ebay aquarium temp controller build

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Is one big computer fan mounted on the bottom of the chest freezer lid enough, or maybe a small 120v fan and just put in on the "step" which is inside the freezer..... It's a 7.0 cf type freezer
 
Is one big computer fan mounted on the bottom of the chest freezer lid enough, or maybe a small 120v fan and just put in on the "step" which is inside the freezer..... It's a 7.0 cf type freezer

I built a ferm chamber a few month back with a 5.0 cu ft G.E. freezer. I didn't use a fan for any sort of circulation and a simple 25W bulb as a heat source. So far, I haven't seen any need for anything more elaborate after a half a dozen batches...temp is controlled to within +/- 1 degree F and the freezer runs for about 7-8 minutes every hour and half. I came to the conclusion that it's a small enough area that natural circulation works just fine.

Just my $.02

If you wanna see some pics of my project...the link below will take you to it.
My Keezer Project
 
Wild Duk said:
Is one big computer fan mounted on the bottom of the chest freezer lid enough, or maybe a small 120v fan and just put in on the "step" which is inside the freezer..... It's a 7.0 cf type freezer

I thought I'd post my experience here. To allow 4 pin locks and 1 ball lock fit in my keezer I built a stand to carry the height of the hump all the way across my keezer floor. I had a fan blowing the air around the keezer but it only circulated air around the top and the cold air really stayed at the bottom. I made a fan the sucks cool air from the bottom and exhausts to the top using a 2L bottle, a PVC tube and some duct tape. The hoses at the top are noticeably cooler now and condensation has been reduced quite a bit as well. My suggestion is to make sure you circulate air from the bottom to the top. Now, if I had not made the stand, I may not have had the issue I did. My 2 bits.

EDIT: Yes, that looks ghetto as hell, but it works great!

image-222841058.jpg


image-2194164636.jpg


image-4166493830.jpg
 
I thought I'd post my experience here. To allow 4 pin locks and 1 ball lock fit in my keezer I built a stand to carry the height of the hump all the way across my keezer floor. .

That is probably a good idea in general. I may be able to fit 4 ball locks in a 5cuft GE freezer that I am getting ready to build.
 
Just wanted to thank the OP for the diagram and pics, I got mine finished and working in about an hour. Going to calibrate tonight and get a couple batches in the fermenter this weekend.
 
That is probably a good idea in general. I may be able to fit 4 ball locks in a 5cuft GE freezer that I am getting ready to build.

4 is a tight squeeze with a collar. You can get 4 + a 5# CO2 tank if you don't mind slightly denting the interior wall as you cram the tank in place. The stand isn't needed, but one of the kegs will hang halfway off of the hump.
 
I get one of these, but before I buy freezer I was thinking maybe I can use it for setting temperature of water in HLT, if it is good I"ll buy another one for fermentation control.
What do you guys think, can it be done and how would sensor react in 90° C water?
Also is it accurate enough so we can rely on it while mashing/sparging?
 
I get one of these, but before I buy freezer I was thinking maybe I can use it for setting temperature of water in HLT.
What do you guys think, can it be done and how would sensor react in 90° C water?
Also is it accurate enough so we can rely on it while mashing/sparging?

I would not trust the cheap plastic covering the sensor in 90 deg C water. You would likely get some chemical leeching. Could be wrong but I wouldn't risk it myself.

I used a home depot temperature probe with similar plastic covering in my first AG brew day and it kinda melted... Threw that water out and started over with an analog thermometer.

Also if you calibrate the probe with ice water at 0 deg C it will be accurate near freezing. There may be some non-linearity up near boiling temperatures. Best way to test that would be to calibrate it with ice water (0 deg C) then boil water and see how far off you are - but again... chemical leeching.
 
Hmm.. I"m too afraid that it will melt.
I have K-type thermometer with metal probes, maybe I could connect this one instead of default sensor, but I"m not sure is there a difference between wires in them..
 
You could always buy/make a thermowell to protect the probe. I remember seeing at least one build thread on these forums. Take the tubing, pinch/fold off one end, drop some solder down, then heat with a torch to liquefy and seal the hole.
 
Chemical bleaching. Hmm. Probably a good idea not to stick cheap chinese plastic crap into boiling water. Get an appropriate FOOD GRADE probe.

The other side of the idea is that its only a little bit and insignifigant. And if you boil it a few times in water first before brewing, it won't leach anything anyway...

