Ranco Digital vs. Johnson Analog

[DFCARTER]

So I am going to make a keezer/lager fermentor from a freezer and I was analyzing the good and bad of these controllers.

The one thing that I see is lets say I got on vacation for a week and i have my lagers in the freezer. Power goes out for an hour, not a giant deal unless the digital one freaks and does not stay at the temp, the analog with a dial will have no problems continuing on. Is there a fail safe on the ranco for this?

 

[david_42]

Failsafe? Don't know, but my Ranco does remember the settings when unplugged.

 

[bbognerks]

I have a Johnson A419ABC-1C digital and it remembers it's settings as well when unplugged. FYI there is a cheap seller of this controller on ebay. Member bigdeals418 sells them for $49 shipped. If none are listed, just contact him and he'll put one up. He also sells the analog version as well as Ranco.

http://myworld.ebay.com/bigdeals418/

Bonus: My first one came with 2 magnetic thermometers

 

[Catt22]

I have a Johnson A419ABC-1C digital and it remembers it's settings as well when unplugged. FYI there is a cheap seller of this controller on ebay. Member bigdeals418 sells them for $49 shipped. If none are listed, just contact him and he'll put one up. He also sells the analog version as well as Ranco.

http://myworld.ebay.com/bigdeals418/

Bonus: My first one came with 2 magnetic thermometers

+1 I also have the Johnson A419 and it has performed flawlessly going on about 4 years. It will retain it's settings in the event of a power outage and if there are multiple outages at close intervals, it has an anti-short cycle delay feature which can help protect the freezer compressor. Admittedly, that scenario would be extremely rare, but a malfunctioning probe could have the same result. I also have three Johnson analog controllers that have been functioning reliably for years.

 

[DFCARTER]

Thanks great info that is not clear from the specs that people post. If you guys are satisfied with that one I will probably go with it.

 

[kmat123]

+1 for the Ranco. If you look around on Ebay you can find them for around $40 shipped. They are easy to wire up and are reliable.

 

[JRems]

I got a ranco from amazon for a little over $40. Seems to work fine

 

[DFCARTER]

On some I cannot tell by the description or pictures if they come with the temp sensor/line by default or not do they always come with that?

 

[bbognerks]

The Johnsons that bigdeals418 sells on ebay come with the temp probe and line. I'm not sure if all of them do. If I remember though, all the johnsons do and the length is based on the part number. The A419ABC-1C comes with a 6' line and probe.

 

[Catt22]

On some I cannot tell by the description or pictures if they come with the temp sensor/line by default or not do they always come with that?

The A419's come with the probe and lead included, however, they do not come from Johnson equipped with the 110v connections. Some of the middlemen suppliers add the power cords/connectors, but their pricing is also a bit higher. It's very easy to add the 110v cords yourself. The probe/lead is replaceable and IIRC they sell for about $20 from Johnson.