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Coral Vue Hydros

Storm Controller : HOW TO & Help


DaveFason

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I feel that there is a misconception that the Coralux Storm controller is "hard" to use. I want to clear this up along with providing a guide line for people that are confused and stumped. The controller itself is VERY easy to use, however the manual can toss some lingo that will and can confuse people.

 

Below is a "how to" for the Nano Box units using the Storm controller. I will also be finishing a video for people to make it that much easier.

 

THE START :

DO NOT PLUG any other power source into the Storm controller other than the 9v or 12v power adapters included. This will do one of the following...

  • BOOM! Smell of burnt microchip and a fried controller
  • Screen Pops. Either blank or blocks
  • Lights flickering

Once you have plugged in the power source you, the screen and small LED with light up. This will bring up the main screen with time, date and your current day mode. The day modes consist of...

  1. Day - This is your current day time setting
  2. Night - This is your current night setting
  3. Sunrise - This starts the cycle of light from 0% - Day setting. This will ramp UP .
  4. Sunset - This is the start of your Day setting to 0% . This will ramp DOWN . Then switches to night mode

 

If you click the toggle wheel once, SIM will pop up. This will show your Sunrise setting. 0% - Day setting. Simply turn the toggle wheel and watch the quickest sunrise ever. This is how your mornings will look and give you an idea of what you are looking for. Rather it be super blue in the morning or an even mix.

 

If you click the toggle wheel again, MANUAL will pop up. This will controller ALL channels at the same time. 0 - 100% of an even mix. Simple as that!

 

Click the wheel once again and DARK will appear. This will show you the NIGHT setting.

 

Once last click will show OFF. I hope that speaks for itself.

 

Click again and either DAY/SUNRISE/SUNSET/NIGHT will appear and you are back on the day setting.

 

 

PROGRAMMING :

We are now into the programming part of the controller. DO NOT be afraid at all. This is extremely simple once you read this.

 

SET PWM ( DAY ) :

This is your day time setting. Click on this and CH1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 will appear. On standard Nano Box units you will have Channel 1 ( BLUE ) and Channel 2 ( White ). Set this to your taste. Normally I will set this to what I think looks good but this is completely subjective. If you puchased a moonlight channel, set your day setting to 0.

  • Tide Recommended setting : CH1 - 140 - CH2 - 100
  • DUO Recommended setting : CH1 - 160 - CH2 - 120
  • QUAD Recommended setting : CH1 - 160 - CH2 - 120

 

SET PWM ( NIGHT ) :

This is your night setting. Click on this and CH1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 will appear. On standard Nano Box units you will have Channel 1 ( BLUE ) and Channel 2 ( White ). Set this to your liking for a night time viewing. If you have a moonlight channel set to 10-35.

  • Tide Recommended setting : CH1 - 1 - CH2 - 0
  • DUO Recommended setting : CH1 - 1 - CH2 - 0
  • QUAD Recommended setting : CH1 - 1 - CH2 - 0

SET SUNRISE MODE :

This normally confuses people. However it is very simple.

  • AUTO - This will use the long/lat that is set on the controller for a natural sunrise/sunset. That is it!
  • MANUAL - This will require you to put in the time that you want your SUNRISE to start. Put the time in and TADA!

SET SUNSET MODE :

Like the title says, if you are in manual mode set your sunset time. This will be the time the unit transitions to night.

 

RAMP TIME :

Ramp time is the time you want your lights to come on from NIGHT to DAY setting and from DAY setting to NIGHT. If you want your BLUE channel to ramp longer and the WHITE channel to be shorter set the BLUE channel to a HIGHER ramp time and WHITE to a shorter.

 

  • Recommended SETTINGS : CH1 ( BLUE ) - 60 - CH2 ( WHITE ) - 30

RAMP DELAY :

This gets people every time. I am here to help! All this does is DELAYS a channel from coming on for a period of time. Most people enjoy seeing the tank lit with all blue first of the morning and at night. How do you do this? This creates some very cool effects.

 

  • Recommended setting : CH1 ( BLUE ) - 0 - CH2 ( WHITE ) - 30-60

That is it!

 

CLOUD FREQ :

This controls how many clouds will appear in a certain amount of time. I personally only recommend this setting to 1. It will create a cloud ~ 10 minutes. More than that makes it look like you are throwing a party.

 

CLOUD CHANNELS :

This controls what channel you want the clouds to appear on. I personally like having the WHITE channel for the clouds. This will make it look like a cloud passing by and make the tank "dark/blue". You can change it around as you would like. If you want the tank to look more white, use the BLUE channel for the clouds ( CH1 ) .

 

  • Recommended setting : CH1 - 0 - CH2 - 1

 

LIGHTNING FREQ :

This is just like the cloud setting. This will match up to your clouds and create a "storm". The higher the setting, the more out the storm will appear. I do not like this however it is cool to show friends. If you want a cloud to appear right away, MAX this setting out.

