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NorwayEagle
19.10.2012, 12:36
Hello

My first activity at this forum, shortly after receiving my two Mitras 6100 HV lamps.

I have two questions:

1. Is the GHL Control Center SW compatible with the Windows 7 Starter operating system?
Reason for asking is that we only have Macs in our house, and I hope it is sufficient to invest only in a small laptop, for instance this one: http://www.komplett.no/k/ki.aspx?sku=755081
with cheapest operating system to run only the CC SW.

2. My tank is 130 cm long, 60 cm deep and 50 cm height.
For best lightcoverage, is it best to mount lamps parallell to the length or parallell to the depth?
And this based on that 2 lamps will be sufficient, so I do not have to buy a 3rd one.

BigAl07
19.10.2012, 13:09
First welcome to the forum :)

I can't answer #1 but #2 seems pretty straight forward:


You should be able to mount them parallel to length. This would give you plenty of coverage

When looking at the tank I'd suggest they go like this = = as opposed to || ||

Each unit will give really good coverage (depending on how high you mount it over the tank) at 80cm x 53cm so your tank is a good candidate for 2 units. Worse case if you decide you MUST have more light wall to wall at the very top of the tank (rare... very rare) you could add another but that's HIGHLY unlikely. The Mitras are being reported to have even better coverage than the factory specs state. The MITRAS is literally OUTPERFORMING the specs stated which is a testament to the quality and performance GHL has packed into this unit. Of course each tank is unique and as such your results may vary slightly but odds are you're tank is going to do great with 2 units mounted over it.

Good luck and take PICTURES!!

doggydoc10
19.10.2012, 14:47
Hey there. I also only have macs at home but I just installed parallels on my Mac air and I control everything via parallels.
Thought about the idea of just buying a dedicated laptop but decided against it since I had just purchased a new Mac Air

Blahenazo
19.10.2012, 18:59
idd , use parallels or buy something else or be prepared to attach this laptop to an external screen
since the screen resolution of the buildin screen is just enough to play pong, not to run a decent sized gui.

BigAl07
19.10.2012, 19:51
the buildin screen is just enough to play pong

You're giving away your age by mentioning that relic from our past LOL!

doggydoc10
19.10.2012, 20:25
What is that? Never heard of it!!!

BigAl07
19.10.2012, 20:25
what is that? Never heard of it!!!


lol!

NorwayEagle
21.10.2012, 14:45
Thank you, then I conclude it is best to mount parallell to the length.

Concerning the sw are there anyone who knows if the Windows 7 Starter is compatible with the CC SW?

The suggestion of using Parallell on a Mac; what is this really?
So far I see this as something you install on a Mac to be able to use other operating systems for instance Windows, but then you have to install this as well?

doggydoc10
21.10.2012, 16:49
Yes. Parallels you install on a Mac as a separate program. And then you install the PLC in the parallels section this using it via parallels.

Blahenazo
21.10.2012, 18:05
yep , and once you have parralleles you can run windows like any other program.


some info here
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CPLhOkF2O3Q&feature=fvwrel

NorwayEagle
30.10.2012, 09:55
In the meantime awaiting a confirmation from GHL about compatability between the Control Center SW and Windows 7 Starter, I have installed the lamps, borrowed a Win 7 laptop, and made a Light Composer file.

The lamps looks great over my tank, and I am convinced that 2 lamps is more than sufficient to cover my needs. Very satisfied so far.

I have however one small concern. It is not clear to me how I can make a light profile that completly turn of all LEDs. I would like to have some hours during night without any light.
At the moment I think it is the royalblue LEDs that are on even if all channels are set to 0 %.

Any idea to solve this is highly appreciated.

GazzMan
30.10.2012, 16:21
In the meantime awaiting a confirmation from GHL about compatability between the Control Center SW and Windows 7 Starter, I have installed the lamps, borrowed a Win 7 laptop, and made a Light Composer file.

The lamps looks great over my tank, and I am convinced that 2 lamps is more than sufficient to cover my needs. Very satisfied so far.

