eLightMaster, a JAVA light timer solution. eLightMaster
operates your main Lights following sunrise/sunset times
for your location as well as simulates the Moon, including
moon rise/set and phase. Use in conjunction with
the X10 FireCracker
Copyright © 2001-2004, Bill Esposito, All Rights Reserved.

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eLightMaster is a program that calculates the rise and set of the sun and moon for your Location, or any location you select, along with the moon's phase (intensity). eLightMaster then sends the appropriate commands to the X10 FireCracker to turn your main lamps on and off, and adjust your moon lamp to simulate the real moon. New to eLightMaster is the WaveMaker Feature. Read down further for features of the WaveMaker.


What this means is that your tank inhabitants will experience both a more natural daylight period and night time. Some nights eLightMaster will simulate a full moon allowing your moon lamp to run at full intensity. Then as phase of the moon changes with the days, eLightMaster will decrease the intensity of your moon lamp accordingly. It also means that on some days the moon will not be visible at night, and on those nights your tank will be dark. eLightMaster will also allow you set an offset from the sunrise/sunset times to facilitate your viewing hours. I have just added a Reverse Photoperiod feature. When selected, Light 6 will operate in the reverse photoperiod of Light 1 (as adjusted by Light 1's offset). This will allow those who utilize reverse photoperiod sumps and refugiums to maintain the proper on/off cycle as the sunrise/set times change.

X10 Firecracker: The device which will actually control your lamps is the FireCracker. This little device requires that you connect it to a free serial port on your computer. Then, you plug your moon lamp into the included X10 Lamp Module, and your main lamps into Appliance modules. When eLightMaster sends the commands, the FireCracker will transmit those commands via your house wiring to the Lamp and Appliance Modules. The FireCracker costs $49 but if you click on any of the FireCracker links on this page, you will receive a $15 Gift Voucher good towards it's purchase (must be used within 7 days of receiving the voucher). The actual link for the FIreCracker is http://www.x10.com/firecracker/fc_offer_br1ab.htm, but dont go there until after you've gotten your voucher or you will be charged full price.

The Program, eLightMaster
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eLightMaster makes it simple to simulate a reef anywhere in the world. The simplest option lets you select a pre-configured location from a pull down menu (Soloman Islands, Jakarta, Pohnpei, etc). eLightMaster will then configure the locale and time zone for that location for you. Or, all you have to do is enter your desired Latitude, Longitude, and time zone to simulate a different location. Next you enter the device numbers of your X10 Lamp and Appliance Modules, and select the comm port. You can optionally also enter the offset time, in minutes which will allow you to still simulate the duration, but move the period to a time better suited for your viewing. That's it! eLightMaster will take care of the rest.

To set it up, you click on the EDIT button which enables all the fields. Select your comm port from those available via the drop-down menu, enter your X10 device numbers again from the drop-down menus.

Next, enable the lights you have connected by clicking on the respective Moon or Light buttons. They will highlight in green when enabled.

You can enter an offset, in minutes, from the sunrise/set times to facilitate your viewing hours. For Instance, this time of year in New Hampshire, the sun is rising about 7am and setting about 6:30pm. I work all day and would like my lights to be on in the evening. So I enter an offset in minutes, 240. That means that the lights will come on about 11am and off at 10:30pm. You can also enter a negative offset.

Another option is the Fixed Timer. If you decide you dont want to follow the sunrise/set times and would prefer to just use eLightMaster as a fixed timer, just enter the on and off times in the entry fields for each light, and click the checkbox to enable it.

Reverse Photoperiod: There is a second Checkbox by Light 6 which enables this feature. When selected, Light 6 will operate in the reverse photoperiod of Light 1 (as adjusted by Light 1's offset). This will allow those who utilize reverse photoperiod sumps and refugiums to maintain the proper on/off cycle as the sunrise/set times change.

Another feature is that if the STATUS display is unlocked, you can click on the Light butotns and toggle the lights on and off.

New to eLightMaster is the WaveMaker Feature. Here are some of the features of the WaveMaker.