SimACo v.3.1.2.0 user manual | My Simple Automation

SimACo capabilities

SimACo controller has three main parts: main board, buttons board and LCD board. All aquarium equipment connects to the main board. Also there are two LED driver boards: LDD driver board and MOSFET driver board. SimACo main board has inputs/outputs (channels):

LED temperature sensor (input)
Water temperature sensor (input)
Ambient temperature sensor (input)
PH sensor (input)
Aquarium water level sensor (input)
Reservoir water level sensor (input)
Mains voltage sensor (input)
4 LED channels (output, 3.3V level PWM)
4 dosing pumps channels (outputs, 12V DC)
8 devices channels (outputs, 120-230V AC)

All inputs requires external sensors, except mains voltage sensor – the parts of this sensor is already soldered in the main board. You only need to connect cable from the mains to the sensor’s input terminals.

SimACo has many functions; one or more channels (physical inputs/outputs) are dedicated for every function:

LED lighting control. Four LED1-4 channels, Led T° sensor (input) channel and Device #6 channel are dedicated for this function. LED1-4 channels have one common “-” terminal and separate “+” terminals. All aquarium LEDs must be connected to the SimACo main board through additional devices, called drivers. SimACo has two LED driver boards: MOSFET driver board and Mean Well LDD drivers board. Both boards have four output channels. External power supply must be connected to the driver boards to supply power to the LEDs. It must be selected according to your LED lighting.
MOSFET driver board has 12V-24V input voltage, max. 6A per channel. So select 12-24V PSU. Board output voltage will be equal to the PSU voltage.
LDD driver board’s parameters depends on the soldered LDD driver modules. PSU (board input) DC voltage: 9-56V for LDD-300H…1000H and 9-52V for LDD-1200H, 1500H; LED1-LED4 (board outputs) voltage: 2-52V for LDD-300H…1000H and 2-46V for LDD-1200H, 1500H.
Led T° sensor channel is used to measure LED radiator temperature and turn on the LED radiator fan when active cooling is required. This function is flexible: you can keep cooling fan not connected, in this case LED temperature will be still monitored. Also you can keep both temperature sensor and cooling fan disconnected.
AC 120-230V voltage devices control. Uses 120-230V Device #1 – #8 channels. All channels have common ground “GND” and neutral “N” terminals; live “L” terminals are separate. Each channel is directly connected to the mains voltage/UPS and is switched through mechanical relay. Maximum current for every Device #1 – #8 channel must not exceed 8A. Total current of all eight channels is also 8A. There is protection fuse FU1 in the main board which can be blown if you will exceed this current. All channels are universal, but 5 of them are dedicated for the particular equipment: Device #1 – aquarium water filter control; Device #2 – aquarium water cooling fans control; Device #3 – CO2 solenoid; Device #4 – water heater; Device #5 – aquarium top-off pump; Device #6 – LED cooling fan. SimACo controller has 8 timers; they can be used to switch channels on and off separately at time set by user.
Aquarium water temperature measurement and support. Three channels are used for this function. Temperature sensor must be connected to the Water T° sensor channel. Connect aquarium water heater to the 120-230V Device #4 channel. Connect cooling fan block to the 120-230V Device #2 channel. This function is flexible: you can keep fans or heater disconnected. In this case SimACo will only be able to rise or lower water temperature according to the maintained temperature set in controller settings. If both fan and heater are disconnected then controller will be able only to measure water temperature.
Ambient temperature measurement. You can measure your room air temperature using this channel. Connect temperature sensor to the Ambient T° sensor channel.
PH/CO2 measurement and support. Connect PH sensor with 50 Ohm BNC connector to the PH channel (input) – BNC connector in the main board. In order to support stable CO2 level or shut down at night use 120V-230V CO2 valve. Valve must be connected to the 120-230V Device #3 channel. This function is flexible: you can use PH sensor not using CO2 valve. In this case controller will be able only to measure water PH value.
Liquid fertilizers dosing. Dosing pump1-4 channels are dedicated for this function. Use 12V dosing pumps. Max current for each dosing pump must not exceed 1A. There is protection fuse in the main board which can disconnect 12V power supply if you will exceed this current. This fuse will reset automatically when the fault is removed. All channels have one common “+” terminal and separate “-” terminals. So dosing pump’s motors “+” poles must be connected together.
Aquarium top-off. Three channels must be used for this function: Reservoir sensor (for reservoir water level sensor), Aquarium sensor (for aquarium water level sensor) and 120-230V Device #5 (for top-off pump). Aquarium sensor must have contact closed, when water level is low. Reservoir sensor must work in reverse order: it must have contact open, when water level is low. Pump must have 120V-230V AC working voltage.
UPS battery energy saving. AC sense channel is used to sense if mains voltage is present or not. Mains AC 120-230V voltage must be connected to this input. Use this function if your aquarium equipment is connected to the UPS. This function allows to disconnect particular equipment when power is supplied from the UPS on blackout.
Auxiliary board 1. Will be used in the future to add additional functionality to the controller.
Auxiliary board 2. Will be used in the future to add additional functionality to the controller.

SimACo controller has several other connections/components which user should know about:

CR2032 – slot for the Lithium CR2032 3.0V battery. Battery is required to keep SimACo time when controller is disconnected from the mains.
lcd contrast – potentiometer used to adjust 20×4 LCD brightness.
FU1 – 8A fuse for 120-230V devices outputs. Only fast acting fuse must be used.
USB – USB 2.0 A (female) slot to connect SimACo with PC.
LCD1 (J25-1) and LCD2 (J26-1) – LCD connections. Used to connect 4×20 LCD module.
buttons board (J3-1) – keypad connection. Used to to connect 5 buttons keypad.
120 – 230V in – AC voltage input connection, 120-230V. This is power supply for the all SimACo components and all aquarium equipment, connected to SimACo. Connect to the UPS or mains.
AC sense – AC voltage input connection, 120-230V. This connection is needed only for UPS battery energy saving function.
switch input and switch output connections are used to connect rocker switch. It can be used to disconnect 120-230V devices fully (neutral and live wires) when doing aquarium maintenance jobs.
ESP config connector in the main board has five pins groups. Groups J20, J22 and J23 must be shorted with jumpers. J21 and J24 groups must be leaved without jumpers!
Reset IC connect connector in the main board has one J15 pin group which must be shorted with a jumper!

Controller assembly

This is recommended connections schematics how to assemble controller components and to start to work with SimACo, click to enlarge.

All LEDs must be connected to power supply through additional devices, called drivers. There are two LED driver boards: MOSFET driver board and Mean Well LDD drivers board. Each board has four channels.

MOSFET driver board is designed to be used with LED strips or LED modules which requires constant voltage 12V or 24V power supply.
LDD driver board has a place for four Mean Well LDD-XXXX series drivers to be soldered in. Board must be used with LEDs which requires constant current power supply. This board mostly can be used with powerful LED (1-3W) strings, connected in series. Mean Well drivers are several types: LDD-300H, LDD-350H, LDD-500H, LDD-600H, LDD-700H, LDD-1000H, LDD-1200H, LDD-1500H. Digits in the type description shows supplied current in mA to the LED string. Who wants to know more about these drivers, here is a datasheet.

