USB aquarium heater with other uses
Added 2024-11-01 05:36:28 +0000 UTCQuite an odd thing. I'm not sure how much power is normally required to actually heat an aquarium.
I guess it depends on the size and ambient temperature.
I'm sure there are many other uses for a waterproof heater though, including fermentation and avoiding liquid from freezing up in outdoor applications.
Comments
This got me thinking (as your videos usually do). I owned aquariums 30-40 years ago and I had a ballpark wattage in mind for the 10, 27 & 35 gallon tanks I owned at various times. So, I asked copilot (AI) and got the following: "Great question! The general rule of thumb for aquarium heaters is to use 5 watts of heating power per gallon of water. However, this can vary depending on factors like the ambient room temperature and the desired water temperature for your aquarium1. Since your aquarium top is covered, it might help retain heat better, but it's still important to ensure proper heating. If you're unsure, you can always use an aquarium heater wattage calculator to get a more precise estimate based on your specific setup. Do you know the size of your aquarium and the temperature you're aiming to maintain?" An interesting answer to be sure. I see that Anita Davis chimed in with the idea that splitting needed power between 2 heaters are a good idea. It would provide extra power when ambient gets cold or one heater fails and to avoid 'fish soup' if a thermostat sticks (I recall that happening to me many years ago). Cheers!
Scott DeBruyn
2024-11-12 23:55:01 +0000 UTCIt would be cool if you could adjust the heat even lower to say just above freezing. Keeping the bird bath liquid of what have you. Thanks for showing us this Big Clive. Super cool.
Dave Frederick AKA @amorphuc
2024-11-06 23:59:04 +0000 UTCThe solder resist has been printed over the vias leaving a little dimple on both sides.
Big Clive
2024-11-01 23:40:43 +0000 UTCEvery via has a strange "Cat's Eye" - are those plugs in a non-PTH board??
Mike Page
2024-11-01 20:37:00 +0000 UTCThat "heater" is just an uncoated resistor. There's a two pole tester ("test lamp") that uses 2x those in a remote probe in place of a fuse for safety reasons. Why? Because the daft German EN61243 standard prohibits fuses! Why? Because even when "broken" they must detect 50V. Why? Because German standards are designed to push German products. I think if the tester has a continuity function it gets a sick note but that implies batteries.
Mike Page
2024-11-01 20:21:05 +0000 UTCI have one of these as a backup heater for a small 60L fish tank, just in case a long power cut in winter happens as the tank volume is to small to hold heat for very long and the usb heater and a thermal blanket keep the tank just warm enough for the fish for as long as I have charged battery banks. The normal heater in the tank is 50W, and my bigger 350L fish tank has 2 x 200W heaters. Usual rule of thumb is about 1 watt per litre, but I use two for redundancy, if a thermostat fails off the other heater is just enough to stop the water getting to cold, and if one heater thermostat sticks on its not enough wattage to make fish soup.
Anita Davis
2024-11-01 08:31:19 +0000 UTCIf drawing that much current at 5V it really would have been worthwhile using a proper USB-C PD chip, this would have restricted it to power supplies that could actually deliver the current and higher voltage as required. A few pence to the BOM but a massive improvement in the design.
Dennis
2024-11-01 07:01:54 +0000 UTC
