Keezer build with questions!

First I would like to say hello to everyone, this is my first post here and hope to have many more! Basically what I am doing is converting a Danby freezer, I think its about 15 or so cubic feet. I already have 4 kegs, digital tem controller, and just placed an order from Kegconection for a 4 tap system with all the upgrades.... the 4th tap is actually going to be Nitrogen setup with a wine faucet for my wife, other 3 will be Co2 beer. First thing I want to do is figure out how to wire up this controller, I'm just not 100% sure so I thought I would ask for help on this. I will include pics of my stuff.

.... one more.

Referring to this pic:

Connect an AC line cord with a male plug at the end, black wire to pins 1 and 3, white wire to pin 4.

Connect an AC line cord with female socket at the end, black wire to pin 2, white wire to pin 4.

Connect a temperature probe to pins 7 and 8.

[edit] Also, connect the green (grounding) wires from both line cords together!

Cheers!

Easiest way IMO is to build a box to plug the fridge into like shown in the STC-1000 thread. The terminals are in a different order for this model, but everything else should be the same. The controller you have is only rated for 5 amps, so you should read the tag on your fridge and make sure it doesn't draw too much. Here's a simple diagram for that controller-



This shows the nuetral being switched, but you can switch the hot instead if you prefer.

fwiw, the switch is rated for 10A at 110v.

Switching neutral always freaks me out, and I'd never wire anything that way, but it is permissible...

Cheers!

day_trippr said:

fwiw, the switch is rated for 10A at 110v.

Switching neutral always freaks me out, and I'd never wire anything that way, but it is permissible...

Cheers!

Click to expand...

You're thinking of the STC-1000. I have both, and the one posted in this thread is only rated for 5A.

And I also wired all of mine to switch the hot. I drew the diagram for someone who was trying to switch the neutral and was having some issues.

Thats a big help, so everyone leaves the stock controller in place and just maxes it out I assume? Also my power cords in the freezer are not color coded, they just have a smooth side and a ribbed side.

fhhobbies said:

Thats a big help, so everyone leaves the stock controller in place and just maxes it out I assume? Also my power cords in the freezer are not color coded, they just have a smooth side and a ribbed side.

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It doesn't really matter what you set the stock thermostat to since even the warmest setting is colder than you'll need it. Hold the plug up and pretend to plug it into the outlet drawn in my diagram to figure out which is which. Like I said though, the easiest thing is to make a control box that the freezer plugs into.

Cool, ok I will build a box and wire it up like your pic, ty!

JuanMoore said:

You're thinking of the STC-1000. I have both, and the one posted in this thread is only rated for 5A.

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Nope, I was actually just going by the picture that was posted by fhhobbies. Sure looks like it's rated at 10A for 110v applications. Are those labels erroneously applied?

And I also wired all of mine to switch the hot. I drew the diagram for someone who was trying to switch the neutral and was having some issues.

Click to expand...

I think that's prudent. To me, "off" should always mean "nothing hot in there"...

Cheers!

fhhobbies said:

Thats a big help, so everyone leaves the stock controller in place and just maxes it out I assume? Also my power cords in the freezer are not color coded, they just have a smooth side and a ribbed side.

Click to expand...

Yup, set the chiller's control to MAX COOL and let the external controller run the show.

As for the freezer's wiring, if you're going to wire up a plug and socket to the controller, and just plug the freezer into the controller's socket, you just have to get the controller's wiring correct, and the fridge will go along for the ride...

If you cut a heavy duty (14awg) extension cord in half and use the two halves to wire up the controller, just follow the wiring hooked by color as I outlined. But if you build your own wiring and have to wire up the plug and the socket, the brass screw on the plug and socket is for the black/hot wire and the white metal screw is for the white/neutral wire (and the green screws are for the ground)...

Cheers!

I will pick up some cord when I get a chance and have a go. I recieved a color diagram of the unit from the place I got it from but Im not sure if it will change anything.

fhhobbies said:

I will pick up some cord when I get a chance and have a go. I recieved a color diagram of the unit from the place I got it from but Im not sure if it will change anything.

Click to expand...

That's obviously the same diagram as posted earlier, so I'd say it doesn't change anything

Cheers!

OK had a bit of time to wire something up... its crude just to make sure its correct before I lengthen wires and cleand it up. Basically the red cord plugs into the wall, "A" was the freezers white male plug wire, "B" was the freezers black male plug wire.(I basically cut the freezers male plug and installed thoses wires where it would plug into the female plug coming off the controller but I figured why add 2 extra plugs if I dont need them).

1= freezer plug white wire
2 and 3= white power supply splits off into here
4= freezer plug black wire and power supply black wire go here

Let me know if this is correct before I do a final wiring and power up, I would hate to smoke something!

I would also add that I used the diagram provided by Juan Moore cuz it was the easiest to read to me.

Here is the pic

You matched the wiring scheme provided by JuanMoore correctly - it ought to work fine once you have a temp sensor installed...

Cheers!

Good to hear, I will re wire it cleanly and button it up, hopefully my taps and other parts come in next week and I can start posting fun stuff

OK did a rewire, and she is alive! Seems to be working as should, more to come!

