The RJ-11 Port On Your Grow Light is Probably USELESS - A Mars Hydro Grow Light Controller Review
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- Опубликовано: 25 авг 2024
- A review of the (now discontinued) Mars Hydro LED grow light controller and my thoughts on the LED grow lights that uses a RJ-11 (telephone line) or a RJ-45 (ethernet line) cable to control their lights, which is that they're either COMPLETELY UNUSABLE, or cost way too much to do what a smart plug can do for a fraction of the price.
the whole point of the RJ-11 connecter is for large grow rooms you hook them up in series and the one dimmer controls them all they do work as intended just not the way you want.
good investigation! and telling it like it is about grow brands when they drop the ball
Even Mars Hydro themselves can't agree on a standard for their products. Doesn't matter what model of light you have, but what kind of driver (power supply) is used. The Meanwell ones are controlled via resistance (there's a poti in the control box, which you turn with the knob), while the ones with their own branding use the more common 0-10V/PWM standard.
So if that Controller you got there is using 0-10V/PWM, while your lights have a Meanwell driver, it won't work.
The AC Infinity page for their "UIS Lighting Adapter" with Type A (0-10V/PWM) and Type B (Resistance) was pretty helpful in figuring that out.
your correct about most of that although any light that has a dimmer box with a potentiometer like all of mars hydros dimmable lights do are resistance dimming via the potentiometer(dial) on the box. some drivers like moso x6 series which all my ts1000s and my tsl2000 has have 3in1 dimming and can be dimmed with pwm or resistance. my fc-e3000 with meanwell driver also has 3in1.. so its really down to how the manufacture has there dim leads wired up to there dimmer box and what the pin assignment is on the rj port .. the leads from rj port on the light dimmer box have to match up to the port on the controller, + - - + to + - - + for example would work wearas + - - + to - + + - would not work.. some lights show the pin assigment right on the dimmer box and same goes for some controllers like my parfact works controller shows the ports are + + + -, which did not match my tsl20000 light that is + - + - so i got some rj11 screw terminal adapters from amazon and mad my own adapter and it worked as it should once i was able to match the positive and negative leads correctly. had to do the same thing basically to get an ac infinity type A adapter to work with my tsl2000, the adapter type A worked as is with my fc-e3000 though, it didint work for both the tsl2000 and the fc-e3000 bc the +/- leads dont match up but they can somewhat easily be made to match by altering a phone cable or using screw terminal adapters
Yeah see there is two sub specs, of these controllers. One spec is 0-10v and the other is PWM control. You can do some 0-10v control with PWM but you have to be able to adjust the PWM frequency to match it's input filter. This is just the signalling there is also pinout there are more pinout differences than the two led control signalling mechanism. There is also the DMX standard but grow lights don't use that protocol. So at the end of the day unless you know the pinout, and the proper protocol grow light controllers are hit or miss. Also some of the RJ-11 dimmer ports are not meant to take a signal from a controller but just a signal from the same brand and daisy chain the one dimmer knob. Until all grow light manufacturers standardize the signalling, and the pinouts there will be little compatability between devices. Another thing to keep in mind most the dimming circuits are actually in the driver themselves. Meanwell drivers are the common standard for the 0-10 and PWM they can support either or. However you can look this dimming control if you have the driver's model number. However you are still at the mercy of how did they pinout the signals from the driver to the RJ-xx port.
Maxisun lights come with remote controls you can use to change the lighting pattern and intensity. They have Samsung chips and Meanwell drivers too. A light for a 2x4 space costs under $200.
On almost all of these lights the ports are for daisy chaining only... Not all lights are compatible with a controller, but if you have one that is compatible with a controller and then Daisy chained it to the ones that aren't, they will be controlled by the first light in succession Which should be the one connected to the controller and sometimes you need a RJ14 cord for the extra data needed to interface with the controller and light
Good to know. I have the Vivosun Grow Hub and aerolight. Totally love it. Nothing beats being able to monitor and control ur lights from anywhere… (with other brands using Bluetooth, u might as well just get up and do it urself) but I have tried it with my other Vivosun leds and it works great! Keep an eye on VIVOSUN. They’re leading the way in this category for sure.
Thankyou just got grow light to keep my Dahlia and geranium seedlings going (winter here soon) and was concerned about the ethernet ports. Now I know I can simply ignore them.
With SpiderFarmer (and I guess all), the method of adjusting depends on the LED driver.
It's a shame that they don't document it properly, finding the datasheet to make control it with Arduino was a pain.
Honesty, hard to come by these days. Thanks!
