Heaters

[ScottF]

I was walking by my nano and noticed that the Hygger Pinpoint temp controller was reading 140 degrees. I panicked for a minute until I saw that everything was still alive and looking great. I dipped my finger in the water and it felt cool. Now I need to buy a replacement.

I remembered that BRS Ryan used to push the Ink Bird controllers. I went on BRS to get one and it was bad review after bad review about it loosing calibration and/or erroring out after 6 months.

Any recommendations on a good heater controller?

 

[NowGlazeIT]

I’ve been using the ink birds for the last 7 years with no issues. I started with the green one which has only one thermometer, then after viewing the brs review I switched to the blue one that comes with two. They use two in their marine model in case one starts to fail. They add redundancy since the heaters themselves have a set temp to turn off when the desired temperature is reached.

 

[CBonito]

I was walking by my nano and noticed that the Hygger Pinpoint temp controller was reading 140 degrees. I panicked for a minute until I saw that everything was still alive and looking great. I dipped my finger in the water and it felt cool. Now I need to buy a replacement.

I remembered that BRS Ryan used to push the Ink Bird controllers. I went on BRS to get one and it was bad review after bad review about it loosing calibration and/or erroring out after 6 months.

Any recommendations on a good heater controller?

I control my heater with my Apex.
I also have an inkbird that was an erroring out point of sale and I'm not trusting them again.

 

[cbreier]

If I were you, I would get a Coralvue Hydros XS controller or one of the other Coralvue Hydros controllers that monitor temperature. I have had both Apex and Hydros. I prefer the Hydros as they seem way better built to me and, unlike Apex, are water resistant.

 

[ScottF]

If I were you, I would get a Coralvue Hydros XS controller or one of the other Coralvue Hydros controllers that monitor temperature. I have had both Apex and Hydros. I prefer the Hydros as they seem way better built to me and, unlike Apex, are water resistant.

I have an Apex on my big tank. Wasn't looking to add a full blown controller to this nano. The Hydros XS isn't too expensive though. I just ordered one to see how it compares to my Apex.

 

[n2585722]

I have an Apex on my big tank. Wasn't looking to add a full blown controller to this nano. The Hydros XS isn't too expensive though. I just ordered one to see how it compares to my Apex.

The XS would need a wifi strip or a XP8 to control a heater so get the one you want but bear in mind that the wifi strip communicates via wifi and it has to get a command from the controller to turn an outlet either on or off. If communications is interrupted for any reason the outlets will stay at their current state unless it is a power failure. I would always use a backup off with any heater controller though. The easiest would be to get a heater that has a thermostat. Then set the heater thermostat about 3 degrees above the turn off temp of the controller. I used heaters on a wifi strip for a while but I did use heaters that had their own thermostat also. My heaters are set to around 80 degrees and the Hydros is set with a turn on point of 76.5 for one and 76.4 for the other. They both have a turn off set point of 76.7. So under normal conditions the heater thermostats should never turn off. I now have my heaters on an XP8 and have a safe power range set so if a heater were to turn off for any reason while the Hydros output is on I will receive an alert on my phone when it happens. The wifi strips do not have power monitoring like the XP8 so that would not be an option if using a wifi strip but you can set a maximum on time and run past max on time to on and it will send an alert if you set it up to do that but would not turn off the output. Those are in the advanced settings for the output. Below are my settings for one of my heaters. I have 2 for the tank and both are 50 watt heaters so that is the reason for the power safe range of 45 to 55 watts. This is using an XP8 outlet. I also have 2 temp sensors and both are set to the heater outputs. I also have a maximum on time set to 2 hours and 30 minutes. If I have a heater stay on longer than that any one time I want to know so I can check on it. I also set a minimum on and minimum off time of 5 minutes so once on the output will stay on for at least 5 minutes or once off it will stay off at least 5 minutes.

 

[ScottF]

