View Full Version : How do you solve this problem?
mcola78
03/06/2008, 08:00 AM
I have the Neptune Controller II. My wife's cat likes to crawl around the tank and every now and then knocks out the temperature probe. This causes the temperature to drop to false readings below 20 degrees F! As a result the heater then turns on and the tank COOKS!
Current settings are as follows:
- Temp < 77 Heater ON
- Temp > 79 Heater OFF
Can I add a measure for Temp <70 Heater OFF? How will the Neptune know to have it on or off if it is below 77/70?
Thanks in advance for the help.
Tech Diver
03/06/2008, 10:06 AM
You can try this:
http://www.professionalequipment.com/havahart-trap-ez-1085/animal-trap/
or, since you say you get a false reading that is below 20 deg F, you can add something like:
If Temp < 50 HET OFF
If Temp < 50 ALM ON
mcola78
03/06/2008, 10:45 AM
LOL...I think I may just leave the front door open and save the 65.00 :)
I setup the alarm as well but it is wasted if i am on the road traveling.
My concernis with the Temp <50 Het off, and also a Temp <77 Heat on. How will the controller know at 49 degrees to turn the heat on or off?
Tech Diver
03/06/2008, 11:06 AM
Statement order is very important. It should be:
If Temp < 77 Then HET ON
If Temp < 50 Then HET OFF
In this example, at 49 degrees or less the heater would be off. Between 50 degrees and 76 degrees the heater would be on.
The scenario where this won't work is if you have a power failure in Winter and your tank chills down to less then 50 degrees. When your power comes back on, your heater will continue to remain off. But chances are everything would already be dead anyway, so it doesn't really matter.
Glad you liked the trap idea :-)
herb11kigoma
03/06/2008, 12:29 PM
I used wire ties from hardware store and tied all wires together from controller. then tie wrapped the bunch to something thing that is hard to move(in my sump the return line). maybe this would help you.
herb
mcola78
03/06/2008, 02:29 PM
I like the wire ties. Will have to try that. Since my heater doesnt have a limit (at the heating point) without telling it to turn off at, say 78 degrees, it would keep heating to 100 degrees.
Tech Diver
03/07/2008, 09:08 AM
I think that it's always a good idea to put another temp controller in series with the heater to keep from cooking your tank in the event of a sensor failure. In my case, I have a Ranco temp controller that I plug into the DC8. Then I plug my heaters into the Ranco. I have my AC3 programed to keep my tank between 79 and 80 degrees F, but I set my Ranco to shut the heater off at 82 degrees F to protect me should the AC3 or DC8 should fail with a heater-ON setting. I also have another Ranco to keep my chiller from making my tank too cold. It shuts the chiller off at 77 degrees.
This is the Ranco unit that I use:
http://www.rancoetc.com/ranco-etc111000000-digital-temperature-controller-p-86.html
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