Measuring & Control — Climate Controllers

A climate controller drives your equipment from a measured value instead of from a setting you dialled in. The question here is not which brand but what you want to drive it on, and whether you want a single device or a system you keep adding parts to.

What it regulates on

Temperature is the simplest input and the Cli-mate climate controllers at 7, 12 and 16 A do exactly that, electronically and steplessly. A step further are the controllers that tell day from night: the Fertraso FCC 8 A has a light sensor for it, so a separate target applies once your lamps go off and the room cools while humidity climbs. The FTC Twin 7 A has two fan outputs that each hold their own speed, letting extraction lead intake.

A single device or a system

The AC Infinity Controller AI+ and Controller 69 Pro are not standalone regulators but the centre of the UIS system. Sensors are separate items: a climate sensor per controller generation, a soil sensor, and a combined CO2 and light sensor. That is an advantage as long as you know what you are buying, because a controller without the right sensor is not driving on what you assumed.

Cables and adapters are not a detail

UIS comes with a cabling logic of its own. There are extension cables, including female to male and male to male at 3 metres and a right-angled one for tight pass-throughs, plus a Splitter Hub for more devices on one port. The Lighting Adapters Type-A, Type-B and Type-D connect lighting to the controller, and which one you need depends on your fixture rather than on your controller. Check that before ordering. The Wireless Link makes the connection cable-free. The full UIS range is under AC Infinity.

Measuring belongs with it

The three Garden Highpro Thermo-Hygrometers on this page regulate nothing: they show what is happening, including what happened overnight. That is precisely the figure you set a controller from, so in practice they sit side by side. More on them under Thermo-hygrometers. If all you want is to fix a fan speed, as with the manual Smart controllers from Fertraso and SMSCOM, see Fan Controllers.

Frequently asked questions

Why a separate target for the night?
Because no lamps are burning then. The room cools and relative humidity rises as a result, while extraction on the daytime setting steps back. A controller with a light sensor notices the difference itself.

Which Lighting Adapter do I need?
That depends on your fixture, not on your controller. Type-A, Type-B and Type-D are different connections; check which one your lamp has before ordering, because the adapter is where this goes wrong.

Can I run a heater or dehumidifier from these?
That depends on the model and on what it carries in amps. If you want lighting, fan and heating switched together, look at Switch Boxes.