Temperature Controller?

I think I made an e-bay mistake today! I finally got a chest freezer for doing some lagers, so I went online to get a controller. I am mechanically inclined, but electrically retarded. The first thing I came across was a johnson controls A19ACA-14C/ Temperature Controller. There was 1 min left in the auction and it was only 8 bucks so I hopped on it and won. Only problem is it has a manual reset instead of a fixed or adjustable differential. Um, anybody know what that means?

Range -30 to 100 Deg.F. / SPST / Open Low, Manual Reset / 6' Cap. / Bulb Element

All the specs work out except I don't know what the manual reset means. Could it actually be that once the contact is broken, it stays that way until you reset? Hmm, I'm afraid that would be useless for you. I wonder if it can be overriden.

Bobby_M said:

All the specs work out except I don't know what the manual reset means. Could it actually be that once the contact is broken, it stays that way until you reset? Hmm, I'm afraid that would be useless for you. I wonder if it can be overriden.

Click to expand...

Yep, I'm pretty sure that's exactly what it means. It takes the place of the temperature differential reset, so overriding it won't help.

Sorry.

Any speculation on exactly what you'd use that type of controller for in the real world?

Here's the specs on it <click>

Personally, if it works great; it cost you $8. If not it wasn't a huge loss. Get your self a nice extension cord (10' or so) cut it in the middle and wire this thing in. If it doesn't seem to work to your satisfaction or at all get yourself a Ranco and re-use the extension cord. May have to hunt for schematics...

I'm not too worried about it. I wonder what the practical application is for it.

I'm sure it's some kind of safety cutout. You can have the thing in line on a cooling unit that's not supposed to go below 40F, but have this thing trip at 35F, so it would keep your stuff from freezing if the cooling unit went haywire.

That would be my guess, anyway.