Thunderstorm + ATO topoff linking?

[TheManicFishkeeper]

I am working on building up a pretty extensive thunderstorm simu for my reef and I want to integrate the next phase of my rig but am struggling with ideas for programming.

Currently I have all the lighting and audio working pretty much perfectly, but I am integrating my "rain simulator". The Rain simulator is essentially a PVC manifold that drives 9 mini sprinker heads to produce water droplets across the surface of the tank during a thunderstorm

Currently this is drive by a pump connected to an outlet defined as "thunderstorm" and feeds saltwater from the sump to the sprinkler heads. This works well visually but the salt tends to clog the rotating heads if I dont run it frequently. I would like to use my auto top off resevoir for this function instead to keep the lines clean.

The goal is to trigger a thunderstorm when the Auto Top Off is activated. I can easily do this via timers currently, but I would rather have "water 1" trigger a tunderstorm.

Is there some sort of programming logic trickery I could do to trigger such a thing? Would it be possible to have "water 1" trigger digital input 1 if digital input 1 is configured as "thunderstorm start"?

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated, I know this is just a cosmetic function and not that high priority but it's a lot of fun!

[TheManicFishkeeper]

I know I can do what I have described here with the following setup, but was hoping to simplify:

PLM-ADIN card with a 3rd party float sensor connected to a Digital input, set at the same level as Level 1 (currently the level sensor used for auto topoff).

When the two sensors are triggered in tandem the ADIN would trigger the thunderstorm, and the ATO pump would feed the rain system based on water 1, but this is a bit overly complicated...

[Matthias]

at the moment there is no way to trigger a special function, like thunderstorm, with an probe input
using a PLM-ADIN is the only solution at the moment

[Matthias]

do you have a movie of your thunderstorm?

I think this might be pretty interesting, especially with the sound ...

[BigAl07]

This is exactly what my long-term goal was. I wanted each ATO event to in-turn call the Thunderstorm routine but don't want every thunderstorm to trigger the ATO routine.


Yes I think a video would be GREAT also do you have any pictures and details about your Rain/Sprinkler system? I can't quite envision what the sprinkler heads look like.

[BigAl07]

LOL! I just now realized "Who" the original poster is!

I gotta say you have an AWESOME set-up bro!


Matthias here are his two videos and they ROCK!
Profilux Thunderstorm Simulation with Working Lightning and Thunder


and
Profilux Thunderstorm Simulation with Working Lightning and Thunder Part 2

[TheManicFishkeeper]

LOL! I just now realized "Who" the original poster is!

I gotta say you have an AWESOME set-up bro!


Matthias here are his two videos and they ROCK!
Profilux Thunderstorm Simulation with Working Lightning and Thunder


and
Profilux Thunderstorm Simulation with Working Lightning and Thunder Part 2

Ha yeah you found me! TheManicFishkeeper is my alter ego when I'm not working ;-)

@Mattias

Here is my original build thread on ReefCentral for my thunderstorm rig.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh....php?t=1842220

[TheManicFishkeeper]

at the moment there is no way to trigger a special function, like thunderstorm, with an probe input
using a PLM-ADIN is the only solution at the moment

If there was a way through Programmable Logic to have one function Equal or trigger another this would really help this sort of advanced function, but to be honest I am unsure of the logistics behind making the controller do this.

Would it be possible to introduce IF and DO logic to the programming? So IF Sensor X state is X then DO digital input X?

[Matthias]

IF Sensor X state is X then DO digital input X?

I don't understand. How shall one input influence another input?

[TheManicFishkeeper]

I don't understand. How shall one input influence another input?

Im just wondering if, specifically with digital inputs, since they can be triggered/programmed within the software if they could be linked to respond to another input transparently..

So "If" water1 = x, "Do/start" Digital Input 1

Then have "Digital input 1" configured as "Thunderstorm"

This would essentially use the software to start an event in the same manner as a button push would through the PLM-ADIN