User Guide

for AI Controller

Rev. 1 - 12.8.2010
AquaIllumination LED System Controller allows you to automate the operation of
your new lighting module to perform everything from basic on/off timer functions is a
variety of coral reef light simulations. The controller provides the following features:

• 14 independent light timers, with independent intensity (dimming) levels.

• Lunar Cycle simulates phases of the moon based on calendar day/month.
• Thunderstorm simulation: Randomly creates lightning and cloudy weather ef-
fects.
• Manual or Automatic Mode.
• Override timer operations at any time with a push of a button.
• Maintains clock and configuration during power outages without the need for
batteries.
Quick Setup
Follow these steps to quickly set up your lighting controller:

1. Set The Model CHOOSE MODEL:

SOL SUPER BLUE
When you first connect the control-
ler, you will see the display shown to
the right. Turn the knob left or right to
choose your lighting model, either Sol
White or Sol Super Blue. Now press
down on the knob to lock in your set-
ting.
2. Set The Clock
Turn the knob clockwise until the Set
Clock menu appears. Now press down 5: SET CLOCK?
on the knob to select the Set Clock PRESS TO SEL
menu item.

The display now shows the current

date and time set in the controller. The
TIME: 10: 37AM
HOURS field should be blinking. Turn DATE 2/13/2011
the knob left or right to set the correct
hour. Press down on the knob to lock
in the new value. The MINUTES field
should now be blinking. Repeat the
same procedure to set both the time
and date. When you’re done sequenc-
ing through all the fields, , the display
will show Saving… as the new time/
date setting will take effect.
3. Setup Timers
Timers are used to set or change the
light intensities at a given time of day
1: SETUP TIMERS?
or night. Two timers have already been
PRESS TO SELECT
set up at the factory. Timer #1 is set for
8:00 AM with LED intensities of 90%.
Timer #2 is set for 9:00 PM with a LED
intensity of 0% (off). With this setup, the
lights will come on at 8:00 AM and go
off at 9:00 PM.
SEL TIMER: 1
To change the time and/or intensity, turn ACTIVE
the knob until the Setup Timers menu
appears, then press down to select it.

At this point, the display gives you the TIME: 8: 00PM

option to select a timer. Leave the dis-
LEDS: WH BL RY
play set on Sel Timer: 1 and just press
the knob again.
To change the time of Timer #1, rotate
the knob and enter the current hour,
WHITE ON: 90%
minute and AM/PM indicator.

The 2nd line of the display will show appear. Turn the knob left or right to set
WH for White, BL for Blue, and RY for the intensity from 0% to 100%. This is
Royal (Note that the RY option will only the brightness level you want for the
be shown on Sol Super Blue models). LEDs. After choosing the desired per-
For the White setting, turning the knob centage, press down on the knob. The
toggles between “WH” and “- -. If set to display will then allow you to set levels
“WH“ you are enabling the white LEDs for the Blue LEDs, and then the Royal
to be changed with this timer. If set to “- LEDs in exactly the same way. When
-“, the white LEDs will not be changed you are done, press down on the knob.
by this timer and will remain at their cur-
rent intensity. For this setup, select the The Ramp Period display will now ap-
“WH” “BL” and “RY” conditions, then pear. This lets you choose how many
press down on the knob. minutes it will take for the lights to arrive
at your desired intensities. The default is
The display shown at the right will now set for 5 minutes. This means that if the
lights were OFF, it would take 5 min- At this point, timer #1 is all setup. You
utes to slowly brighten them up to your can repeat this procedure for Timer
desired levels. Press down on the knob #2. Additional timers may be set up
to lock in the ramp period. to change the lights levels at different
times of the day.
The next screen will prompt you to turn
on or off Lunar Cycle for this timer.
This feature will slightly dim or brighten RAMP PERIOD: 5m
the LEDs to simulate a full moon,
half-moon, etc. based on the day of
month. You would probably never use
this feature for timers set up during the
daylight hours. It is more appropriate for
LUNAR CYCLE
use with a night timer when LED intensi-
NO
ties are set very low or completely off.
Turn the knob to select ON or OFF, then
press down. The display will show Sav-
ing… as the all the timer settings you
have chosen are written to memory.
Manual Mode
The controller can operate in either AUTO or MANUAL. AUTO Mode is the normal
mode of operation. In this mode, you can set and use timers to automatically turn the
lights on and off at certain times of the day or night. In MANUAL mode, all of the tim-
ers are disabled and you will need to turn the lights on and off manually by pushing
down on the knob.

