I want to connect a thermometer to a light bulb so that the bulb switches on when the temp drops below 86F and turns off when the temp is 86F+ How can I do this?
ok im really not the one that should be answering this question but from what i know i feel like that is not the solution to your problem. all your going to do is throw off your light cycle which is sacred to your plants health. if your having heat issues than thats what you should try and resolve, lights are going to produce heat, its your job to deal with that heat but i think turning it off is not the answer. how is your box set up and what kind of lights?? Is there anyway to set up some type of cooling tube or a way to separate the heat from the lights away from your plants. i mean yeah no lights mean no heat, but no light also means no pot for you lol.
What you need is a temp switch. a device that reads the temp, and opens or closes the circut to the light bulb when the temp gets to a certian point. Google "remote sensor temp switch". i looked through some pages of those results and didnt find an exact product, but the ones i did see seemed out of practical scope. im guessing you want to mount the light outside of the grow area and the temp sensor reads the grow area... temp goes up and ding light comes on and you can respond. Not quite as easy as it sounds. as youll need to first have a power input to the switch/controller and an output to the lightbulb and a signal wire from the actual sensor unit that tells the switch what to do. I would look for a switch that operates on normal household circuts AC 120V 10-20amp that way you wouldent have to step down the power to fit your switch. on a side note the Digital controllers that already measure atmosphere like the harvest master and sentinel brands already have a similar control. they read the temps and turn things on and off based on their measurments. itd be tough even for McGiver to take apart a thermometer and wire the sensor into a switch that works on the proper load for your bulb. If i find something practical ill shoot it over here.
This will do what you want. PSG Controls LV-120HS/55NL Digital Thermostat 22A 120V - eBay (item 200474025821 end time Jun-17-10 13:19:06 PDT) Its made to direct control baseboard electric heaters.
Awesome, thanks! Unfortunately, the project I need the thermometer/light bulb for didn't go the way it was supposed to. I'll try again in a couple months.
This should be titled as "Wiring a Thermostat" I did the same a couple of years ago to a Honeywell room thermostat, I installed it to a plywood box that sat on my now empty 486 pc box that I mounted a 75watt light bulb to the interior of. The idea was that my clones in those peat puks were kept at a constant temperture, moist to cold the light went on. "V"