I have the master controller for the Optic Slim series.. if you have a power outage, the master controller disregards the timer and just powers back on at 10% light. Not worth it unless its autos 🤷♂️ no battery back up to keep the timer mode on. But that GSI does look pretty awesome. As for Mars Hydro, I gave up on them. 3 lights in 3 years. I prefer an overkill light so I dont have to run it at 100% power.. it helps keep temps down in the summer time.. and of course MeanWell and Samsung as the components, the light should ast damnnear forever according to the manufacturers.. but Mars Hydro has failed me. As for the FC series and whichever they now make with MeanWell and Samsung, I'm sure they are better than the Sosen and Moso drivers.
But i love your videos bro.. always good info.. wish YT would let people show plants.. your bonsai vid in the PC case was pretty cool. And I learned how to make feminized pollen from your videos. Thanks for sharing grow bro! 👍👍👍
Both of my lights are 👌🏾 fc 3000 and fc e4800 2yrs strong 🤞🏾I also have a ts 1000 and it’s holding up as well.
Trow Masters compatible with all brands so they say it's the rj7 cord it needs to be rj11 I had the same issue once I turn to the proper cord it worked with all the lights that didn't work with it
its nice that ac infinity released there rj11 to UIS(usb c) adapters, i got the adapter A which works perfect with my Mars Hydro Fc-E 3000 connected to the controller 69, i had to alter a phone chord to get the adapter to work with my tsl2000. if you have the want you could pretty easily get any of those controllers working by figuring out what the pin out of port on the controller is and then matching that up to the light you want to use. there are rj 11 screw terminal adapters on amazon you can get that wld help alot with matching up the wiring
Mine just won’t work. I’ve tried a and b. Use the light cable not ac?
@friendlyghostkinda did using the light cable and not the one AC Infinity provided work? I just recieved my Controller 69 Pro and RJ11 adapter for my FC-3000 and sure enough my light doesn't work and the Controller doesn't power on. Did you ever fix your issue? If so, may I ask how?
It’s not for a controller it’s to dim them all to the same brightness on the marshydro light that it
No it's not. Then it wouldn't need a light timer, and display humidity and temp.
@@swankshire6939 hes saying the dimmer boxes on the lights arent for controllers.. they initially are inteded for daisy chain dimming like he said but it shouldnt matter if signal comes from another dimmer box or a controller he just needs the proper positive and dimming leads to match up in order for them to work
You are using the wrong cord with the MarsHydro controller. Black crossover cord is needed. Works with all MarsHydro lights including the new SmartGrow system. The ethernet port is for factory programming and is not used.
This is why I only trust AC Infinity. They see all these issues with other companies and they take their time to make sure it’s up to everyone’s standards for every product they make. Hell I just got the new Humidity Dome from them and it’s so much better quality than anyone else out their plus they made divots in the lid for the lights to sit in with lens bubbles on the inside to help drip humidity back into the tray and to expand the light beams so they’re more evenly spread out. Plus it even has a free expansion in it which adds two more vent totaling at 4 vents total! AC Infinity is officially the number 1 company in my book for growing and they are extremely fair priced too for high quality products.
@@Triangle0ffence3x I never heard of anyone having that issue unless you connected to a strip to weak for it or had a power surge that’s the only way, plus if it originally did when it first came out they would have updated it since. Also it’s free replacement for any defects which other companies also aren’t willing to do. There’s also the possibility there was just a defective piece in yours, but your also the very first person out of thousands I’ve heard of to come across that issue and I have never had a single issue with any controller I got from them even after multiple severe storms. All my outlets in my house are grounded along with all the power strips I use and I never go over the limit (I’m not saying you don’t since I don’t know your setup is or how your township or area works) but there are many issues that could have lead to that other than the device itself or a piece inside being defective. Hell even a handful of pro growers even two raised and still living in Humboldt and one even won the Cannabis Cup three years ago and none of them ever had a single issue with any of AC Infinity’s products. I’m sorry that you had that bad luck though and I wish you the best with all your grows, Namaste.
@@Triangle0ffence3x actually they aren’t rushing on their new products there are no ETA lol and maybe years ago that happened but now their products get approved for heat standards and safety standards by government groups lol and like I said it’s you vs thousands that haven’t had an issue I’ve had my fan for over a year, weed in a pot stated he’s had his for almost 5 years and never had a single issue so your stating something that is probably an old fact at this point standards have changed a ton throughout the years for all companies even damn cookie ones lol. Like I said I know a bunch of other professionals that use their products and no one absolutely no one has had any issue and hate to tell you all companies have some flawed products out of an entire batch but only like a hand full out of a couple hundred which is why they will replace products for free if their any defects lol even now garunteeing safe products that have been approved by government standards for fire and safety lol and any company at all that has defective products have to state it publicly it’s literally the law so what they most likely did was take all those back and found a new company to actually build their products for them they also now have scientific teams involved in the designing for safety. Like I said I’m sorry that happened to you, but when it’s approved and going through government tests for fire and safety now that the products still do that. Even their new clip on fans are specifically designed to withstand heat and humidity along with a pulse motor that can’t overheat lol, even their heat mats go through government testing, so once again I’m sorry that happened to but since then apparently there have been dramatic changes.
