Anycontrol AC-211 Thermostat Review: Very Affordable!

[ClaudFoldszin]

re anythermostat,

:|

Hey again guys!

I just wanted to give a review of our latest purchase, a thermostat!

As you all probably agree, it's a very, very, valuable and practical thing to own for both your herps safety, and peace of mind, but unfortunately they can be extremely expensive and complex.
We bought this because we were going on vacation for 3 weeks and the temperature before was controlled by a manual dial (rheostat); which obviously means you have to be there in order to care for your herp and adjust accordingly for a hot or cold day. So here goes a little review just to help anybody who might need one on a budget.

We bought an "anycontrol AC-210 thermostat" from eBay. I know people will freak out about the quality of a product since it most definitely is made in China and of course we bought it on-line. I have done some pretty reasonable watching and testing and can say I highly recommend it, and it feels extremely solid.

+It was one hell of a good deal at $30 +shipping
+The capabilities are fantastic: you can have a night and day mode and set the times and temps to whatever you please
+ALARM capability so if the temp drops too low or goes too high it will alert you
+LED screen makes everything very easy to adjust and use

The only annoying part I found about this is that the left plug is the only one controlled by the thermostat, and the right plug is only controlled by the timer. So if you have a heat lamp you only want on in the day, its perfect; for us however, we have two heat mats. One large mat at the left end, and one small mat in the middle. I turned down the middle one to about 30-40% less power than the left mat, so we now have a flawless gradient 24/7 that Bill can adjust and manoeuvre around happily to regulate himself.

The other part which is unfortunate is the length of the thermostat and probe is not very good, it has to be located somewhat close to the unit itself, probably 50-60cm.

In Summary...

-Although the unit itself is not domestic made and the brand recognition is not high, it's a very solid and well built little machine
-The alarm is very useful just in case a plug comes loose or a mat or bulb fails
-It is an absolute perfect thermostat for the caring herp owner on a budget!

We left for 3 weeks last month, fed Bill before we went, and had our good friend (who know's very little about snakes" over and asked him just to routinely change the water and spray the tank to give him some humidity, and check on the temps. Each day/night he checked the temps were flawless, no alarms, no problems, happy snakes, and happy owners!

Thanks for reading guys, I just wanted to write this to offer help and options to people looking to upgrade their set-up or who might want peace of mind!

If you have any questions please message me at any point!

Here's a picture to show you and a quick search for temp controller on ebay will reveal them.


View attachment 317635

when i have my uv light in the timer it turns off the heat lamp too, the instructions that come with it are a bit vague, mine will only go to 32 temp now but when i got it went much higher is there any way to reset it? or am i doing something wrong

 

[mikethemidget]

:|
when i have my uv light in the timer it turns off the heat lamp too, the instructions that come with it are a bit vague, mine will only go to 32 temp now but when i got it went much higher is there any way to reset it? or am i doing something wrong

Only the right side plug is controlled by the timer. The left is used for heating or cooling depending on what setting you have it on. (it will say the word cool or heat in the top right). If the temp isn't reaching its normal, I would recommend going through every single setting to confirm it's set appropriately. And then confirm the sensor is in the right place and working properly. The settings are probably where your problems lay unless it's finally given up. I should also say it's winter. And extremely cold now. If you don't have a high enough wattage, the mat/lamp will not be able to sustain the settings. If you need me to post the manual for it I can.

 

[floweringqueen]

How the hell does one program it? I have just acquired one with no manual. Could you help?

 

[notechistiger]

Like Smittiferous and a few others, I simply use an appropriately sized wattage of heat source and a high enough basking spot so that the tank is never in any risk of overheating. I'll go a step further and say I don't run them at all even when it's a hot day (but I'm home often and I just turn off the heating all together if it's an issue).

The only thermostat I have running is in my dragon tank but that's honestly pure laziness. The supermarket I went to didn't have the wattage I wanted so I went with a higher one and put it on a thermostat. Lucky it's in my house and very easy to monitor. I haven't bothered to change it since I got the lizard haha.

Although I haven't used thermostats in a long time, I appreciated ones that worked consistently. I'd much prefer having the peace of mind with a more expensive model, however if this is the only thing you can get your hands on at some point, I'm sure it would suffice for a while!

 

[ronhalling]

This might help those who are having problems working out how to program the 2 plug thermostat/timer, just keep in mind most of the cheap 1s from ebay that come from china are in reverse i.e. plug for timer is actually on the left and not on the right as stated in instructions. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) -ronhalling

 

[mikethemidget]

Hey guys so sorry I haven't been receiving notifications for this thread!
I've scanned and included the instructions for the Anycontrol 211 here. If theres any other questions just ask!

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[floweringqueen]

Many thanks!! I have no idea where this one comes from...will have to do some testing to see which plug is which. Is there any indicator on the unit at all of it's origin?