JMoonLight is a program that calculates the
rise and set of the moon for your Location, along with the moon's phase (intensity).
JMoonLight then sends the appropriate commands to the X10 FireCracker to
adjust your moon lamp to simulate the real moon.
What this means is that your tank inhabitants will experience a more natural night
time. Some nights JMoonLight will simulate a full moon allowing your moon
lamp to run at full intensity. Then as phase of the moon changes with the days,
JMoonLight 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.
X10 Firecracker:
The device which will actually control your moon lamp 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. When JMoonLight
sends the commands, the FireCracker will transmit those commands via your house
wiring to the Lamp Module. 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, JMoonLight
This version of JMoonLight was designed to run under a minimal JAVA environment,
and because of that, there is no fancy bubble help or the like. Just this one simple
display.
All you have to do is enter your Latitude and Longitude, the device number of your
X10 Lamp Module,
and select the comport. That's it, JMoonLight will take care of the rest.
Don't forget to order a Firecracker
through this link and receive $15 off your purchase.