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I've been following the thread on a cheap controller with great interest. Is it possible to make these setups control two blankets simultaneously?

I would think no. That is if my assumption that you are talking about 1 controller and 2 blankets is correct. In this case you would have twice the amount of juice (amps) going through the controller. I would think that this would cause the controller to overheat and then melt or burn up....or both...now, perhaps it would be relatively 'easy' to modify the internals of the controller to handle this load, but it would be a tad safer and easier to just use 1 device for each blanket.

If the controller was sized properly to handle the load (amps) from two blankets then it would not be a problem. The biggest issue I see is that you would only have one thermocouple to read the temperature so that one blanket may run too hot or too cold. I would use dual controllers

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

As long as your external relay or the one in the controller can handle the double amps it should not be a problem, the blankets should be the same and I would be careful at first that the blanket on the opposite side of the wood does not heat too fast and scorch the wood. I might want to use a dimmer controller on that blanket to keep it a little cooler than the main blanket.

Fred Tellier

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Fred Tellier
http://www.fetellierguitars.com
Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/pages/FE-Tellier-Guitars/163451547003866

I've bent with two blankets for quite a while now and run them with separate controllers but at the same settings. Blanket/slat/moist brown paper/wood/paper/slat/blanket.
Works great for me, very smooth, I wouldn't go back to one. I think if you could get equal temps with one controller it would be OK.
TJK

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It's not what you don't know that hurts you, it's what you do know that's wrong.

I used two separate PID controllers with two solid-state relays and two thermocouples. It's worth the extra money IMO.

Dave F.

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Cambrian Guitars

"There goes Mister Tic-Tac out the back with some bric-brac from the knick-knack rack"

Thanks for all of the suggestions. I'll probably just bite the bullet and get another controller.

I contacted Tom Durr - the guy who made my controller/blanket system - and asked him about the possibility of modifying the control I bought to accomodate two blankets - the answer was no....
Im making another based on the design of the one I bought.... which will cost me alot less.. however.
Cheers
Charlie

I run two blankets off one PID with a leaf type thermocouple on the wood.
The controller relay runs a solid state relay to carry the load.
Seems to work okay other than that flamed maple can be a bear.