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Heater controllers (1 Viewer)

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soymilk

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What does everyone use for a heater controller? I've been reading up a bit on the heater on I have my tank now, and it seems it has a chance of failing ON. I rather not come home to a saltwater stew. Its a 30gallon AIO, so I don't think I want to apex it. Anyone using a cost effective controller with any luck?
 

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Is it ever necessary to have cooling on these tanks since the houses are air conditioned? Is it worth buying a controller that can do both heating and cooling? I really like the idea of a redundant temperature sensor. I have used Omega PID controllers and K-type thermocouples for temperature controlling applications in miscellaneous projects in the past. Probably over kill here, but it's definitely a lot of fun to build. I have solid state relays that are normally off in there just in case something happens it will fail off. This will prevent overheating my product and potential kabooms.
 

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jrounding

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what was the cost to build something like that?
Controller: 1/16 DIN Temperature Controllers with Autotune, Alarms and RS485
Solid State Relay: Single-Phase SSR Vdc & Vac Input-Vac Output. DIN Rail Mount

These are the two most expensive components. You just need a box, cord, plug, and sensor. I’d go with an RTD if I were to be doing it again. It’s certainly not a cheap way to go, but it was a fun project.

there’s other PID controllers that are much cheaper than this one, but my dad is a retired automation engineer and said Omega was the best so that’s why we went with it.

Inkbird also makes a similar PID controller that comes with a relay and sensor for 40 bucks on Amazon.
 
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jrounding

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So I ended up getting the InkBird controller with dual sensors and a 300W titanium heater from BRS. It was $130 and it’s compact and easy to mount. It connects to WiFi as well and can send push updates to your phone if something is going wrong.
 

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Here’s the one I just recently started running. So far so good. Two Finnex heaters on it with an outlet adapter for the heat plug. Pretty accurate and decent reviews. The guys that turned me on to it hate the Inkbirds. I don’t remember what they were on about though… 😂
 
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soymilk

soymilk

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so i switched over to an apex. i left the heater on the inkbird just to measure the swings


the temp would swing 2-3 degrees per cycle. seems excessive or am i just being picky.

the apex now has a .5 to 1 degree swing
 

jrounding

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so i switched over to an apex. i left the heater on the inkbird just to measure the swings


the temp would swing 2-3 degrees per cycle. seems excessive or am i just being picky.

the apex now has a .5 to 1 degree swing
I agree that’s a big swing for a temperature controller. I guess the Inkbird isn’t PID? I need to look into it honestly.
 

Erin

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I agree that’s a big swing for a temperature controller. I guess the Inkbird isn’t PID? I need to look into it honestly.
You can set the hyrstasis on the inkbird to 1 or 3 degrees... At least, I can on mine.
 
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soymilk

soymilk

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i has mines set to 1 degree but i still noticed pretty big swings using, double checking with an apex

i guess there is a chance the apex isnt measuring it correctly. but i trust the apex more than the ink bird
 

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I use ranco’s and it’s very precise, followed by apex.
 
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