I have however one small concern. It is not clear to me how I can make a light profile that completly turn of all LEDs. I would like to have some hours during night without any light.
At the moment I think it is the royalblue LEDs that are on even if all channels are set to 0 %.

Any idea to solve this is highly appreciated.

Without looking, have you got the slave set for moonlight simulation, if so, this could be your problem

Gazz

doggydoc10
30.10.2012, 18:36
So If you turn of moonlight simulation you will be able to get to ZERO intensity?

GazzMan
30.10.2012, 18:47
So If you turn of moonlight simulation you will be able to get to ZERO intensity?

Yes Doc, unless there is no moon, coz it would be off anyway lol, also I think to turn it off, you need two zero points, eg

0800. 0%
0900. 0%
1000. 2%

So I'm reading, off between 0800 and 0900

Then from 0900, ramping up to 2%

Gazz

BigAl07
30.10.2012, 18:52
First off I do NOT have a Mitras but I ran into what I believe was a similar situation (maybe... maybe not).

I helped a friend set up his ProfiLux last year and he was using a pair of "SimuStick" to simulate sunrise, sunset, moon phase etc. Well it just happened that the first few nights after setting everything up it was a full moon week and his tank never seemed to "go dark". We unselected the box to for "Moonphase" and the tank was dark. After he realized it was just the ProfiLux accurately replicating the exact moon phase and position at his house he "re clicked" the box and let the ProfiLux do it's magic on his tank.

Does that make sense? It's pretty near FULL MOON right now so if the unit is indeed "replicating moon phase" your tank may not be dark at night right now.

GazzMan
30.10.2012, 19:06
First off I do NOT have a Mitras but I ran into what I believe was a similar situation (maybe... maybe not).

I helped a friend set up his ProfiLux last year and he was using a pair of "SimuStick" to simulate sunrise, sunset, moon phase etc. Well it just happened that the first few nights after setting everything up it was a full moon week and his tank never seemed to "go dark". We unselected the box to for "Moonphase" and the tank was dark. After he realized it was just the ProfiLux accurately replicating the exact moon phase and position at his house he "re clicked" the box and let the ProfiLux do it's magic on his tank.

Does that make sense? It's pretty near FULL MOON right now so if the unit is indeed "replicating moon phase" your tank may not be dark at night right now.

Yep makes perfect sense mate, it happened to me the other way round, there was no moon, hence no moonlit led, I was checking everything untill the penny dropped lmao

Gazz

BigAl07
30.10.2012, 19:30
Yep makes perfect sense mate, it happened to me the other way round, there was no moon, hence no moonlit led, I was checking everything untill the penny dropped lmao

Gazz

It happens to the best of us.... :)

doggydoc10
30.10.2012, 19:49
Thank you guys.

NorwayEagle
30.10.2012, 22:45
Without looking, have you got the slave set for moonlight simulation, if so, this could be your problem

Gazz

This was part of the explanation:o Thank you!

I have used some hours this evening to establish some experience, and the moon phase was one of the exercises.

You activate or deactivate moon phase at each of the 9 channels, in my case the royal blue and one of the reds were activated.
I assume this was part of the default values.

Anyhow as the full moon is shining on yesterdays snow from a clear sky this evening, it makes sense to keep the moon activated in the tank also.

NorwayEagle
04.11.2012, 20:37
I thought I should show a FTS with the Mitras lamps, but cannot upload the image. the size is 3,1 Mb

doggydoc10
04.11.2012, 20:54
Here you go http://img.tapatalk.com/d/12/11/05/y5ugu7e2.jpg
This is early in the am. Showing reds and violets dialed up

Matthias
05.11.2012, 09:58
what was the question again?

NorwayEagle
06.11.2012, 19:24
From the original post the question concerning Windows 7 Starter remains to be answered.
In the meantime I have bought a new laptop PC with Windows 8. I have not tested the SW on this yet.

