# Thermostat Fault



## WhatAShane (Oct 11, 2021)

Hey everyone! Just wondering how many of you here have used the Microclimate Evo Lite thermostat?

I have had mine for almost a year and despite the touch screen being a little frustrating to use due to having to press pretty hard to get it to recognise anything, its been a great piece of kit.... Up until now. A few days ago I tapped the screen to wake it up and check the temp of my leopard gecko enclosure. It was working great temp was fine all was good so i let it be, usually after a little while the screen would go off. After a couple of hours i checked on the reptiles and noticed the screen was still on so i held my finger on the lock icon and nothing happened i then tried to access other things like temperature settings and the screen just was not responding at all. The next day I tried unplugging it and plugging it back in but that did not fix the problem, the stat was still working with the DHP so again i left it be. Today i attempted to fix it again, i unplugged it for about an hour or so, plugged it back in and this time its just not turning on at all and is no longer working with the heat source...... Luckily I have spare thermostats in the shed but its a shame because this stat was great and quite expensive! I was even thinking about getting one for each of my other enclosures but if they are going to have issues then I am unsure. I am going to be contacting Swell Reptiles in the next couple of days to see if they can help as they were the retailers I bought the product from and if they cant help then I will be contacting Microclimate themseleves but if anyone here has any solutions that would be really helpful!

Thanks in advance!
Shane

PS: This is Char, the gecko whose thermostat has unfortunately broken down😑


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## jam5971 (Dec 31, 2016)

Check your warranty I seem to remember seeing somewhere Microclimate warranties are 5 years!
I might be wrong but worth checking.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## WhatAShane (Oct 11, 2021)

jam5971 said:


> Check your warranty I seem to remember seeing somewhere Microclimate warranties are 5 years!
> I might be wrong but worth checking.
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


Oh wow 5 years? I'll try and find out thanks! Sadly I think I threw away the box and everything for it. I was worrying it would only be a year meaning it would be up next month but I will have a look.


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## Malc (Oct 27, 2009)

Warranty's are meaningless. Under the consumer rights act an item should be expected to last for a reasonable amount of time. Given the cost of these units you would expect them to give more than 12 months service. But as Microclimate believe in their products and its life time, they do indeed offer a 5 year warranty



> Backed by our 5 year warranty and completely designed and manufactured in house in the UK.


https://www.microclimate.co.uk/product/evo-lite/


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## retic666 (Jan 18, 2021)

I wouldn't bother with Microclimate. They are the most unhelpful people out there when it comes to after sales service! My Evo Lite spiked 3 times & very nearly caused a fire, not to mention nearly kill my animal from all the smoke fumes from the plastic viv. See my YouTube review on it


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## retic666 (Jan 18, 2021)

Malc said:


> Warranty's are meaningless. Under the consumer rights act an item should be expected to last for a reasonable amount of time. Given the cost of these units you would expect them to give more than 12 months service. But as Microclimate believe in their products and its life time, they do indeed offer a 5 year warranty
> 
> 
> 
> https://www.microclimate.co.uk/product/evo-lite/


They didn't honour my warrenty. Completely shafted me when I was more than fair with them. Especially after the damage their product cost me.


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## Malc (Oct 27, 2009)

You know I had a niggling at the back of my mind that someone recently had issues with one of these --- but (old age  ) I couldn't recall who... 

penny dropped now !


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## LiasisUK (Sep 30, 2019)

They have a 5 year warranty, always found they were quite reasonable. Though they did change ownership a few years ago, maybe before/during that people had worse experiences. 

Worth contacting the store you purchased it from and doing it through them. 

I always found the stats to be very good, I have them running on some incubators at home


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## WhatAShane (Oct 11, 2021)

LiasisUK said:


> They have a 5 year warranty, always found they were quite reasonable. Though they did change ownership a few years ago, maybe before/during that people had worse experiences.
> 
> Worth contacting the store you purchased it from and doing it through them.
> 
> I always found the stats to be very good, I have them running on some incubators at home


I suppose people will aways have different experiences  The stat was very good, useful to be able to set timers and see the temp all on one screen just shouldn't be breaking down in under a year of use  definitely calling the store next week and luckily i have spare thermostats!


