American Marine temperature controller or Hydros X4

onlyfans · Aug 23, 2021

So I'm in the market for the most accurate and precise temperature controller. The one that American Marine sells fits the bill on this, but at $215 it's half the cost of a complete controller setup like the Hydros X4 that would also give me ph monitoring as well as some other useful control. However, I'm uncertain as to the quality, reliability, accuracy, and precision of the Hydros X4. I've emailed them twice now over the past month with no response to my technical questions. So I'm turning to my peers to see what you all know about the Hydros X4 and if it even compares to the stand alone American Marine temp controller. If anyone has any personal experience with either and could tell me their thoughts on either that would be a huge help as well. I'm a mechanical engineering student, so feel free to layon the technical language. I nerd out on that stuff.

n2585722 · Aug 23, 2021

I have a Hydros Control 4. I do not have the American marine controller. If that is Pinpoint then that is the brand of pH probeI got in the starter kit for the Control 4. The temp sensor on the Hydros is a digital chip and the signal from it to the Control 4 is digital. It hooks to a sense port. That port has both a analog and digital input. The setup for a Temp input does have a offset adjustment to adjust it to a temp standard if you have one. Below is a screenshot of the temp input for my tank. The ranges on this setup or for alerts only and not for control. Control is accomplished in the setup for a output.

n2585722 · Aug 23, 2021

Also, if you are interested here is the setup for my cooling fans In the first 2 screenshots. It will probably be sometime in November before the heaters start running again. There has to be at least a .4 degree difference between the low point and high point. With this setup the fans turn on at 78.3 and go off at 77.9. In the last screen shot it has a graph of the tank temp.

onlyfans · Aug 25, 2021

Thank you for your help @n2585722

So can the temperature delta be set at whatever you want it to be at?
What is the minimum and max that it can be set at?
Do you know if you can utilize a second temperature probe?

My thought on using the Hydros is to utilize two probes; one in the sump and one in the main tank over flow box. I'd use the one in the overflow box as the main control probe to get more accurate temperature readings where the livestock is and the one in the sump would be for redundancy and set to a slightly higher threshold. I was thinking like a full +1*F delta between the two probes with the tank probe set to +/- 0.25*F. Would this 0.25*F be possible with the Hydros X4?

Off topic from the temperature discussion, but what other probes can be used with the Hydros that you know of? I've been trying to find information to see if a salinity or ORP probe can used on the other port that's open.

n2585722 · Aug 25, 2021

I depends on the output type there is heaters, fans and chiller type outputs. I use heaters and a fan output. I have two separate heater outputs. For the heaters the low setting turns on the heater and high setting turns it off. There has to be at least a .4 degree difference. So that would be +- .2 for the heaters two settings. You can have as many temp sensors as you have open ports. If you need more ports just add another controller to the collective. Any of the controllers can be a part of the collective and they will act like a single controller as far as controlling output with inputs. You can control one output with one input and the other output with a different output. You can also create outputs for logic only purposes so you can use another input to turn on or off a different output. You can combine up to 9 outputs with the combiner output type. There is also a generic output type that can have up to 9 inputs.So you should be able to do what you are trying as long as the .4 degrees is ok. I believe the min and max on the scales you set are low of 50 and high of 95 so I think you will be able to set it where you want. I have three temp sensors on the system but only one in the tank. Once I get another controller at the tank I can add a second temp probe. I do still have myArchon setup to control my lighting. It still has a temp probe, pH probe and ORP probe on it so I have another temp sensor monitoring the tank.

The probe ports on the Control 4 will accept either a pH or ORP probe. Each one is setup for the probe type you want to use. As far as salinity they are working on another option instead of a continuity probe.

onlyfans · Aug 26, 2021

Awesome, the Hydros sounds like precisely like what I'm looking for then plus the added other benefits of it. You mention it doesn't have lighting control, that's totally fine with me. I really like the app Radion makes for the XR30 blue and same for my Nero 5's with the AI app. I'm also using Kamoer wifi dosing pumps, those would be nice to incorporate into the Hydros.

Do you know when they'll have their salinity probe ready for consumer release?
Do you know if any of PinPoint's (American Marine) other probes like calcium, salinity, or oxygen work with the Hydros?
Or if their temperature probe works with Hydros? I ask this one specifically because it's a slightly cheaper probe and appears better built (scientific / industrial use).

Also, what is the advantage of running multiple ph probes like you're running? Are you able to average the two in the software for a more accurate reading? ;Bookworm...are you able to average any multitude of the same type of sensor for more accurate readings?

n2585722 · Aug 26, 2021

The Hydros will control lighting if it is the type that can be controlled by 0-10v. The lighting I have requires a PWM signal so I would have to get some 0-10v to PWM converters. The X4 only has 4 0-10v outputs and currently I have 6 PWM channels controlling my lighting with the Archon. So I have not been in a hurry to switch that over. Besides the X4 s in the garage and not near the tank. I only have one pH and temp probe from the Hydros in the tank. The other temp probes and pH probes are in the garage. The tank is 35ft from the things in the garage. I do still have a pH and temp probe on the Archon at the tank but it only controls the lighting. You cannot average the probes but you can set limits for the safe zone on each one. If for some reason the reading goes out of the safe zone you will get an alert. You can probably set up outputs controlled by the second probe to shut off the heat or cooling controlled by the other sensor also. You can control a output with another output using the depends on function. The main example of that is if your return is turned off you can set it up to also turn off the skimmer And even have a delay after the return is turned back on before it starts the skimmer back up.