Black box LED turns itself on middle of night

[Barnacle1]

My black box LED has started to turn itself on and off throughout the night. It’s a galaxyhydro WIFI model. Anyone else have this problem or have any idea what could be causing it?

It seems like it only happens on auto(WiFi) mode. I’m going to try using a regular timer at night and hope it doesn’t lose its programming.

Of course the same day I noticed it I get an email that the $80 led board upgrade has shipped. I should have just bought a real light from the beginning.

 

[Crabs McJones]

Could it be a signal from another piece of electrical equipment in the house interfering with the light? Does it do it pretty consistantly or completely at random. If the light allows for it maybe try a factory reset and then reprogram it.

 

[Barnacle1]

I don’t think it’s signal interference, as it’s a standalone unit.


I think it’s completely random. I happened to wake up at 2am to see if turning the blue and UV channels on and off. About 3 secsonds on, 3 seconds off.

A couple of days ago I changed the program to turn the light completely off, rather than leave the moonlights on all night. I think it caused some sort of glitch.

 

[Crabs McJones]

@redfishbluefish are your sb lights wifi and do you have any idea what might be going on?

 

[Barnacle1]

I posted in the modded Black box thread and got this:

Did you try resetting the light? Also make sure the last two time slots in your schedule are all zeros.

I recently changed the light schedule from using 12 time slots and leaving moonlights on all night, to using all 24 slots and turning the lights completely off at night.

I just tried this fix, I’ll know if it works by tonight.

 

[Crabs McJones]

I posted in the modded Black box thread and got this:



I recently changed the light schedule from using 12 time slots and leaving moonlights on all night, to using all 24 slots and turning the lights completely off at night.

I just tried this fix, I’ll know if it works by tonight.

Awesome, hope if fixes your problem

 

[redfishbluefish]

@redfishbluefish are your sb lights wifi and do you have any idea what might be going on?

Sorry, no wifi for me....and I'm puzzled. But it sounds like you might have the fix. Let us know.

 

[Barnacle1]

I wasn’t able to watch the light all night. But I’m pretty sure it worked. Looks like there is a glitch with the app/WiFi module.


Also the SB upgrade board is awesome.

 

[VbReefer]

No more issues?

I have issues with 2 of 4 Wi-Fi black boxes. Popular grow brand that use the aquadim app with 24 set points on Android.

A few things. Recommend mounting all black boxes 12" or higher to reduce moisture. Add fan if using in an enclosed canopy. Also recommend using hot-glue or silicone and totally encasing the internal dimmer knob hardware. Wish I would have done this when they were brand new.

Most issues I've run into with lights sticking on or coming on in the middle of the night seems to be tied Into the dimmers. This is assuming you've double checked all schedules.

Let's say lights are off running on Wi-Fi. If you turn the Wi-Fi switch to manual you'll normally notice the lights automatically adjust to the brightness they were stuck on. If it's white channel just spin the white channel dimmer a few times until it goes off. Then switch back to Wi-Fi and it should stay off.
I suspect these dimmers are just crap.

After dealing with this issue I decided to remove 2 of the 6 leads on the wifi-manual switch. Remove the two leads from the Wi-Fi side. I thought it was the other side but pulling those 2 made it manual only.
Hoping this fixes the random issues and can help someone else
If not I'll probably look into removing the dimmers altogether.
Will post any updates.

 

[VbReefer]

Seems to have fixed my issues.

No more waking up to a tank with a light on, that should be off.

Edit * My dimmers have 2 plugs and if they are unplugged the light will not function at all.