To set the controller for Manual mode,

turn the knob and select the Set Mode
SWITCH TO MANUAL
menu item. If the controller is currently
NO
in AUTO mode, it will give the option to
switch to MANUAL mode. If the control- You can use the Manual Setup menu
ler is in MANUAL mode, you can switch to set the ON and OFF intensities for
back to AUTO mode. the lights. For example, you can define
ON as 80% brightness and OFF as 5%
You can turn the lights on or off by push brightness. Each LED color can have an
down on knob and hold it down for 5 independent ON/OFF level.
seconds. If the lights were off, they will
turn on. If the lights were on, they will
turn off.
Thunderstorms
The Thunderstorm feature allows you
simulate cloud cover and lightning effects.
ENABLE STORMS
When enabled, thunderstorms can occur YES
randomly at any time of the day or night.
The simulation starts by first slowly dimming the lights as the storm approaches,
simulating increased cloud cover. After a short period of time, lightning flashes will
occur at different intensities and rates. A storm can last from 5 minutes to 30 min-
utes. To set up thunderstorms, turn the knob until the Thunderstorms menu appears,
then press down on the knob.

• Enable Storms – Choose Yes to enable the thunderstorm feature. Choose No to

disable it. If you choose No, no other actions are needed and the display returns
to normal operation.
• Chances – Sets the odds of a thunderstorm for today. For example, if set to
50%, there is a 50% chance that a thunderstorm will happen today. If set to
100%, a storm will always happen sometime during the day or night.
• Storms Per Day – Sets the number of storms per day. You can choose from 1 to
5 storms. This is the number of storms that may happen in every 24 hour period.
• Start Storm Now – Provides a convenient way to start a storm right now and
see the effects.
View Timers
The View Timers menu is useful when setting up your timers. It lets you see all the
timer settings for an individual timer on one compact screen. To use this menu, se-
lect View Timers and press down on the knob.

The first line shows the timer number (T1

– T14) followed by the time set, followed
T1 8: 00AM 5m
by the Ramp Period in minutes. If Lunar W090 B080 R090
Cycle was enabled, a small icon of the
moon is shown next to the time. The second line shows the intensity levels for the
three LED types (on the Sol White, two LED types). If the timer has any of the LED
types disabled (selecting “- -“ when setting up the timer) then that LED intensity is
not displayed.

You can turn the knob to view other timers. Push down on the knob. You have the
option of modifying the selected timer. If you choose no, you are returned to the main
menu and the timer is not changed. If you choose Yes, you modify the timer exactly
the same way as setting up a timer.
Timers & the Ramp Period
It is important to understand the effects of the Ramp Period on timers. The number
of minutes set for Ramp Period actually adds to the time setting for a timer. For ex-
ample, suppose you have a timer set for 9:00 AM with a ramp period of 30 minutes.
At 9:00AM the lights begin to brighten and will take 30 minutes to ramp up to your
full setting. So even though the timer is set for 9:00 AM, the lights won’t reach your
intensity settings until 9:30 AM, because the 30 minute ramp period is added to the
time.

