Dew controllers & secondary mirror heaters

[Insomniac]

My secondary mirror heater has its own temperature sensor & is self regulating. Heat adjustments can be made but access means dismantling the secondary!! So I'd much prefer to control it via a third party dew controller.

Question: Will the built in sensor/regulator allow me to do this from the controller or will it override it? Any other issues I need to consider?

And are there any other potential problems mixing dew bands to third party dew controllers?

Thanks

[astronut]

I have the Dewgard DG-1, unless you make modifications to the circuit board, you can't control it externally.
If you have the DG series of heaters, you can preset the sensor to operate more often, I turned mine up and have left it at that setting year round without any dewing problems.
If you have your mirror in a plastic holder, I would suggest making an inspection hole.
I did this on my 12" Lightbridge.:)

[Insomniac]

Thanks for your input. It seems a non self regulating unit is the way to go if you want to make adjustments from a controller.