Hey, no apology needed and no problem. I happen to know much about controllers (and less about biology) so I jump up and down whenever the subject comes up. Most people are confused on proportional vs ON/OFF, and I thought your original post would add to that. Its all straight now.



You are correct, with ambient temps around 80 deg, you will see little cycling. Believe me, if your room temp was 65 deg, you'd hear that little relay clicking away and see your heat tape temp go from 90 to 86 (or less) and back and forth all day and night. Not that big of deal really, but it isn't the best it can be. The point is, a proportional controller would hold it more steady even whether the room temp was cold or warm, so for people like me trying to keep exotic snakes in a room that is unheated, proportional is the way to go for heat pads and tapes. Your situation is different, and an ON/OFF controller will work fine. In an insulated incubator, ON/OFF control works great.



The bottom line is that Rancos are excellent ON/OFF thermostats, and if they are working great for you in your environment, then there is no reason to change. But to answer your question, in a fight to maintain a set temp, Big Apple's proportional controller would win.

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