@@Triangle0ffence3x lol why would I who even uses facebook anymore and btw on a daily basis there’s over 100+ profiles on every social media that gets hacked and it’s a proven fact even by actually hackers that get paid to mislead and give misinformation lol
@@Triangle0ffence3x actually I do lol you’re the only one who thinks it’s still possible and remember the difference you’re going more of third party stories where I’m telling you actual proven facts and also as a person that owns these product on top of that I did over 2 years of research before buying. Choose any brand you want I’m not telling you that you have to buy from them, but if you don’t like the products as well why are you watching videos from a guy that’s a proud supporter and sponsors the company from him using them over 5 years without a single issue and he even mentioned they aren’t paying him for anything on top of that he also wrote the Beginners Guide for AC Infinity lol. If you don’t like the products that’s your choice, but don’t be disrespectful trying to make the proud supporters of the company into people that hate the company it’s just not going to happen when facts back the company up not third party stories. If your upset with their products then stick with your groups of people that don’t like them and you shouldn’t support a RUclipsr that is proud to support their company. Have a nice week, I’m going back to my perfect grow that I have going.
Thanks for this excellent review. Really appreciate the time and effort you put into researching this topic.
Sure makes me think it's kind of a shady deal.
Sometimes the phone plug pinout changes
glad to see someone else has figured this out... the pinouts need to match and i dont think mars hydro had a standard for them. my tsl2000 is + - + - and it connected to a parfact works controller thats rj port is + + + - so i just bought rj11 screw terminal adapters from amazon and made my own adapter to get the leads to match up and viola it works great
Aren't these ports for daisy chaining to other lights. Appreciate your videos. But instructions for my SE3000 specifically says it's for daisy chasing..
Light 1 will control the dimming of all lights.
theyre for external control weather its another dimmer box or a controller it should function the same if theryre connected properly/ compatible
ive been trying to help your viewers get there compatibilty issues solved but i think i just confused a good chunk of them lol
I cant get my Vivosun Aerolight to work with the grow hub at all it didnt even come with a RJ45 ethernet cable so i tried the ethernet cables i had here & i get nothing 😢
I bought a light controller from 420seven and I thought I was trippin when it didn’t work. This controller controls 4 lights via 4 independent RJ11 ports. Long story short, I finally got only 1 mars hydro (FC e4800) to work as intended. Tried connecting another light from another tent (FC 3000)…no go. Tried daisy chaining the 2 lights and…no go. That 1 stumped me because both lights claim to have that capability. I scrapped that idea and decided to just run the 1 light on the controller and the other manually. So far I’ve yet to run into any problems. I also purchased a ppfd and temp/humidity monitor that plugs into the units bottom socket. All work great for the one light only. Shame only works with just that 1 light tho.
buy a cheap multi meter and strip one of the rj cables to expose the wires.. there should be 4 of them.. use the multimeter to test the wires and figure out which wire is carry the 0-10v dim signal.. have the channel brighnest turned all the way up om controller and the dim + wire should be around 10v.. and then one of the remaining 3 wires will be the neg.. anyways if u can figure out which wires are which then u can make your self adapters to make any light work.. its what i did with parfact works light controller i currently have hooked to a ts1000 that is daisy chained to another ts1000 and both dim great with controller.. the rj output on the parfact works controller was + + + -. Hellion has a controller that is exact same as parfact works.. im wishing i had just got the Volt one bc it has ec relays and can be controller over phone app
@@davidmassengill5290 Didn’t think of this 👍🏾 I tried several different cables and none worked so I just started the grow using the one port that does work as intended. Phone app is coming soon, which is another + and if I can get the other ports up and running, win - win.
@@davidmassengill5290 I am looking for a controller that works with my marshydro ts-1000. I just want to set special brightness at certain times. Can you tell me how best to do this?
I have the tsw 2000 model and tried to link it up with controller 69 Bluetooth model from AC infinity which claims its compatible using Type A adapter. It won't even turn the light on smh.
