Heating / Cooling range for a heater

[FF_Guest1439]

Hi

I recently brought a digital heating/cooling thermostat. The Inkbird ITC-308 WiFi Thermostat to be precise. I have fish that like their temp range from between 22 and 27c

I watched a youtube video a while back, I think by the Aquarium Co-Op saying that heaters don't last as long when they are constantly turning off and on. Or a better way to put it, the more often they turn on, the quicker they go die, and that having a temp rang, extends the heaters life.

Right now. i have it set to come on at 22c and turn off at 27c, But I'm wondering if that is an ok range or too big of a temp range. Does anyone have any suggestions if that's ok or what range I should set it to?

 

[seangee]

Hi

I recently brought a digital heating/cooling thermostat. The Inkbird ITC-308 WiFi Thermostat to be precise. I have fish that like their temp range from between 22 and 27c

I watched a youtube video a while back, I think by the Aquarium Co-Op saying that heaters don't last as long when they are constantly turning off and on. Or a better way to put it, the more often they turn on, the quicker they go die, and that having a temp rang, extends the heaters life.

Right now. i have it set to come on at 22c and turn off at 27c, But I'm wondering if that is an ok range or too big of a temp range. Does anyone have any suggestions if that's ok or what range I should set it to?

That's probably too big. I set my on / off 1 to 2 degrees (C) apart. Set your heater so it turns off at a slightly higher temperature than the Inkbird. That way the inkbird will turn it off and you won't have it constantly turning on and off. And you have a failsafe so if the controller fails the heater should still turn itself off.

 

[FF_Guest1439]

Thanks for the info

 

[663]

Coincidences! I have that unit on the way from Bezos. I hope that our individual requirements are met by the unit. If you get a chance, report your findings and I'll do the same.

 

[663]

Coincidences! I have that unit on the way from Bezos. I hope that our individual requirements are met by the unit. If you get a chance, report your findings and I'll do the same.

My inkbird dropped today. While I haven't plugged it yet, there are some issues. The power connecter is too short for purposes' but I'll figure that part out. The prob wires are nice and long though. Good luck, guys.

 

[663]

Further impressions, if anyone is interested. The unit is well built and functions like a dream. The phone-based SW that you're required to install is the stuff of jokes, though. Its hosting site appears to be down so I acquired it from Play. There are three different versions of it and none appears to have been updated for a long while. All are to be VERY poorly rated for good reason, which I agree with. The wife and I tried to get it working with no luck. So no WiFi temp control for now.

The unit itself is rock solid, has a bright display and maintains a solid 79 degrees. It comes with a few Pro features which we may get to use at some point. If WiFi had panned-out it would have been a 5-star purchase. Oh well, that's the way the cookie crumbles sometimes. Since there's no traffic here I'll consider my commitment terminated as well.

 

[StevenF]

I watched a youtube video a while back, I think by the Aquarium Co-Op saying that heaters don't last as long when they are constantly turning off and on.

Many heaters have a mechanical relay to turn the electricity on and off. IF the relay is correct rated of the current and voltage the only wear on the switch occurred when it moves to on and then moves to off. For a well designed heat it could last decades of 24 hour use. but if the voltage surge occurs on the power line or the water test into the heater it wil fail quickly.

some newer models now use solid state relay (transistor swtich) . these will have an indefinite life (many decades)if designed correctly. But again if water gets in the heater or a voltage surge occurs it could fail suddenly.

Overall how often a heater turns on and off has little effect solid state relay life. For mechanicals relay how often it turns on and off can effect the life of the heater but in most cases that effect is probably small.

IN my job I work on computer controlled manufacturing equipment. Have seen r mechanical and solid state relay controlled heaters go many rears without a failure and other times they fail quickly for no apparent reason. how often these turn on and off appears to

 

[663]

That's good to know, Steven. Thanks for some preliminary peace-of-mind.

 

[FF_Guest1439]

Further impressions, if anyone is interested. The unit is well built and functions like a dream. The phone-based SW that you're required to install is the stuff of jokes, though. Its hosting site appears to be down so I acquired it from Play. There are three different versions of it and none appears to have been updated for a long while. All are to be VERY poorly rated for good reason, which I agree with. The wife and I tried to get it working with no luck. So no WiFi temp control for now.

The unit itself is rock solid, has a bright display and maintains a solid 79 degrees. It comes with a few Pro features which we may get to use at some point. If WiFi had panned-out it would have been a 5-star purchase. Oh well, that's the way the cookie crumbles sometimes. Since there's no traffic here I'll consider my commitment terminated as well.