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## WhatAShane (Oct 11, 2021)

retic666 said:


> They didn't honour my warrenty. Completely shafted me when I was more than fair with them. Especially after the damage their product cost me.


Damn I'm sorry! I'm just glad I caught mine early before it may have done some real damage. May I ask what thermostat(s) you are using instead?


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## retic666 (Jan 18, 2021)

WhatAShane said:


> Damn I'm sorry! I'm just glad I caught mine early before it may have done some real damage. May I ask what thermostat(s) you are using instead?


I run istats on all my vivs. They went out of business about 4yrs ago so you can't get them any more. Hence why I moved over to Microclimate. They ran fine for 7 months, then I had the problems with 1 stat in perticular. Microclimate blamed my setup, which was crap as the 3 vivs I was running the Evo Lites on were identical setup & vivs. Funny how they worked fine for 7 months & then problems started. I threw them in the bin & went back to istat. Never had any issues since 👍


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## Malc (Oct 27, 2009)

Must admit I was never really happy with the way commercial thermostats had a tendency to fail in the on position, which was why I developed my own back in 2009. It was far better than anything on the UK market at the time. I now have three 8 channel pulse proportional units controlling the 6 vivs in the lounge, three upstairs and an 8 shelf hatchling rack.


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## retic666 (Jan 18, 2021)

Malc said:


> Must admit I was never really happy with the way commercial thermostats had a tendency to fail in the on position, which was why I developed my own back in 2009. It was far better than anything on the UK market at the time. I now have three 8 channel pulse proportional units controlling the 6 vivs in the lounge, three upstairs and an 8 shelf hatchling rack.


I would love to have 1 thermostat that does a bank of 6 or 8 vivs. Only in the US they sell them. There was a guy in Poland or somewhere, I can't quite remember what country that was making similar stat to yours Malc, but as I think you once said.... The unit would get a bit bulky with UK plugs.


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## Malc (Oct 27, 2009)

retic666 said:


> I would love to have 1 thermostat that does a bank of 6 or 8 vivs. Only in the US they sell them. There was a guy in Poland or somewhere, I can't quite remember what country that was making similar stat to yours Malc, but as I think you once said.... The unit would get a bit bulky with UK plugs.


Yeah I know the ones you mean. Yes in order to be complaint with the UK regulations all outlets need to be fused and either standard 13 amp sockets, or C13 sockets. This is why all heat mats come fitted with a moulded 13amp plug and stats output have 13amp sockets. Can you imaging the size of a unit to handle 10 sockets (8 stats and 2 lights) or trying to secure something with 10 cables all fitted with sockets.. just not practical. 

There is nothing really stopping me fitting wago type connectors on the back, but as that would leave exposed terminals, it would be me up before a judge if you died as a result of touching them or if you wired it up wrong and it caused a fire... stating that "must used qualified electrician" on an instruction sheet won't cut it.

I would love to make one up and sell you one.. but no matter what written agreement I get wavering my responsibility, in the eyes of the law I'm still at fault as I should know the legislation regarding electrical appliances. Whilst I've been running my vivs on these controllers for well over a decade with no issues (other than being woken up at 3am by the alarm when my boa got between the sensor and the top of the viv and the cable and snapped the cable. As my units constantly check each sensor to make sure its working as soon as one failed it alerted me... only now are we seeing over / under temp alarms as part of these digital stats, but if the sensor fails on a micro climate it will only sound the alarm when the temperature falls (or if it locks in the on state, exceeds the high temp threshold.

The other thing is price... we all know that a lot of keepers tend to skimp on the equipment and enclosure, and will try and run a rack or bank of vivs off one stat. Would they pay £600 for an all singing all dancing unit - I doubt it !


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## retic666 (Jan 18, 2021)

Well the Microclimate Evo Lite doesn't have an audible alarm on them. Hence why I only knew I had problems when my smoke alarm went off in snake room. This was my bug bear with them, they only illuminated the numbers red when they over heat, so only good if you stand there watching your stat 24/7 🤦‍♂️. 

I would pay £600 for a stat that would control 8 vivs. That's only £75 per viv & a microclimate will cost you about £95 new, so you are saving money straight away. When it comes to my animals, no expense is spared as I want the best equipment possible. As the old saying goes..... You get what you pay for.


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