Ferm room temp control

I'm gonna be building a roughly 4' x 4' fermentation room with a small ac unit. I'm not planning on lagering in it, just keeping it around 65 or so during fermentations. In that case can I just rely on the ac thermostat to regulate the temp, or plug the ac unit into my controller? I'm not sure that I feel comfortable getting inside the unit and direct wiring my controller. I currently use a Johnson 419 with a heat belt only.

I've kinda been kicking the same idea around (building a small "room" in the garage with a window AC unit) my thinking is that its going to depend on the quality of the AC unit you use and how accurate its thermostat is.

I'd use a probe in the room near your fermenter and let that johnson control the AC unit.

If you do use an external/add-on controller on the AC feed be sure to verify it can handle the amperage for the AC unit. I have a small room AC unit that wanted a 15A circuit, which is more than a Johnson can handle...

Cheers!

I have found, just cooling my house, that using an A/C unit that has a digital display temp, has been the most accurate way to control room temp. The other kind with a dial are hit and miss. Last unit I purchased is only a 11k BTU and outperformed the 15k BTU it replaced. You could probably get away with the smallest window unit they make. Insulate the heck out of the room and it would barely need to run.