ebay aquarium temp controller build

This is a real noob question.
Im in the UK, will the UK plugs just wire directly in like the US ones?
I mean into the power supply, the heat/cool out, I can just substitue the US sockets for UK ones right?

You are going to want the 220 version instead of the 110. The auction I bought from stated that the seller would send the right voltage for your country but I would make sure of that before I order. The outlets/sockets should be pretty interchangeable. If you can't get the outlets easily you could always use a powerbar extension cord.

That being said if you have to ask this question maybe you should see if you could find a friend that is an electrician or has some experience with electricity to guide/help you. This is a simple project but electricity is dangerous and one wrong wire could cause a fire or worse kill you.

Cheers

ShakerD said:

You are going to want the 220 version instead of the 110. The auction I bought from stated that the seller would send the right voltage for your country but I would make sure of that before I order. The outlets/sockets should be pretty interchangeable. If you can't get the outlets easily you could always use a powerbar extension cord.

That being said if you have to ask this question maybe you should see if you could find a friend that is an electrician or has some experience with electricity to guide/help you. This is a simple project but electricity is dangerous and one wrong wire could cause a fire or worse kill you.

Cheers

Click to expand...

Yea, I was worried I may end up electrocuting myself, or worse someone else! I know a good electrician that I'm sure will be able to easily help me, just wanted to know if the were interchangeable!

Cheers!

I have been watching this thread since day 1 and finally pulled the trigger on one.

I'm about to brew a Mad Elf clone and hope to have it before brew day, so I can slap into a newly built ferm chamber. Basement this time of year is way too cold. Great find!

yeah right now my keezer is sitting at 7° Celsius with it turned off and unplugged and has been since I started build my keezer a couple weeks ago. I need to get my mini fridge in the garage or house and see what the temp is inside the house turned off

I am still looking for a free of dirt cheap fridge to be had so I don't have to build anything.

-=Jason=-

Thanks again for the link to this controller. I ordered mine Monday and got started on the box.

Finally getting around to wiring my controllers.
I have several 14 gauage power cords I am thinking of using.
Seems to me that 14 guage wire is sufficient.
Am I correct?

yup...14 is good for 15 amps.

aaaaaaaand, another one in a 6x4x2 box. I think i could have gotten it into a 4x4x2 box, but they didn't sell that size.



If anyone is considering this but afraid of doing the work, don't fret. My 8 year old wanted to help me, so I let him do a good chunk of the work. I cut the rectangle holes and stripped wires, he did the drilling and wiring.

Ive got mine hooked up and running the first 2 beers everything temp wise was right on the money. Yesterday i started my 3rd beer with the probe tapped to the side of the carboy with a folded paper towel over it and my temp reading is 0.5 C too high. I have repositioned the probe, checked the temp with a highly accurate thermometer and 2 strip tape thermometers. I know I can adjust the calibration just wondering if anyone else has had their probe read a little off?

based on comparing to a couple of other thermometers that I have (a digital probe and a glass floater), my probe is off by about 0.5*C. It's not uncommon for probes to be off a little due to slight manufacturing variations.

In fact, I don't think I've ever had a single thermometer or temp probe that was 100% accurate. The little digital probe thermometer I have was off by about 2*F when I got it, and the large RTD probe I use for my HERMS was off by about 1.5*F.

edit: I calibrated my other digital probes using both boiling water and crushed ice water, and then tweaking their offsets to get them accurate. I'm now just comparing that calibrated probe with the ebay controller reading.

awesome 6x4x2 box is prefect. I bought the large box from the SHACK and ended up cutting my box down to 2" tall its longer and wider than I'd like however so I think the smaller is going to work out just perfect for me. I'll buy another box and sell my existing pre-built unit here on HBT to some one how needs it for a Keezer and not a dual stage fermenter system.

-=Jason=-

Does anyone know if a 6x3x2 project box would work? It's the largest one that my local Radio Shack sells and I really don't want to drive 30 miles to get a larger size if I don't need it. I'm planning on having the temp controller mounted to the "front" of the box similar to the picture that Walker posted on the previous page. Thanks!

d_ozz68 said:

Does anyone know if a 6x3x2 project box would work? It's the largest one that my local Radio Shack sells and I really don't want to drive 30 miles to get a larger size if I don't need it. I'm planning on having the temp controller mounted to the "front" of the box similar to the picture that Walker posted on the previous page. Thanks!

Click to expand...

