I'm an amateur carpenter and tinkerer of all things flashy and shiny. I built a cabinet style TV stand / AV hutch for my flat screen and entertainment components. The front of the unit has doors which stay closed most of the time, so I needed a way of keeping all my toys inside cool. An AV receiver can get hot pretty quick if no ventilation is available. I've heard the latest gaming consoles will put off a good bit of heat as well, and one of those will be in the unit soon too. Given my need for a breeze, I installed two small PC-style quiet cooling fans (12V, 200mv each), wired in parallel and venting out the back panel (airflow enters around the doors). I then wired this temperature switch between them and a 12v wall wart rated for 400mv. Once the temp gets a little too high in the cabinet, the fans kick on and cool things down within a matter of minutes. The temp does have to get a little hotter than I would like to kick on, usually around 95 or so, but the next temp scale on the 80 degree switch had a low end of 65 degrees. My house temp runs around 70 degrees, so that switch would have caused the fans to run all the time.
Granted there are other options for my application. I wouldn't feel right describing it above for others without mentioning the fact that you could go with a ready made product like the "Coolerguys Cabcool1202". That is an all-in-one cabinet cooler with the power converter, dual fan setup, and thermostat all built it. It runs around $70 and has a slightly lower temp scale, more suitable for cabinet electronics. I like to tinker, and didn't want to spend that much money though. This little switch suites my needs, and my whole setup only cost about $35 to construct.
Note that you will probably need to construct some sort of bracket to securely fasten this switch for oddball applications like mine. I made a simple one out of a piece of wood, two small bolts and a few nuts. Also check out the power range of this thing. I'm only running it at 12V and 400ma. However, it will carry up to 250V @ 25amps!
5 stars because it works, not sure how else I would rate it. I did not deduct given my need for a mounting bracket as that was an application specific issue, not a product issue. Also, I have not tested the actual open/close temps with a separate thermometer yet, but these types of switches are usually pretty reliable within their specified ranges.
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I used this on a heater in a retirement home room. The heater is cycled hot water with a constant running fan. The unit is under an outside window. When the hot water stops then you get cold air. I put this switch on the heating element and in series with the fan motor. Now all you get is heat and no cold air. Makes the room a lot more comfortable because of the even tempature.
I always buy through Amazon if I can because of good parts with good prices and no rip offs in shipping costs.
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Using this switch to turn on fans in my entertainment cabinet. On and off temps are a little higher than I wanted, but this was the closest available. Could use some info on type of connector needed for wires.
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This device works exactly as expected and has an auto reset to boot. This device closes on thermal achievement, meaning it completes a circuit and does not break it. I use this to trip a relay that engages full vents in the mechanical room.
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I fabricated my own RV refrigerator vent fans and installed this on the flame tube as shown on another site. I used a 1/2 inch aluminium wire tie down and formed it to the shape I needed, then attached this with nuts and screws. Be careful not to over tighten. After starting the fridge and the sensor warmed up the fans kicked on and all works fine.
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