I also thought I would like to show a picture of my tank with the Mitras lamps, but have not succeeded in uploading pictures

Matthias
07.11.2012, 07:47
ok, I check if we can do something about the Windows 7 Starter issue you have

NorwayEagle
07.11.2012, 18:26
As I wrote in my last post, the Windows 7 Starter OS is no issue any longer as I was anxious to get a functional PC and have bought a Win8 PC instead.

I have however problems with connecting this PC to the lamps, I get the following message:

"Could not Connect. Do you want to check the settings now"

When confirming and ending in trying to update driver through internet the following message occurs:

"The inf file from third party contains no information about digital signature"

Maybe the sw is not ready for win8 yet?

By the way I have tested both with the 1.0.2.2 and the new 1.0.2.3 SW version and only connection through the USB cable.

aqua_digital
07.11.2012, 20:53
I suspect you need to manually configure the COM port.

when "Could not Connect. Do you want to check the settings now" comes up click on yes and then Click on device manager and locate under com port the driver the mitras is using, then input that in the dialogue box in the software

NorwayEagle
07.11.2012, 22:26
I can not find any COM ports in the devicemanager, but have tried to update drivers for both USB2 ports and that is defined as succesful, and thereafter updating driver for the Mitral LX6xxx.

It is when doing this the last error message mentioned occur.

doggydoc10
07.11.2012, 22:32
Funny, that's the same problem I had and I was told it was an issue with my connection. Are you connecting using parallels? Via MAC?
I am wondering what the poss solution to this problem might be!!!

aqua_digital
07.11.2012, 22:40
I can not find any COM ports in the devicemanager, but have tried to update drivers for both USB2 ports and that is defined as succesful, and thereafter updating driver for the Mitral LX6xxx.

It is when doing this the last error message mentioned occur.

when clicking on device manager it should look like this

http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i159/monitors-direct/dm1.jpg

note the GHL driver in the COM port

http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i159/monitors-direct/dm2.jpg

Please post a screen shot of your device manager page with the com port tab open as above

NorwayEagle
08.11.2012, 00:00
3193

As shown there is no Ports (COM & LPT) chapter, instead there is a USB Controller chapter

aqua_digital
08.11.2012, 00:08
what computer is this on please? Mac or PC?

NorwayEagle
08.11.2012, 00:50
It is an Acer Aspire One 725 PC 11,6 inch with Windows 8

aqua_digital
08.11.2012, 00:56
Ah ok windows 8, I have not yet played with it, so I think best for Matthias to continue from here on.

Matthias
08.11.2012, 10:31
we do some tests on Win 8 this week

NorwayEagle
12.11.2012, 18:56
Matthias

Any positive news about this issue.

I wonder if I have invested in lamps and PC which is not compatible...

NorwayEagle
14.11.2012, 20:50
Obviously not much help to get here:(

So far after discussing this topic at some more PC-based forums, I assume the problem must be related to a missing driver that is compatible wth the Mitras lamps and my Win8 PC.

So far the lamp is seen at the devicemanager, but when searching both internet and locally on PC there are no driver.

So one question it must be possible to answer yes or no is:

Is it possible to get a driver that will work?

BBowen
16.11.2012, 03:07
we do some tests on Win 8 this week

Any updates on Windows 8 Matthias?

haxer100
23.11.2012, 03:05
@NorwayEagle

This is a workaround for the digitally signed driver issue. This web page is talking about installing a different program, however the steps are laid out nice on the part about disableing the requirement for Digitaly signed drivers. Hope this helps... LMK if you need any more info on this...

http://laslow.net/2012/03/14/disable-driver-signature-enforcement-in-windows-8/

Here they are for all to see as well....