It won't work very well. My controller is mounted on the 4x2 face in that pic, and you are talking about mounting it on a 3x2 face, right?

The controller itself is just under 3" wide, but there are plastic posts inside of the project box to receive the screws that hold the lid on, so you won't have a full 3" of width inside to work with. with the 4" wide face, the controller just barely fits between those screw posts. (You can see where the lid's screws go down in in the pic, and they are pretty much right beside the contoller's sides.)

Now... you could probably cut through the posts and maybe get it in there (the screws are short and don't need the full depth of the receiving post), but it would probably be a pain in the butt.

Unfortunately, you won't be able to turn it sideways and mount the controller on the 6x2 face either, because the controller would stick too deep into the box and wouldn't fit.

Thanks. That's what I was afraid of. I just don't like the idea of paying more to ship the box to me then the box itself cost.

d_ozz68 said:

Thanks. That's what I was afraid of. I just don't like the idea of paying more to ship the box to me then the box itself cost.

Click to expand...

If you have a Lowe's or Home Depot near you, you can get small electrical boxes for about $7 there and use that. Here's someone else's pic from earlier in the thread that used such a box, but you can get them smaller than this one:

Most radio shacks ive talked to will do a site to store or store to store free shipping call and ask them about it

So, I just got back from my local radio shack to ask about shipping the project box to the store either from another store or from their warehouse and the manager said that "because it's not expensive enough they would have to charge me for shipping it to the store, BUT because they don't carry this size project box it is eligible for FREE shipping directly to my house because I'm ordering it in store and not online". :rockin:

So it should be arriving by the end of the week, about the same time I'm expecting the temp. controller to arrive. Which means I should have cold beer flowing from my keezer by this weekend.

maybe thats what i ment to say. I went one time and they didnt have any but i remembered there was a way to get free shipping one way or the other. Sounds like thats the best possible solution glad it worked out. The project boxes are really nice to work with i have 1 for a temp controller, 1 for a stir plate and 1 for a blower for my tower (thats what she said).

Does anyone know if a 16 gauge cord would work? I see most people mention using a 14 gauge cord, but I have an extra 16 gauge laying around and thought I would use it if it would work............Thanks!

16 gauge is fine. it'll be rated for 13A, and that is PLENTY.

i bought a 16 gauge wired everything up then got worried and re-wired with a 14 gauge. I talked to my dad who is an electrical engineer and he said 16 would be fine except if something shorted and started drawing more current it could start pulling full power from the wall which could cause the wires to overheat and catch fire (keep in mind at this point the controller would already be fried). Its more of a safety 1:10000000 chance kinda thing

ekjohns said:

i bought a 16 gauge wired everything up then got worried and re-wired with a 14 gauge. I talked to my dad who is an electrical engineer and he said 16 would be fine except if something shorted and started drawing more current it could start pulling full power from the wall which could cause the wires to overheat and catch fire (keep in mind at this point the controller would already be fried). Its more of a safety 1:10000000 chance kinda thing

Click to expand...

Right. this is the only reason to use large cord. I'm willing to bet that 99% of the things plugged into the wall in your house are using a cord that isn't capable of handling the max amps that can come out of the wall. I opted to make this thing like the other 99% of the things I plug in.

short circuits aren't the problem. A 16g wire can carry HUGE amounts of current for a short amount of time (enough time for the circuit breaker to open). It's overloads that are an issue. If the compressor seizes (for example) and draws higher, but not huge currents, the breaker won't open right away and the wire could fry. This is why protection should be used that is sized properly to the conductor size.

But like you father said, it's a rare chance and for our applications isn't really an issue.

cool, sounds like I will be safe enough with using the 16 gauge. My temp. controller and project box should be waiting for me when I get back into town on friday........I can't wait to get this thing put together!

Just got my controller in today.

question with wiring the probe in. Does it matter which wire goes where? Doesn't seem to be any marking differentiating them.

Thanks!

Alan

big_al_in_k-zoo said:

Just got my controller in today.

question with wiring the probe in. Does it matter which wire goes where? Doesn't seem to be any marking differentiating them.

Thanks!

Alan

Click to expand...

No.

Well, I should add as long as you put them on the thermistor lugs.

Thanks! Literally waiting here for a reply before I secure everything up!

