I'd like to start by saying thanks to @Water Dog for answering several questions in another thread on using and installing the Ranco Heater Controller. I've been using my 2016 Apex for heater control on my 200G tank for about 4 months. I have 2 500W Finex heaters. In my Apex control scheme I had one as the primary heater, coming on at 78.2 and off at 78.8. The second would come on at 78 and off at 78.6. This kept tight control, the primary being on most of the time and the secondary kicking on at night when the household temp would go down. I was concerned about the constant cycling of the EB832 relay, but didn't like what I read about reliability of most of the other hobby level temp controllers (Inkbird, BRS Inkbird knockoff etc) but liked what I'd seen of the Ranco ETC 111000 prewired controllers. Heavy duty industrial controller with robust relay. Main question I had was what control scheme to use? The Ranco has only whole digit settings (no tenths in the temp setpoint) and they have a minimum 1 degree deadband so I wondered if I would have to set one at 78 and one at 79 and have a 2 degree window of control or set them both at 79 and maybe they're both fighting each other, I wasn't sure. So I ordered 2, with the 2' shrink wrapped temp element and custom length on the cords (didn't need the standard 6' on the plug and 10' on the female end) for $78/each (Inkbird wifi controller is like $60).
Untitled by Peter Young, on Flickr
Untitled by Peter Young, on Flickr
Untitled by Peter Young, on Flickr
So how did I end up controlling them? Well, It turns out that the temp elements (not sure if they're thermisters or RTD's or what) are slightly off from one another (by about .25 deg). I could tell by looking at when the watts in the socket they were plugged into jumped (heater turning on) when they were both set at 79 deg. So with both set at 79, one stays on almost all the time and the second kicks on at Apex temp of 77.6 and kicks of at 78.6. I do get some overshoot when I am feeding and the return pump shuts off, but that's only in the sump.
So now I just have some logic in the Apex saying if the temp gets over 82 deg turn the heaters off, and when it gets back down to 80 turn them back on. Super happy, and working great.
I was looking for a post like this when I was trying to decide what to do, so thought I'd share my experience for the next reefer with the same questions.
Untitled by Peter Young, on Flickr
Regal-8 by Peter Young, on Flickr
P
Untitled by Peter Young, on FlickrUntitled by Peter Young, on FlickrUntitled by Peter Young, on FlickrSo how did I end up controlling them? Well, It turns out that the temp elements (not sure if they're thermisters or RTD's or what) are slightly off from one another (by about .25 deg). I could tell by looking at when the watts in the socket they were plugged into jumped (heater turning on) when they were both set at 79 deg. So with both set at 79, one stays on almost all the time and the second kicks on at Apex temp of 77.6 and kicks of at 78.6. I do get some overshoot when I am feeding and the return pump shuts off, but that's only in the sump.
So now I just have some logic in the Apex saying if the temp gets over 82 deg turn the heaters off, and when it gets back down to 80 turn them back on. Super happy, and working great.
I was looking for a post like this when I was trying to decide what to do, so thought I'd share my experience for the next reefer with the same questions.
Untitled by Peter Young, on FlickrRegal-8 by Peter Young, on FlickrP
