nissky Posted January 19, 2004 Share Posted January 19, 2004 If anyone wants to have accurate digital temperature control for their heaters, Jaycar have a $40 thermostat that I found works well. I have been using it for 2 months on my discus tank, connected inline with a normal 300W aquarium heater. It senses the water temperature, and turns the heater on when when the temperature drops 0.5c below the set level, and turns off when temperature goes 0.5c above. It also gives a constant readout of current water temperature. I like it because it allows you to very easily monitor and also adjust water temperature. Also stops heaters momentarily coming on when temperature is above set level, which i find happens with some heaters, or the dreaded heater stuck on boiling the fish (happened to me once). I think you can also use it to turn devices on when the temp reaches a set level as well, ie chillers. Im going to get a few more for the rest of my tanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Magica DiSpell Posted January 20, 2004 Share Posted January 20, 2004 Sounds like I might have a look a them too. Thanks for the tip. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pipsqeek Posted January 20, 2004 Share Posted January 20, 2004 There is also a thermo temp switch kit you can get from Jaycar as well. This can control a similar circuit as well as having an alarm to notify you of too high a temp or too low a temp. And having this control the heater is great, like you said, if the heater goes high and boils your fish, this will always disconnect the power to the heater as soon as the heat goes past the preset value. Just thought I would add my two (2) cents. Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OziOscar Posted January 20, 2004 Share Posted January 20, 2004 Hi Nissky... How does it sense? Is there a way to put a probe in the water? Or do you need to add a thermocouple (K type or similar) to it? I looked on the Jaycar site and only found model 'QT7200'. Is that the one? Cheers - OziOscar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nissky Posted January 20, 2004 Author Share Posted January 20, 2004 heres the link to it Thermostat Steve, i cant find the one you mentioned with alarm, that would be even better A few points, the model i mention will only support 5Amps, so you can only have at most 4 x 300W heaters controlled by one thermostat. The sensor (thermocouple) comes in the unit, you need to resolder it with insulated wire to make it a remote sensor (and seal it, i used silicon), and put the sensor in the tank. You can use a proper remote thermocouple (still need to solder it), but i found the supplied on works fine... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OziOscar Posted January 20, 2004 Share Posted January 20, 2004 Cool! How did you seal the thermostat? Cheers - OziOscar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nissky Posted January 20, 2004 Author Share Posted January 20, 2004 I didnt mean the whole thermostat in the tank! I edited my post Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OziOscar Posted January 20, 2004 Share Posted January 20, 2004 Yeah... That little thing wouldn't be easy to seal well enough. What I meant was "how did you seal the included sensing device to immerse it in your tank?" Cheers - OziOscar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gigitt Posted January 20, 2004 Share Posted January 20, 2004 The added bonus for using this Digital Thermostat this is that you can now use your Dead Always ON heaters again! You dont have to throw them away anymore. How accurate is it? I know some of these things can be +/-2 degs out? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pipsqeek Posted January 20, 2004 Share Posted January 20, 2004 You can seal a thermocoupler in hot melt glue, cover it with the stuff, and it should be fine. I have done that with my Ultra High Brightness Blue LED's in the tank and they have been running fine for a year now. Awsome Effect, I'll try to post some pics once I have the time. The thermo kit I was refering to at jaycar is this one... IT IS A KIT, YOU MUST SOLDER THE ELECTRONIC COMPONENTS. Sorry but had to say that in capitols. It was in a Silicon Chip magazine (great mag) a while back, last year sometime. I was unable to locate the link, or the apropriate store, Dick Smith, Jaycar, Altronics, etc... I was very sure that Dick Smith sold the kit and was pretty sure that Jaycar definately had them. The link on the Silicon Chip site is: http://www.siliconchip.com.au/cms/A_30523/article.html Also, it is in the August 2002 Edition of the Magazine. Sorry for not having the proper link handy. I'll keep searching. Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EcHo2134 Posted January 20, 2004 Share Posted January 20, 2004 I purchased the article discussing the digital thermostat/thermometer, the link is below: http://www.siliconchip.com.au/cms/A_30523/article.html I don't think it comes as a kit, only the lcd does. Unfortunately. An interesting read though. - Ernie. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EcHo2134 Posted January 20, 2004 Share Posted January 20, 2004 i was thinking to get something along the lines of this http://www.thermaltake.com/products/hdcooler/hdcooler.htm to control my fans and heaters =) u will need a seperate power supply to run it all though Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pipsqeek Posted January 20, 2004 Share Posted January 20, 2004 http://www.altronics.com.au/cat.asp?cat=11&grp=431&id=K6110 Altronics does sell the kit, DSE use to or still might but its not on their web site. This is an awsome kit for temp monitoring. Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nissky Posted January 21, 2004 Author Share Posted January 21, 2004 Hehe, i like it but a bit over kill for my needs and $100. The jaycar one keeps temp stable to within +/-0.5c of set temp, but the actual absolute reading is only rated accurate to +/-1degree (and cant be calibrated). I found it agreed with another digital meter and was 0.5 out with a glass thermometer...good enough i think (usually used for air conditioning systems) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pipsqeek Posted January 21, 2004 Share Posted January 21, 2004 I kow what you mean by overkill, but that is all me Still would be nice to have, controlling the heater and having an alarm for high or low temps Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edward Posted January 21, 2004 Share Posted January 21, 2004 nissky, how hard was it to tap into the heaters wiring? Sounds like a good investment, but I'm not much of a DIY electronics person. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EcHo2134 Posted January 21, 2004 Share Posted January 21, 2004 Cool, i didn't know altronics sold the kit. thanks..looks like i'll be buying it. Its not expensive condering what other aquarium related stuff go for, the cost of the fish, and that awful smell of dead fish (yuk) - Ernie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adam Posted January 22, 2004 Share Posted January 22, 2004 I saw the controllers are only good for around 5amps or approx 1200W. do you guys know of a controller for a 2400W heater? Adam Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nissky Posted January 23, 2004 Author Share Posted January 23, 2004 Tapping into the heater, was just a mater of cutting the postive side of the power cord (close to plug, safely away from any water) and connecting through the themostat. I set the heater internal thermostat to a few degrees higher than the digital thermostat, so it doesnt come in to normal operation but is still there as a failsafe. To run more power through you could use a relay setup.. You do need a little electrical knowledge to connect it up, but not too difficult Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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