Overlap time periods

[yevgenb]

Hello,

 

Curious if its possible to configure overlapping periods so moonlight starts to ramp before main channels goes off?

[slugworth]

+1 to this.

 

Or have the day light end higher than 0% before the moon light starts.

 

Im not a fan of the ~30mins black out period between day and moon light

[Benny314]

Yes if your moon light is it's own channel and not the blue channel run low.

 

I'm using a DIY arduino controller running Jarduino which has a moon phase simulator (each day it gets brighter until full moon and then dims back down to off for new moon), and is constantly on, it doesn't turn off during daylight hours. The idea is you only have a few LEDs on that channel depending on tank size (I'm running 3), and the normal lighting cycle is bright enough to over power the moon light during the day. You can set the maximum output of the channel at peak which prevents it being to bright and messing with your corals night routine (think I'm set about 5% max as 3 LEDs is a bit much for a 3 foot tank but I have 3 arrays and wanted it evenly lit).

+1 to this.

 

Or have the day light end higher than 0% before the moon light starts.

 

Im not a fan of the ~30mins black out period between day and moon light

 

In reality there is complete darkness some times before moon rise and some times the moon sets before sun up and new moon sees no light for a night or 2. This changes depending on where in the world you are, there isn't a moon phase/moon light simulator that takes this into account that I'm aware of, though if you had the time you could probably program one. Weather conditions also affect moon intensity and some controllers simulate storms and clouds during daylight but not at night.

It depends how realistic you want your tank lighting. I have to say the moon phase on the jarduino program is very cool and my coral does behave differently as the light intensity rises and falls.

[smeagol108]

The bluefish mini lunar cycle will allow u to not have a black period in between, and will also adjust ur moon intensity based on the sim location u have chosen. Right now my moon illumination is 25% percent based on my simulation location. I set the moonlight at 12 percent max, so tonight my moonlight is running at 3 percent.

[jedimasterben]

Set your Night start to be the same as your end time. Then set the night ramp to 5 minutes (that is the lowest it will go). Boom, done.

[SpencerShepard]

Or set minimum dimming for your moonlight channel. A blackout period is not intended behavior. If this is happening, the controller is outputting a signal for your moonlights, but it is too low for your drivers/LEDs to respond. Setting up a minimum dimming level for that channel will fix that.

 

You could always set a low level for your moonlight during the evening if you want it to start earlier.

[slugworth]

I think my main problem is using the Natural Sun simulation.

 

The tail of the ramp down is drawnout so lighting stays at fairly low % for ~30mins before the moonlight kicks in, which is what i was calling the blackout.

 

I will play around without using the natural sum simulation and see if i can get better transition.