Another TSS2 controller box 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.
In most cases you'd only break the tab on the hot side (gold screws). That way you only need to run one neutral to the outlet to serve both the top and bottom.

You beat me to this suggestion! I read through first 7 pages thinking i might have useful input. oh well.
 
Here's a pic of my Love TSS2 with 10' stainless steel tip probe. The outlets on the 2 relays are fused to protect the controller. The switches are a fancy way of unplugging the chest freezer or 40W aquarium heating pad to prevent cycling them if not wanted without changing an internal parameter or to prevent a mistake from a bad parameter setting.

I have a Johnson A419 and have trended data showing that 3F temperature variations is the tightest control possible with the controller probe insulated-over on the outside of the fermenter.

I've trended data with the TSS2 and it can match the A419 control response and also improve control to about 1.2F temperature variations with the controller probe insulated-over on the outside of the carboy. The TSS2 has a lot better program options and seeing the decimal point temperature read-out on the display is really handy.

I've learned that when my freezer turns off after a cycle, the fermenter temperature drops another 1F no matter how big the differential is set. I've found it best to set the cooling differential to 0.5F to keep tight control (freezer cycles about every 1-2 hours) and increase it to 2F-3F when temperature fluctuations don't matter (freezer gets cycled about every 4-10 hours).

View attachment 68376

The fuses are a great addition. Love the look!
 
I've been trying different parameter settings to see how tight of temperature control can be obtained with freezer cycles every 1.5-2 hours with the controller probe taped on the outside of the fermenter and insulated over. The chart below shows my best settings that result in about 1.2F total temperature fluctuations. I logged the tightest temperature control using a Johnson A419 controller for comparison.

Chart2.jpg

This is the same data as the graph above but with the air temperature inside the freezer shown. A 40W heating pad comes on for a few minutes but really doesn't influence the beer temperature. I want the ability to raise the temperature and the heater would only be on longer when the setpoint is raised.

I plan on using these settings with a 67F setpoint for an ale fermentation and log the temperatures.

Chart1.jpg

This graph shows TSS2 settings that get very close to the best temperature control that the Johnson A419 can do for a probe insulated over on the side of a fermenter. These are good settings for cold crashing, lagering & cold conditioning. Changing the r2 to 10 stops the heating relay from cycling.

Chart3.jpg
 
I used my new TSS2 for fermentation control with 0.5F differential and overlayed the fermenter temperature data with a very similar fermentation that was done with the Johnson A419 (1.0 differential = smallest setting) - graph below.

The TSS2 had 1.2F temperature swings, the A419 had 3.0F temperature swings. The TSS2 cycled twice often (every 3 hours).

My cold chest freezer keeps cooling the fermenter after it is cycled off by about 0.7F. Decreasing the differential to <0.5F could improve the results a little but it's unlikely going to make a big difference. 1.2F temperature swings is successful control to me.

Comparison Graph.jpg
 
I am about to embark on wiring up my STC-1000, which is very similar to these controllers. In light of that I decided to borrow a friends voltage meter to see how many amps this freezer I bought would pull. When I plug the freezer in spikes to 12-13 amps, but then comes back down to 4.6 amps. My concern is that initial spike. Will that blow the cold side circuit? Is there anything I can do to ease that initial spike?
 
Here's my enclosure, but I have a slight issue:
photo-1-56154.jpg

photo-2-56155.jpg

photo-3-56156.jpg


So when I plug my enclosure in, the Love turns on fine. When I plug the heater in to the heat receptacle, everything's fine. But when I plug the minifridge in to the cool receptacle, it trips the breaker. I previously had the love hardwired into the minifridge and heater for years (into the same receptacle) with no issues. My wiring is the following:

#1 & 3 probe
#4 all neutrals
#5, 7,& 10 all to power cord (hot wire)
#8 to hot screw on fridge receptacle
#10 to hot screw on heater receptacle

Anyone have any ideas why I'm throwing my breaker every time I plug the fridge in?
 
Sounds like something is shorting or wired wrong. Hope you didn't cook the cold side of your controller. Got a multimeter? That or hook up something with a low draw to see if it will turn on.
 
Great write up. I see the position 1&3 are used for the temp probe in the love controller, my probe has a brown and a blue wire coming out of it. Does it matter which color goes in the 1 position and which one goes in the 3 position?

Thanks
 
TomSD said:
OK got side tracked. Anyway, here is how I program mine...

SP1 67 (varies, see below)
SP2 0
r0 dep
r1 2
r2 2
c0 10
c1 dir (default)
c2 inv
P0 F (documents say C is default but I never remember changing mine)
P4 sd1 (default)
P5 1

OK so these settings result in the following...

[*]Range is 65 - 69 F
[*]Heat comes on at 65 (SP1+SP2-r2) and kicks off at 67 (SP1+SP2)
[*]Cooling comes on at 69 (SP1+r1) and kicks off at 67 (SP1)
[*]10 minute cool-down (c0) to extend life of the freezer


Just set my love unit up. When programming it it also has R1-8, A0-7, C0-4, P0-5, H0-5. Do I just skip (leave default) the parameters that were not included above?

Thanks
 
Sorry, some how my question got included in the OP (was trying to quote). Anyway do I leave the parameters default that were not listed above. The unit has parameters for R1-8, A0-7, C0-4, P0-5, and H0-5

Thanks again
 
Thanks for the reply. One last question. If I leave all parameters the same, can I set sp1 to any value and controller will control +/- 2 F. So if sp1 would be set to 64 would heat come on at 62 & off at 64 and cool on at 66 and off and off at 64?

Thanks
 
Thanks again, this has been a very informative thread.

