Ac infinity controller not working with hps- Fixed

Not sure if this has been previously covered or not, but here's my 2 cents.
The light from an hps disrupts the 69 Pro sensor and basically renders the controller useless.

A strip of material from a fabric pot and a few zip ties seems to correct the issue.

I've been testing it directly under the light along side a couple Inkbird temp/humidity controllers for a few hours now.
All the numbers seem legit and the controller is working as intended.

Nice fix! I suppose even powerful leds could skew readings. I'll test later.

Is that a light sensor your working with?

I have noticed heat from the light heat up the ACI sensor if too close. Before I used a piece of paper rolled in a cone to cover from light that may hit the sensor. Recently have been keeping the sensor in canopy.. Digging your idea. Looks clean!

What does it measure and what do you mean by renders it useless?

Star Dog said:

Is that a light sensor your working with?

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It's the temperature/humidity probe that the controller uses

coreywebster said:

What does it measure and what do you mean by renders it useless?

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It's been an issue since they came out.
Something about the hps light causes the sensor to stop reading so it won't automatically control the exhaust/fans or anything else based on temp/rh/vpd.

k0rps said:

I have noticed heat from the light heat up the ACI sensor if too close. Before I used a piece of paper rolled in a cone to cover from light that may hit the sensor. Recently have been keeping the sensor in canopy.. Digging your idea. Looks clean!

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Yeah I definitely wouldn't keep the sensor there.
I just wanted to make sure it was in direct light and still wouldn't cut off like normal.

.Smoke said:

Yeah I definitely wouldn't keep the sensor there.
I just wanted to make sure it was in direct light and still wouldn't cut off like normal.

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If it works that close then sounds like a great fix. Gotta try it. Think I have an un-used fabric pot.. I haven't had the problem you're shared using HPS, just raised sensor temps affecting the controller with LED. ACI seems like it can be finicky but the controller works great when on point.

k0rps said:

If it works that close then sounds like a great fix. Gotta try it. Think I have an un-used fabric pot.. I haven't had the problem you're shared using HPS, just raised sensor temps affecting the controller with LED. ACI seems like it can be finicky but the controller works great when on point.

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Yeah, the issue with it not working with hps is what actually pushed me into buying my first led a few years back.
Glad to know I can still use all my old lights if I want to now.

Any temperature reading device shouldn't be in direct light .

But it's odd that it literally reads nothing at all

Radio frequency emissions from the bulb or ballast may be at fault but how .smoke's solution could work in that case is curious.

I thought maybe the shear amount if radiant heat might be the culprit. I imagine they are very sensitive.

An old Mercury thermometer will be thrown off by many degrees in the same situation and that's super low tech .. mind you I'd would still do something.. just of no accuracy.

I keep my sensor shielded with piece of paper tube.
Without it I'm not measuring the ambient temps I'm measuring radiated heat.

Do you have the controller plugged into the same power source as the HPS the controller could be getting hit with some RF . what ever is powering your controller make sure its plugged in something that the ballast isn't not .

coreywebster said:

Any temperature reading device shouldn't be in direct light .

But it's odd that it literally reads nothing at all

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It couldn't be another well designed chiminilly willy thing - could it? lol
It's too bad to be basically forced into the cheapest bidder and not any competitive options - isn't Corey?
People have asked me why I have more than one Sonar/GPS on my boat (besides the ability to help with SAR efforts) and the best answer is because "in case of a system failure"...

If it's got a computer it's gunna be trouble!