Summer is coming, and I need to keep the pipeline happening...

So I'm starting to look for a good sized used upright freezer I can use for fermenting and conditioning...

I know there are a lot of external temp controllers out there that are plug and play.. but I was hoping to do something a little more elegant and less expensive.. I want to be able to control the whole freezer for cooling, and then have individual carboy blankets for heating...

So, what's the deal with these 'love' controllers everyone talks about? I think they're fairly cheap (like 30 bucks if I recall), and definitely elegant, but I'm not sure what all they do as they come...

Is it just a matter of hooking them up in line? Or do I need to have them control a mag switch or some other contactor/relay?

Can they be used for heating and or cooling? Or am I not understanding what they do?

Can someone point me to their website for more tech info and also some sources to buy them?

Love controllers are a nice way to save a few bucks over the Johnsons if you are handy with wiring. They're not terribly complicated, though just enough that you should make sure you know what you are doing before you start plonking down money. They don't require a separate mag switch/relay (they are relays, basically). The price varies significantly based on what model you want.

Here are a couple of diagrams to get you started. I believe Love makes both single stage (heating or cooling) and dual stage (heating and cooling) controllers. You'll need to provide your own probe, which you can either make yourself or buy from Derrin at Brewers Hardware. I've bought a fair bit from him over the years, and his stuff is uniformly great.

Specifically, a single love won't do what you describe here. You'd need a single stage for each of carboys you want to monitor, plus one for the freezer. I am not aware of any pre-built device that can keep multiple thermostats going independently, though you could build something for a reasonable cost.

You probablly want the TSS2 as it can control 2 different ouptuts. I bought mine from Dwyer Instruments. On the left hand side there is link for manual you can read. Its not documented very well but if you take the time to read it all the information is there. If you have to temperature probes connected it can control two outputs independently or also together.

Thanks guys.. I'm an electrician (from a family of electricians), and also worked as an avionics tech (military and later in aerospace)and spent time in college towards an EE degree. so I'm not afraid of the wiring end.. just the money end!

I like the love controller route, because they can be 'added' as needed.. and they're just a lot sexier than multi-tap outlet looking thing hanging off a coat hanger or duct taped to the side of the freezer.....

I think I'll start with a single control for cooling, and add heater controllers later.. four or five digital read outs on a freezer will really impress drunk friends (or drunk ladies if I can ever convince any to come visit this far out in the stix... :cross:

Maybe I can mount a little motor and a few gears, motors, and belts on the door too.... and something that makes random buzzing and clicking noises...

r8rphan said:

Thanks guys.. I'm an electrician (from a family of electricians), and also worked as an avionics tech (military and later in aerospace)and spent time in college towards an EE degree. so I'm not afraid of the wiring end.. just the money end!

I like the love controller route, because they can be 'added' as needed.. and they're just a lot sexier than multi-tap outlet looking thing hanging off a coat hanger or duct taped to the side of the freezer.....

I think I'll start with a single control for cooling, and add heater controllers later.. four or five digital read outs on a freezer will really impress drunk friends (or drunk ladies if I can ever convince any to come visit this far out in the stix... :cross:

Maybe I can mount a little motor and a few gears, motors, and belts on the door too.... and something that makes random buzzing and clicking noises...

Click to expand...

If you are handy with with wiring and can handle some (relatively straightforward) programming, check out the arduino. I built my controller for about $20 worth of parts for the base plus about $8 dollars per carboy. Plus, think of the geek cred

MalFet said:

If you are handy with with wiring and can handle some (relatively straightforward) programming, check out the arduino. I built my controller for about $20 worth of parts for the base plus about $8 dollars per carboy. Plus, think of the geek cred

Click to expand...

What is the 'arduino?'

r8rphan said:

What is the 'arduino?'

Click to expand...

It's a micro-controller, essentially. You plug in sensors and relays, tell it how to behave, and let it do all the controlling for you. It's like building your own customizable love controller.

MalFet said:

It's a micro-controller, essentially. You plug in sensors and relays, tell it how to behave, and let it do all the controlling for you. It's like building your own customizable love controller.

Click to expand...

Got link??

r8rphan said:

Got link??

Click to expand...

www.google.com?

just kidding...
it's www.arduino.cc

Hey, thanks for that.. I probably won't use that for this purpose (at least not in the short term)... But dang man.. Now my curiosity is peaked.. Just what I needed (not).. another hobby!

Oh sure, they look innocent and inexpensive in the beginning.. but then one day you find that you've invested enough to finance a small third world country...

Bookmarked...

BTW, I'm not a programmer.. Have written a few FLASH, JAVA, and APPLE scripts over the years, but mostly copy and paste..

How hard is it to program that thing? Are there ready made scripts out there for various common uses? Are they easily modified by the novice/non programmer?

r8rphan said:

BTW, I'm not a programmer.. Have written a few FLASH, JAVA, and APPLE scripts over the years, but mostly copy and paste..

How hard is it to program that thing? Are there ready made scripts out there for various common uses? Are they easily modified by the novice/non programmer?

Click to expand...

You can usually cobble things together, and I've seen a few temp controller programs out there. If you've done any programming, you'd probably be able to handle this with a little bit of patience. It's pretty straight forward, and much easier than writing a program for, say, windows.