Jeremy
 
I followed the designs provided by TomSD and Revvy. I recently relocated to Ireland and easily 90% of the time went to sourcing parts. It's a little ugly and the next one I make will be cleaner but the controller seems to be working well. I'm using a ceramic bulb for heat and I have a PC fan in a small enclosure to try to prevent stratification. With a little luck I'll be back brewing next week.

Cheers to everyone who contributed to the thread.

Jon

20121002_113320.jpg


20121002_113533.jpg


20121002_125412.jpg
 
Do you just run the sensor wire into the fridge through the door? Does it affect the seal at all?
 
Made my controller today. I bought the STC a couple weeks back, found a fridge on craiglist and picked it up last night. Today I got the parts at Home Depot, and the box in the pic at Target. I like the toolbox idea, though I didn't like this one at first because it has the compartments on top. This was the best I found, so I took it. I ended up installing the controller in the compartment, so now I'm happy they're there! My wife likes tools and building stuff, though she hasn't don't anything with electrical, so she wanted to help. We got it done pretty smooth.

Wiring diagram was perfect, thanks for the info, I really appreciate it, got this done in a couple hours and now my carboy is in the fridge at a perfect 68.

I wonder if the freezer (above the fridge) will be good temp to lager in... ?

IMAG1489.jpg
 
And here is the back of the box. Fridge is plugged into the nearest outlet, heater in the middle, power outlet furthest from camera. I'm lovin' this thing! Was fun to build and I'm not stressing about my beer overheating anymore. I'm already becoming obsessed with brewing, but now it is even more fun since a big struggle is alleviated, and just in time for hot weather here in SoCal.

Thanks again!

IMAG1493.jpg
 
There probably is enough room and I kinda hoped it might be useful that way, but the wiring under/behind the STC-1000 makes it a squeeze to shut the box. I don't want to open and close it a lot, I figure enough times and I might break one of the connections or wear out the wires. So I just leave it like that.

Again, thanks for your diagram, very helpful.
 
TSS-2 from Dwyer Instruments:

a little circuit board work, including
1) master switch
2) circulation switch - On/Off/Auto (circulates when heat or cool comes on)
3) heat (by way of aquarium heater)
4) cool (by way of turning on pump in Glycol tank in Keezer)

Relays required for circulation switch to be isolated.

A little woodworking to house device, and a bit of silkscreening for the faceplate.

IMAG0284.jpg


IMAG0285.jpg


IMAG0286.jpg


IMAG0288.jpg


IMAG0289.jpg
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Is this what we should be ordering?

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008KVCPH2/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20


Also, could a computer power cable (like this) be substituted?

The amazon link is for the 110V version. That's an incredible price for a controller if you don't mind the 1C setting increments. I'd use solid wiring to the terminals, 14 gauge minimum (15 Amp) and install an outlet that is not switched (in addition to your switched outlet) in your box to transition to stranded wire with forks crimped and soldered to the stranded wire.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
The amazon link is for the 110V version. That's an incredible price for a controller if you don't mind the 1C setting increments. I'd use solid wiring to the terminals, 14 gauge minimum (15 Amp) and install an outlet that is not switched (in addition to your switched outlet) in your box to transition to stranded wire with forks crimped and soldered to the stranded wire.

I found some 12/2. Will that work? Seems awful stiff like it will be tough to work with? Seems like it will be tough to turn with the wire nuts?
 
I found some 12/2. Will that work? Seems awful stiff like it will be tough to work with? Seems like it will be tough to turn with the wire nuts?

I'd use 12g THHN wire, sold at Home Depot/ect...by the foot in black/white/green. Stranded wire with forks crimped and soldered to the ends works great for flexible jumpers. Solid is similar to romex with wire nuts.
 
I'd use 12g THHN wire, sold at Home Depot/ect...by the foot in black/white/green. Stranded wire with forks crimped and soldered to the ends works great for flexible jumpers. Solid is similar to romex with wire nuts.


I'm just trying to be resourceful. I have a very heavy duty power cable from a server that has these wires in it. Is there any way to tell what gauge it is? It doesn't seem to say anywhere. I wonder if I could strip these cables and use them.

20130801_083842.jpg


Also, why couldn't I just use wire nuts with stranded cable like this? It would be a lot easier as I have never soldered before.

I feel very confident in my ability to wire the unit up as the diagram specifies however I am not familiar with electrical wiring and want to be sure I get the correct materials so as not to create a fire or shock hazard.

Thanks for all you help!
 
I'd use 12g THHN wire, sold at Home Depot/ect...by the foot in black/white/green. Stranded wire with forks crimped and soldered to the ends works great for flexible jumpers. Solid is similar to romex with wire nuts.

Ok, the fork crimps make sense to me now and look easy enough. How important is it to solder the ends to the fork crimp? Again, I've never soldered but perhaps it is time to give it a go
 
look at post 99
sure he's in Ireland and the outlets look funny...but that is stranded wire, not solid and looks like about 14g - you should be fine. Just don't try to run two refrigerators or heaters at the same time.

link to wire/load chart
 
I gotta mod my fridge.

I accidentally left my heat lamp on inside it overnight. It is melted some, around the door where the lamp was and on the ceiling around the light switch where I'm guessing some control/wiring is at, cause it won't turn on now. So I gotta hook up my temp controller directly to the compressor I guess. Right now the fridge is not modded, just plugs into the controller. Luckily I just had a two LBKs in there mostly done, so I didn't lose a big batch and maybe the LBKs will be ok. One is melted though, I'll post a pic maybe...

Is there a link around somewhere for going straight from controller to fridge thermostat or compressor?
 

Latest posts

Back
Top