ATC800 Known Problem with Halides 10 degree difference Help !!

[Alan Peach]

Hi

Apparently this is a known problem .

Amazingly when my lights are off the ATC 800 is showing correct temp.

But when the lights go on oh boy its a whopping 10 degrees out .

Apparently i need a capacitor on the temp probe connection points on the controller end but what size capacitor do i need being theres is quite a bit off interference due to 4 x 250 watters .

Steve can you help any ideas ?.

Also i find when all the halides are on i cant get MW radio no reception at all in the house and even on the drive .Is there a health risk here .Im being serious !! .There must be some power going thru these units .There 4 x 250 watt Lumenarcs ( adjustable dimmable ballasts ) with large reflectors over an 8ft tank .




Thanks

Alan

[wave ace]

sounds so you have a major interference problem here is the lighting setup got a electrical earth ?

[Alan Peach]

Yes it has

there 250 watt Lumenarcs going into marine lux 250 watt dimmable ballasts which then feed into a 6 socket extention then into mains .
There earthed all the way .
But when there switched on they must be causing some electrical field amazing to see the temp probe thrown out by 10 degrees .The temp probe is thrown out by 10 degrees even if only ONE of the lights are on ,doesnt have to be all 4 .

Anyone any ideas on this .

There is a plus side , i use to listed to RADIO DERBY for THE RAMS commentry and i cant at moment .But im not missing much am i :laugh::laugh:.

Went and bought a digital radio which works brill but radio derby aint digital yet pmsl :mad::laugh::laugh::laugh:.

To be honest this is a side issue but would like to know about any health risk .The main thing is getting the temp probe reading correct while the lights are on .

Come on you leccies stop eating ya easter eggs

Alan

[Will]

quite comman with t5 ballasts and this unit, steve does have a fix, but cant blame him for not comming on today :)

its probably as the hlaide units are a dimming type.

[stevew@reefdreams]

I'm not sure if the fix will work for you as that is one hell of a lot of interference. If you want to give it a try, you need a 10nF capacitor which you can pick up from Maplin for a few pence, one leg goes on each terminal for the probe sensor. Drop me a pm if you don't have a local Maplin as I have some here.

Steve

[wave ace]

as it is interfering with your radio I would suggest that you sort this out at the source putting the capacitor on the ACT800 may sort that out but it wont sort your radio out and it may also be interfering with neighbourers radio as well

[Alan Peach]

Added the capacitor and whoppeee 10 degrees better off yipee .