The XS would need a wifi strip or a XP8 to control a heater so get the one you want but bear in mind that the wifi strip communicates via wifi and it has to get a command from the controller to turn an outlet either on or off. If communications is interrupted for any reason the outlets will stay at their current state unless it is a power failure. I would always use a backup off with any heater controller though. The easiest would be to get a heater that has a thermostat. Then set the heater thermostat about 3 degrees above the turn off temp of the controller. I used heaters on a wifi strip for a while but I did use heaters that had their own thermostat also. My heaters are set to around 80 degrees and the Hydros is set with a turn on point of 76.5 for one and 76.4 for the other. They both have a turn off set point of 76.7. So under normal conditions the heater thermostats should never turn off. I now have my heaters on an XP8 and have a safe power range set so if a heater were to turn off for any reason while the Hydros output is on I will receive an alert on my phone when it happens. The wifi strips do not have power monitoring like the XP8 so that would not be an option if using a wifi strip but you can set a maximum on time and run past max on time to on and it will send an alert if you set it up to do that but would not turn off the output. Those are in the advanced settings for the output. Below are my settings for one of my heaters. I have 2 for the tank and both are 50 watt heaters so that is the reason for the power safe range of 45 to 55 watts. This is using an XP8 outlet. I also have 2 temp sensors and both are set to the heater outputs. I also have a maximum on time set to 2 hours and 30 minutes. If I have a heater stay on longer than that any one time I want to know so I can check on it. I also set a minimum on and minimum off time of 5 minutes so once on the output will stay on for at least 5 minutes or once off it will stay off at least 5 minutes.

I purchased the XS Starter kit. It comes with a power strip. Can you not connect the power strip to the Command Bus? Seems pretty stupid if the power strip is only controllable via wifi.

 

[ScottF]

Does it have a fallback like the Apex where you can assign on/off if it loses communication with the controller? I'm guessing that is what the "Input / Dependency Unavailable" is for?

I'm not too worried about a heater being off. I don't even have a heater on my 250gal tank. We don't really need them on big tanks here in south Florida. It's more to minimize temp swings on a small tank then to keep stuff from freezing to death.

 

[Aaron75]

Without a designated controller, id say the IM Helio is the best heater on the market. Keeps temps extremely stable and does have failsafes.

 

[ScottF]

Without a designated controller, id say the IM Helio is the best heater on the market. Keeps temps extremely stable and does have failsafes.

I ordered another relatively inexpensive Hygger Pinpoint heater/controller since I already ordered the Hydros XS. I can have the Hydros kill it if it starts to over heat.

 

[n2585722]

I purchased the XS Starter kit. It comes with a power strip. Can you not connect the power strip to the Command Bus? Seems pretty stupid if the power strip is only controllable via wifi.

The wifi power strips are wifi only. The XP8 is an 8 outlet controller and it is connected cia command bus. Only controllers can connect using command bus.

 

[n2585722]

I ordered another relatively inexpensive Hygger Pinpoint heater/controller since I already ordered the Hydros XS. I can have the Hydros kill it if it starts to over heat.

Yes you can setup an output to do that. A lot of people setup the Hydros as the backup.

 

[n2585722]

Does it have a fallback like the Apex where you can assign on/off if it loses communication with the controller? I'm guessing that is what the "Input / Dependency Unavailable" is for?

I'm not too worried about a heater being off. I don't even have a heater on my 250gal tank. We don't really need them on big tanks here in south Florida. It's more to minimize temp swings on a small tank then to keep stuff from freezing to death.

The wifi power strips will remain in whatever condition they were in prior to the communication failure. So if they are on they remain on. If off they remain off. The controller itself has a fallback setting. That is the if input / dependency unavailable setting in the screenshot I posted, but that would do no good if it is a communication issue between the controller and the wifi power strip. Once you pair the wifi strip to the controller all the communications is local between them and does not require internet as long as your router does not require it to work. Some ISP provided routers require a connection to the ISP servers to also keep the wifi connections running. The X2 has 2 drive ports also. You can use them for powering the simple doser or the small ATO pump in the ATO kit if you want to add an ATO. It requires the use of one of the two sense ports for a water level sensor. The other sense port would be used for your temp sensor. The drive ports are 12v DC outputs but they are limited to 1amp each or a combined current of 1.5 amps. The drive port current limit will depend on what controllers the ports are on. As a rule if the controller has a separate power input port or a built in power supply the ports will have a higher current rating. If you do need more ports you can get another controller and a couple of terminators and command bus cable and you can create a collective. Then the two controllers will communicate with each other and share inputs and outputs. So it acts like one larger controller. You will only need 2 terminators per collective and probably can get away with one on a smaller collective but at the price you might as well get the two so you will have the second one when needed. I currently have a collective with 15 controllers in it but I control my tank, RODI unit and mixing station with the collective. Several of the controllers are in my garage at the RODI unit and mixing station. Most of the year my heaters do not come on either. I do use cooling fans a lot of the year though.

 

[Backtolifemassage]

I was walking by my nano and noticed that the Hygger Pinpoint temp controller was reading 140 degrees. I panicked for a minute until I saw that everything was still alive and looking great. I dipped my finger in the water and it felt cool. Now I need to buy a replacement.

