06-08-2011, 10:16 PM | #1 |
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FORTEXX ATC-210 fancy thermostat
I put this in Evolving Husbandry becasue its a clever thermostat that might be of interest to people who look on this forum. But I suppose it might belong in Housing in which case it will be moved there.
It was RFM Chris who suggested this product to me so thanks to him. This thermostat costs £44 - about the same as other products such as the Habistat pulse proportional stat but it is 100 times as clever. This is a digital gadget which has a clock, timer, a probe, digital intelligent dimming thermostat and two outlet sockets. This means you can plug in two appliances and if necessary they can both be on at the same time. One socket is controlled by the timer and is rated at 5amps which is not a lot but plenty for a halopgen basking lamp for instance. The other socket is fit for handling a heater at 13amps and up to 600watts which is a lot. Its possible to set different temperatures for 2 different times of day as well as a different one for night time. If you wish you can have the heater and the basking lamp on at the same time and the gadget will do this for you if you set it up that way. I am using it to control a 250Watt ceramic heat emitter at night and the dimmng stat does this brilliantly. During the day I have the timer outlet in use to have a basking lamp on and I have set it up so the ceramic heat emitter does not come on during the day. But in the autumn I'll want both on at times during the day which I can get by re-setting. The gadget has a battery backup for the clock so if I have to unplug things its not a problem and all settings are remembered. The only thing that isn't great about this gadget, in my opinion, is the instructions. After I read read them 20 times I was still baffled. My other half has a VERY logical brain and even she took half an hour to get to the bottom of what this thing can do. It might be suggested that it is too clever for it's own good (the gadget not the OH). The reason Chris suggested this product to me was because I wanted to use a ceramic heat emitter at night but I didn't want to be stuck with the range offerred on the habistat. This thing is digital and you can set any temperature between 0 and 50 degrees C. And the second socket is great, this means less trailing wires in my outdoor setup. So if you have a heat/light control problem which isn't being sorted by the run of the mill thermostats this is worth considering. I forgot to say it also has a temperature alarm you can set if you want which wouold go off if your heating was too feeble to achieve the target temp. And another feature is a circuit that allows you to calibrate the gadget to take account of interference from other electricals. I'm not using those features.
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Testudo Hermanni Hermanni (Corse) tortoises |
06-08-2011, 10:22 PM | #2 |
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It sounds like a useful gadget for a man but you lost me way back!!!
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06-08-2011, 10:24 PM | #3 |
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Its not easy to explain it alley cat. Looks like me and the person who wrote the instructions both need to sharpen up.
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06-08-2011, 10:32 PM | #4 |
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Looked at this Johnathan, great product.
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06-08-2011, 10:41 PM | #5 |
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06-08-2011, 10:53 PM | #6 |
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Fortexx sponsor the fish forum that I use. Loads of people have bought from them and I've never heard anything negative over the years.
For those who keep fish they do a really good heater, comes with a guard and is very accurate |
06-08-2011, 11:06 PM | #7 |
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If I get alley cat right (s)he is saying that there is no need for this gadget. I think it comes down to what anyone's idea of 'need' is. Well... there is a demand for thermostats and this one does a lot of stuff that others don't do and it costs the same.
I'm trying to keep some mediterranean animals outdoors in scotland and this gadget is helping me to do that and its using less energy. But of course I don't really 'need' to have tortoises at all, or I could bring them all in every night and put them in a box in the kitchen but this is very disrupting for them.
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06-08-2011, 11:16 PM | #8 | |
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Quote:
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06-08-2011, 11:21 PM | #9 |
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NO worries at all alley cat!! The thermostat is a tad nerdy I'll admit.
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07-08-2011, 11:13 AM | #10 |
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It's worth the monies just for combined thermostat with timer and the couple of appliances it can cope with.
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