9AM-1PM, 30min Ramp Period

Intensity
100

80

60

40

20

0
9AM 10AM 11AM 12PM 1PM
The same thing happens when the lights dim down. If a timer is set for 1:00PM at
0% brightness and the lights are at 100%, it will be 1:30PM before the lights are off.
If you are using many or all of the 14 timers, it is a good idea to make sure that a
timer has a chance to ramp down to its final setting before another timer kicks in. If
ramp periods overlap, the new timer will take over and use its ramp settings instead.
Doing this won’t hurt anything and in fact, some creative effects can result. Just be
aware that if you accidentally set up timers with overlapping times, the effects may
look strange or result in something you did not expect.
Changing Models
To change models, select the Other
NOTE: Make sure and select the proper
menu and press down the knob. Press
model. Selecting the wrong model will
again to bypass the LCD Brightness
result in erratic behavior and/or certain
screen. Turn the knob to select either
functions will not work properly.
Sol White or Sol Super Blue.

Setting LCD Brightness

To change LCD brightness, select the Other menu and press down the knob. Turn
the knob to select the desired brightness level. Push down on the knob to save the
new settings.
Power Outages
Your controller has a built-in, permanent
NOTE: Your timer settings and options
power source that never needs replac-
are stored in permanent memory and
ing. In the event of a loss of power, the
will never be erased, no matter how
clock will maintain the correct time for
long the controller is without power.
3 to 5 days. When power is restored,
it takes approximately 1 hour to fully
recharge the power source in prepara-
tion for the next outage.
Factory Reset
In the unlikely event your controller becomes inoperative, has a blank or dark screen,
or is not operating properly, you can perform a factory reset. We recommend that
you first try and do a Firmware Update to see if this fixes the problem. If not, a fac-
tory reset can be performed. Note that a factory reset operation erases all timers and
options, resets the clock, and sets the controller back to its initial factory settings.
There are two ways to perform a factory reset:

1. Select the Other menu and press down the knob. Press again to bypass the
LCD Brightness screen, then press again to bypass the Select Model screen.
When Factory Reset appears, push down the knob. A second screen will verify
your actions. Select Yes to factory Reset, select No to cancel. The controller will
then prompt you to remove the jack for 5 seconds and plug it back in again.
2. Factory Reset can also be performed during initial power up. We recommend
you use this method only if the controller is non-functional or the display is not
working. To perform a power-up factory reset, unplug the jack and plug it in
again. During the initial version display screen or within 3 seconds, immediately
push down on the knob. Continue to hold the knob down for at least 15 sec-
onds. Now release the knob and unplug the jack for 5 seconds. Plug it back in
again and the controller will start at its factory reset condition.
Firmware Update
The firmware in your controller is updated
from time to time to add new features and fix AQUAILLUMINATION
problems. We recommend you visit the Aqua FIRMWARE UPDATE
Illumination website to see if a new version of
the firmware is available. Note that your current
firmware version is displayed on the 2nd line during each power up. There is no need to down-
load and install the same version.

Firmware updates can only be performed on computers running either the Windows or Linux
operating systems. To perform a firmware update, follow these steps:

1. Download the latest firmware version from the AquaIllumination website (http://xxxxxx/
firmware.html).
2. Unplug the jack.
3. While pressing and holding the knob down, plug in a USB mini cable that is connected to
your computer. The controller should display the message AquaIllumination Firmware
Update. If your computer indicates that the USB device is unrecognized, unplug the USB
cable and try again. Make sure you are holding down the knob before plugging in the USB
connector.
4. The controller will show up as a new flash disk drive in your computer.
5. Open the flash drive. There will be a single file on it called firmware.bin. Delete this file.
6. Drag or copy the new firmware update file to the drive. There is no need to rename the file.
7. Wait for the copy operation to finish.
8. Unplug the controller from the USB cable, and plug your lights back in.

When major version change occurs, some firmware updates may erase your existing options
and timer settings. Check the firmware page on the website for further information. In any case,
it is always a good idea to write down your settings in case you need to restore them for future
updates or repairs.