BRS Dual probe heating controller failed horribly

[Alex Cataldo]

Around 2 months ago, I installed a BRS two probe Wi-Fi heating controller on my 65 gallon reef, connected it to the app, and all was fine until about a week ago, when I was gone for spring break the heating cut out for about 48 hours, and despite having notifications turned on, did not notify me and by the time I got back the tank was around 66 degrees. It was displaying E5, which is the continuous heating time alarm. This only displays when the heat is not rising after a considerable amount of time, and upon further investigation I determined that the two 200 watt Jager heaters were working as normal. After that I took the controller off the tank and tested it in a bucket, and confirmed that the E5 alarm would just randomly activate regardless of if the Continuous heating alarm was 1 hour or 8 hours. This really sucked and I lost about 80 percent of my sensitive SPS, some inverts, and the fish were really stressed out. Just another reason to be prepared for when things fail. Any and all feedback about this issue is welcomed.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Appears to be a trend

 

[Snoopy 67]

Another reason to buy a Ranco commercial controller.

 

[Alex Cataldo]

Appears to be a trend

Thats interesting, I’m just glad it’s nothing I did lol

 

[n2585722]

Have two heaters on separate controllers. Also have a way to shut them off in case the tank gets too hot. Normally the fail mode is the heater staying on and overheating the tank.

 

[Alex Cataldo]

Have two heaters on separate controllers. Also have a way to shut them off in case the tank gets too hot. Normally the fail mode is the heater staying on and overheating the tank.

Redundancy over quality/brand is the big takeaway here, not wise to rely on 1 controller

 

[n2585722]

Redundancy over quality/brand is the big takeaway here, not wise to rely on 1 controller

I use the thermostats in my heaters as a secondary cut off. They are set three degrees above my controller. Each heater is setup separately and on a different outlet. So I would have to have two failures at the same time to have an issue where it would overheat the tank. What I was getting at is don't rely on one device to control the heaters. All things can fail no matter what the cost. The only failure I have had in 6 years is one of the heaters quit heating. That will cause alert on my controller for the power out of range on that output.

 

[92Miata]

Redundancy over quality/brand is the big takeaway here, not wise to rely on 1 controller

One reliable controller is a better solution than two unreliable ones.

 

[n2585722]

One reliable controller is a better solution than two unreliable ones.

I have been in the electronics repair business since the mid 70's I have never ran across an item that has never failed.Especially the newer items now that the cap have to have a environmentally safe electrolyte. Those things don't seem to last more than a few years anymore without them starting to fail. So I always plan on failures when setting up a system. If you don't have at least 1 item fail on a tank after 5-6 years you are very lucky.

 

[92Miata]

I have been in the electronics repair business since the mid 70's I have never ran across an item that has never failed.Especially the newer items now that the cap have to have a environmentally safe electrolyte. Those things don't seem to last more than a few years anymore without them starting to fail. So I always plan on failures when setting up a system. If you don't have at least 1 item fail on a tank after 5-6 years you are very lucky.

I agree on planning for failure.

The way to do that isn't to double up on devices like the newer inkbirds, which have incredibly spurious programming, and incredibly low quality. You're way better off with something like a Ranco, or controller based temp monitoring - where its not going to randomly just turn itself off because your heaters are properly sized.

Wanna run two Rancos? Great.

 

[rtparty]

Was this a BRS or InkBird controller?

 

[92Miata]

Was this a BRS or InkBird controller?

The BRS is a relabled InkBird. They're the same.

 

[rtparty]

The BRS is a relabled InkBird. They're the same.

BRS discontinued that well over a year ago. The dual probe controller in the OP is InkBird. BRS never relabeled the dual probe WiFi version

 

[n2585722]

I agree on planning for failure.

The way to do that isn't to double up on devices like the newer inkbirds, which have incredibly spurious programming, and incredibly low quality. You're way better off with something like a Ranco, or controller based temp monitoring - where its not going to randomly just turn itself off because your heaters are properly sized.

Wanna run two Rancos? Great.

I don't have a separate controller. I use my Hydros to control and the thermostats on the heaters as a backup. I do have each heater plugged into a separate outlet on my controller though. Each heater had its own settings in the controller.