It 'boils' down to What is the health risk? If there is one, the remedy is <$20.

Raymond
 
For heat, are you guys using just a standard light bulb from the store, or a heat bulb from a pet store or something......

What kind of fixture are you mounting it to.....


Thx
 
Lightbulb is fine. I actually had to downsize to a 40w bulb to prevent it cycling so often and wider temperature swings. My mistakes were I went too thin on styrofoam (1") so the heat loss was greater. Use the 2"+ foam and I bet tiny bulb would work (and use almost no electricity).
 
Do you put anything to block the light from the fermenters? Maybe like an aluminum shield or something?
 
Not sure if anyone has tried this but it does all fit in the radio shack 6'' x 4'' x 2'' project box. It's is really tight and wiring it was kind of a pain. The 8 position barrier strip isn't even screwed down, it's literally jammed in between the box wall on one side and the side plate of the outlet unit on the other. Also you have to snip the plastic screw nubbin that holds the plate on the back of the controller. I wired it with some spare romex I had lying around, but stranded wire would probably make it easier to route the wires. Nice and compact though. :drunk:

IMG_2525.JPG.small.jpg

IMG_2524.JPG.small.jpg

IMG_2519.JPG.small.jpg
 
Not sure if anyone has tried this but it does all fit in the radio shack 6'' x 4'' x 2'' project box. It's is really tight and wiring it was kind of a pain. The 8 position barrier strip isn't even screwed down, it's literally jammed in between the box wall on one side and the side plate of the outlet unit on the other. Also you have to snip the plastic screw nubbin that holds the plate on the back of the controller. I wired it with some spare romex I had lying around, but stranded wire would probably make it easier to route the wires. Nice and compact though. :drunk:

Very nice. I did a similar thing in an even SMALLER project box. I couldn't use the plate and had to cut the nubbin off just so the controller could fit inside at all. I used a single outlet since it's only being used for cooling and had to cut chunks of of the plastic screw receivers in the end of it to get the outlet to fit in the end, and I had to cut off parts of the outlet that were a little extraneous with tin snips.

The result is a very compact box and I'm quite happy with it. It was a lot more work than if I had used a bigger box though.
 
Do you think there's any problem with mounting the controllers *inside* my side-by-side kegorator/ferm chamber on the ferm side? The only potential problem I foresee is the humidity getting to the electronics. On the other hand, the fridge has electronic controls, though designed for colder temps and frequent door opens that would release excess atmospheric moisture.
 
Do you think there's any problem with mounting the controllers *inside* my side-by-side kegorator/ferm chamber on the ferm side? The only potential problem I foresee is the humidity getting to the electronics. On the other hand, the fridge has electronic controls, though designed for colder temps and frequent door opens that would release excess atmospheric moisture.

I personally would not mount it inside for that reason - humidity.
 
I personally would not mount it inside for that reason - humidity.

Thanks for the confirmation. I think my next option is to mount it in the fridge door and seal it off from the inside. I can't imagine these things will heat up enough for that to be a problem (hot electronics = higher failure rate).
 
Thanks for the confirmation. I think my next option is to mount it in the fridge door and seal it off from the inside. I can't imagine these things will heat up enough for that to be a problem (hot electronics = higher failure rate).

there are others who have done this successfully, you should be fine doing it that way.
 
Thanks for the confirmation. I think my next option is to mount it in the fridge door and seal it off from the inside. I can't imagine these things will heat up enough for that to be a problem (hot electronics = higher failure rate).

Or, go to what should have been the first option which is to build the stand alone box, so that it is easily used for something else, especially temporarily.

I guess it depends on whether you are a form over function, or function over form, type of person.
 
cwi said:
Or, go to what should have been the first option which is to build the stand alone box, so that it is easily used for something else, especially temporarily.

I guess it depends on whether you are a form over function, or function over form, type of person.

I went with both :D

Cost me more than either/or, though.
 
anyone else get an international bank fee for purchasing this item?
 
anyone else get an international bank fee for purchasing this item?

If I were you, I would be less worried about the bank fee, and more worried that I ordered the 220 VAC version. I haven't heard of someone ordering a US version, and being hit by PayPal with the currency conversion fee.
 
Or, go to what should have been the first option which is to build the stand alone box, so that it is easily used for something else, especially temporarily.

I guess it depends on whether you are a form over function, or function over form, type of person.

