Agreed, a short through the body is game over whether 110v, 220v, or breaker size. It is just a bit more likely to screw up, and make an ungrounded short circuit when both legs are hot, especially when a DIY'er is used to 110v circuits with the neutral leg. Even if wired correctly using a 30 amp 220v dryer circuit, the freezer or controller itself may malfunction, and a more suitably sized breaker will hopefully trip before the house burns down.
ebay aquarium temp controller build
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Agreed, a short through the body is game over whether 110v, 220v, or breaker size. It is just a bit more likely to screw up, and make an ungrounded short circuit when both legs are hot, especially when a DIY'er is used to 110v circuits with the neutral leg. Even if wired correctly using a 30 amp 220v dryer circuit, the freezer or controller itself may malfunction, and a more suitably sized breaker will hopefully trip before the house burns down.
I am a refrigeration novice, and could use some help with wiring my fridge. Due to the original build of the fridge, I am stuck with two chambers and will have one controller for each chamber. One controller will have the fridge and the other a heating element. Each will also control a 120mm fan to move air between the chambers. My plan is to mount the controllers in the space that houses the water/ice dispensers. Here is the wiring diagram: http://flic.kr/p/9eqRQx
I know that I need to bypass the thermostat, but do I also want to bypass the 10 hour timer?
Are there other wires that I need to bypass or reroute to make this work?
Any help would be greatly appreciated!!
I know that I need to bypass the thermostat, but do I also want to bypass the 10 hour timer?
Are there other wires that I need to bypass or reroute to make this work?
Any help would be greatly appreciated!!
Hermit
fuddle
Depends on how cold you will run the freezer. If you are using this for lagering then you will probably need to let it go through defrost. At worst it will just take over for half an hour or so and the unit will go through defrost. That may, or may not, raise the temp in the freezer. Limits run from 45 to 70 degrees typically. It usually has to get below freezing to reset. It does that pretty quickly because of location. It must then raise above it's set temp before it kicks off again.
ben the brewman
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Bjornbrewer
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Quite the shameless plug. 
Excellent idea and not a bad price too!
Excellent idea and not a bad price too!
Quite the shameless plug.
Excellent idea and not a bad price too!
LOL. He edited the message to remove the part about "finding" the boxes on ebay.
ben... don't feel bad about plugging your own product. the boxes look good to me and seem fair enough priced if someone doesn't want to spend the hour or whatever cutting it themselves.
and cheaper than that other outfit selling them for $90
-=Jason=-
@Ben, how are you cutting the holes?
ben the brewman
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They are all cnc cut holes.
Ok, finished my box and it works! I added a switch and two pilot lights. I will post pic later.
Question: Is it necessary to put a fan inside to circulate the air when heating with a ceramic reptile lamp?
Question: Is it necessary to put a fan inside to circulate the air when heating with a ceramic reptile lamp?
Bjornbrewer
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probably not totally necessary, but if you have one it won't hurt. I'm going to have my fan run whenever the heat or cool cycle is on...for good measure.
chrisdb
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it doesn't heat or cool.. I monitors the temperature (with a probe) and will turn your heater or cooler on and off to maintain the temperature you choose.
I have a wine cooler that I bought used that has an older analog thermostat hard wired into. I would like to replace it with one of these and hard wire it in and add a light to use as a heat source if needed/wanted.
Here is what I think would be the right way to wire it. Electrical is something I have to stare at forever before it finally makes sense to me.
Do you guys see anything wrong or that should be changed? (Other than the 220 label )
Here is a picture of the current thermostat
Thanks for the help.
Here is what I think would be the right way to wire it. Electrical is something I have to stare at forever before it finally makes sense to me.
Do you guys see anything wrong or that should be changed? (Other than the 220 label
)
Here is a picture of the current thermostat
Thanks for the help.
Bjornbrewer
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looks good, but make sure you take the old t-stat out all together and don't leave it in parallel with the contact of the temp controller. If the old one fails, you could have the heat and cool on at the same time. just pull the white and blue wire off the old t-stat and use wire nuts.
Oh it would be removed. Should have mentioned that.
Thanks for confirming what I thought it would :rockin:
It would be wise to leave/reattach the ground wire, or ground protection will/may be lost. From the pic it looks like it is the green wire with the spade lug that is screwed to the chassis, but the pic is kind of fuzzy for that area.
I am not sure where the latest craze for replacing the existing thermo is coming from. It must seem like a cleaner install to some peoples eyes. Retrofitting the thermo does have disadvantages- any quick portability is lost in case the kegerator dies, or for swapping between rigs/freezers. Also, I think early on in this thread there were advisories against it, for fears of dangerous miswirings that were realized in recent posts, as long as it was functioning enough to turn on the compressor below the desired temp. It just needs to be set to max cold, and the plugged into the standard DIY temp controller box cooling outlet.
In my case I purchased this unit with a different aftermarket analog thermostat on it. I dont like it, dont want to use it. If the factory one was still in place I would build the full project as others have done. In my case I would rather replace what is there.
I am fine with the thermostat not being easily unplugged and moved to another unit. This will stay on that unit, until that unit dies. Then I will most likely make a complete project box for it.
The green wire is not connected to anything at the moment. I believe it was just the ground for the thermostat and not the whole system based on the diagram.