Both boards both connects directly to the main board. Also additional power supply is required to supply power to the LEDs. It’s voltage and current must be selected according to the selected LED lighting.

Warning: touching main board when controller is powered from mains or UPS you can be injured by electric current or you even can die!

In order to work safely, first mount all SimACo parts into the plastic box which is impermeable to electric current. Use cable end sleeves to connect aquarium devices to the main board screw terminals :

cable end sleeve

Connect buttons board to the main board with flat 6 pin cable. (Connections J3-2 in the buttons board and J3-1 in the main board).
Connect LCD module to the main board with two 10 pin and 6 pin flat cables. There are J25-1 (LCD1) and J26-1 (LCD2) connections in the main board for the LCD.
Insert 3V lithium battery in to the slot.
Connect sensors to the main board.
Connect LED driver board to the SimACo main board.
Connect external power supply to the LED driver board.
Connect aquarium LEDs to the LED driver board.
Connect external high voltage aquarium equipment – 120-230V AC devices to the main board.
Connect dosing pumps to the main board.
Connect power supply cable to the 120-230V in connector in the main board.
Connect cable to the AC sense connector in the main board. If you are not planning to use UPS battery energy saving function, you do not need this cable.
Warning! Wrong connection between main board, LED drivers board, sensors and external aquarium equipment can damage all these components!

Working 120-230V devices and dosing pumps relatively are high current/voltage devices. They can create large electromagnetic spikes and disturb the work of some controller’s parts and other aquarium equipment. So the wiring of the high current/voltage devices and low current/voltage devices must be kept separately. Cables routing must be done properly:

all cables and wires which carry 120-230V voltage or have inductive loads (motors) connected to them must be routed near the right side of the main board. These wires are: wires connected to the 120 – 230V in, switch input, switch output, 120-230V devices, AC sense, dosing pump1-4 terminals in the main board.
route all other wires near the left side of the board. These wires are: wires connected to led1-4 terminals in the main board, all three temperature sensors cables, PH sensor cable, top-off sensors cables, buttons board and LCD flat cables, all wires from MOSFET driver board and Mean Well LDD drivers board.

Next fully close the box. only after that you can connect high voltage power supply and AC sense cables to the wall socket or UPS.
Connect power supply cable to the mains or UPS, if you are using it.
Connect cable from AC sense terminals to the mains if you want to use UPS battery energy saving function.

When SimACo loads you must see text “General settings” in LCD. If LCD is blank, adjust LCD contrast with LCD contrast potentiometer.

How to reset controller

Disconnect power supply cable, wait 20 – 30 seconds and connect again. You will need to reset controller only if it malfunctions.
Also automatic reset is implemented, controller will reset itself if important error occurs.

Three ways to control SimACo

There are three ways to control SimACo:

USB cable connection. You will need USB cable and computer with Windows OS to update SimACo firmware.
through a buttons keypad. With keypad you can control mostly used SimACo functions.
wireless WiFi connection. Using Windows PC or Android mobile device with WiFi connection you can access all SimACo functions except firmware update. You will need to install Angry Fish application’s Windows or Android versions from the download section.

Standard, Firmware Update and WiFi Configuration working modes

SimACo has three working modes: Standard mode, Firmware Update mode and WiFi Configuration mode. In the table below you can see which version of Angry Fish works for the particular mode:

Mode	Required application	Mode usage
Standard mode	Angry Fish Windows or Android version v.3.1.1.0 or higher (depends on SimACo firmware version).	This is default mode and is used to control aquarium equipment through WiFi connection. Also WiFi connection can be configured in this mode.
Firmware Update mode through USB cable	Mode works only with Angry Fish Windows versions v.3.0.0.0 and 3.1.0.0.	This mode is used to update SimACo controller’s firmware. USB cable must be used.
WiFi Configuration mode through USB cable	Mode works only with Angry Fish Windows versions v.3.0.0.0 or 3.1.0.0.	This mode is used to configure SimACo WiFi settings in order to establish wireless computer – SimACo connection. This configuration is required to do only once. USB cable must be used.

When SimACo boots up, first it boots in to the WiFi Configuration mode. You will not notice this if everything is OK. Then SimACo checks if firmware is OK (firmware present and is not corrupted). If firmware is OK, it automatically boots in to the normal working Standard mode. If firmware is not OK, SimACo stays in the WiFi Configuration mode.

To enter different modes manually, use ESCAPE button in the 5 buttons keypad.

Press and hold ESCAPE button for 10 sec to go from the Standard mode to WiFi Configuration mode until text in LCD display is shown: “Loading… WiFi config mode” .
Press and hold ESCAPE button for 10sec to go from the WiFi Configuration mode or Firmware Update mode to the Standard mode until text in LCD display is shown: “Loading… Standard mode”.
Shortly press and release ESCAPE button to toggle between WiFi Configuration and Firmware Update modes when controller is in one of these modes.

Angry Fish application installation

SimACo firmware (microcontroller code) and software (Angry Fish application) are updated and released simultaneously with the same build number for firmware and software. Build number is four digit version, for example 3.1.1.0. For standard mode you must always use Angry Fish application version which number is equal to firmware version number. For firmware update and WiFi configuration through USB cable you must to use Angry Fish Windows versions v.3.0.0.0 or 3.1.0.0 only.
Go to the downloads page to get latest firmware and software.

Configure SimACo WiFi settings

SimACo uses WiFi to communicate with PC or Android phone. It supports WiFi 802.11n standard. So it works at 2.4GHz frequency. You must have this in mind when connecting SimACo to a router which supports newer 802.11ac standard. However 802.11ac standard is backwards compatible with older WiFi standards.

First time after you have received SimACo you may want to configure WiFi settings in order to connect to controller from your Windows/Android device. Normally all WiFi devices can be access points (routers) or stations (mobile phone, laptop etc.). Two station devices can not talk directly one with the other – station device can talk only with the access point device and vice versa (here exclusion exist – WiFi direct mode where two station devices can be connected directly). In order to make WiFi communication between two station devices they both must connected to the same access point. Then these station devices will communicate one with another through access point. Take a look at the picture below:

In the picture devices A, B and C are stations. Devices B and C can communicate one with another only through a router. SimACo at this point can be set both as station or access point (router). But only one mode can be active at a time. So devices A, B and C as stations can reach SimACo through a router if SimACo is configured as station. If SimACo will be configured as access point, devices B and C will be able to communicate with SimACo directly and device A will not be able to reach controller. That is because device A does not belong to the users home network. So is up to you to decide which SimACo mode do you need:

If you will set SimACo as station, you will be able to connect to controller from devices B and C through a router. Devices B, C and SimACo controller must be connected to the same router. You even will be able to reach your controller from device A, which is located outside your home. It can be in other town or other country. But to reach SimACo from device A you will need to do port forwarding operation in your router. If you have a router, i recommend to use SimACo as station. For station mode you must connect SimACo to your home router. SimACo IP address will be assigned by the router.
If you will set SimACo controller as access point, you will be able to reach controller only from your house, devices B and C. By default SimACo controller is configured as access point. In the access point mode SimACo will act as a router. SimACo address will always be the same for this mode: 192.168.4.5.