 

MOONPHASE :

This is used if you purchase a moonlight channel. You can use this with the stock lights, however it may be to bright. Turning this setting on will adjust your nighttime PWM settings [set PWM (Night)] by an amount that corresponds to the current phase of the moon. For example, if it is a full moon then your night lights will shine at full brightness as set in [set PWM (Night)]. If it is a new moon, the night time illumination level will be zero. The intensity of night lights will vary between these two extremes in accordance with the real phases of the moon, geolocated to coordinates programmed in the Storm/X.

Note that to take advantage of the full resolution of this setting, your nighttime PWM settings should be at least 30 so that there can be a different illumination level for each night of the month.
Set Lat/Long/GMT :
Easy as pie. Put your location in google and find your long/lat. Then put in the Storm controller and there you have it. This will ONLY work with the SUNRISE mode on AUTO.
Temp Display :
If you have a DS18B20 temperature probe hooked up to the header, you can adjust whether it displays in Celsius or Fahrenheit units.
FAN CONTROL :
I am not offering this anymore on units. I have had a few people burn the units up. You can do this on your own if needed.
Set Clock :
This will set the time and date.
EDIT : I will be updating this thread with more items this weekend!
Hope this helps people out.
-Dave

 

 

  • Like 10
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Thought I'd finally chime in here. I'm the developer of the Storm and Storm X so there's no question about these controllers that I can't answer. Dave is of course the expert on the pairing of Coralux and NanoBox and this guide hits on all the main points.

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jedimasterben

 

Thought I'd finally chime in here. I'm the developer of the Storm and Storm X so there's no question about these controllers that I can't answer. Dave is of course the expert on the pairing of Coralux and NanoBox and this guide hits on all the main points.

Nice to see you here! Maybe now people will stop messaging me thinking that you and I are the same Ben :)

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Nice to see you here! Maybe now people will stop messaging me thinking that you and I are the same Ben :)

 

I'm probably the one who should feel honored by the comparison.

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Great info!

 

I am a bit confused though about the sunrise/sunset/PWM programming.

 

If I go auto sunset/sunrise, do I need to set the ramping time or is that controlled by the lat/long?

 

Similarly, if moonlights are used, do I need to set PWM Night and use moonphase if I want the moonphase setting, or do I just need to worry about moonphase setting and ignore PWM Night?

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jedimasterben

If I go auto sunset/sunrise, do I need to set the ramping time or is that controlled by the lat/long?

Auto does everything automatically, you just tell it the maximum PWM for each channel and you're good to go.

 

Similarly, if moonlights are used, do I need to set PWM Night and use moonphase if I want the moonphase setting, or do I just need to worry about moonphase setting and ignore PWM Night?

PWM night sets the maximum percentage that the channel will get to during the 'full moon' phase.

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Auto does everything automatically, you just tell it the maximum PWM for each channel and you're good to go.

 

PWM night sets the maximum percentage that the channel will get to during the 'full moon' phase.

Gotcha. Perfect, thanks Ben
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Wow, great guide Dave, pretty much sums it up. I have had a StormX ( came with my nanobox ) since last Fall and have found it pretty easy to use. If you have an old one like me if you download the new firmware it is even better!

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Great info!

 

I am a bit confused though about the sunrise/sunset/PWM programming.

 

If I go auto sunset/sunrise, do I need to set the ramping time or is that controlled by the lat/long?

 

Similarly, if moonlights are used, do I need to set PWM Night and use moonphase if I want the moonphase setting, or do I just need to worry about moonphase setting and ignore PWM Night?

 

The Lat/Long only controls the time that sunset and sunrise happen. You can still set the ramp times to specify the duration over which to ramp.

 

If you use moonphase, like jedimasterben said, the night PWM sets the full moon brightness. An important detail to this is that the controller tries to dice up the Night PWM into 28 discreet lighting levels in accordance with the 28-day lunar cycle. This means that if your Night PWM on the moon channel is lower than 28, you will have consecutive days of the same illumination due to the controller rounding to the next nearest PWM level. This could for example result in multiple days of 0 illumination.

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jedimasterben

The Lat/Long only controls the time that sunset and sunrise happen. You can still set the ramp times to specify the duration over which to ramp.

Thanks for the correction, I figured that 'auto' also set ramp times. :)

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The Lat/Long only controls the time that sunset and sunrise happen. You can still set the ramp times to specify the duration over which to ramp.

 

If you use moonphase, like jedimasterben said, the night PWM sets the full moon brightness. An important detail to this is that the controller tries to dice up the Night PWM into 28 discreet lighting levels in accordance with the 28-day lunar cycle. This means that if your Night PWM on the moon channel is lower than 28, you will have consecutive days of the same illumination due to the controller rounding to the next nearest PWM level. This could for example result in multiple days of 0 illumination.

Great, thanks to you as well!