OK. Here's mine! It seems to work. Hooray

Thanks to the O.P. This was a fun little build to keep me occupied for a while. =)

Planning on printing out Ubermike's C to F conversion chart and slapping it right under the display.

would one of these work? only $3 shipped

http://cgi.ebay.com/Digital-Thermom...itu=UCC&otn=5&ps=63&clkid=6350785044939776698

bkov said:

would one of these work? only $3 shipped

http://cgi.ebay.com/Digital-Thermom...itu=UCC&otn=5&ps=63&clkid=6350785044939776698

Click to expand...

would one of those work for what?

That seems to be only a display of the Temperature. Not a controller of any type.

bkov said:

would one of these work? only $3 shipped

http://cgi.ebay.com/Digital-Thermom...itu=UCC&otn=5&ps=63&clkid=6350785044939776698

Click to expand...

it would work in a thermowell or just to read the ambient temperature, but no it can't control anything.

-=Jason=-

Simple question I hope.

How are you mounting these to your boxes? What is the thickness of the box you can use to mount it too?

I have a 3/4" thick box that I'd like to use but wasn't sure if it would work. I'm just trying to get my stuff together before mine arrives.

Groo said:

Simple question I hope.

How are you mounting these to your boxes? What is the thickness of the box you can use to mount it too?

I have a 3/4" thick box that I'd like to use but wasn't sure if it would work. I'm just trying to get my stuff together before mine arrives.

Click to expand...

It has orange sliding clips that hold it against the panel. You can see them in this pic, and you can see the plastic teeth on the side of the controller that the clips "click" into to hold.


I don't know how far back you can slide them and still have them grip the controller properly, but it looks like it's less than 3/4".

But, to tell you the truth, I didn't even use the clips on mine. The hole I cut is a tight fit. I used a decent amount of force to push it through there and it ain't going anywhere unless I make a good effort to get it out.

In for one for use on my freezer. Was about to pull the trigger on a Love controller, but this guy looks pretty awesome. Now I'll just have to break into my freezer's electrical box and figure out how I want to work with this guy...

I'm getting tired of Paypal not accepting gift cards, and everyone on eBay only using paypal. I received a lot of gift cards for Christmas this year, and I'm buying the things that I was supposed to use them for, but can't use them!

I have essentially no experience with electronics, but I want to learn and this project seems like a good way to start. I just ordered the controller and picked up the larger project box from Radioshack. So besides the controller, project box and outlet, what else will I need (electrical tape, wire caps, wire, etc?).

Thanks!

wire caps are fine, solder gun is not required. you could use a bus bar, but no reason. I would get some 14 gauge wire. I had a bunch of 15 amp house wire, that I stripped the external casing of(the white shrink style wrap) and pull the wire out of that. You can build a box(radio shack 8x6x3 I think) and plug your fridge into it, then run your probe into the fridge between the door gasket and the fridget gasket(I put mine on the side of my carboy with insulation on top of it held with bungies). If you choose to install it, you will need to bypass the factory thermo. When I installed my love, I got a cheapo volt tester, found the power to the thermo, pigtailed it and ran it through 10/4 wire to my love. I can send detailed pics or answer question if you have them. I also install outlets that were on with the compressor, one with the heater and always on. So I could run fans and stir plates. You could build a relay to the fan outlet that would be active when the compressor or the heater outlet is on. I use a 40watt clamp light for a heater. (sorry drinking ed's applewine)

Edit- Think I used 14-4 with a ground wire, so 5 wires, not 10/4, blame the apple wine!

mildoggy sounds like you got a nice set up but i think that may be a little too much for what anchorbock is wanting (although I may bug you soon about it ). anchorbock if you buy a 10' 14 g extension cord you can just cut a bunch of 6-8" pieces from that to get your wire needed to hook everything up while still having plenty left over to power the controller. wire nuts will be the easiest way to hook everything up. I cant think of the color off hand but it should be the kind that can fit 4 14g wires. A pair of wire strippers make the job much easier but you can also use a razor blade or scissors if your careful. other than that you will need basic tools like a dremel to cut the box to fit the controller and a drill for the power wire and temp probe. I didnt use any electrical tap on mine since everything hooks up and no wires are exposed or needed taping (because of the wire nuts)

I bought a 14' 14g extention cord i just cut the wire I needed from the shorter piece. wire nuts are going to be just fine and I used a razor blade to cut my hole in my project box, just scored several times to get a nice groove and just kept working it until I could poke through and cut it.

you know a serrated knife might be able to cut it better I am thinking skill saw / scroll saw blade.

-=Jason=-