There are two ways to configure WiFi connection settings: through USB cable (works only with Windows PC) or using WiFi connection (Windows PC or Android device). For both methods you will need to install Angry Fish application in to your Windows/Android device. Also you can reset WiFi connection settings to default using 5 buttons keypad (“General settings” menu). SimACo has these default settings:
WiFi mode – access point;
Name: SimACo;
WiFi password: MyHappyAquarium;
IP address: 192.168.4.5;
Channel ID: 8;
Encryption: WPA2 PSK;
Angry Fish application login password: MyHappyAquarium1.

Here do not confuse SimACo WiFi password, when controller is configured as access point with login password . They are different things. For example, you are connected to your router from mobile phone and you are using Facebook application. You need one password to connect to the router (WiFi password) and another to connect to the Facebook application (login password). They will be not necessarily the same.

To configure WiFi connection through USB:

Switch SimACo controller to the WiFi Configuration mode.
Connect USB cable between PC and SimACo. In the Angry Fish application’s right top corner you must see blue USB icon.
After successful connection through USB open “Connection and update” menu in the Angry Fish application. Next select “SimACo as station” or “SimACo as access point” tab in order which type of device you want SimACo to be.
If you have selected “SimACo as station” tab, press “Find nearby access points” button. SimACo will search for the routers. After several seconds routers will be found, they will be displayed in the list. Selected your router from the list, enter your router’s password in to the “Enter access point password’ field and press button “Configure WiFi”. Your router will assign the IP address to SimACo automatically and SimACo will connect to the router. You can see what is going on in the log window below. Also you will find SimACo IP address written there.
If you have selected “SimACo as access point” tab, SimACo will be configured as a router itself. Fill SimACo’s desired name and password fields. You can leave channel and encryption fields intact. Next press button “Configure WiFi”. You can see what is going on in the log window below. For this mode SimACo IP address will be always the same: 192.168.4.5.

To configure WiFi connection when SimACo is already connected through WiFi:

If default parameters are changed, you can always restore them. To do this use 5 buttons keypad: go to the “General settings menu”, then through “WiFi configuration: Reset to default” menu restore default settings. To do this in the “WiFi configuration: Reset to default” menu press button “Enter” in the five buttons keypad. Word “Reset” will start to blink. Press “Enter” button again and controller will configure itself as access point. SimACo will restart and after this configuration will begin. Configuration will be accomplished when you will see text “General settings” in the LCD display.
Connect to the SimACo through WiFi using Angry Fish application. How to do this read section “Connect SimACo through WiFi” below.
After successful connection through WiFi open “Connection and update” menu in the Angry Fish application. Next select “SimACo as station” or “SimACo as access point” radio button in order which type of device you want SimACo to be.
If you have selected “SimACo as station” radiobutton, fill your router’s name and password fields and press button “Configure WiFi”. SimACo will restart and after this configuration will begin. During configuration your router will assign the IP address to SimACo automatically and SimACo will connect to the router. Process can take up to 90sec. Configuration will be accomplished when you will see text “General settings” in the LCD display.
If you have selected “SimACo as access point” radio button, SimACo will be configured as a router itself. Fill SimACo’s desired name and password fields. You can leave channel and encryption fields intact. Next press button “Configure WiFi”. SimACo will restart and after this configuration will begin. For this mode SimACo IP address will be always the same: 192.168.4.5. Configuration will be accomplished when you will see text “General settings” in the LCD display.

Connect to SimACo through WiFi

If you are using SimACo as access point mode first you must connect your PC/ mobile device to the SimACo network. Search in your PC/mobile phone for the access point named “SimACo” and connect to it. By default SimACo is configured as access point with default parameters: name – SimACo, password – MyHappyAquarium, IP address – 192.168.4.5.

Warning: if you are connecting to the SimACo controller (as access point), from Android device, turn off mobile data. Mobile phone with Android version 9 or newer may not connect to the SimACo if mobile data is on.

Next in order to connect to SimACo through WiFi you must to know SimACo login password and IP address. Default login password is MyHappyAquarium1. If SimACo is configured as access point, IP address always is 192.168.4.5. If SimACo is configured as station, you can find IP address in two different ways:

when configuring SimACo through USB, Angry Fish application will show this address in the “Connection and update” menu log window as text “IP address xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx was set as default.”
when SimACo restarts and boots in to the Standard mode, it automatically will read it’s configuration mode (station/ access point) and IP address. Those two values you can see anytime in the LCD screen. Also they are valid when SimACo is configured as station or access point. Simply enter “General settings” menu using 5 buttons keypad and you will find those values.

In your Angry Fish application’s “Connection and update” window enter SimACo IP address, login password and press button “Connect through WiFi”. If connection was successful you must see blue WiFi icon in the application’s top right corner. Your PC/mobile device automatically will read data from SimACo and will display in the Angry Fish application.

Access SimACo from any place in the world

If you want to access your SimACo from a distant location, first you must configure controller as station: controller must be connected to your home router. Next step: find out your public IP address. Your router has two IP address fields: one public (external) and one private (internal) for all your home devices connected to the router. If you want to access your controller from the outside you must connect to the controller with your router’s external (public) IP address. Public address is given by your internet provider. Ensure that this address is static. Some internet providers sometimes change user’s IP address. IP address change occurs when router is restarted. So if your provider uses dynamic IP addresses, after every router restart you must to check your IP address in order to know which address to use to connect to SimACo. Angry Fish application will find and show this address for you in the “Connection & update” page if your device is connected to the router.

Next you must do port forwarding in your router. With port forwarding all data which will be sent to your router through an external device’s Angry Fish application, will be redirected to SimACo controller. Port forwarding operation is similar for many routers. You must write your SimACo IP address, protocol and port in to the router’s settings. Local and external ports number always is 55555, protocol – TCP. Most routers have “Name” field – write any text you want here. In the pictures below you can see Asus and TP-Link routers port forwarding examples:

Controlling SimACo with 5 buttons keypad and LCD module

SimACo has keypad with five buttons, every button has several functions. Using buttons you can view LCD menu, check or edit various parameters. There are two levels menu in SimACo: 1st level (higher) and 2nd level (lower):

How to navigate through LCD menu: button UP scrolls menu up, button DOWN scrolls down. Press button ENTER to go from the higher to the lower level menu. Press button ESC to go from the lower to the higher level menu. How to edit parameter: Go to the LCD’s second level menu where desired parameter is displayed. Press button ENTER. The first editable parameter starts to blink. This means that SimACo is in parameters edit mode. If there are several editable parameters, select between them with button SELECT. If in edit mode pressing SELECT mode second time only one parameter is blinking this means that current menu has only one editable parameter. When the required parameter is selected, edit it with buttons UP/DOWN. You can press and hold these buttons for 1 second to change parameter faster. When you are done, press button ENTER to save parameters or button ESC to discard parameters changes. Several parameters are not editable, for example command Reset. Command can be executed by pressing button ENTER when it is flashing; buttons UP/DOWN will not work for them. After when buttons ENTER or ESC were pressed SimACo exits parameters editing mode. New parameter value will be saved to volatile memory only if button ENTER was pressed.
First line of the is dedicated to show various important events and navigation symbols. This line is shown always despite of the selected menu. LCD screen events are explained in the picture below:

Controlling SimaCo from Angry Fish application

Angry Fish application has several pages. From Equipment overview page you can navigate to Channels status, Logged data and Alarms pages. These three pages shows all SimACo channels and their main parameters. In Alarms page all alarms and their states (active or inactive) are displayed. Information in the Channels status and Alarms pages are updated automatically in three-four seconds interval. All other windows are not updated automatically, you must update them manually using “refresh data” button.