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I think it's important to note that even though the setting for PWM for moonlight will set the intensity of your moonlight channel to replicate the phase of the moon, it doesn't actually replicate the rising and setting time of the moon....well not on my Storm controller anyway. Would be a great feature if it could.

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Thanks for this easy to follow guide Dave, I just received my Tide and was able to quickly set up the Storm in a few minutes.

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Thanks for this easy to follow guide Dave, I just received my Tide and was able to quickly set up the Storm in a few minutes.

Thanks for updating me on this! Glad this guide helped someone out already.

 

-Dave

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I will admit, after going on 4 hours of sleep because I was called in for an emergency in the middle of the night at work, then I spent 13 hours during the day at work -- looking at my box that had just arrived of a Mini and a Quad with all their associated cords and the Storm was intimidating. But, after I got a good nights sleep, I went through Dave's guide and set-up was easy-peasy!

 

One question I still have though -- can I control 2 NanoBoxes with 1 Storm?

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I will admit, after going on 4 hours of sleep because I was called in for an emergency in the middle of the night at work, then I spent 13 hours during the day at work -- looking at my box that had just arrived of a Mini and a Quad with all their associated cords and the Storm was intimidating. But, after I got a good nights sleep, I went through Dave's guide and set-up was easy-peasy!

 

One question I still have though -- can I control 2 NanoBoxes with 1 Storm?

Yes mam! You have two cords with three channels each. The Storm has six channels total.

 

Hope this helps :) Post some pictures.

 

-Dave

 

EDIT : So glad this is working out for people. I was aiming to make it super simple for people.

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jedimasterben

I'm not 100% sure of the amperage output of the Storm's dimming pins, but if you got creative with wiring you should be able to theoretically dim around a hundred or so LDD per pin, so that is at least 300 minis per Storm :)

 

The Lat/Long only controls the time that sunset and sunrise happen. You can still set the ramp times to specify the duration over which to ramp. If you use moonphase, like jedimasterben said, the night PWM sets the full moon brightness. An important detail to this is that the controller tries to dice up the Night PWM into 28 discreet lighting levels in accordance with the 28-day lunar cycle. This means that if your Night PWM on the moon channel is lower than 28, you will have consecutive days of the same illumination due to the controller rounding to the next nearest PWM level. This could for example result in multiple days of 0 illumination.
Gonna quote your post so you can get a notification, what is the amperage output of the dimming pins of the Storm and Storm X?
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Yes mam! You have two cords with three channels each. The Storm has six channels total.

 

Hope this helps :) Post some pictures.

 

-Dave

 

EDIT : So glad this is working out for people. I was aiming to make it super simple for people.

 

Sweet! I thought channels 4-6 were for fans. So in that case...

 

SideBySide_zpsde7fce97.jpg

 

It's glorious!

 

Now I'm going to go clean up the mess I made over the past two days before I take more pictures...

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I'm not 100% sure of the amperage output of the Storm's dimming pins, but if you got creative with wiring you should be able to theoretically dim around a hundred or so LDD per pin, so that is at least 300 minis per Storm :)

 

Gonna quote your post so you can get a notification, what is the amperage output of the dimming pins of the Storm and Storm X?

 

The rated outputs are:

 

40mA per PWM pin on Storm

10mA per pin on Storm X

 

The LDDs hardly draw any current so you should be able to run as many as you want. If you do reach the limit let me know because I haven't seen it yet.

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jedimasterben

The rated outputs are:

 

40mA per PWM pin on Storm

10mA per pin on Storm X

 

The LDDs hardly draw any current so you should be able to run as many as you want. If you do reach the limit let me know because I haven't seen it yet.

Awesome, I finally found where I had saved the numbers for the LDD dimming circuits, so here is everything:

 

At 100% duty cycle, the LDD pulls 7.7µA on its dimming circuit. At 0% duty cycle, the LDD pulls 53µA on its dimming circuit.

 

Since they dim to 0, the 53µA must be used.

 

For the Storm, you can run up to 754x per pin for a total of 4,524x across the controller.

 

For the Storm X, you can run up to 188x per pin for a total of 3,008x across the controller.

 

 

And in Nanobox terms, from a single Storm, you could run up to 2,260x Minis or Duos, or 1131x Quads. From a Storm X, you can have up to 1,504x Minis or Duos, or 752x Quads.

 

:)

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  • 3 weeks later...

You may have an "older" software. The sim mode only shows the sunrise-day cycle.

 

Hey Dave, I don't seem to have a SIM mode on my controller. Is that storm X exclusive thing?

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Quick question on the LED Display on the Storm Controller: Is it always on or is there a way for it to go dark? This will determine the mounting location.

 

Thanks, and I have to say this is a fantastic piece of equipment, light and controller. I am having a blast with it.

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Quick question on the LED Display on the Storm Controller: Is it always on or is there a way for it to go dark? This will determine the mounting location.

 

Thanks, and I have to say this is a fantastic piece of equipment, light and controller. I am having a blast with it.

It will always be on.

 

-Dave

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