GHL moonlighting

[Scdell]

If there is one thing that needs to be straightened out with GHL lights it's the moon light phase.
I've been playing with moonlight for about 2 years now and honestly I don't get it any better than when I started on day one!
A little history here:
About 2 years ago I bought 2 Mitras lx7's. They ran fine on their own. I had moonlight although it IS kind of bright.
Apparently GHL will only run the moonlight when their lights are at 10% or higher.
Six months or so later I added the P4 and ran the lights through it.
I set up my lighting schedule, but could not get moonlighting to work right at all.
Vinny@Ghl finally helped me through this.
It was something about where the file was being stored on the computer as I recall.
It worked , but it was still way too bright for my liking. Especially at full moon.
Sooooo, I quit the moonlight thing altogether.

On to present day. I ordered a lightbar2. Deep actinic as I wanted more of a t5 look.
I figured moonlight just might be a little better on the lightbar.
I set it up. Again I can't get it to work as I program it.
All the lights are set to turn off at 8pm. I set moonlight to come on at 9pm-3pm.
No moonlight! I've tried and tried and tried to get it to work.
0k at 8pm. 9 pm it's set at 10%. 0K at 3 am. No moon light. It actually comes on at around 8:30pm then goes off a little after 9pm.
Last try was 0k at 9pm. 10% At 3am. I wake up at 5am and the moonlight is on!

I just tried one more aspect.
0K at 8pm. 0K at 9pm. 5% at 12am. 0K at 3am.
I saved my project, transmitted through the P4. Nothing has changed! Moon light is still on at 6:30am.
I'm at my wits end with this whole thing. There's something I'm not getting or my P4 isn't getting???

 

[Scdell]

Checked moon phase. I had it on advanced mode. Of which I have no clue as to what the difference is between advanced mode and regular mode???
Ran test illumination run. No moonlight! I even upped it to 10%.

 

[Member No 1]

I feel your pain. I've been working at this since day one. I would love to get this working right.
It's either off, or to bright.
To help with the brightness, I only set one of my two LX7206's to follow the moon simulation.
One thing I did notice, when I had it set to advance mode, the channel that I had set to react to moon light was off during the day when it should have been on. So I switched back to regular mode.
A step by step with detailed instructions/screen shots would be great! Or better yet, a @Ditto video!

 

[Lasse]

As I see it - in basic mode - this is important

This says that if there is a illuminating channel that is used for normal lighting - the illumination curve will be multiplied with the calculated brightness. It means that the ill curve in question not should be 0 during the period that´s actual for moonlight. In my setup - the 425 channel in my lightbars serve as moon channel too. This is the curve for my 425 channel

And my settings in simulation

For me this means that between 01:00 to 8:00 when the channel has a illumination 0f 2 % - it will in reality be the moonphase percent multiplied with 2 and multiplied with the channels intensity (also 2 in my case) : in this picture it says 0.14*2 (brightness full moon) * 2 (my curve between 01:00 - 08:00) -> 0.28*2 = 0.56. At full moon - it will be 2*2 = 4 %. This has work for me - if you want lower full moon - make the curve lower the time you want moonlight - as an example 1 percent.

The advanced mode only work with a light source that is specific for the moonlight - IMO - because it overtune the illumination curve. As an example - if you already purchased a deep actinic - just have the 425 as moon channel and use the other channels as complement during daytime. In one installation I use their RGB slimline as moonlight because I can adjust the Kelvin.

Sincerely Lasse

 

[Member No 1]

Thanks @Lasse I shall give that a try.
If I run into problems, I'll post screen shots.

 

[Scdell]

As I see it - in basic mode - this is important

This says that if there is a illuminating channel that is used for normal lighting - the illumination curve will be multiplied with the calculated brightness. It means that the ill curve in question not should be 0 during the period that´s actual for moonlight. In my setup - the 425 channel in my lightbars serve as moon channel too. This is the curve for my 425 channel

And my settings in simulation

For me this means that between 01:00 to 8:00 when the channel has a illumination 0f 2 % - it will in reality be the moonphase percent multiplied with 2 and multiplied with the channels intensity (also 2 in my case) : in this picture it says 0.14*2 (brightness full moon) * 2 (my curve between 01:00 - 08:00) -> 0.28*2 = 0.56. At full moon - it will be 2*2 = 4 %. This has work for me - if you want lower full moon - make the curve lower the time you want moonlight - as an example 1 percent.