In Angry Fish application icons and buttons are used:

Name	Picture	Actions
Button “refresh data”.		Press this button to read all data from controller.
Button “save settings to controller”.		Press this button to save settings to the controller.
Alarm state icon.		This bell icon shows active alarms state. Three colors are possible: green – alarm has not been read yet; red – one or more alarms are active; green – there are no active alarms.
Icon “SimACo connected through USB”.		PC is connected to SimACo through USB in WiFi configuration or Firmware update modes. This icon is shown only in Angry Fish Windows versions v.3.0.0.0 and v.3.1.0.0.
Icon “SimACo connected through WiFi”.		Windows or Android device is connected to SimaCo through WiFi in Standard mode.

Editable parameters in Angry Fish Application application have blue color.

Every SimACo channel (physical output or input) has its own icon and description. Icons and descriptions for channels LED1-4, 120-230V Device #1 – #8 and Dosing pump1-4 can be changed by the user to match the real device, connected to this channel. In order to change icon or description, press on the icon picture or description in the dedicated channel’s control page. Channel’s icon or description can not be changed from the Channels status window.
Changing channel’s icons and descriptions in your own way makes a work with SimACo more comfortable because you will know exactly which channel’s parameter you are viewing or changing. In channel’s description only ASCII symbols allowed; space symbol is not allowed. Maximum 12 symbols is allowed.
There is one special icon available for all channels – grey square named “not used”. By selecting it, you will disable channel. Disabling channel you will disable channel electrically; alarms for this channel also will be suspended. Also disabling channel you will disable function which uses current channel completely or partially. Every output channel has background color which indicates channel state:

Background grey, no icon – channel disabled.

Background blue – channel enabled, device is turned off.

Background green – channel enabled, device is turned on.

Background grey – channel enabled, device state is not read yet. Note: all seven sensors (temperature, PH, top-off, mains voltage sensors) are input devices, so their icon’s background will be always grey.

Saving and viewing controller’s status. SimACo has non-volatile memory (EEPROM). This memory is used to save SimACo settings permanently. These settings will remain in the memory even if the power supply cable is disconnected and 3V battery removed.
Lithium battery stores controller time, so after battery replacement you must set the correct time.
In the Angry Fish application all similar parameters are joined in the groups. Each group has one button (“Save settings to controller” button). This button sends all parameters of that group to the controller and controller saves them to non-volatile memory. After editing parameter press this button to save settings. New value will be saved to controller and controller immediately will start to work with a new settings. If settings are changed using keypad then settings will be saved to non-volatile memory when user exits parameter editing mode with button ENTER.

When Angry Fish application connects to the SimACo, application will read all settings from controller automatically. If you want to read all data from SimACo manually, press “refresh data” button it the top of the application.

SimACo channels control

Understanding channel’s timers. LED1-4 and 120-230V Devices1-8 channels each have Auto mode. When this mode is activated channel is controlled automatically. Settings for the Auto mode is controlled in the Timers page. Timers allow to turn channel on and off at a time desired. Also they have an additional features for LED1-4 channels control. Timers have several parameters which can be set by the user: timer number, channel type, start time, starting brightness, end time and end brightness parameters. For LED1-4 channels all parameters are used. For Devices1-8 channels starting brightness and ending brightness parameters are not used. Not used values are faded. Editing values which are not used for the particular channel will not have any effect. There are 50 events in total dedicated to all four LED channels and eight 120-230V Devices channels. Any timer can be assigned to any LED1-4 or 120-230V Devices1-8 channel. Every timer can control only one channel but the same channel can be controlled with several timers. Timers start time and end time values for the same channel may overlap each other. If they are overlapping, timer with a lower number will be executed first. When it expires, the timer with the bigger order number will be activated. Take a look at the example:

Here events #2 and #3 for LED3 channel are overlapping. So at 9:00 o’clock event #3 will be activated and LED’s initial brightness will be set to 0%. Brightness will continuously increase and at 10:00 will reach 30%. At this time event #2 will be activated for LED3 channel, because it’s order number is lower. So at 10:00 LED3 channel brightness will be set to 0%. Next at 11:00 event N#2 will event will end, at this time LED brightness will be 100%. Now because event N#2 has ended but event N#3 has not ended yet, controller will keep event N#3 active from 11:00 to 12:00. LED brightness will change from 60% to 90%. At 12:00 there is no events set for LED3 channel, so this channel will be turned off. This event’s working principle in bigger part is valid for Devices channels too, except brightness settings: equipment connected to the Devices channels will be simply turned on and off.

SimACo firmware checks for timers changes one time per second. There is one thing the user must to know: if LED channel is set to change LED brightness, for example, from 0 to 100% during one minute interval, brightness will be not evenly changed. This is because brightness must be changed by 100 steps of brightness through the 60 seconds (steps) of time. To achieve an even full – scale brightness change i recommend to use 5 minutes or bigger time interval.

LED lighting control. All LEDs must be connected to power supply through additional devices, called drivers. SimACo has two LED driver boards: MOSFET driver board and Mean Well LDD drivers board. Each board has four channels.
There are six channels dedicated to LED lighting:

Four channels LED1-LED4 are outputs; they must be connected to the LED driver boards. They all have the same functions but work independently of each other. Channels have three modes: OFF, ON and AUTO. In OFF or ON modes channels will be permanently turned off or on. In AUTO mode LED’s brightness will be adjusted automatically according to the timers settings. Using timers LED channels can evenly change LED brightness through desired time interval (dimming).
Temperature sensor, connected to Led T° sensor channel is used to measure LED radiator temperature and control cooling fan.
Fan, connected to Device #6 channel is used to cool LED radiator. You can use 12V fan but in this case it must be connected through additional power supply. Fan will be activated only if Device #6 channel is set to LED FAN mode.

LED lighting control function is flexible: you can keep cooling fan for LED cooling not connected, in this case LED temperature will be still monitored. Also you can keep both temperature sensor and cooling fan disconnected. But fan can not be controlled without temperature sensor.

In Angry Fish application user must set “Maintain temperature, °C” (MT) and “High temperature alarm limit, °C” (HT) parameters. SimACo constantly gets data from the LED temperature sensor (current temperature, CT) and compares it with the “Maintain temperature, °C” parameter. If current temperature will become bigger by 2.0°C than maintained temperature (CT=MT+2.0°C), fan will be activated. LED radiator temperature will start to fall. When current temperature will become lower than maintained temperature by more than two degrees (CT<MT-2.0°C) fan will be turned off.
Example: you have set “Maintain temperature, °C” parameter to 60°C. If radiator temperature will tend to rise, fan will be started at 62.0°C and disconnected at 57.9°C, when temperature will drop. So radiator temperature will swing between 57.9°C and 62.0°C.