Hey, I've had the ink bird running for a few weeks now. I am impressed with it. Though I do agree the app needs modernizing. With features and stuff. I did get the wifi working and setup via the app, first time. So I can't say I had the same result as you.
It's always kept the temps in the range I've set. The socket could have been a lot longer, at least 2 meters long with an option for longer leads, but I got it working just fine in my current setup. The only thing I informed them on was that the turn-off and on connectors were louder than they should be. More so when they are less than 2 feet away from my head, and not having any sucket cups to attach the sensor to glass.

 

[FF_Guest1439]

Many heaters have a mechanical relay to turn the electricity on and off. IF the relay is correct rated of the current and voltage the only wear on the switch occurred when it moves to on and then moves to off. For a well designed heat it could last decades of 24 hour use. but if the voltage surge occurs on the power line or the water test into the heater it wil fail quickly.

some newer models now use solid state relay (transistor swtich) . these will have an indefinite life (many decades)if designed correctly. But again if water gets in the heater or a voltage surge occurs it could fail suddenly.

Overall how often a heater turns on and off has little effect solid state relay life. For mechanicals relay how often it turns on and off can effect the life of the heater but in most cases that effect is probably small.

IN my job I work on computer controlled manufacturing equipment. Have seen r mechanical and solid state relay controlled heaters go many rears without a failure and other times they fail quickly for no apparent reason. how often these turn on and off appears to

Hmmm, ok. I can only go off a well know aquarium YT, he did a single vid on the matter, I'll provide the link to it for your viewing

 

[FF_Guest1439]

If your statement is true, then that is good to know, though the heater I got wasn'.t all that expensive. I guess for me then (If correct) that the Ink Bird still helps reduce the total energy that is used. As it takes at least 2 to 3x as long to cool down as it does to warm back up again. So still a good buy

 

[jonny-5]

Slightly off topic but heres what i found,

I used to worry about the heater on/off cycles too & i did read somewhere that if its constantly cycling on/off the heater is not going to last long.
So i took upon myself to investigate this after my old Elite heater died. Yes i did say Elite (Im sure they went out of production a while ago ??)

Anyway i had a 10G tank & the supplied standard heater was 50W as its roughly 50L give or take, since day 1 i did notice the heater was on/off/on/off constantly, So when the heater finally gave up i purchased a 100w heater which is hardly ever on now, if it does come on its on for maybe 30 secs then off for hours it maintains my tank perfectly My room is always 19oC min & always has been

 

[663]

Hey, I've had the ink bird running for a few weeks now. I am impressed with it. Though I do agree the app needs modernizing. With features and stuff. I did get the wifi working and setup via the app, first time. So I can't say I had the same result as you.
It's always kept the temps in the range I've set. The socket could have been a lot longer, at least 2 meters long with an option for longer leads, but I got it working just fine in my current setup. The only thing I informed them on was that the turn-off and on connectors were louder than they should be. More so when they are less than 2 feet away from my head, and not having any sucket cups to attach the sensor to glass.

The units ability to keep the water within an acceptable range is just fine. 1 degree - and it comes right back to preferred. I have a clear idea what happened to us trying to set it up, but I'd like to know what happened to you. Did you set it up with the phone app only? Please, include all the detail you'd like.

 

[mcordelia]

Someone already mentioned this, but I have first-hand experience of an inkbird failing catastrophically after a power surge. I had a similar inkbird (no wifi) controlling a keezer (kegerator made out of a freezer), and after a power surge it switched to "heating" permanently. Fortunately the only loss there was lukewarm beer that didn't age as well as it could have (obviously still drank it anyway lol) since there was nothing plugged into the "heating" side,but just food for thought. At the very least use a surge protector if your electric service is as terrible as ours is.

 

[StevenF]

Chili Rasboras

Hmmm, ok. I can only go off a well know aquarium YT, he did a single vid on the matter, I'll provide the link to it for your viewing

The advice in that video good. But the one thing the video doesn't ask is how many times can a relay can move before it fails. This information is in electrical relay specification sheets. I just looked through one and it was rated at 20,000,000. 20 million cycles for a mechanical cycle rating. So if it turns on and off 100 times a day it will last about 547 years. but if you push to much electrical power through the switch it it could fail after 100,000 cycles or even one cycle. And then you also have to factor in the temperature the relay is operating in. If you design it right it will last decades. Get it wrong and it won't last long.

In my job we had relay s that were failing after only a one or two of years of operation. We eventually found it was running at a higher temperature than what we expected and we had small a voltage current spike going though it. We corrected both of those issues in the redesign and it simply didn't fail until the design became obsolete many years later. But you don't have to take my word. Ask your self how often have you replaced your refrigerator or your home heater thermostat? They also use relays to turn them on and off. The fridge in my home is came with the house when i moved in 15 years ago.