Trouble wiring my ebay temp controller

I just got in my temperature controller from ebay. I want to use it to control the temperature on my kegerator. It appears to be different than the one in the other thread on this forum. Can anyone give me any advice on how to wire this thing up? There are three wires coming from the power cord(white, black, green). Here are some pics of the controller and the wires of the kegerator. Thanks in advance for any help!

Here is a link to the controller I bought: http://www.ebay.com/itm/250907311822?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649

Assuming you have a power cord to a 110vac wall socket with black, white and green wires, along with the power cord to the kegerator...

- Connect the black wire from the wall power cord to contacts labeled 1 and 3 (ie: daisy chained).

- Connect the white wire from the wall power cord to contact 4 and then to the white wire to your kegerator (again, a daisy chain).

- Connect the black wire to the kegerator to contact 2.

- Connect the green wires for both cords together.

- The temperature probe obvious connects to terminals 7 and 8.

That'll do it. Enjoy!

Cheers!

Thank you so much for the info! The cord comes out of the back of the kegerator in a hollowed out area where the connections are made. I plan on mounting the controller into that area and splitting the cord right after it comes in. That way the install will be super clean. Thanks again for the help!

So I set the controller to cool to 38 degrees. After letting it sit overnight, it is only down to 50. The weird thing is, even though the "Work" light is on, the compressor is not running all the time. When it turns on, it seems to lower the temp but it turns off before it gets to 38. Any ideas?

What is the temperature control of the fridge set to? Perhaps the fridge itself is set to 50.

The kegerator original thermostat is set to coolest setting. I will have to recheck my wiring tonight. The probe is in the top of the kegerator. I have the tip of the probe submerged in a small container of water.

BigPatBrewer said:

The kegerator original thermostat is set to coolest setting. I will have to recheck my wiring tonight. The probe is in the top of the kegerator. I have the tip of the probe submerged in a small container of water.

Click to expand...

This works, but it may take the fridge a few cycles before the temperature of the liquid gets to the set temperature on the controller.

What it means: If the temp inside the fridge reaches the lowest setting allowed by the fridge, say 38F, it'll turn off the compressor and wait for it to warm up above the setting (probably around 40-42F). All this time, the temp inside the liquid will be dropping say from 68 down to 50F. This is when the heat transfer is occurring. Eventually the liquid will have given off all its heat, and the inside of the fridge and the liquid will reach a near-equilibrium. (near, because they will always vary a bit).

M_C

So I took the probe out of the water bottle. The lowest it will get now is 45. I tok the temperature on the floor of the kegerator and it was around 33. Is there usually this much of a temperature swing from the top to the bottom of a kegerator?

Get a small fan 5v or 12v and circulate the air to push the cold air from the bottom. It's very similar to the wine fridges where they tell you to put the whites on the bottom because the cold air settles.

Thats what I was thinking. Im just a little surprised that there is that much variance.

Looks to me like the controller can't handle the amperage your freezer is pulling. How many amps does your freezer pull? The relay on that temp controller is rated at only 5A. If the relay overheats (when the compressor pulls more than it relay is rated for), it may have a safety that is forcing it to kick off.

Hmm that makes sense. I googled the kegerator part number but I will check when I get home. It says 6 amps for start up and 1.5 running. Here is a link: http://www.micromatic.com/keg-refrigerators/kegerators-pid-BC-1206-2.html

How can i fix this? Can I add another relay? Thanks!

Being that the satrtup amperage is greater than what the relay is rated for may be your issue. You *may* be able to add a new relay, but that would require taking the controller apart, pulling the relay and finding a suitagle 10A+ model at an auto part store or eletric supple store, then wiring the relay to the board. You may be better off trying to find a new controller and trying to sell this one on ebay. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news.

Well, I lowered the probe about 4 inches so it is closer to the middle of the kegerator. It is not keeping the temperature where it is supposed to be. Measurements near the top look good too. I think it may have just needed some time to get up to speed. I think that, combined with the fact that it is empty may have caused the issue. Once I get a keg or 2 in there and have some thermal mass, it should be fine. Thanks for all the help.

From everything I've read so far, this doesn't sound like a compressor stall issue at all.

That said, if you really wanted to increase the switched amperage without replacing what you already purchased, you can do it without taking anything apart. Just use the existing controller output to enable a higher capacity relay that uses a 110VAC coil. I use such a method on my (220VAC) water well pump, the coil on a big honking relay that powers the pump is energized by the output of the (110VAC) pressure tank relay. Said big honking relay cost all of $18 and can handle 30A @220V...

Cheers!