LED lighting control function has two alarms: “LED temperature high limit exceeded” and “LED temperature sensor fault”.
“LED temperature high limit exceeded” alarm will be activated if current temperature is equal or bigger than “High temperature alarm limit, °C” parameter (CT>=HT). Alarm will not be set if temperature sensor is disabled or “LED temperature sensor fault” alarm is active. “LED temperature high limit exceeded” alarm is cleared automatically.
“LED temperature sensor fault” alarm will be activated if the current measured temperature is less than 5.0°C or bigger than 100.0°C (CT<5.0°C or CT>100.0°C). This alarm will happen if sensor malfunctions or is disconnected from the main board. If temperature sensor is disabled, alarm will not be set. This alarm must be cleared manually.
Fan will always be disabled if temperature sensor is disabled or Device #6 channel is disabled or “LED temperature sensor fault” alarm exists.

AC 120-230V voltage devices control. There are 8 channels designed to control AC voltage devices. All eight channels have OFF, ON and AUTO modes. They all are universal, but 6 of them are dedicated for the particular equipment. In OFF or ON modes channels will be permanently turned off or on. In AUTO mode channels will be turned off and on automatically according to the timers settings. There are additional modes listed for Device channels:

Device #1 – filter control (OFF15 function);
Device #2 – water cooling fans control (WATER FAN mode);
Device #3 – CO2 solenoid (CO2 SOLENOID mode);
Device #4 – water heater (HEATER CONTROL mode);
Device #5 – aquarium top-off pump (TO PUMP mode);
Device #6 – LED radiator cooling fan (LED FAN mode);
Device #7 – no special mode;
Device #8 – no special mode.

Device #1 channel is designed to control aquarium filter. It has special function: OFF15. Activating this function aquarium filter will be disconnected for 15 mins. After this it will set to the previous state. This function is useful when you need to feed your fish and aquarium filter flow scatters food flakes all around. OFF15 function can be activated from keypad by long one button press, using Fast control function.
Device #2 channel is designed to control 120-230V aquarium fan block when is set in WATER FAN mode. Read more about this mode in the Aquarium water temperature measurement and support function description.
Device #3 channel has CO2 SOLENOID mode. This mode is designed to control CO2 solenoid valve according to the water PH measurements. Read more about this mode in the PH/CO2 measurement and support function description.
Device #4 channel is designed to control aquarium heater. For this purpose HEATER CONTROL mode can be used. Read more about this mode in the Aquarium water temperature measurement and support function description.
Device #5 channel is designed to control top-off pump. For this purpose TO PUMP mode can be used. Read more about this mode in the Aquarium top-off function description.
Device #6 channel is designed to control LED radiator cooling fan. For this purpose LED FAN mode mode can be used. Read more about this mode in the LED lighting control function description.

Aquarium water temperature measurement and support. Three channels are used for this function:

Temperature sensor, connected to Water T° sensor channel is used to measure aquarium water temperature and to control cooling fans, heater.
Heater, connected to Device #4 channel is used to rise aquarium water temperature. Heater will be activated only if Device #4 channel is set to HEATER CONTROL mode.
Cooling fans block, connected to Device #2 channel – is used to lower aquarium water temperature. You can use 12V fans but in this case they must be connected through additional power supply. Fan block will be activated only if Device #2 channel is set to WATER FAN mode.

This function is flexible: you can keep fans or heater disconnected. In this case SimACo will only be able to rise or lower water temperature according to the maintained temperature set in controller settings. If both fan and heater are disconnected then controller will be able only to measure water temperature. But fans and heater can not be controlled without temperature sensor.

In Angry Fish application user must set “Maintain temperature, °C” (MT), “Low temperature alarm limit, °C” (LT) and “High temperature alarm limit, °C” (HT) parameters. SimACo constantly gets data from the water temperature sensor (current temperature, CT) and compares it with the “Maintain temperature, °C” parameter. If current temperature will become bigger by 0.5°C than maintained temperature (CT=MT+0.5°C), fans will be activated. Water temperature will start to fall. When current temperature will become lower than maintained temperature by more than 0.2 degrees (CT<MT-0.2°C) fans will be turned off.
In other scenario, if current temperature will become lower by 0.5°C than maintained temperature (CT=MT-0.5°C), heater will be activated. Water temperature will start to rise. When current temperature will become lower than maintained temperature by less than 0.2 degrees (CT>MT-0.2°C) heater will be turned off.
Example: you have set “Maintain temperature, °C” parameter to 26°C. If water temperature will tend to rise, fans will be started at 26.5°C and disconnected at 26.1°C, when temperature will drop. So water temperature will swing between 26.1°C and 26.5°C. If water temperature will tend to fall, heater will be activated at 25.5°C and disconnected at 25.9°C, when temperature will rise. So water temperature will swing between 25.5°C and 25.9°C.
Aquarium water temperature measurement and support function has three alarms: “Water temperature low limit exceeded”, “Water temperature high limit exceeded” and “Water temperature sensor fault”.
“Water temperature low limit exceeded” alarm will be activated if current temperature is equal or lower than “Low temperature alarm limit, °C” parameter (CT<=LT). Alarm will not be set if temperature sensor is disabled or “Water temperature sensor fault” alarm is active. “Water temperature low limit exceeded” alarm is cleared automatically.
“Water temperature high limit exceeded” alarm will be activated if current temperature is equal or bigger than “Low temperature alarm limit, °C” parameter (CT>=HT). Alarm will not be set if temperature sensor is disabled or “Water temperature sensor fault” alarm is active. “Water temperature high limit exceeded” alarm is cleared automatically.
“Water temperature sensor fault” alarm will be activated if the current measured temperature is less than 5.0°C or bigger than 100.0°C (CT<5.0°C or CT>100.0°C). This alarm will happen if sensor malfunctions or is disconnected from the main board. If temperature sensor is disabled, alarm will not be set. This alarm must be cleared manually.
Fan block will always be disabled if temperature sensor is disabled or Device #2 channel is disabled or “Water temperature sensor fault” alarm exists.
Heater will always be disabled if temperature sensor is disabled or Device #4 channel is disabled or “Water temperature sensor fault” alarm exists.

Rotating fan block fan can be noisy, especially if you are going to sleep and the air in the aquarium room are hot. In this case fan can be turned off at particular time interval. In the angry Fish application you can set time interval at which fan block will be disabled even if aquarium temperature is high.

Ambient temperature measurement.
Temperature sensor connected to Ambient T° sensor channel simply measures your room temperature.
Ambient temperature measurement function has one alarm: “Ambient temperature sensor fault”.
“Ambient temperature sensor fault” alarm will be activated if the current measured temperature is less than 5.0°C or bigger than 100.0°C (CT<5.0°C or CT>100.0°C). This alarm will happen if sensor malfunctions or is disconnected from the main board. If temperature sensor is disabled, alarm will not be set. This alarm must be cleared manually.

PH/CO2 measurement and support. Two channels are used for this function:

PH sensor connected to the PH channel measures aquarium water PH level and controls CO2 valve.
CO2 valve connected to the 120-230V Device #3 channel supplies CO2 to aquarium diffuser or other equipment which dissolves CO2 in to the water. Valve will be activated only if Device #3 channel is set to CO2 SOLENOID mode.

