Need Help with my Solar 1000

[billinpenna]

I'm hoping someone on the board can help me. I recently purchased a used Solar 1000. I cannot find any markings on the case that would indicated the model number. When I power it up, the software version is v4.0. The ports on the back do not match any of the examples illustrated in the manuel I saw online, but that was for v6.2.

The back panel has three ports for what appears to be standard grounded plugs. They are labeled (from left to right) MAIN2 MAIN1 DIMMER along with a corded grounded plug. The gentleman I purchased the unit from was not very helpful on how it is hooked up, but along with the Solar 1000 was included another, small black box. The paper label is almost totally illegible but it appears to be labeled as a something AK250. Wires from one side of this box look like they were spliced to an ICECAP wiring harness and the other side has what appears to be a grounded plug. The gentleman stated at one time there might have been two of these boxes, but he was unable to locate the other box, if there ever was one.

Blueline (the manufacturor) has been totally unhelpful, and will give me no information on the model. Nice support, eh. If anyone could supply a copy of the user manual and some advice as to how to wire it to two Icecap 660's I would be very grateful. You can contact me at billinpenna@yahoo.com

[charlie]

I don't know anything about this controller, but have you tried this:
Manufacturer Categories - Solar Lighting : Aquariumpros.com

You may be able to give them a call or an e-mail and maybe they can help????

[billinpenna]

Thanks Charlie. I'll give them a try, but the model I have is apparently 10 years old, and not sold anymore. What I'm hoping is that someone with the same model still has a user manual they can photocopy or scan for me, or talk me through wiring it correctly.

[charlie]

Hey, it is a starting point, but with the unit itself being 10 years old, it may be tough to find what you need. Something in the wiring has to be similar, wouldn't you think?

[reefhead728]

You would think so, but also think how much lighting and reefkeeping in general has changed. Iv been trying to find the schmatics on it and cant find anything. ill keep trying

[reefhead728]

can u post a pic of the front and rear of the dimmer

[billinpenna]

Sure I'll take a photo tonight and get it posted. To be honest though the front looks exactly the same as the current model. The rear is entirely different than the current model with no wiring harnesses attached directly. All the wiring goes through that mysterious second black box. The coonection between the main unit and that black box is a power cord. That leads me to suspect that the main unit is little more than a timer and the second, black box has all the dimmer functions. The Icecaps are also plugged into the main unit as well, so there is probably more going on there than meets the eye however. This is why I really need to see the manual, I don't want to burn down my house.

[reefhead728]

Yea it sounds like the guy who sold it to you never used it or lost a wireing harnes but post a pic and we might be able to do somthing

[billinpenna]

Okay, Ran home and took a few pictures. Front, back and the mysterious black box. The black box has a 3 prong grounded plug at one end that plugs in to the back of the main unit (in the outlet marked dimmer I assume). The other end of the black box has two sets of 4 wires each, one set is wired to a Icecap harness, the other is not wired at all. Now I would assume that the 2nd set of wired would be wired to a 2nd Icecap harness, but the color of the wires are not the same so I'm a little leery of wiring it without a manual.

[billinpenna]

I don't beleive that the guy I bought from ever used it.

[reefhead728]

im stumped, sorry with out seeing a scamtic im pretty well guessing and i dont want to give you a burnt down house, If you realy want to use this setup you need to get a voltage meter from the hardware store and trace each indivisaul line, by the way is the black box hard wired to the dimmer.

[billinpenna]

Just a 3-prong 120 ac plug from the dimmer box to the black box.

[reefhead728]

spliced in ?

[Ninong]

Point of information: As far as I know, BlueLine is not a manufacturer. BlueLine is simply the house brand name used by the importer/distributor Champion Lighting for products they import from Asia. Perhaps someone at Champion Lighting can answer your question. I used to have the website of their Chinese manufacturer stored but I lost it when I changed computers last year. Their US rep did speak English.

See if you can contact the guy who owns Champion Lighting & Supply (I can't remember his name right now). He may be able to help you. Chances are nobody else will know what you're talking about.

[reefhead728]

Good call Ninong.

[Ninong]

You might also trying contacting the owner of IceCap (Andy) to see if he can either help you are tell you who can. He hasn't posted on Reefland since 2005, so I'm not sure if you can contact him through us or not but you could try. His board name is ASH. Or you could contact him through his website IceCap Inc.

P.S. -- From a post by Andy: "From IceCap: Champion Lighting makes the Solar dimmers for our VHO ballasts."

From me: They don't actually make them, they import them.

[reefhead728]

I know on the black box 1 wire is a + and the other is your - now the two that are left are going to control the dimming up and the other the dimming down, BUT if that black box is some kind of spliced in Jerry rigeing, then there really is a problem. Can you get me one more pic of how the black box is wire to the dimmer box kind of lay everything out.

[billinpenna]

Ninong and reefhead728,

Thanks very much for the information. I'll attempt to follow through with Champion again. And Ill also try Icecap as well.

After reading Ninong post, things are a bit clearer now, since I had originally written Blueline and gotten a response for an Adam Weisman at Champion Lighting. His response was not very helpful.


The version of Solar dimmer you have is at least ten years old, back
when they were made by Niche Engineering. Sorry, but there is no
support for that product anymore.

[billinpenna]

Also, Reefhead728, I'll get some more detailled photos at lunch and post them this afternoon. The wiring is very strange and a picture would be worth a thousand words.

[billinpenna]

Reefhead728, I don't think the black box is jury rigging, I believe that it is just an older methodology to accomplish the same thing as the current model. The tipoff is the faded, mostly illegible label on the top. Plus the back of the Solar 1000 has a socket clearly marked "Dimmer". I've been staring at this thing for a better part of a week now. Anyway I'll get those detailed photos posted.