Inkbird Heater Controller Failure

[jackalexander]

Installed my new Inkbird heating controller and oh how ironic.. The power strip that the controller provides was faulty and I didn’t know that until the alarm was going off at 5am. My temperature had swung from 78F to 74F in just 6 hours. Now I have a gaping anemone and corals...

 

[DucatiGtr]

Installed my new Inkbird heating controller and oh how ironic.. The power strip that the controller provides was faulty and I didn’t know that until the alarm was going off at 5am. My temperature had swung from 78F to 74F in just 6 hours. Now I have a gaping anemone and corals...

A swing like that and coral damage? Ehhh my tanks fluctuate w temp and I have keep my main at 72 for years now
The ink bird alarm sounds off or other?

 

[Lost in the Sauce]

I'm currently hating my brand new inkbird controller. It's set for 78 and the tank is 75.7 right now and neither heater is On

 

[Zoa_Fanatic]

I'm currently hating my brand new inkbird controller. It's set for 78 and the tank is 75.7 right now and neither heater is On

If you’re using F then it won’t kick on until it’s a full 3 degrees difference. I use it on the Celcius setting. Much better

 

[Jekyl]

I'm currently hating my brand new inkbird controller. It's set for 78 and the tank is 75.7 right now and neither heater is On

Make sure you turn the actual heater temperature up too. If 76 is as high as they're set for the inkbird can't do anything about it. Mine has a 1 degree swing not 3

 

[Zoa_Fanatic]

Make sure you turn the actual heater temperature up too. If 76 is as high as they're set for the inkbird can't do anything about it. Mine has a 1 degree swing not 3

Good point! Mine is 3 degrees F or 1.2 Degrees C. I have my heater turned up higher than my tank temp just to be safe.

 

[Lost in the Sauce]

Heaters are set to 78/79.

 

[DDenny]

I have the 308s cause it gets 110-115 in the summer here and the ac is set to 77 durning the day. So far I have it set for 1f deference and it is keeping my tank at 76-77 constantly. It’s starting to warm up so I need to find a fan to help cool things off.

 

[JCTReefer]

It amazes me that there aren’t more options out there temperature controller wise. Stand alone that is. The only true quality stand alone controller I can think of is a Ranco.

 

[mindme]

I'm currently hating my brand new inkbird controller. It's set for 78 and the tank is 75.7 right now and neither heater is On

BRS sells one that has .3 degree cut off/on. I have a regular one that does 1 degree. My tank doesn't get hot and only the heater part kicks on. So I set mine for 79, and it moves up and down between 78-79. So it's always 78.something.

 

[Galvano]

With bimetal thermostats integrated into heaters and electromechanical relays driven by temperature controllers switching frequency has to be kept low to protect their movable parts and contacts from wear. That results in wider temperature swings than what you can achieve with solid state relays controlling your heaters.

The temperature graph below shows the results of one of my Eheim Jäger heaters, on the left controlled by an SSR with a narrow hysteresis range resulting in switching cycles of about a minute, from 15:00 on followed by the swings produced by the heater's internal thermostat.

So when aiming at a constant temperature while preserving durability you have to use an SSR to control your heater.

 

[Vested]

Spent a whole day debating about InkBird controllers, there seems to be major differences in about 4 of their "aquarium" labeled controllers that they don't explain very well. The 306, 306A (wifi), 306T +AP, and the 308S, out of them the 308S is the best option for salt water tanks. Here is a good amazon review that explains it more in-depth from someone whos used all 3.

 

[DarkReefer]

Still getting used to mine also (306A), it's certainly helped make a difference. I noticed this past week that I didn't have to top off my ATO. Prior to that I was topping off the ATO every half week. (Even though my heater temp was set to about 24-25, it was closer to 28 deg Celsius).
I think the app itself could be a lot more intuitive/clearer. Not to mention the actual instructions that come with it. Temp 1 and temp 2, I'm assuming refer to day/night temps, but nowhere does it really say much about it or explain it. Which one is day, which is night and when do they change? My T1 is set to 25 deg C, and T2 at 25.5 dec C.
Temp seems to hover around 25-26 ish.

 

[DDenny]

Spent a whole day debating about InkBird controllers, there seems to be major differences in about 3 of their "aquarium" labeled controllers that they don't explain very well. The 306, 306A (wifi), and the 308S, out of them the 308S is the best option for salt water tanks. Here is a good amazon review that explains it more in-depth from someone whos used all 3.

That was the review that I read before deciding on the 308S. So far mine has been great. Have not had to use the cooling feature yet but I know it’s coming.

 

[Vested]

That was the review that I read before deciding on the 308S. So far mine has been great. Have not had to use the cooling feature yet but I know it’s coming.

Same here! Glad to hear its treating you well so far Just got mine delivered today.. I also don't think I will use the cooling feature and am just setting up a small extension for 2 150w heaters. And if I do need to use the cooling then its there which makes me feel better.

 

[Mical]

I have 2 Inkbird 306a (wifi dual probe) I'm about to toss then because BOTH won't hold calibration. I went head to head with Inkbird with lab data from University of Minnesota labs showing how much they fluctuate and got nothing but "lip service" from Inkbird. They're rubbish. Direct from Inkbird they calibrate their units in OIL from the factory not water. Regardless I won't be using Inkbird EVER again.

 

[Jekyl]

Heaters are set to 78/79.

Set the heaters to 85. The inkbird will control them. Otherwise the setting on the heater could be wrong

 

[Lost in the Sauce]

Set the heaters to 85. The inkbird will control them. Otherwise the setting on the heater could be wrong

I'm slowly bumping up the temp on the heaters but not to 85. If this controller is malfunctioning, and I believe it is as the app shows it is heating as it should be below the set temp, but the heaters are both kicking on and off every few minutes simultaneously, I don't want to boil the tank if the controller then decides to just stay on.

 

[Jekyl]

I'm slowly bumping up the temp on the heaters but not to 85. If this controller is malfunctioning, and I believe it is as the app shows it is heating as it should be below the set temp, but the heaters are both kicking on and off every few minutes simultaneously, I don't want to boil the tank if the controller then decides to just stay on.

If the heater malfunctions the inkbird will turn it off. I think I just have mine cranked all the way up.

 

[Jekyl]

Set one heater to 77 to 78 degrees. The other to 76 to 77. Will make a primary heater and a back up
Edit: those are settings on the inkbird