This function is flexible: you can use PH sensor without CO2 valve. In this case controller will be able only to measure water PH value. Without PH sensor controller can not keep water PH level stable.
How SimACo controls CO2 level in your aquarium water? In the aquarium CO2 level and water PH are directly related through kH (carbonate hardness) parameter. kH value must be stable in the aquarium in order to get exact CO2 value from the measured PH value. If you know your aquarium kH and PH values, you can get CO2 value from these two parameters. You can use CO2/PH table to get required water PH value for the CO2 level you want to support.
In Angry Fish application user must set “Maintain water PH” (MPH), “Low PH alarm limit” (LPH), “High PH alarm limit” (HPH) parameters and period when “Water PH low limit exceeded” and “Water PH high limit exceeded” will be activated.
SimACo constantly gets data from the PH sensor (current PH value, CPH) and compares it with the “Maintain water PH” parameter. If current PH will become higher by 0.05 than maintained PH value (CPH=MPH+0.05), CO2 solenoid will be activated. CO2 gass will dissolve in to the aquarium water. Water becomes more acidic and PH value will start to fall. When current PH level will become lower than maintained PH value by 0.05 (CPH<MPH-0.05) CO2 valve will be turned off.
For example you set “Maintain water PH” value to 7.00PH, controller will turn on solenoid valve when PH rises up to 7.05 and will turn off valve when PH will fall to 6.95. So water PH will swing between 6.95 and 7.05.
CO2 level and PH has reverse relativity: PH gets lower (water is more acidic) when CO2 level will rise and vice versa: PH will rise (water will be more alkaline) when CO2 concentration will decrease. SimACo supports two CO2 level scenarios. First scenario is to support required CO2 level 24 hours/day. This scenario helps to support aquarium water PH stable all time. Other scenario: CO2 level is only supported at daytime; CO2 valve will be shut down at night. This helps to save CO2 gas but water PH in this case will fluctuate during 24 hours period.
PH/CO2 measurement and support function has three alarms: “Water PH low limit exceeded”, “Water PH high limit exceeded” and “PH sensor fault/calibration error”.
“Water PH low limit exceeded” alarm will be activated if current PH value is lower than “Low PH alarm limit” parameter (CPH<LPH). Alarm will not be set if PH sensor is disabled, PH alarms activation period is not active or “PH sensor fault/calibration error” alarm is active. “Water PH low limit exceeded” alarm is cleared automatically.
“Water PH low high exceeded” alarm will be activated if current PH value is higher than “High PH alarm limit” parameter (CPH>HPH). Alarm will not be set if PH sensor is disabled, PH alarms activation period is not active or “PH sensor fault/calibration error” alarm is active. “Water PH high limit exceeded” alarm is cleared automatically.
“PH sensor fault/calibration error” alarm will be activated if PH calibration values difference between high PH buffer and low PH buffer is less than 2.00 or measured PH value (CPH) will exceed 14.00. In other words, calibration buffer values must differ one from the other by 2.00 or more. Also this alarm can happen if PH sensor malfunctions or is disconnected from the main board. If PH sensor is disabled, alarm will not be set. This alarm must be cleared manually.
CO2 valve will always be disabled if PH sensor is disabled or Device #3 channel is disabled or “PH sensor fault/calibration error” alarm exists.

Sensor calibration. PH sensor must be calibrated before using. To calibrate sensor PH buffers are used. You will need two calibration buffers: one buffer with low PH value and the second with high PH value. These values can be: 4.00 (4.01), 6.86, 7.00, 9.18 and 10.00 (10.01). It is required that high buffer’s PH value must be greater than the low buffer’s PH value by the 2 PH units or more. For example you can use 4.00 PH buffer as the low PH buffer and 9.18 buffer as the high PH buffer. But buffers with PH values 6.86 and 7.00 can not be used because the difference between the two buffers PH values will be lower than 2. There is a rule: the bigger difference between two buffers PH values the bigger accuracy you will get when measuring water PH level with sensor. So using of 4.00 PH and 10.00 PH buffers will be the best option. During calibration you will need to know calibration buffer’s exact PH value. Any PH buffer slightly changes it’s PH value according to the buffer temperature. Usually manufacturers declare buffer’s PH value at a 25^oC temperature. But they also provide a table with buffer’s PH values at different temperatures. Calibrating PH sensor you must use PH values at a current temperature of the PH buffer. If buffer was in the room for a while you can use a room temperature as buffer’s temperature. For example: PH buffer has 9.18PH value at 25^oC buffer temperature. But there is a 30^oC temperature in your room, also buffer has the same temperature. Buffer at a 30^oC has 9.14 PH value, so you must use value 9.14 during calibration.
First prepare low PH and high PH buffer solutions if you got them as a powder. To prepare a solutions use deionized or distilled water, do not use a water from the tap! Next prepare a glass and fill it with a water. PH sensor can be calibrated from Angry Fish application or from LCD menu using keypad. Here are instructions how to calibrate sensor from the keypad: Remove the protective cap with the storage solution from PH sensor. Rinse PH sensor in the glass with distilled water and put it in the low PH buffer. Go to the “PH and CO2 settings” menu, next go to the PH sensor state menu. Check the PH value and wait while PH readings from the sensor will stabilize. This can take minute or two. Then go to the Low PH buffer calibration menu. Press ENTER button. PH value starts to blink. With buttons UP and DOWN select low PH calibration buffer’s value. Next press SELECT button. Command “Calibrate” will start to blink. Press button ENTER to execute calibration command. In the same manner you must do calibration with a high PH buffer. Again rinse PH sensor in the glass with distilled water and put it in the high PH buffer. Wait while PH readings from the sensor will stabilize. Then go to the High PH buffer calibration menu menu, select your exact high PH calibration buffer’s value and execute calibration command.
SimACo has “Reset PH sensor calibration to default” command. Using default calibration you can get approximate PH values when measuring aquarium water with a PH sensor. But for exact measurement you must calibrate sensor manually.

Liquid fertilizers dosing. Four channels are used for this function:

Dosing pump1 – DosingPump4.

