Isotherm ITC Digital Display Intelligent Temperature Control

[RoyS]

Not so. You are missing the point of all my ranting directed at Isotherm. If you select ITC Mode, the system will always run at full output until it reaches the overcool temperature setting. The selected battery protection level has no effect on the overcool function. The system will never automatically switch out of overcool even if your batteries go way below your battery protection setting. I had extensive discussions with all of Isotherm's service people located in Florida. I also engaged the vendor that sold me the system in those discussions. Due to my persistence, the service department transmitted my concerns to "the Engineers in Italy" who responded with the following. "There is probably some problem with the voltage sensing but if you just manually switch to ECO Mode when the engine is off, problem solved!" Flying Mike, the system does not work as advertised and the manufacturer does not care. They have had years to fix this. You and I and probably a lot of other people were lied to by Isotherm and we all have defective systems. Fellow Sailors beware! Vendors take note.

 

[FlyingMike]

If you turn off overcool in the settings menu (my default setting was overcool off) and just leave it in ITC is the system working correctly then? Is it dropping down to low (2500rpm) when you’re not charging your batteries? Have you tried setting it to battery protection 3 (that’s where mine is currently set) to see if that makes a difference? I just installed mine this weekend and I didn’t get a chance to play around with it too much other than I turned it on and set it for 41° Room temp was 72° and it took about 1 hour to get it to 41°. I than turned on overcool (in the settings menu) and saw it dropped the temp in the box to 35° after a bit more time as I expected. I was on shore power the whole time and my battery voltage was 13.6+ so I expected it to run at high speed that whole time. This next weekend i’ll go turn off the battery charger and see if it operates as I expect it to and drops down to low power when battery voltage drops. I’ll also test the overcool settings to see if I get a different result than what you are experiencing.

 

[RoyS]

I will be interested in your results.
Isotherm has a short advertisement video on line about this system. It explicitly states that the system is automatic while a printed sentence in the video background states that you must operate it manually. The print font of the true statement is obviously different than the rest of the fake video's print. It is my guess that when they discovered that the system failed to work as advertised someone added that true sentence to the original video. Correcting the problem never entered their thinking. What you and I purchased was a digital thermostat with two manually selectable compressor speed choices - no more, no less. You cannot shame these folks into corrective action.

 

[FlyingMike]

Well after playing around with it all morning my ITC seems to work EXACTLY as advertised. I have it set to 39°, and when I had my battery charger on it dropped the box to 33-34° And ran at full RPM’s (exactly as overcool should) and when I unplugged my battery charger the box slowly warmed up to 39° over a few hours and when the compressor came on it was running at lower RPM’s exactly as it should. I plugged my battery charger back in and it went right back into overcool. But it did do something a little bit different here than I was expecting. So when it got to 37° I unplugged my charger again to see if it would come out of overcool and it DIDN'T it seemed to stay on and it stayed on at full RPM’s until it reached the overcool temp and the compressor turned off. Then I let it sit to see what it did next. When the box got back up to 40° (the set temp is 39°) the compressor came back on it was back to the lower power setting of 2500rpms.
Sooo what I can conclude so far. (I will test it more as the day goes on) that if you have overcool turned on and it detects the higher voltage it enters overcool mode and seems to want to stay in overcool until it reaches the temperature threshold for the overcool setting and once it reaches that temp it will then come out of overcool and go back into normal ITC mode.
My battery voltage never dropped below 12.7 during this whole test and with the charger on it goes up to 14.6. It took quite some time for my battery voltage to come down to 12.7 after I unplugged my charger and that could be why it stayed in overcool after I unplugged my charger.
A few other numbers
Low power (2500 rpms): pulls between 2.9 and 3.25 amps.
Full power (3500 rpms): pulls 5 amps at start up but seemed to slowly come down and settle around 4.25 amps.

 

[FlyingMike]

So Roy after all my testing I think either you have a defective part, or perhaps something is wired incorrectly. I would say go back and check your connections against the wire diagram again and if that all checks out I would call iSOTHERM again and tell them to send you a new one.

 

[RoyS]

Interesting. I originally asked Isotherm for a new circuit card because the system stayed in overcool regardless if battery voltage. They told me that was normal and to switch it manually. They refused to supply any replacement parts. I have given up with them. At least your runs half correctly.

 

[MikeHoncho]

They sent me a standard thermostat to replace it for free. Haven't had a problem yet

 

[walmsleyc]

Data point here:

I recently installed the SP unit with the ITC control.

I too have found that when it enters OC mode, I have to do something to get it out of that mode. I usually just turn the breaker off and on, and it goes back to normal. If it goes on automatically and does not go off automatically, then that feature is useless. Image it going into OC mode in late afternoon and you're at anchor, and you are powered by solar, and the sun goes down. The things will grind at your batteries when you no longer have a charging source. I have disabled OC mode, and it works fine as a regular thermostat.

I do use it manually, just because doing that works. I manually lower the temperature if we're motoring all day, or on shore power. And I raise it when on solar only.

Chris

 

[RoyS]

Unless I am mistaken, the I in ITC stands for Intelligent, Intelligent Temperature Control. Should be named MTC for Manual Temperature Control. For savage amusement try to shame Isotherm into correcting the problem or even admitting it.