One controller is controlling the freezer side, the other is controller the fridge side (cool + heat). In order to do that I have to tap into the fridge's thermostat... so not really any way to make it a standalone unit. If I were just controlling a refrigerator section, then I'd probably just stick the temp controller in a project box and wire it up as many have already.

Good ideas all around.
 
I did my first one in a Radio Shack box with good success. I initially couldn't get the temp swings under control, I tried all sorts of insulation for the probe until I finally got it right with a piece of packing foam over the probe and taped the whole thing to the side of the carboy. It cycles much less often and the temp is within 1F all the time of my target. Good to see it all working and some serious fermentation going on.
 
One controller is controlling the freezer side, the other is controller the fridge side (cool + heat). In order to do that I have to tap into the fridge's thermostat... so not really any way to make it a standalone unit. If I were just controlling a refrigerator section, then I'd probably just stick the temp controller in a project box and wire it up as many have already.

Good ideas all around.

There is some information missing somewhere. I don't understand why you would have to tap into the fridges thermostat directly (unable to use a plug in version). Maybe if you posted which strategy you are using for your s/s, it would make sense to me.

Going off other s/s builds, what is required are 2 standard controller boxes. The normal strategy is to defeat the OEM thermostat by turning it to the coldest setting; use one controller on the freezer side to control the compressor (and freezer heat); and the other controller to power a fan to push cold air from the freezer to the fridge side (and fridge heat).

There a number of different ways to implement the above strategy, and involve various methods of defeating/repurposing the OEM's strategy of pushing cold air to the fridge side. None that I can think of would require tapping into the fridge thermostat directly.
 
I initially couldn't get the temp swings under control, I tried all sorts of insulation for the probe until I finally got it right with a piece of packing foam over the probe and taped the whole thing to the side of the carboy.
By "foam over the probe", then taped to the side of carboy, I assume you mean:

carboy wall|probe|insulation|tape

This is the most common method, and is considered best by most. In tests it even worked better than a thermowell. It is counter-intuitive, but made sense after having to account for the test results. The info is in this thread, or another on HBT.

The amount of insulation needed is surprising. Overdoing it isn't a concern, although I am sure there is some optimal amount.
 
If I were you, I would be less worried about the bank fee, and more worried that I ordered the 220 VAC version. I haven't heard of someone ordering a US version, and being hit by PayPal with the currency conversion fee.

I ordered from quality_link2000 like many others here have and the one I bought said they send the correct one based on your country. So I'm not worried about that.
 
If I were you, I would be less worried about the bank fee, and more worried that I ordered the 220 VAC version. I haven't heard of someone ordering a US version, and being hit by PayPal with the currency conversion fee.
I ordered from quality_link2000 like many others here have and the one I bought said they send the correct one based on your country. So I'm not worried about that.

If you purchased a listing originally in USD, but the final destination is a foreign bank, it might be yet one more fee Ebay/PayPal is trying to squeeze out of us. Paypal will ding you, or let you get dinged by your own bank, for currency conversion if the listing is originally in a foreign currency.

Some sellers of these controllers have the same exact listing (voltage based on country), but with different listing currencies (CAD, EUR, etc.). Ebay displays the amount in USD, along with a side note (or something) that it has been converted for your viewing pleasure.
 
By "foam over the probe", then taped to the side of carboy, I assume you mean:

carboy wall|probe|insulation|tape

This is the most common method, and is considered best by most. In tests it even worked better than a thermowell. It is counter-intuitive, but made sense after having to account for the test results. The info is in this thread, or another on HBT.

The amount of insulation needed is surprising. Overdoing it isn't a concern, although I am sure there is some optimal amount.

That is right. I tried the following:

No-Insulation:
Dangle in the air
Resting on the bottom

Insulated:
In a sock
In small sack of bubble wrap
In a small sack of the larger bubble wrap
Computer packaging foam (it was cushioning a hard drive I had shipped to me)

The only one that gave me precise results was carboy/probe/foam/tape. There was just so much info in this thread, it was confusing which way work and which didn't, and I'm sure there is still a debate for some. For me, it's foam, and I agree, a little surprised at the amount needed. Also doing the 10 minute thermostat probe delay, a 0.5C range.
 
I ordered from quality_link2000 like many others here have and the one I bought said they send the correct one based on your country. So I'm not worried about that.

I have bought 2 from skiesmall360 and they are 110 and at my door in a week from purchase coming from HK. No transaction fees.
 
Back
Top