12V dosing pumps must be connected to SimACo main board. You can use 1-4 pumps depending on how many different fertilizers you are using. There are 2 modes for dosing pumps: automatic and manual. SimACo can dose four types of liquid fertilizers one time per day in automatic mode. Or you can select manual mode if you want to doze fertilizers right now. By pressing “Stop pumps” button user will stop pumps in both modes. Before starting to use dosing pumps for the first time you must calibrate your dosing pumps flow rates. In the other words you must know how many mililiters of fertilizer are pumped through 60 seconds interval and set this parameter in “Pump flow rate ml/min” for each pump you are using. The test can be done using manual dosing. Take a spare container where pump will pump fertilizers and a syringe with mililiters marked on its side. Go to the Angry Fish application’s “Dosing pumps” menu and set initial “Pump flow rate, ml/min” value for channel DosingPump1 to 20ml/min. Save this value. Next in “Manual dosing” menu set “Fertilizer dosing amount, ml” to 20ml and set “Channel” to DosingPump1. Next press button “Start manual dosing”. Dosing will start. DosingPump1 will be activated for exactly one minute. When dosing pump will stop, measure with syringe actual dosed amount of fertilizer. For example 15mililiters of fertilizer were dosed. Here we got that the actual flow rate is 15ml/min. Set this value for DosingPump1. In the same order calibrate flow rates for channels DosingPump2 – DosingPump4. SimACo knowing real flow rate and fertilizers dosing amount will calculate how long to run pumps in order to dose required amount of fertilizers. Also every time when you refill containers with fertilizers you must update “Fertilizer amount left in container” parameter. Controller is created in such way that it will try to dose fertilizers even if “Fertilizer amount left in container” value is 0. After every dosing SimACo recalculates fertilizers amount left in containers. Pumps will pump fertilizers one after another – not all at the same time. This prevents fertilizers mixing with each other. If either pump is not enabled on the current day, it will be omitted.
If automatic dosing operation is active, you will not be able to start manual manual dosing. You must to wait while automatic dosing will end. After this you can start manual dosing. Also if manual dosing is active at the time when automatic dosing must start then automatic dosing will be canceled for this day.
Liquid fertilizers dosing function has four alarms: “Channel PUMPX fertilizer fertilizer amount in container low” for each dosing pump.
These alarms alarm will be activated if calculated fertilizer amount in container left is equal or lower than the “Activate alarm when fertilizer amount left” variable value. Alarm will not be set if DosingPumpX is disabled. Alarm is cleared automatically.
DosingPumpX will not run if DosingPumpX channel is disabled.

Aquarium top-off (TO). Three channels are used for this function:

TO reservoir water level sensor connected to the Reservoir sensor measures aquarium water level in the reservoir.
TO aquarium water level sensor connected to the Aquarium sensor measures aquarium water level in the aquarium.
TO pump connected to the 120-230V Device #5 fills aquarium with a water taken from the reservoir. Pump will be activated only if Device #5 channel is set to TO PUMP mode.

Picture below shows where all main TO components must be mounted:

Top-off (TO) function is used to refill aquarium with a fresh water automatically if current aquarium water evaporated and water level has dropped. Two float sensors (switches) and one pump is used for this function. Reservoir water level sensor measures water level in the reservoir. Aquarium water level sensor measures water level in your aquarium. When the aquarium water level is low controller activates pump which refills aquarium. Aquarium sensor must have contact closed, when water level is low. Reservoir sensor must work in reverse order: it must have contact open, when water level is low. Pump must have 120V-230V working voltage.
Mounting: put pump in the reservoir as close to the bottom as possible. Pump will pump water from the reservoir to the aquarium. Also you need a hose. Connect one end to the pump and the other hose end attach to the aquarium wall. Do not immerse hose in to the aquarium water to prevent siphoning effect. In the same reservoir mount reservoir sensor. Reservoir sensor must be attached to the reservoir’s wall above pump’s top point. This sensor will track reservoir water level and will prevent your pump from running dry. Many pumps can run only fully immersed in water else pump can be overheated. You must put an aquarium sensor in to aquarium. Sensor must be attached to the aquarium wall about 8mm below the desired aquarium water level. TO system can refill aquarium automatically everyday at a time, set by user. Also user can start manual refill at any time. TO pump can be stopped at any time by pressing “Stop top-off pump” button in Angry Fish application or stopping pump from Manual top-off LCD menu.

When pump starts to refill aquarium automatically, controller counts time and constantly compares pump run time with time value set in “Maximum aquarium fill time” field. This field can be set from 0,5 min to 25 min. It is needed to protect your aquarium from overfilling in case if aquarium sensor started to malfunction. If aquarium sensor is in low position but “Maximum aquarium fill time” limit is reached then controller will stop the pump and “Top-off: max aquarium fill time expired” alarm will be generated. But if everything goes OK pump will stop when aquarium sensor will rise. You can view the both sensors states in the LCD menu or Angry Fish application if top-off system is enabled.

Aquarium top-off function has two alarms: “Top-off: reservoir water level low” and “Top-off max. aquarium fill time expired”.
“Top-off: reservoir water level low” alarm will be activated when SimACo will see that reservoir sensor is in the low position. Alarm will not be set if Reservoir sensor or Aquarium sensor channels are disabled. “Top-off: reservoir water level low” alarm is cleared automatically.
“Top-off max. aquarium fill time expired” alarm will be activated when aquarium fill time in Automatic mode will be equal or bigger than the time set in “Maximum aquarium fill time” parameter. Alarm will not be set if Reservoir sensor or Aquarium sensor channels are disabled. “Top-off max. aquarium fill time expired” alarm must be cleared manually.
SimACo will refill aquarium in Manual mode only if: aquarium sensor is in the LOW position (aquarium needs to be refilled) and “Top-off: reservoir water level low” alarm is not active.
SimACo will refill aquarium in automatic mode if aquarium sensor is in the LOW position (aquarium needs to be refilled), “Top-off: reservoir water level low” and “Top-off max. aquarium fill time expired” alarms are not active.
Also in both modes TO pump will not be activated if Reservoir sensor or Aquarium sensor or 120-230V Device #5 channels are disabled.

UPS battery energy saving. One channel is used for this function:

Mains voltage sensor connected to the mains. Connect cable from the mains to the voltage sensor input terminals.

This function can be used power to the aquarium devices is supplied from Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS). Such devices do not have big energy reserve when mains power is off. For this reason energy saving function allows to disconnect automatically non-critical aquarium equipment when power from the mains is lost. You can disable any output: channels LED1-LED4, 120-230V Device #1- Device #8 and DosingPump1- DosingPump4.
In order to use UPS battery energy saving function:

Check checkboxes “Disable channels when SimACo is powered from UPS” in Angry Fish application. All checked outputs during blackout will be stopped immediately. They will be stopped also when automatic operation is active: automatic dosing or automatic top-off.
SimACo must be powered from UPS. SimACo main board has internal mains voltage sensor. User must connect sensor inputs to the mains socket. SimACo continuously monitors mains voltage. When mains power is gone, SimACo and all aquarium equipment will be powered from the UPS. SimACo will detect blackout through mains voltage sensor.

UPS battery energy saving function has one alarm: “Mains voltage not present”.
This alarm will be activated when power from the mains is lost (SimACo and aquarium equipment is powered from UPS). Alarm will not be set if Mains voltage sensor channel is disabled. “Mains voltage not present” alarm is cleared automatically when power from the mains is restored.
UPS battery energy saving function will not work if Mains voltage sensor channel is disabled.

Graphs

SimACo logs values from sensors and aquarium devices states. Values from sensors and equipment states are combined into three groups: water temperature, ambient temperature and water PH value.

In water temperature group temperature from water temperature sensor (channel Water T⁰ sensor), cooling fan state (channel Device2) and heater state (channel Device4) are logged;
in ambient temperature group temperature from ambient temperature sensor (channel Ambient T⁰ sensor) is logged;
in PH group PH value from PH sensor (channel PH sensor), CO2 solenoid state (channel Device3) and lighting device (channels LED1-LED4 or Device1-Device8) state are logged. To monitor lighting device, user must select one actual channel to which lighting device is connected. Channel can be selected from the list: LED1-LED4, Device1-Device8 in Angry Fish General settings page.

