JBL LED Solar Smart Controller with App Control

JBL LED Solar Smart Controller with App Control is the app controller for JBL LED Solar aquarium lights, replacing the infrared receiver on the luminaire.

Key Features

• Runs the lights from your phone: An app takes over from the handset, which means timed programmes and automatic effects rather than switching and dimming by hand every day.
• It replaces the infrared receiver: The unit takes the place of the receiver on the luminaire, so it is an alternative to the IR remote rather than an addition to it. Worth knowing before you buy both.
• Five programmes plus a manual one: JBL supply South America and Africa biotope settings, aquascaping plants, goldfish and community aquarium, and each one has a plant acclimatisation option.
• Weather and daylight simulation: Dry and wet seasons, cloudiness, lightning storms, sunrise and sunset. This is where the Effect light earns its place, because the colour channels are what the weather programmes drive.
• Drives two lights at once: One Natur and one Effect from a single controller, and JBL state the app itself is free.

How Long To Run It

• Light duration drives algae more than light intensity does. Six to eight hours a day suits a new tank; an established planted tank running CO2 and fertiliser will take eight to ten.
• Put it on a timer from the first day. A light switched by hand runs a different length every day, and plants and algae both respond to consistency.
• More light on its own is not more plant growth. Light, CO2 and nutrients work as a set, and raising one without the other two simply hands the surplus to the algae.
• If algae appear, shorten the photoperiod before you change anything else. It is the quickest and cheapest variable you have.
• One unbroken period is simpler than splitting it. A midday break is sometimes used to hold algae back, but for most tanks a single clean on and off works.
• Fish need a real dark night. Do not leave a blue or coloured effect light running into the small hours.

How The LED Solar System Fits Together

• LED Solar Natur is the main light. It is the white luminaire that lights the tank and grows the plants, and it is the one part of the range you cannot do without.
• LED Solar Effect is a second, slimmer light that adds RGB colour and weather effects. It runs alongside a Natur rather than instead of one, because on its own it will not light a tank properly or grow plants.
• Control is either the IR remote handset or the Smart Controller, not both. The Smart Controller takes the place of the luminaire's infrared receiver, so fitting one puts the handset out of use.
• The Y-cable runs two luminaires from one supply, and the hanging kit suspends either light from the ceiling instead of resting it on the tank.
• Despite the name, nothing in the range is solar powered. LED Solar is simply what JBL call their aquarium luminaire line, and these are mains powered lights for an indoor tank.

Wiring It Safely Near Water

• Leave a drip loop, so the cable hangs below the socket and water cannot track along it into the plug.
• Keep the driver and every connector dry, ventilated and up off the cabinet floor where spills collect.
• Switch off at the wall before connecting or disconnecting anything.
• Do not use a unit with a damaged cable, a cracked connector or bent pins.
• An RCD on the aquarium's supply is a sensible precaution on any tank with electrical equipment above it.

Good To Know

• The plant acclimatisation setting is the feature worth having. Plants raised in a nursery under lower light melt when they go straight under full output, and a programme that ramps up over weeks avoids that.
• A controller does not make a light brighter. It changes when and how the light runs, so get the luminaire length and output right first and add control after.
• Set a genuine dark period in the app. Sunset and moonlight programmes are easy to leave running far later than any fish would choose.
• Fitting it means replacing the infrared receiver on the luminaire, so check your LED Solar generation with us before ordering.
• Indoor aquarium use. It is not weatherproof and is not a pond or garden light.