$ // Actinics (and holding tank T5 lights)</span>
<span style="font-family: Courier">LT2$ // Eastern display halide</span>
<span style="font-family: Courier">LT3$ // Central display halide</span>
<span style="font-family: Courier">LT4$ // Western display halide</span>
<span style="font-family: Courier">LTF$ // Frag tank lighting</span>
<span style="font-family: Courier">LTR$ // Refugium lighting</span>
<span style="font-family: Courier">CHL% // Chiller and feed pump</span>
<span style="font-family: Courier">SPF% // Sump Fan</span>
<span style="font-family: Courier">RMF% // Room fan</span>
<span style="font-family: Courier">HET% // Heaters </span>
<span style="font-family: Courier">CO2& // CO2 (fed into CA reactor)</span>
<span style="font-family: Courier">CA_# // CA Reactor Feed Pump</span>
<span style="font-family: Courier">MON$ // Moon lights</span>
<span style="font-family: Courier">SKM# // Skimmer </span>
<span style="font-family: Courier">SKL& // Skimate float switch</span>
<span style="font-family: Courier">ALM& // Alarm</span>

<span style="font-family: Courier">If Time &gt; 00:00 Then ALM OFF // Initializing timers
If Time &gt; 00:00 Then SKL ON
If Time &gt; 00:00 Then CA_ ON
If Time &gt; 00:00 Then SKM ON
If Time &gt; 00:00 Then LTR ON
If Time &gt; 23:00 Then LTF ON
If Sun 000/000 Then LT1 ON // Actinics on/off at sunrise and sunset</span>
<span style="font-family: Courier">If Sun 060/-120 Then LT2 ON // East halide on 60 min after sunrise/off 120 min before sunset</span>
<span style="font-family: Courier">If Sun 090/-090 Then LT3 ON // Center halide on 90 min after sunrise/off 90 min before sunset</span>
<span style="font-family: Courier">If Sun 120/-060 Then LT4 ON // West halide on 120 min after sunrise/off 60 min before sunset</span>
<span style="font-family: Courier">If Sun 060/-060 Then LTR OFF // Refugium OFF in reverse photoperiod to the halides. Must be used with the LTR command in the initializing section</span>
<span style="font-family: Courier">If Time &gt; 06:00 Then LTF OFF // Frag tank OFF after 6:00 AM. Must be used with the LTF command in the initializing section
If Moon 000/000 Then MON ON // Moon light on and off according to the phase of the moon. (TIP: Use an X10 lamp module with an incandescent light bulb to get varying moon light intensity too!)
If Temp &lt; RT+-0.3 Then HET ON // Heater on when temp drops below Real Temp -.3
If Temp &gt; RT+-0.2 Then HET OFF // Heater off when temp is above Real Temp -.2
If Temp &gt; RT+0.3 Then CHL ON // Chiller on when temp is above Real Temp +.3
If Temp &lt; RT+0.1 Then CHL OFF // Chiller off when temp drops below Real Temp +.1
If Temp &gt; RT+0.6 Then SPF ON // Sump fan on if temp gets above Real Temp +.6 (as backup cooling)
If Temp &lt; RT+0.5 Then SPF OFF // Sump fan off when temp drops below Real Temp +.5
If Temp &gt; RT+0.7 Then RMF ON // Room fan on if temp gets above Real Temp +.7 (as backup cooling #2)
If Temp &lt; RT+0.5 Then RMF OFF // Room fan off when temp drops below Real Temp +.5
If Temp &gt; RT+1.0 Then LT4 OFF // Turn halides off if temp gets too far above the Real Temp setpoint
If Temp &gt; RT+1.5 Then LT3 OFF // as a temperature failsafe
If Temp &gt; RT+2.0 Then LT2 OFF
If Temp &gt; RT+4.0 Then LT1 OFF
If Temp &gt; RT+4.0 Then CHL OFF // Backup to turn heater and chiller off if temp gets to far out of
If Temp &lt; RT+-4.0 Then HET OFF // whack. For example, the temp probe fails or falls out of the water
If pHA1 &lt; 06.30 Then CO2 OFF // Turn off CO2 when pH in the CA reactor is below 6.3
If pHA1 &gt; 06.70 Then CO2 ON // Turn on CO2 when pH in the CA reactor is above 6.7
If pH &lt; 07.90 Then CO2 OFF // Turn off CO2 if display tank pH drops too low (backup)
If pH &lt; 07.80 Then CA_ OFF // Turn off CA reactor feed pump if display tank pH drops too low (backup #2)
Max Change 020 M Then LT1 OFF // Command to prevent halides from flipping on and off too rapidly
Max Change 020 M Then LT2 OFF // as a result of the temperature failsafe commands above.
Max Change 020 M Then LT3 OFF
Max Change 020 M Then LT4 OFF
Max Change 005 M Then CHL ON // Command to prevent cycling the chiller on and off too rapidly
Max Change 005 M Then SPF ON
Max Change 005 M Then RMF ON
Max Change 002 M Then HET OFF // Command to prevent cycling the heater on and off too rapidly
Max Change 005 M Then CO2 OFF
Max Change 005 M Then CA_ OFF
If Temp &gt; RT+2.0 Then ALM ON // Commands to set when the alarm should be triggered which also fires
If Temp &lt; RT+-0.5 Then ALM ON // off an email to my BlackBerry. Don't forget the ALM OFF command in the initializing section
If TmpA &gt; RT+2.0 Then ALM ON
If TmpA &lt; RT+-1.5 Then ALM ON
If pHA1 &gt; 07.10 Then ALM ON
If pHA1 &lt; 06.20 Then ALM ON
If pH &gt; 08.50 Then ALM ON
If pH &lt; 07.90 Then ALM ON
If ORP &gt; 450 Then ALM ON
If ORP &lt; 260 Then ALM ON
If SwitchA1 CLOSED Then SKL OFF // Commands to set the state of one of the input switches to a variable so I can see it’s state in the status display.</span>
<span style="font-family: Courier">If SwitchA1 OPEN Then SKM OFF // Command to turn off protein skimmer when the collection cup is full
If FeedA 000 Then SKM OFF // Defining what happens when each of the feed timers are activated.
If FeedA 000 Then HET OFF
If FeedA 000 Then LT1 ON // Force actinics on when feeding just in case I feed too late in the evening
If FeedA 000 Then ALM OFF
If FeedB 000 Then SKM OFF
If FeedB 000 Then ALM OFF
If FeedC 000 Then HET OFF
If FeedC 000 Then ALM OFF
If FeedC 000 Then CHL OFF</span>
 
Thanks Schwaggs. There are a few forums that have various people's programming, but including the comments with yours was very helpful.
 
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