Inkbird Heater

Neo Jeo · Feb 17, 2018

So I finally hooked up my ink bird heater temperature monitor . I have the blue one that does not have cooling option .

I have to 2-200 W heaters hooked up to it. I have a temperature probe set at 78 . With 1° differential. So I’m assuming if it goes to 77° it will turn on and when I hit 78 it will turn off .

I have Ne0 thermal heaters that are actually to a half a degree so the thermostat is actually better than the ink bird but my only option is 1° difference with the controller . The main purpose of this is I guess if the heater gets stuck on the import will cut the power . I was going to only have one heater running in the other as a back up but it seems that a 200 W heater for my 120 gallon tank is not enough .

Should I have the controller set at 79° ? With a 2d difference? That way the controller always had power to the heater and the heater thermostat can run it on and off then if something happens where it gets stuck on the controller will cut power? I guess there are 2 ways of doing it.

Anyone have any thoughts on this and am I doing it correctly or should I be doing it differently ?

Thanks!

Neo Jeo · Feb 17, 2018

So after playing with it. I set the off temp at 80f and I put it with a 2 degree so when it his 78 it kicks on until 80 then turns off but I have my heaters set to 78 and the top they get is 78.5, so it will stay on. The chance one goes bad and stays on it will hit 80 then the controller will kick off. I don’t want the controller turning my heaters on and off , I want to use there internal thermostat.

Sound good anyone?

chipmunkofdoom2 · Feb 17, 2018

It sounds like you're still relying almost entirely on the thermostats in the Neotherms for temperature control, and the Inkbird is just there to shut them off if they get stuck on. In that context, there's not really any reason to set the low temperature to something like 78*. Basically, you always want the Inkbird supplying power, unless the temperature is too high. In that context, a very low "on" point, like 30* or something, sounds appropriate for the Inkbird.

Neo Jeo · Feb 17, 2018

chipmunkofdoom2 said:
It sounds like you're still relying almost entirely on the thermostats in the Neotherms for temperature control, and the Inkbird is just there to shut them off if they get stuck on. In that context, there's not really any reason to set the low temperature to something like 78*. Basically, you always want the Inkbird supplying power, unless the temperature is too high. In that context, a very low "on" point, like 30* or something, sounds appropriate for the Inkbird.

He point of the ink bird is to turn them off when they hit a high temp so setting it at 30f would not work.

Potatohead · Feb 17, 2018

Neo Jeo said:
He point of the ink bird is to turn them off when they hit a high temp so setting it at 30f would not work.

You should be using the inkbird to control the heaters, and the heater internal control should be a backup. Typically you would set the heaters about 1/2-1 degree higher than the high point of the inkbird. Basically your heaters are always on and the power supply to them is controlled by the inkbird. If the inkbird ever fails your heater controllers will take over.

Pro tip, if you set the temp to Celsius, the temperature swing will only be .3C instead of 1F, which is about half.

Neo Jeo · Feb 17, 2018

Potatohead said:
You should be using the inkbird to control the heaters, and the heater internal control should be a backup. Typically you would set the heaters about 1/2-1 degree higher than the high point of the inkbird. Basically your heaters are always on and the power supply to them is controlled by the inkbird. If the inkbird ever fails your heater controllers will take over.

Pro tip, if you set the temp to Celsius, the temperature swing will only be .3C instead of 1F, which is about half.

Thanks for the tip. The heater controller is more accurate then the ink bird. So if the ink bird fails the heater controller will still work. Unless the ink bird turns off then they both will fail. I rather have power to my heaters all time vs them turning on and off constantly bc the heater goes through a start up process . I think both ways will work I guess