Ranco temperature controller or use Aquacontroller

[The Saltman]

Hi guys,

I plan to get an Aquacontroller 3. However, I don't trust the temperature probe and have read many horror stories about it failing. Would a Ranco temperature controller be a better option? I would still have an AC3 and would use it for other things.

Thanks

[BigJay]

Neptune just started selling a new kind of temp probe that's supposedly much better than the ones they sold in the past.

I have one, but have only been running it for a few months. I can't really speak to it's longevity, but it's always been within one degree (lower) of agreement with a mercury thermometer on the same system.

Would it be a good plan to use the AC as a "failsafe"? I can program the ports "ON" and only shut them off if the tank temp exceeds 82. The thermostats on the two individual heaters should take care of the rest, no?

[tkeracer619]

I would use the Ranco. The AC3 will still shut things off if the temps get too high. Use heaters without a thermostat such as a titanium stick.

[areze]

IMO if I have the heater on a controller, and set their own thermostats, it should be fairly failsafe.

if the AC fails, and reads 100 degrees, this is your biggest concern, you heaters go off, you tank drops temp, if you have fans they will kick on. hopefully you have an alarm going off. at worst the tank comes down to mid 70s unless you have some special situation of ambient temps very low. this shouldnt be an issue to most any tank.

if it fails to read 50degrees, heaters come on, fan comes off, your thermostats on the heaters should cut it off and your just running your tank without fans for a while.

both cases, you should be ok... to say a ranco is impervious to failure would be foolish; better to just plan for the worst case.

[sditch]

I just bought a tradewinds 1/3 chiller and it came with the Ranco controller. I have a AC3 so I have not used the controller yet but I did have a temp probe fail on me once on the AC3 and read 100 F, luckly I had fans for the cooling at the time and I got email alerts on my blackberry so it was no big deal besides controlling my fans until the temp probe was replaced.

I plan on maybe using the Ranco inline with the AC3 as a saftey measure at some point.

[MJAnderson]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13037389#post13037389 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by BigJay
Neptune just started selling a new kind of temp probe that's supposedly much better than the ones they sold in the past.

I have one, but have only been running it for a few months. I can't really speak to it's longevity, but it's always been within one degree (lower) of agreement with a mercury thermometer on the same system.

Would it be a good plan to use the AC as a "failsafe"? I can program the ports "ON" and only shut them off if the tank temp exceeds 82. The thermostats on the two individual heaters should take care of the rest, no?

Annoying thing with Neptune is that he refused to admit there was even an issue with the old probes. He kept blaming the user for abusing them. Then all the sudden the probes get 'upgraded'. Take the high road and admit you made a mistake. While the C clamps breaking on all my Tunze nanos was a pain and frustrating, having Tunze admit the issue and replace them at no cost made it acceptable. Neptune's 'deny but fix' approach soured me to them for life.

[Paulairduck]

My new neptune has the same probe, as the one on the ranco controllers, it looks much better now.

[ccoral]

use ranco

[Newreeflady]

I don't know about the AC3, but definitely thumbs up for Ranco.

I didn't realize how much my heater and chiller were dualing until I installed the Ranco... now the chiller barely comes on at all! And, when it does, it takes way less time to cool off the tank.

-A

[darkcirca]

His reasoning behind blaming everyone was because they "cannot replicate" our problems. I've had 2 of his probes fail, and just got my 3rd a month or so ago, this time it's the new model (which he did replace out of warranty).

As for trust wise, I prefer my Ranco over the ACJr anyday. I use temp controllers for all my reptiles, and my incubator, and have never experienced problems (and those probes are treated bad - half the time they are bent, twisted, and shoved in small areas).

If my tank wasn't right besides my bed room, I would definitely consider the Ranco on it. I just cannot for the life of me stand the clicking noise, as it is not a proportional thermostat.