I remembered that BRS Ryan used to push the Ink Bird controllers. I went on BRS to get one and it was bad review after bad review about it loosing calibration and/or erroring out after 6 months.

Any recommendations on a good heater controller?

Yea I nuked my tank with a hygger heater. I was so ticked. Then I bought a hydros controller with a basic heater. It had the temperature probe. So, I set a temperature and when it reaches temp, it shuts off. I actually have 2 heaters that are made for a smaller tank than I have, so I’ll never overheat my tank again. Best thing I ever did. The InkBird didn’t work for me at all.!

 

[n2585722]

Yea I nuked my tank with a hygger heater. I was so ticked. Then I bought a hydros controller with a basic heater. It had the temperature probe. So, I set a temperature and when it reaches temp, it shuts off. I actually have 2 heaters that are made for a smaller tank than I have, so I’ll never overheat my tank again. Best thing I ever did. The InkBird didn’t work for me at all.!

I use 2 of the 50 watt heaters in my 42 gallon tank. I got them from Petsmart so they are not that expensive. So far only one has faild in the 9 years the tank has been setup but the Hydros does the temp regulation and the heater thermostat is set 3 degrees higher than the turn off on the Hydros so they don't normally switch off in the heater itself. So in my case the Hydros controls the temp and the heater thermostat is the backup off just incase. Each heater has it's own output and settings.

 

[X-37B]

I use the Hygger in my 15. Three other systems run Aqualoclgic controllers with brs titainium heaters.

 

[ScottF]

The wifi power strips will remain in whatever condition they were in prior to the communication failure. So if they are on they remain on. If off they remain off. The controller itself has a fallback setting. That is the if input / dependency unavailable setting in the screenshot I posted, but that would do no good if it is a communication issue between the controller and the wifi power strip. Once you pair the wifi strip to the controller all the communications is local between them and does not require internet as long as your router does not require it to work. Some ISP provided routers require a connection to the ISP servers to also keep the wifi connections running. The X2 has 2 drive ports also. You can use them for powering the simple doser or the small ATO pump in the ATO kit if you want to add an ATO. It requires the use of one of the two sense ports for a water level sensor. The other sense port would be used for your temp sensor. The drive ports are 12v DC outputs but they are limited to 1amp each or a combined current of 1.5 amps. The drive port current limit will depend on what controllers the ports are on. As a rule if the controller has a separate power input port or a built in power supply the ports will have a higher current rating. If you do need more ports you can get another controller and a couple of terminators and command bus cable and you can create a collective. Then the two controllers will communicate with each other and share inputs and outputs. So it acts like one larger controller. You will only need 2 terminators per collective and probably can get away with one on a smaller collective but at the price you might as well get the two so you will have the second one when needed. I currently have a collective with 15 controllers in it but I control my tank, RODI unit and mixing station with the collective. Several of the controllers are in my garage at the RODI unit and mixing station. Most of the year my heaters do not come on either. I do use cooling fans a lot of the year though.

I'm glad that you mentioned this. I would have thought that they would have a setting for outlet state if it loses it's wifi connection. I guess you need the 8 port controller for anything critical.

I would have been super mad if my wifi mesh went down while the heater was on and cooked my tank,

 

[ScottF]

I use the Hygger in my 15. Three other systems run Aqualoclgic controllers with brs titainium heaters.

I was using just the Hygger in my 15. I was trying to keep it very basic. My 250 is super complex and controlled with an Apex Pro. Though the 250 doesn't have a heater. Just fans.

Now I guess I am going to be using another Hygger on the 15, but with a Hydros to keep it from cooking the tank.

 

[NaCl addict]

I was walking by my nano and noticed that the Hygger Pinpoint temp controller was reading 140 degrees. I panicked for a minute until I saw that everything was still alive and looking great. I dipped my finger in the water and it felt cool. Now I need to buy a replacement.

I remembered that BRS Ryan used to push the Ink Bird controllers. I went on BRS to get one and it was bad review after bad review about it loosing calibration and/or erroring out after 6 months.

Any recommendations on a good heater controller?

I've had an InkBird for 4 years. Never had an issue

 

[X-37B]

I was using just the Hygger in my 15. I was trying to keep it very basic. My 250 is super complex and controlled with an Apex Pro. Though the 250 doesn't have a heater. Just fans.

Now I guess I am going to be using another Hygger on the 15, but with a Hydros to keep it from cooking the tank.

I started with the 50 and now use the 100 with the supplied controller. So far it's working fine.