Channels described above are logged always despite of mode they are set (Off, On…), enabled or disabled.

Each group has its own window in Angry Fish application where graph is plotted for every sensor/device assigned for that group. Such grouping allows user not only to see how water/ ambient parameters changes through time period but and how aquarium devices affects these parameters. For example in water temperature window you can see three graphs: water temperature, cooling fan state and heater state. Thus you can check how water temperature changes during time, how cooling fan and heater affects water temperature.

Graphs for the fan, heater, CO2 solenoid and lighting device are plotted only when they are in “On” state. This means that these graphs will have gaps where these devices were turned off.
If user selected to monitor LED1-LED4 channel for the lighting device graph: user can set LED output value from 0% to 100%, not only “On” or “Off”. In this case SimACo will log lighting device state as “On” when LED brightness will be from 1% to 100% (every value except 0%).

From the graphs you can make several conclusions, for example how effective are cooling fans, how good your CO2 diffuser is. You can check how water PH level swings through night/day periods, how ambient temperature affects aquarium water temperature, how aquarium lighting affects PH level etc.

Aquarium sensors and devices are logged automatically:
1. SimACo uses internal 10 min timer; logs are done at 10 min interval;
2. Logging is done when any of Device2, Device3, Device4 or user selected lighting channel changes its state from “Off” to “On” and vice versa. In this case 10 min timer is reset and next logging will be done after 10 minutes if Devices will not change their state earlier.

2560 logs can be written to SimACo memory. So maximum about 17.7 days time interval can be logged. Also this interval size depends on how frequently Device2, Device3, Device4 or user selected lighting channel will switch their Off/On states during the day. When logs memory is full, oldest logs will be rewritten continuously with the new logs. User can erase all logs using “Clear all logs” button. Erasing will take about 12 seconds. Reading logs from SimACo to PC/mobile phone will take about 2 minutes.
If commands “Clear all logs” or “Download logs data” are active and time has come to write log (10 min timer has expired/ device output state has changed) then log will be written immediately after these two commands will end.
Graph control in Windows app: rotate mouse wheel to zoom in or zoom out the graph. Click on the graph to see exact time/data values in the selected point.

Alarms

You can view current active alarms in Angry Fish application’s Alarms page. This window is refreshed automatically. Application has bell icon in the top right corner: if one or more alarms are active then red bell icon is shown. If there is no active alarms then bell is green. Grey bell icon means than alarms status is not read yet. Also you can view each alarm status in the LCD screen, Alarms settings menu. In the top right corner of LCD the blinking “!” sign will be shown in the screen if one or more alarms are active. You can activate buzzer which will sound when active alarm exists. Also you can set time interval at which alarm will sound. Buzzer will beep three times at the every start of ten minutes in the selected time interval. Some alarms will reset automatically. Others must be reset manually through Angry Fish application or 5 buttons keypad. If alarm in Angry Fish application’s Alarms window has a “Reset” button near it, this means that alarm will not be automatically reset even if alarm conditions will be removed. In this case alarm can only be reset manually. If channel is disabled, alarms for this channel are also automatically disabled. Each alarm activation condition is described above in the functions descriptions. SimACo has 16 alarms total, below is the table with a list of all alarms:

N#	Alarm
1	LED temperature high limit exceeded
2	LED temperature sensor fault
3	Water temperature low limit exceeded
4	Water temperature high limit exceeded
5	Water temperature sensor fault
6	Ambient temperature sensor fault
7	Water PH low limit exceeded
8	Water PH high limit exceeded
9	PH sensor fault/calibration error
10	Channel Pump1 fertilizer amount in container low
11	Channel Pump2 fertilizer amount in container low
12	Channel Pump3 fertilizer amount in container low
13	Channel Pump4 fertilizer amount in container low
14	Top-off: reservoir water level low
15	Top-off: max aquarium fill time expired
16	Mains voltage not present

Using “Fast control” function

Using Fast control” function with a one long button press in the five buttons keypad you can rapidly execute frequently used actions: go to the desired LCD menu or activate some functions. Four buttons – UP, DOWN, ENTER and SELECT can be programmed for the particular action. Every of those four buttons can have one individual action assigned. You can program buttons actions in the Angry Fish “General Settings” tab. Here is a list of “Fast control” possible 23 actions:

“None”,
“Display date and time”,
“Display alarms”,
“Display LED temperature”,
“Display water temperature”,
“Display ambient temperature”,
“Display water PH value”,
“Display aquarium water level sensor state”,
“Display rerservoir water level sensor state”,
“Display mains voltage state”,
“Activate Off15 mode”,
“Display fertilizer #1 amount left”,
“Display fertilizer #2 amount left”,
“Display fertilizer #3 amount left”,
“Display fertilizer #4 amount left”,
“Display fertilizer #1 manual dosing menu”,
“Display fertilizer #2 manual dosing menu”,
“Display fertilizer #3 manual dosing menu”,
“Display fertilizer #4 manual dosing menu”,
“Start to dose manually fertilizer #1”,
“Start to dose manually fertilizer #2”,
“Start to dose manually fertilizer #3”,
“Start to dose manually fertilizer #4”,
“Activate manual top-off”.

To activate programmed button’s action simply press button for 1 second. There are default programmed actions when you first time run controller: Button UP: display alarms menu; Button DOWN: set channel Device1 to OFF15 mode; Button ENTER: view current aquarium water temperature; Button SELECT: view current aquarium water PH.

How to update SimACo firmware

SimACo firmware and Windows/Android application have four version numbers. If the new firmware has one or more digits different compared with the old firmware then non-volatile memory will be erased and set to default values, so all your settings will be lost. So write down current controller settings on a sheet of paper before updating firmware: you will need to restore them manually after firmware change. For example, old SimACo firmware is v.3.0.0.0. You are updating firmware to v.3.0.1.0. In this case settings will be set to default.
Starting from firmware version v.3.1.1.0 SimACo will restore old settings after firmware update. This means if current firmware number is v.3.1.1.0 or higher and the new firmware number is v.3.1.1.0 or higher than old settings will be restored. But anyway it is recommended to check all SimACo settings after firmware update procedure.

Firmware can only be updated through USB cable using only Windows Angry Fish application v.3.0.0.0 or v.3.1.0.0. With those two versions you can update controller to any 3rd generation version (v.3.X.X.X). In order to update firmware you need:

Switch SimACo to Firmware Update mode.
Connect USB cable from PC to SimACo.
In the “Connection & update” tab” Firmware update” box press button “Choose hex file” and choose *.hex file with SimACo firmware.
Press button “Program firmware” and firmware will be programmed to SimACo.

Programming will take about 2 minutes. If Angry Fish application during programming throws firmware update error, try to reconnect USB cable and restart Angry Fish application. Then program firmware again. After programming you can press and hold ESCAPE button for 10sec to return to the Standard mode (freshly updated firmware).
If you have updated from version v.3.1.1.0 or higher SimACo will show message in the LCD display when first time booted to Standard mode (after update): “Firmware updated. Do not disconnect the power. Press button ENTER”. After button ENTER press SimACo will restore old settings. Do not disconnect the power after button press until you will see text in the display “Memory read/write operation completed.” Else you can corrupt the data in the constant EEPROM memory during settings restore operation.