Is it recommend to ground the new temp controller? If so what is everyone else doing as a ground on the controller itself??
I am fine with the thermostat not being easily unplugged and moved to another unit. This will stay on that unit, until that unit dies. Then I will most likely make a complete project box for it.
The green wire is not connected to anything at the moment. I believe it was just the ground for the thermostat and not the whole system based on the diagram.
Is it recommend to ground the new temp controller? If so what is everyone else doing as a ground on the controller itself??
Bjornbrewer
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there's no way of grounding the aquarium temp controller...it's all plastic so it really doesn't pose a danger. If it's properly installed and there's not danger of touching the wires (ie, they aren't running inside the fridge) then there's not danger. If you can contact the wires in ANY way, it's should be on a GFCI for protection.
I looked at the pic again, and it looks like the existing retrofitted controller is on the outside of the kegerator. I thought it was on the inside like a fridge, which is where the original one likely was.
You could still make the standard project box now, and plug the kegerator into it. You would just need to wire the wine chiller to be permanently "on", and only use it with the controller box until it dies. It may add a bit of time/money up front for the project box, outlet, and wiring up the outlet. You would save some time by not having to figure out how to securely/safely mount the controller to the outside of the wine chiller. All of the wires are neatly contained in the project box version.
The schematic is not (usually) a direct representation of the actual wiring. The schematic shows the thermo and the motor grounded to a mystery ground point coming from the wall plug. You would have to trace the wiring to know what the physical layout is. If the green wire is coming directly from the wall plug, and is now hanging in mid-air, nothing is grounded. If the wall plug ground goes straight to the compressor area where it is connected to the chassis, and the green wire is a separate one just to the thermo (needed if the insides were all plastic with no access to the metal chassis), then just the aftermarket thermo isn't grounded now.
I was recommending reattaching the green wire to its original location, i.e. screwing the spade lug back to its original mounting point, in case the green wire is/was supplying the ground to the chassis that everything else attaches to for ground. This is exactly why leaving the existing thermo unit in place is recommended for those that have limited electrical experience, and why most who have a lot of electrical experience know it isn't worth the effort/risk as long as the existing thermo will turn the unit on.
This is going off pics since I am still waiting (4 weeks and counting) for mine- The insides of the aquarium controller are not able to be grounded, as it has no ground post on the terminal block. The outside is also mostly plastic, just like the project box, so it would not carry much current anyway even if was grounded. As far how others are grounding things, I am not sure what schematic they are using. I plan to use a 3 wire grounded power cord, and carry the ground through to a grounded 3 hole outlet pair. The controller itself will not be grounded, since it is not (easily) possible.
the USPS mail just dropped off my dual stage controller
YES now I can build a fermentation rig or pick up a used fridge on the cheap.
-=Jason=-
I will be conditioning and hopefully lagering. With that in mind, do I connect terminal #7 to OR and terminal #8 to R on my diagram? http://www.flickr.com/photos/58730711@N04/5402818931/in/photostream/
This seems so simple that I have to be missing something. Am I?
Hermit
fuddle
It looks like that would bypass your thermostat if that is what you are trying to do. Lagering requires 'normal' temps in the fridge section so I'd not bypass the defrost circuit.
philthycoder
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Would someone mind posting up the size of the cutout for the temp controller? Mine hasn't shown up yet, but my box is just about done and I'd like to have it ready to just pop the controller in there. Thanks!
alright...
when connecting the wires into the thermostat... does the wire go under the bar in the terminal? or over the bar in the terminal
i would typically go under... but...
following the adage "righty tighty, lefty loosey" righty tighty makes the bar move up tightening the wire in the top of the terminal
when connecting the wires into the thermostat... does the wire go under the bar in the terminal? or over the bar in the terminal
i would typically go under... but...
following the adage "righty tighty, lefty loosey" righty tighty makes the bar move up tightening the wire in the top of the terminal
I vaguely recall being confused by this, too.
If I am remembering correctly (and take a look to see if I'm right) the top part of the terminal is a fixed-in-place metal plate. So, when you "righty tighty" it, it raises the BOTTOM plate up to press against the top plate.
if I recall loosen the nut like normal and put the wire at the bottom and tighten down.
-=jason=-
as long as it's touching one of the metal plates in the terminal hole, it will work.
And, I might be wrong... I am trying to remember, but I do recall turning the screws and being like, "WTF? Why is it going UP when I tighten it?!"
And, I might be wrong... I am trying to remember, but I do recall turning the screws and being like, "WTF? Why is it going UP when I tighten it?!"
philthycoder
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Now that some folks are checking in on this thread for the moment, does anyone remember the cutout size for the controller?
I didn't measure it. I laid the removable back-panel from the controller on the project box, traced it, and then started cutting,
But... a few posts back, "ben the brewman" posted links to the pre-cut boxes he is selling on ebay. I'm betting he would know the size.
philthycoder
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ah, I bet you're right, I'll hit him up!
pvtschultz
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If you've got a soldering iron laying around, tinning those leads will go a long ways in protecting them from breaking off over time.
the neutral you have sticking from pin #2 (the left-most white wire in the pic) should be connected to the terminal strip with the other white wires.
Ok, well I take that back. You *can* connect it to the outlet since it will ultimately be connected to the other white wire.
but, if you've got the terminal strip, you might as well use it, right?