The advanced mode only work with a light source that is specific for the moonlight - IMO - because it overtune the illumination curve. As an example - if you already purchased a deep actinic - just have the 425 as moon channel and use the other channels as complement during daytime. In one installation I use their RGB slimline as moonlight because I can adjust the Kelvin.

Sincerely Lasse

Ok, so you don't do moonlight in light composer then? You do it in the illumination channel you want use?

 

[Member No 1]

I've always done it in Light Composer, then opened the illumination channel you intend to use to check off the box so it reacts to moon simulation.

 

[Scdell]

I've always done it in Light Composer, then opened the illumination channel you intend to use to check off the box so it reacts to moon simulation.

Me too. But now I'm thinking that approach is wrong.

 

[Member No 1]

Me too. But now I'm thinking that approach is wrong.

I reached out a while back, never got a definitive answer.
You can browse here, maybe you can come up with something.

Search results for query: moon

www.reef2reef.com

 

[Lasse]

Ok, so you don't do moonlight in light composer then? You do it in the illumination channel you want use?

Never thought of using that because it is easy to do it in a manual way and I did not know that is was doable in the light composer. I just set my moonlight manually. Decide which channel to use. Make it active during the time I want to have moonlight and check the box for "depends on moonphase"

​

Sincerely Lasse

 

[Member No 1]

Lasse,
FYI... When I set it up in LC in GCC, after I set the channel and duration, it does show correctly when I look at the corresponding channel.
I'll post some screen shots tonight.
I think the issue is (at least my case) understanding the relationship and how the different percent settings effect each other.
With your first post, I have a better understanding, and it made me think of a few things to try. TY!

 

[Scdell]

Never thought of using that because it is easy to do it in a manual way and I did not know that is was doable in the light composer. I just set my moonlight manually. Decide which channel to use. Make it active during the time I want to have moonlight and check the box for "depends on moonphase"

​

Sincerely Lasse

I'm going to try it this way. I'll find out tonight if it works. Thanks!

 

[Member No 1]

A shout out to @Lasse
So following your suggestions, I reprogrammed the moon simulation, and to prove to myself that it could be done this way, I only used Light Composer in GCC. Once I transmitted the project to the lights, I ran the simulation and it seemed to work as I had planned.
I waited up until the time scheduled, and as expected it followed the programming. This morning it was still fine.
I think the biggest issue is with the settings and what to set the different percentages to so the moon light isn't to bright.
Now that I know that it seems to work, I will post some screen shots later in order to help others that travel down this moon light path.
Thanks again Lasse for the help and setting be straight!

 

[Scdell]

Mine is just FUBAR! I set it up in light composer and it doesn't relay to the illumination channel. I have it at 2% in LC and it shows at 0% in illumination. I switch which channel to use and delete the old set points from the previous channel. Save and transmit illumination. No moonlight and when I check all the stuff I changed is not changed!
Same exact problem I had when I first set up they LX's through the P4.

 

[Member No 1]

Mine is just FUBAR! I set it up in light composer and it doesn't relay to the illumination channel. I have it at 2% in LC and it shows at 0% in illumination. I switch which channel to use and delete the old set points from the previous channel. Save and transmit illumination. No moonlight and when I check all the stuff I changed is not changed!
Same exact problem I had when I first set up they LX's through the P4.

Well that just sucks!
I'll post screen shots later.

 

[Scdell]

Yep, I changed the file location on the computer. Started over. Deleted the previous set points and changed the illumination channel for moon light. Save and check. Everything is how I set it up. Transmit illumination and it reverts back to what it previously was. To say I'm frustrated is an understatement.

 

[Scdell]

Guess it's time to open a ticket?????

 

[Member No 1]

I would think so.
I don't understand why mine worked and yours didn't.
But if you need help, you know where to reach me. I'll do what I can.
PM me your email, and when I get home later, I'll send you my light project. Try loading that one up.

 

[Scdell]

No matter what I do it doesn't save to the P4. Transmitted through usb. Same thing. It keeps reverting to previous settings. I even backed up my settings. Things shouldn't be this difficult!!!!

 

[Scdell]

Seems my "save" button doesn't work