Inkbird Temp controller on wifi?

[Barnabie Mejia]

Hello all,
I am new to the controller (whopping 2 days experience) and I have been playing with it pretty well.... and I'm loving it! I am looking to get the absolute most out of the control 4 (and my wife might not like this, because that means I will end up buying more stuff for it! haha).

I was wondering if I could/ should hook up my inkbird temp controller to the wifi strip? what are the draw backs from it? or is it no longer necessary to have seeing that I have the control 4 now?

I do like having two heaters hooked up to the ink bird for redundancy, but I only have 1 more outlet on my wifi strip at the moment.

what is the advice of the GURUs?!

Thanks,

Barnabie

 

[John Neuzil]

I have my two heaters plugged into the inkbird and then the inkbird into the Hydros power strip. No it is not necessary but I like the extra redundancy of it. Some may call it overkill. If I needed the plug space on the power strip for something else I might do it differently but since I have the room thats how I did it.

 

[Carlos]

You can never have enough redundancy. The way we recommend is to allow the Control to be your primary control and then set the Inkbird to shut off the heater if the temperature gets a little too high. This way, if the Control loses connection to the WiFi outlet and it remains ON, the Inkbird will take over and ensure that the Heater does not remain ON and cook your tank.

 

[Barnabie Mejia]

You can never have enough redundancy. The way we recommend is to allow the Control to be your primary control and then set the Inkbird to shut off the heater if the temperature gets a little too high. This way, if the Control loses connection to the WiFi outlet and it remains ON, the Inkbird will take over and ensure that the Heater does not remain ON and cook your tank.

Makes sense! thank you!
Do you recommend shutting the heater off when doing a water change? Heater is in my sump and I usually pull the 25 gallons from the display.....


Also @Carlos I wanted to personally say thank you to you and Dave. I was really on the fence about which controller to go with and was just about to buy an APEX, but then I heard your interview on the Reef News Network about the Hydros and all the features and ease of programming. it convinced me to jump on this side of the fence! I am happy with it and I have a great feeling knowing that more is coming down the pipeline! I can't wait for an AWC to come out, it will make my tank maintenance so much better on me and my sons! Thank you again!

 

[Carlos]

Makes sense! thank you!
Do you recommend shutting the heater off when doing a water change? Heater is in my sump and I usually pull the 25 gallons from the display.....

I do not. If the water gets to a certain temperature, the controller will shut it off anyway.

Also @Carlos I wanted to personally say thank you to you and Dave. I was really on the fence about which controller to go with and was just about to buy an APEX, but then I heard your interview on the Reef News Network about the Hydros and all the features and ease of programming. it convinced me to jump on this side of the fence! I am happy with it and I have a great feeling knowing that more is coming down the pipeline! I can't wait for an AWC to come out, it will make my tank maintenance so much better on me and my sons! Thank you again!

Very kind of you to say. Thank you for making our day. We are working hard every day to make this product a good competitive option for all hobbyists. We got a lot of things in store that we think everybody will like. Thank you for being patient and for your support even through our growing pains!

 

[Hasted]

I have mine set in order of cost.
1. I have 2x Finnex heaters that have their own thermostat. This is set to my desired tank temp.
2. I then have my Inkbird set just above the heater in case something happens.
-You will want to set a scene in Inkbird app to cycle the power of the Inkbird to reset the Continuous Heat alarm as it is only able to be maxed out to 96 hours iirc. Only flaw of the Inkbird in my eyes. I have mine cycle its power at midnight. I have had zero problems doing this. If you do not, you may run into your Inkbird screaming at you because it stayed on continuously for too long.
3. THEN I have my Control another degree above that.

I want my heater to wear out first. I am going to replace them before that happens (hopefully), so why not. My Hydros is what I want to wear out the slowest as it is the most expensive.

Just an option. The way Carlos mentioned is probably the more popular way.

 

[John Neuzil]

I have mine set in order of cost.
1. I have 2x Finnex heaters that have their own thermostat. This is set to my desired tank temp.
2. I then have my Inkbird set just above the heater in case something happens.
-You will want to set a scene in Inkbird app to cycle the power of the Inkbird to reset the Continuous Heat alarm as it is only able to be maxed out to 96 hours iirc. Only flaw of the Inkbird in my eyes. I have mine cycle its power at midnight. I have had zero problems doing this. If you do not, you may run into your Inkbird screaming at you because it stayed on continuously for too long.
3. THEN I have my Control another degree above that.

I want my heater to wear out first. I am going to replace them before that happens (hopefully), so why not. My Hydros is what I want to wear out the slowest as it is the most expensive.

Just an option. The way Carlos mentioned is probably the more popular way.

Exactly how I do it for the same reasons. Except for the power cycle.

 

[SomethingFishy]

I have been informed by Inkbird that on the latest version of the Inkbird 306A you can set the continuous time alarm to zero, which disables it. You then wouldn't have to turn it off and on with the Hydros to reset the time counter. I'm not sure how you can tell which models have this updated software and which don't before purchase.

 

[Hasted]

I have been informed by Inkbird that on the latest version of the Inkbird 306A you can set the continuous time alarm to zero, which disables it. You then wouldn't have to turn it off and on with the Hydros to reset the time counter. I'm not sure how you can tell which models have this updated software and which don't before purchase.

I use the Inkbird app to turn on and off the Inkbird. Not Hydros.

Mine isn't new, unfortunately. I will keep an eye out for an updated model for the future. Thanks!!