Works great for daisy chain tho
Wound up on this video with same problem. Firmware update finally did the trick.
trolmaster is the GOAT at the moment.. im thinkning the Vivosun grow Hub controller may stack up once they get the kinks worked out. Trolmaster is expensive but given all the other shit it can control like outlets and just the fact that it can read Co2 and PPFD unlike any other light controller i wld say it def worth the extra
cash.. The bluetooth "smart" dimmer boxes mars hydro has on there site now are what im going to be after whenever they finally release them
Keep posting. You are amazing
I am looking for a controller that works with my marshydro ts-1000. I just want to set special brightness at certain times. If there is not such a controller I would also already buy new power supplies that work with an appropriate controller. What do I take there best?
Yea didn't work on spider farmer or enjo-yield LED,def a waste of port space and wiring...bruhh where's that part 2 of 4 of the build your own soil🤷🙏got my brick of plantonix fluffed and buffed,got the4cu ft #3 perlite,now just need H.I.A.P to fill me in on step 2... organic potting soil?if I remember. Loving all ur content tho👍👏👌
Make sure to check for firmware updates for the controller and/or the light. Also, these ports are sometimes added to generic so called "chinese" built stuff as something that might be utilized in the future but it can sit there doing nothing. Don't expect a feature if you see an interface port in this wacko world.
Wow why would they do that
how did u get this controller.. I ordered it on 2 different occasions and never got it.. I assumed they didnt even exist and I had the ol bait and switch pulled on me as mars hydro didnt want to be only mfg that didnt offfer a light controller.. same deal with spider farmers that is basically the same thing as mars hydro light controller.. i ordered spider farmers as well.. they sent me a heat pad controller and then told me the light controller was sold out when I emailed them and asked why the send me a heat pad controller and not the light contoller
Does trolmaster controller work with mars hydro?
with an adapter it does.. u have to get the F adapter i think it is and then the 3.5 mm stereo pin to screw terminal adapter thing and wire the 2 dim wires from mars hydro drivers right to the adapter
or u can strip and hard wire there rj cable and wire the dim leads to that but u will need some electrical experiance to pull that off
Wish you would have done this review a few months ago, I bought one the day they came out and it never worked with my mars hydro fc3000. And to cap it off, I used a pre paid debit card and lost the physical card and mars will only do a refund to that card, won't even do a trade for the ts600. I will never buy anything from Mars hydro again because of this.
I'd be pissed if I purchased a controller and it didn't do shit.
thanks for sharing, in don't waste your money.
I thought that Cable was just to daisychain them
yup, That is all.
Good thing I looked it up. I thought this was a nice controller but sucks to see it’s pretty much worthless. Mars and vivosun products are just making misses left and right.
Use the black cables, it’ll work.
Has anyone come up with a hack to get the ac infinity 69 controller to work with 3rd party lights?
they did, the adapters lol, im sure you know that by now. the type a adapter worked great with my fc-e3000, it didnt not work with my tsl2000 but i was able to get it to work by altering a phone cable to make the + - leads match up correctly
hey maybe some one can make a program on the pc and that people can use a connectoin to the pc to do that and maybe make it remote with a phone dont know programing if i did i would probably try to make it my self
wow, that's disappointing
at least in most EU countries is 14 days return policy, so you can buy it, try it, and return if it's bad
Mars lights are good quality. Maybe you got a defective controller. Just contact their customer service.
Did you just drop an F-bomb lmfao
the pin assignment is diff on some lights and might not be directly compatible with a certain controller.. which it why trolmaster sells the adapters and so do some other controller mfgs.. mars hydro rj jacks are + - + - and some are + + + - u should be able to use a multimeter to figure out what is what.. some light dimmers are 1-10v and some are 0-10v.. the 1-10v will not dim to off.. that vivosun controller should 100% work with any 0-10v dimmable LED u prlly just need an adapter.. look up rj11 to screw terminal adapter and u can make your own i can walk u through it if u need. I am michigan home grower and can help u get any of those controllers working for whatever lights if you want just reply and ill send u my email and walk u through it..
I use the parfactworks intellegant light controller with my mars hydro LEDs.. had to make my own adapter for them to work but it works.. there are 2 outlets on the controller garden A and garden B and then there are 3 channels per Garden/ Rj11 output so i can have 3 diff dim lines coming from each output.. there is no temp or rh sensor on the parfactworks controller but i wasnt really worried about any temp controlled dim setting i just wanted to be able to schedule sunrise and sunset dimming to get a more natural light cycle going and it works great for that purpose
I just ordered a spider Farmer G3000 it claims to be a dimmable and controllable with any universal 0-10 v controller. I was looking for an upgrade from my aerolight 100w from vivosun I have their WiFi controller. I was wondering if it would work together?