BN-LINK Digital Temperature Controller Heating Cooling 2-Stage Outlet Thermostat Controller Plug for Reptiles Aquarium Carboy Homebrew Breeding Fermenter Seed Germination °C/°F -40-176°F 15A/1875W

I've been using this product for a few years now and it is genuinely one of those rare products that is just uncompromisingly good. At the risk of sounding like a review robot, I want to elaborate on my experiences with this device and why it's been one of the best electronics I've bought from Amazon.To clarify, I have only ever used this device for controlling the temperature of my living space, not for any agricultural or misc purposes. Despite this, as someone who is a nut for home automation, this device serves its purpose perfectly.HEATING OUTLET, COOLING OUTLETThe device works by providing electricity to one of its two outlets based on user-defined conditions. These outlets are helpfully labeled "HEATING" and "COOLING". Having a single device that can control both a heating solution and a cooling solution is SIGNIFICANTLY more intuitive than having two separate systems, one for heating and one for cooling.A WIFI-FREE SOLUTIONMany similar devices are wifi-controlled. That can be a good thing if that product allows for more advanced setups like schedules, but in positions like mine where I live in University Housing (where IoT devices are not allowed to connect to the internet, only complete devices like Computers and Phones can) having an analog system has been ESSENTIAL. Being able to just plug the device in and push a few buttons instead of filing an application with the property holder to add a special exception for the device on the network is much more elegant.PERFECTLY ADEQUATE CONFIGURATION OPTIONSThe device has plenty of variables that can be used to create the exact behavior you want. Some highlights include:SU - "Set Unit" - The ideal temperature you would likeHd - "Heating Differential" - How many degrees colder than the Set Unit the temperature must be before the heat comes on.Cd - "Cooling Differential" - Home many degrees warmer than the Set Unit the temperature must be before the cooling comes on.PT - "Time Differential" - After the system reaches the SU, the system will wait for at least PT number of minutes before allowing any outputs to turn on.By mixing and matching Hd, Cd, and PT it is possible to create very specific behaviors. I will elaborate on this in the next section.GREAT FOR SPREADING OUT CYCLESOne way I use the device is to control my air portable conditioner. By default, my AC will turn on when the temperature drifts by more than ~1*F from the target. This can result in a lot of really short cycles that can be distracting. By configuring my device with a Cd of 3 and a PT of 4, I can make it so that my device runs for longer but less frequently. This is ideal given how jarring the transition in volume between idle and operating modes in portable air conditioners.DURABILITYThe device is extremely durable. My device has seen a fair bit of abuse and functions exactly how it did when I got it. I also appreciate how the cable that connects the device to the outlet is very thick, as this pretty much ensures any devices you plug into the outlets on the device will not be drawing too much power for thin cables to handle. My only consideration is the rather flimsy cable for the temperature probe. As long as you are gentle with it it will be fine but because its connector is a 90* angle it can sometimes be easy to bump it.That's all I've got for now. In a world where products are getting cheaper and flimsier, it's reassuring to see products that are durable and practical. No gimmicks, no risks, if you want to control a heating and cooling system through an external analog device I really think this is the device for you.

I have this in my greenhouse to control a heater during cold nights, it arrived just before the first severe frost and I got it set up the day of the frost with a small heater and crossed my fingers. Worked great with no fiddling around and has been perfect since.As others have noted, the way the controls work is a little unexpected, if I set it to a heater temp of 50F with 5F difference, it will start heating at 44.8/44.9F-ish but cuts off sooner than I would have expected, say around 46.5F or so. I kind of expected it to run up to 50F with this setting.I was considering deducting a star for this but it is working so reliably, once I understood this, that I'll give it 5 stars anyway.

It's pretty clear an electrical engineer wrote the user manual. It's needlessly complex and left me unsure if the poor performance was due to a defect or because I don't have the right kind of degree to run the thing.The idea is pretty simple, it's got a heating plug and a cooling plug. Plug your heater into heat and you cooler into cool. Then set the desired temp followed by a value below the set temp where you want it to start heating and a value above where you want it to cool. But the manual is written in a "PV < SV - HD" type approach that is just needlessly complex to me. All it did in the end was leave me wondering if I really understood what they were saying here. PV, which I started calling Probe Value (not what they call it) is basically what temp the thermometer probe is reading. SV is set value (or the temp you are shooting for). HD is heat difference, which I think means the number of degrees under the SV at which point it's supposed to power the heat plug and CD is cool difference, which is the number of degrees over the SV at which point it is supposed to cool.Neither heating or cooling would ever kick on. The PV value would just cruise over the SV value and alarm. Then I'd manually unplug heat and the temp would drop into set range, I'd plug heat back in and then the temp would fall below the HD value and never kick on the heat plug.Since I was just using heat in this application, I could ignore the cool but I set it anyway. And no matter what I set the heat/cold difference values to, the heat would never turn on and the cold wouldn't either.There's also no way to disable the alarms permanently. So I got crazy beeping the whole time I was trying to get this thing to work. You can silence the alarm with the CLR button but only until the next breach in temp.Returned it and bought something else that is hopefully more functional, more clear and less esoteric in usage instructions

First, the controller does an excellent job of controlling the temperature, and seems to maintain the wifi connection very well. I use it for controlling the heat in my outdoor water treatment shed, so the piping won't freeze up; I do not use it as an AC controller.The temperature probe seems well made, and is easy to install in the measurement location you need it; plenty of cord length for a small shed. My only issue is the setup. There is no manual for this device; the brief guide that comes with it does not provide nearly enough information, and what it does provide is not adequate. I searched on-line for a manual on the BN-Link web site, but there is none for this model.The hardest part was getting it set up on wifi. There is no WiFi or "connect" button on the device, and no WiFi "reset" or "on/off" button. I'm an engineer, so I'm pretty good with controllers and with software apps. I eventually got it set up and connected to wifi, based on my experience with other apps and controllers. The good news is that once it connected, the BN-Link App works great. You can easily set and control the temperature range from your phone or tablet.Overall, a great device as a controller, it just needs a better user-interface, and a detailed instruction manual for connecting it to WiFi and the BN-Link App. Otherwise, I would have given it a 5-star rating.

Ça fonctionne très bien. Très facile à utiliser.

Fácil de usar, permite encender y apagar aparatos de calefacción, ventiladores, refrigeradores.Ejemplo de uso, hacer operar un refrigerador en un rango de -3C a 3CParametros que se configuran con Set y Up/DownSV o SU -3CCD 6CAl llegar a -3C se apaga, y encenderá 6 grados después a los 3CPara fermentar entre 16C a 21CSV 16CCD 5C

This controller was super easy to setup. And an absolute life saver for my plants, and myself. Canadian winters are cold, so growing indoors can be tricky without the proper temperatures plants cant theive. Well with this BN Link controller its simple plug and play.

spent hours trying to get it to work, read the poor instructions and watched some video, still to no avail!!