ETCI-1R Temp controller

[trebor69]

I am pretty sure a few of you out there have these. Back in January I bought one from Jehmco for a 75g with corner overflow/sump.

It worked really well until a little over a week ago. Then it suddenly started reading squirrely. I looked one day and it read 64F and the next day it said 116F. Obviously not reading correctly or a couple G's worth of plecos would be dead.

I had it set up with 2 heaters(in the sump) running off of it and the temp probe in the corner overflow. (which I know isnt ideal) But it had been working flawlessly and maintaining a constant 80 degrees.

The 2 heaters were working as well as they could via their own thermostats. But I don't know if/when the controller was supplying them power.

I spoke with John and he is going to take a look at it for me so I should have an answer soon as to whether its the controller itself or just the sensor...

but anyway I was just wondering if anyone else had run into this problem or heard of it happeneing to anyone else?

[Jhhnn]

There's a certain failure rate for any electronic device, and some of it falls into the category of "infant mortality", early failure.

I see it at work all too regularly. Basically, if a component will last for a year, it'll probably last for many more...

I've been using the same controller for a couple of months, and it hasn't missed a lick, knock on wood...

I do like the idea of having failsafes, backups, particularly on heaters, as I cooked a school of young discus with a stuck heater many years ago. Broke my heart. We were gone on a 3 day weekend, and, well, you know the rest.

Even with your bad experience with the one, it's still smart to use 'em on tanks full of valuable livestock, that's for sure...

Heaters, in general, seem to suck desperately- The old green ebos were pretty solid, but I'm not thrilled with the new blue ones. I have 4, 2 on a controller, one in a 75, another in an ageing vat... they're not very old, and the one in the 75 isn't acting quite right, so I'll switch it with the one in the ageing vat tonight... see what happens. I think I'll try the Rena's next- people seem to be pleased with 'em... and I'll spring for a controller for the 75 RSN... probably order it on monday.

[trebor69]

yah.... I read a lot of good reviews on these before I ordered one.

Lucky me eh? lol

I have an old temp controller I got from Jehmco many years ago. It is still working great....forget the model but it has a little dial inside to set the temp and I had to wire it up myself with an xtension cord.

I haven't sent this one back yet with it being the holiday weekend and all. Probly get it in the mail on Monday then wait for word from John on what he thinks went wrong with it.

I need another controller and was soon to order a 2nd one of these,,,then this happened. I hope it was just a fluke.

[Jhhnn]

The Ranco's seem to be very well regarded across a variety of temp control scenarios- food, industry, horticulture, pets- you name it. Which means their engineering and QC are very good. If the premature failure rate is 1 in 1000, let's say, somebody has to get the bad one- it's the luck of the draw...

I think you're smart to use conventional heaters rather than the titanium heater elements- set a few degrees higher than normal operation, they serve as backup for the controller- Plan "B" is online and automatic, never a bad thing...

Years ago, before submersible heaters became ubiquitous, the Danner Supreme HOB heaters were widely used. Regardless of the wattage, they all used the same simple bimetallic control element. As they aged, the points would erode, get sticky, resulting in cooked fish. Savvy hobbyists (who could afford it) often wired two low wattage units in series, with one set higher than the other- same basic idea, having a backup...

You might want to call John on Monday, see if he'll cross-ship a replacement. Really shouldn't be a problem if the unit is still in the warranty period. Have him ship 2, get the other one you want, save a little on shipping... Dunno if he does things that way or not, but there's only one way to find out...

[trebor69]

I already gave John a call. He wants me to send the whole thing back so he can look at it.....may be just the probe/thermistor went bad.

I bought it back in January....so once he determines what went wrong we will go from there. I will probably have him send me 2 back.

I dunno....the thing does react to temp changes....it just reads WAY off in both directions with no consistency at all.

I am soooo glad the heaters took over and controlled the temp. If my 8 L183s would have got cooked I might have cried lol.