LightSeasonsMkIIUserManualwww.xofw.com
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ProgrammingCommands
SUNRISE–SUNSET
Everydayatmidnight,LightSeasonscomputessunriseandsunsetforyouruniqueworldlocation.Thisallowsthe‘triggers’to
exactlyfollowtheDay-and-Nighttransitions(astheyvarythroughtheyear).ThetimeforDuskandDawnarederivedfromthe
savedGeo-Coordinates.ThesecoordinatesarecollecteddirectlyfromtheGPS.OrareusersuppliedviatheLongitude-Latitude
(
ll
)andHemiSpheres(
hs
)commands.
TRIGGERS
Triggersareindexedzerothrufive.Theyareexecutedbasedsolelyontheirassociatedtime,Onetriggerisexecutedpergiven
minute;andthelowerindexhaspriority.ModifiedTriggersareappliedtothepresentactiveseason.Tomodifyatrigger,use
the
et
commandfollowedbytrigger-index,hour,minute,andtask.TasksincludeON/OFF,andON/OFFforbothSunrise
and/orSunset,and‘Dimmed-ON’Tasksassignavaluefrom11to99(percent):
0 = OFF 1 = ON 2 = DawnOFF 3 = DawnON 4 = DuskOFF 5 = DuskON 9 = IDLE
Tasks 11 thru 99 turn ON the load in Dimmed mode, where the active duty-cycle (%) is the task value.
Example:setTrigger2toturntheLoad/Lightsonatdusk:
et2005<
(allvaluesareseparatedbyasinglespace).
Note:WhenaDawn/Duskrelatedtaskisentered,thecomputeddawn/dusktimesupersedestheuserinputtedvalues.Thus
thezero’sgivenforthehourandminuteparametersareignored.
Note:idletriggersarenotdisplayed.Triggersareautomaticallydisplayedwhengivenanon-idletask.
MODBUSCOMMUNICATIONGATEWAY(Option)
WhentheLightSeasonsispairedwithaMorningStar™Charge-Controller,thetwowillcommunicatewitheachother.Forthe
Charge-Controller’sMODBUSportallowsLightSeasonstocollectthepresentVoltage/Ampconditions(fortheSolarPanel,
Battery,andLoad).Thisoptionprovidesacommunicationcable(RJ-11Telcoconnector).PlugthisdirectlyintoaMorningStar™
Charge-Controller.Thetwodeviceswillestablishcommunicationsautomatically.Note:Bothdevicesmustbepoweredforvalid
dataretrieval.AndtheCharge-ControllermayhaveaDipswitchgoverningtheMODBUSport…besureit’ssetproperly.
Usethe
solar-panel
(
sp
)command
toviewthesolarpanelstatus.
Usethe
battery
(
bt
)command
toviewthebatterystatus.
Usethe
load
(
ld
)command
toviewtheLoad/Lightstatus.
Note:theMODBUSgatewayMUSTbeoperationalfortheabovecommandstoprovidemeaningfulinformation.
AUTO-DIMMERCONTROL
TheLightSeasonshastheabilitytoreducetheLoad/Lightpowerconsumptionautomatically.ItaccomplishesthisbyPulse-
WidthmodulatingthepowertotheLoad:theLoad/LightsarecycledON/OFFfasterthantheeyecandetect.Increasingthe
‘OFF’durationwilldimtheload,anddrawdownpowerconsumption.Theideaistohelppreservebatterylife.Soonadayof
weaksolarcollection,LightSeasonswillautomaticallyreducethepowerdrawnfromthebattery.
Dimmingisenabledwiththe
auto-dimmer
(
ad
)command.ANDtheMODBUSgatewayMUSTbeoperational.
ad1<
(separatedbyasinglespace,whereoneisAUTO,andzeroisOFF).
Eachdayaboutanhourbeforesunset,LightSeasonsdeterminestheTotalChargeCollected(amp-hours),andtheTotalLoad
Consumed(amp-hours).Whenconsumptionexceedscollection,dimmingensues.Themagnitudeofdimmingis
[(Load_amp_hrs
-
Charge_amp_hrs
)/
Load_amp_hrs]
*30%.
Thereby,theDimmingrangedoesn’texceedathirty-percentreduction.