Dude, I'm not an electrician so take this with a grain of salt. I personally wouldn't cut wires and stuff in your freezer. I bought a temp controller from Aubrin's. I wired it into an extension cord, placing the temp probe inside. Plugged the freezer in the recepticle end of the extension cord. It works great without me messing up my freezer.

I never posted thanking Code Rage for this invaluable post. This the the method I followed to get my Keezer going. Be sure that you get the right temp controller for the amps your freezer needs. I called and talked with the salesman when I bought mine and he helped me buy the right one. Good luck to you.

Code Rage's thread. https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/how-wire-auber-syl-2362a2-pid-fridge-157513/

My controller is rated for 10A, how can I tell how much the freezer is pulling?

fhhobbies said:

My controller is rated for 10A, how can I tell how much the freezer is pulling?

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They usually say on the Back of the freezer. My GE 7cf pulls about 1.5a but in that second of startup it pulls a lot more. But again it's only a second at most while the compressor kicks on.

The only thing I can find is on the compressor, it says 8.6A locked rotor?

How old is your freezer? Also do you know how many watts it draws?

fhhobbies said:

My controller is rated for 10A, how can I tell how much the freezer is pulling?

Click to expand...

A 10A controller should easily handle any non-commercial refrigerator or freezer. Most draw only 1-2 amps when running. The draw can be substantially higher momentarily at start up, but it would be very unusual to have one exceed a 10 amp draw. I think the locked rotor spec is the maximum draw under the wort case conditions (ie, a bearing failure etc which could prevent the motor from turning at all). Under normal operating conditions, it should be much less than that even on start ups.

I was told it was about 8 years old, I dont know what it draws.

Catt22 said:

A 10A controller should easily handle any non-commercial refrigerator or freezer. Most draw only 1-2 amps when running. The draw can be substantially higher momentarily at start up, but it would be very unusual to have one exceed a 10 amp draw. I think the locked rotor spec is the maximum draw under the wort case conditions (ie, a bearing failure etc which could prevent the motor from turning at all). Under normal operating conditions, it should be much less than that even on start ups.

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Truth. Thought it had to be at least a decade old to have that much amperage. You should be okay though

You should be well under 10amps. Like others, mine draws under 2 when running. I'm not sure about the startup draw, but there is no way it should be that high.

You can be sure by testing out the draw with a device like the Kill-a-Watt (amazon link). Very handy to have around the house as it'll tell you exactly how much power is being used by whatever you have plugged into it. It'll tell you current Watts, which you can divide by volts (110) to give you amps. So if your freezer uses 200 watts (and it is a 110v freezer), you are using 1.8Amps.

fall-line said:

You should be well under 10amps. Like others, mine draws under 2 when running. I'm not sure about the startup draw, but there is no way it should be that high.

You can be sure by testing out the draw with a device like the Kill-a-Watt (amazon link). Very handy to have around the house as it'll tell you exactly how much power is being used by whatever you have plugged into it. It'll tell you current Watts, which you can divide by volts (110) to give you amps. So if your freezer uses 200 watts (and it is a 110v freezer), you are using 1.8Amps.

Click to expand...

The Kill-A-Watt gadget has an amperage readout as well as wattage. No need to calculate anything. It already does it for you. There are some other useful modes such as the cumulative kwh readout and total run time.

Marlowefire said:

Truth. Thought it had to be at least a decade old to have that much amperage. You should be okay though

Click to expand...

The age of a refrigeration unit is not necessarily a good way to judge it's power draw or efficiency. I have one freezer that is about 45 years old and it operates at about the same efficiency as my almost new chest freezer.

Catt22 said:

The Kill-A-Watt gadget has an amperage readout as well as wattage. No need to calculate anything. It already does it for you. There are some other useful modes such as the cumulative kwh readout and total run time.

Click to expand...

Ah, right you are. I couldn't remember exactly. Thanks for clarifying. Either way, definitely consider picking one up. I use mine all the time.

Catt22 said:

The age of a refrigeration unit is not necessarily a good way to judge it's power draw or efficiency. I have one freezer that is about 45 years old and it operates at about the same efficiency as my almost new chest freezer.

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Really??? How many watts does it draw? The old one that is.

2 days no response. I doubt that old fridge works like a new one

Marlowefire said:

2 days no response. I doubt that old fridge works like a new one

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I had a Philco fridge from the 50's that pulled about the same as my ferm fridge from the mid 90's. It pulled slightly more when running, but ran a lot less frequently. When you look at the amount of insulation they used to put in fridges, it's not that surprising. My ferm fridge has ~2" thick walls, compared to the ~5.5" thick walls of the old Philco. The door seal was also much thicker/wider, and better engineered IMO.

Marlowefire said:

2 days no response. I doubt that old fridge works like a new one

Click to expand...

Good for you!

Today I got a 2x8 collar finished, just priming it now... I am just going to paint it to seal it because I think my keezer is going to get a full graphic wrap.

Some pics!

Was thinking of mounting an outlet inside the freezer and plug a tiny fan like this in there.

Well I thought it would be easy to come up with a graphic for the freezeer but I really have no idea! What do you all think?

Here is my regular beer fridge.