Kalk ato with AC JR. help

[davidsreef]

Hey everyone,
I currently have an AC JR. with PH probe hooked up to my system and I just purchased a peristalic pump from aptindustries (around 19 ml/min dose) to use for my kalk ato. I thought I had the ac jr. programmed correctly to dose one min. on four min. off only when my MH light is off (this very closely matches my evap.), but there seems to be a problem inniating the sequence. Here is my code:
OSC 1/4 on/off then DOS on
If Tmr MH1 = OFF then DOS on
If Ph > 8.5 then DOS off

Here DOS is my peristalic pump for the kalk, and MH1 is my metal halide. WHen my MH shuts off at night, the dosing pump is not switched on my the ac jr. unit unless I fiddle with the code to read:
if Tmr MH1 = ON then DOS off
This will of course turn the pump on, but does not oscelate 1 min on 4 off, so then I switch it back to the original code and it work great rest of the night until the next night when the bug starts all over again. It seems like I have to do something to cause the ac jr. "catch" then it works fine, but up until then it does not turn on.
Is there something wrong with my code? Anything I can do differently?
Thanks for all of your help and input :D
David

[David Grigor]

The code isn't exactly right but even when you correct it ( see below ) it will still not work all the time until you upgrade your firmware. This is a known bug with the OSC and timer combination with firmware 3.0 or below. It is corrected in firmware 3.2 ( which was just release a month or so ago ).

OSC 1/4 on/off then DOS on
If Tmr MH1 = ON the DOS off
If Ph > 8.5 then DOS off

Once you update your firmware the above code will do exactly what you want. You may also want to add the max change command so if PH goes above 8.5 that it wait 30 minutes or so before resuming.

To verify your firmware is you hit Self Test then select you will see the version. Even brand new units will likely still have the older version since it is pretty recent.

BTW: I had the same issue and got help from Curt is the only reason why I sound knowledgable on the subject.

[davidsreef]

I recieved my unit with the group buy a few months back. How is the best way to upgrade the firmware? Mine has a serial port, but since I don't have the software I have never hooked it up.
David Grigor - as always thanks a bunch!!

[David Grigor]

I got mine also during the last group buy so 100% sure you need the firmware upgrade. I don't have the serial port option and had to order the special cable from neptune to hook up to the temp / phone jack to do the firmware upgrade. It's pretty simple once you get the correct cables.

Since you have the serial port option on your unit, you can make the cable if you feel inclined to do so. There are diagrams out there that show the pin confiurations.

The update is pretty easy to do takes about 15 minute. It doesn't wipe out any of your programming setting, time or PH calibrations which is good......

[davidsreef]

Thanks! I will give it a try tonight.

[davidsreef]

I had problems with my laptop to send the info to the ac jr. I am no computer dummy, but for some reason I couldn't get a cmd shell to work, only an MS-DOS window, but that didn't do the job. I would go Start -> run -> command -> then type the instructions in the readme file. Anything I am doing dead wrong?
Thanks!!!!!!!

[David Grigor]

what types of error messages where you getting ? As long as your working directory is the same as where you extracted the files and you confirm you have connectivity to the Jr. is should go smooth.

Is your PC able to find the Jr. when you have the cable hooked up. If you can get aquanotes lite to find your Jr. then I'm sure you will be able to get the firmware to work.

Since mine doesn't have the serial port option my procedure is different that yours so probably not much help. I'm sure Curt has seen this type of question hundreds of times and probably a quick email may be worthwhile.