Review of inexpensive Chinese thermostat – 8010F

This is a review of an inexpensive 8010F Chinese bang-bang  thermostat that was purchased on eBay for around A$13 complete with thermistor sensor and postage.

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Above is the front view of the thermostat. There are many thermostats on the market with similar front panels, but they differ in internals and most importantly, performance and quality.

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Above, the rating label is clear and informational. It is rated at 10A for resistive loads (AC-1), but it is doubtful that AC-3 motor loads of more than 20-30% of that should be used.

cctstat13Above, a view of the interior. The blue object on the right is a conventional power transformer which provides good isolation of the power input terminals and thermistor terminals.

cctstat03Above, an interior view showing the main MCU on the back of the display daughter board.

Observations

The calibration accuracy was checked with 10k and 1k0 0.1% resistors and the displayed temperature recorded, and calibration constants calculated (Two point thermistor calibration).

Screenshot - 16_06_2015 , 18_50_30

The readings were 24.8° and 98.5 respectively, which is not too far from the nominal 10k/3435 thermistor specified. Note that a two point calibration for a different temperature range is likely to yield slightly different results.

If the thermostat was in fact calibrated for 10k/3435 as labelled, the 10k 0.1% resistor should have read 99.5°, so it is 1.0° in error near 100° which is within spec.

Quality

The thermostat seems of acceptable quality, it works well and there is adequate isolation between the primary power circuit, the sensor, and the output terminals. This is in start contrast to Review of inexpensive Chinese thermostat – MH-1210.

The thermostat was delivered incorrectly against an order for a 12VDC thermostat, not an unusual problem in eBay purchasing. It is a little ironic that the ordered 230VAC thermostat turned out to be unsafe and needed modification to 12VDC to be useful, and this 230VAC thermostat was ordered as 12VDC but is a good 230VAC thermostat.