To get started:
1.From the Metro Start Screen, open Settings (move your mouse to the bottom-right-corner of the screen and wait for the pop-out bar to appear, then click the Gear icon).
2.Click ‘More PC Settings’.
3.Click ‘General’.
4.Scroll down, and click ‘Restart now’ under ‘Advanced startup’.
5.Wait a bit.
6.Click ‘Troubleshoot’.
7.Click ‘Advanced Options’
8.Click ‘Windows Startup Settings’
9.Click Restart.
When your computer restarts, select ‘Disable driver signature enforcement‘ from the list. You can now load your modified driver. Reboot again once the driver is installed and all will be well

NorwayEagle
23.11.2012, 21:21
:D:DTHANK YOU Finally I have managed to connect my Win8 PC with my lamps:D:D

BigAl07
23.11.2012, 22:21
That's AWESOME news!

Haxer big KUDOS to you for helping others so much on this task!! THANK YOU!

NorwayEagle
11.12.2012, 21:02
Things has been working OK, and the connection is fixed.

But the last week something strange has occured.

During the afternoons, after coming home from work, the slave lamp is giving 0 % of the Royalblue while the master is showing the programmed intensity of app 88 %. All other channels are identical on both lamps.

This continue until the lamps turns off at midnight.

It was a change of -1 at the slave, but even after removing this difference, having a 0 value on both, the lamps are not giving the same light.

Any idea how to fix this?

By the way I have checked the RB channel manually at 100% and this gives correct at both lamps.

Matthias
12.12.2012, 17:49
please check the moon phase simulation

Rotknee
16.12.2012, 20:53
Matthias I have a issue similar to NorwayEagle. At first I thought my problem was a result of using the same address on each of the three units. Per the other thread I resolved that issue. When using the "test light composer" slider the lights ramp up and down as programmed. While watching the tank yesterday I noticed my center (master) unit was the last to turn off and it should have turned off second according to my sunset settings (all three lamps 7 minutes apart). Note, I did check the moon phase simulation and that option is not checked for any of the three lights I am using.

Simply put, in real time my programing is not working in the correct order according to my sunset settings. I first noticed this when my royal blue's were at 1% on my two slave lamps when they should have been in the 70-80% range. When I connected to the master lamp and manually adjusted the royal blues to 100% and disconnected I have not noticed the issue with the royal blues again.

Any suggestions to get the sunset function to work properly?

Matthias
17.12.2012, 08:43
Hello Rotknee,

I don't you firmware and GHL Control Center version

please do this - if not already happened:
1. update the GHL CC to the newest version
2. update all lamps to the newest firmware (at the moment 1.07)
3. do a factory reset for all lamps

now you can start with a fresh, up-to-date system - do the settings again

Rotknee
18.12.2012, 09:00
I am using the latest GHL CC and firmware 1.07. I also did a factory reset. Same issue. I simply did away with my Sunrise and Sunset settings and will wait for the next firmware update.

I am not using light composer and individually controlling my lights with a variation of the stock settings (only more blue 1800k) look during ramp down. Do you think that my be my issue?

Matthias
20.12.2012, 08:47
it doesn't matter if the light channels are programmed manually or if you use the light composer
actually the light composer calculates the runs for each channel and transfers them to the single channel -> so it does the same at the end

did you achieve the time delay by using a master-slave setup (different set delays for both slaves) or by programming different times in the ramps for each lamp?

Rotknee
21.12.2012, 19:39
I achieved the time delay using the master-slave setup. I am on vacation over the Christmas break and will do another factory reset.

Since I have your attention I have two brief questions.

1) Do you planning on having a place in the forum where we can upload and share our light composer projects?

2) Was the stock/default light project designed for growth or color of SPS coral?

Thank you Matthias for your help.

Rotknee
26.12.2012, 19:37
My sunrise/sunset features are now functioning properly.:) I did not have to do another factory reset. I believe power cycling (momentarily disconnecting the power) fixed the issue.

If we programmed the manually, how do we save the project?

Matthias
27.12.2012, 10:32
1) Do you planning on having a place in the forum where we can upload and share our light composer projects?


yes - it was just a question of time so far



2) Was the stock/default light project designed for growth or color of SPS coral?


we tried to simulate the natural light run in regards to color and intensity, the growth had priority