PistolPete2
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GoGreenEric said:
Thanks. Me too.
ebay aquarium temp controller build
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Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:
Thanks. Me too.
correct. and yes, let the refer run normal
Great, Thanx for the info!!! I'll start ordering parts this weekend!
ghoti
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Thanks for all the great information in this thread. I got my controller yesterday and was able to put it together last night with no issues.
I've read many of the pages here; but, not all.
It seems that most people are just using the controller for heating.
But to use the fridge as a temperature chamber do you plug the whole fridge into the new controller outlet box? Seems to me you'd burn out the compressor turning it on/off all the time?
I was thinking about shorting the thermastat in the fridge and sending the wires from the freezer themastat to the controller relay. That way the fan in the freezer would always be on, circulating air and the freezer would call for cold as needed.
I also plan to have a muffin fan in the fridge.
For heat, I picked up a little 500 watt under the desk ceramic heaters for like $10.
Does this sound about right?
It seems that most people are just using the controller for heating.
But to use the fridge as a temperature chamber do you plug the whole fridge into the new controller outlet box? Seems to me you'd burn out the compressor turning it on/off all the time?
I was thinking about shorting the thermastat in the fridge and sending the wires from the freezer themastat to the controller relay. That way the fan in the freezer would always be on, circulating air and the freezer would call for cold as needed.
I also plan to have a muffin fan in the fridge.
For heat, I picked up a little 500 watt under the desk ceramic heaters for like $10.
Does this sound about right?
the controller allows you to set a compressor delay time. meaning if I set it for ten minutes and the fridge needs power after it has been turned off it wont be turned on again till those ten minutes are up. also the temp of a 5 gallon carboy should be pretty stable because of the amount of thermal mass. ideally you should measure the temp of the fermentation and not the air. the fermentation temp will stay more stable than the air temp. especially if you check on it often.
BraxtonBrewery
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I just picked up a 5 pack today. They should be here in the next week. I need one for sure. The others are yours for my cost plus shipping. Just let me know by a PM.
I also ordered my second temp controller (a little more carefully this time haha) Hopefully I won't have to worry about this when I get the new one.
Cheers, Evan
No, what wer're doing is maintaining the temp inside the freezer or refer to control heating or cooling. Maintain one temp.
Example if it's 36 degrees below zero outside, the inside of the unit will be let's say 45 degrees
If its 108 above zero outside, the inside of the unit will be 45 degrees
Just ordered 3 stc-1000 110v from mixtea and he gave me a break and the total cost was $65!
Hi. I guess what I meant to say was that my impression is that most people seem to be more concerned with raising the temp to a stable warm ale fermenting temperature than chilling to a lager temp.
So, I just plug the whole fridge in, instead of bypassing one or both of the internal thermastats?
So, I just plug the whole fridge in, instead of bypassing one or both of the internal thermastats?
Just wire it as in the first post then plug your fridge to "cooling" outlet and your heating device in to the "heating" outlet, put them together (heater inside fridge ie) and it will maintain setup temperature but turning heater or fridge as needed
JuanMoore
Getting the banned back together
The only reason you'd ever need to bypass a thermostat is if you were trying to get the fridge colder than the built in thermostats allow. Even if that's the case, it's likely a whole lot easier to take the thermostat apart and adjust the internal settings rather than try bypassing it.
andrewspearns
New Member
I just picked up a 5 pack today. They should be here in the next week. I need one for sure. The others are yours for my cost plus shipping. Just let me know by a PM.
I also ordered my second temp controller (a little more carefully this time haha) Hopefully I won't have to worry about this when I get the new one.
Cheers, Evan
I can't seem to PM you, but am interested in one of your extra transformers.
PM Or emaiL me a.spearns[at]gmail.com
BraxtonBrewery
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They got turned off for some reason, they are back up and running now.
MonkeyMashBrewing
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Braxton- I got the STC-1000 in 220 and I need three transformers to power the switch and then my heat-cool source. If you have three, I'll take em. If not can you let me know where you got em? Much appreciated!
(I haven't done this myself but...)
THREE transformers? I would have thought you needed only ONE per controller (to power the controller and to trigger the relays). The output of the relays themselves are directly from the wall (at 120VAC)...
Finally the replacement transformers came in to convert the 220 boxes to 110:
It is kinda difficult to unsolder the old transformer with the crappy soldering iron that I had to use, but I got it done, circled in red are the terminals that need to be unsoldered:
Not pretty but it works great! Looks similar to a lot of others. I wasn't patient with the dremel and the outlet hole paid the price.
Heating:
Cooling:
I will probably rewire so that the annoying freezer plug is on the roomy side of the plug.
Everything was from Home Depot. The 120VAC lamps were from Radio Shack.
Heating:
Cooling:
I will probably rewire so that the annoying freezer plug is on the roomy side of the plug.
Everything was from Home Depot. The 120VAC lamps were from Radio Shack.
BraxtonBrewery
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You need three for one controller?
cheesecake
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just ordered mine off of ebay. cant wait till it gets here so i can get back to kegging
MonkeyMashBrewing
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BraxtonBrewery said:
I wasn't sure what the transformer consisted of... Now I see that the mod is made to the board itself. Originally I was thinking that it went between each line in/out. Not the case here. Can you point me in the right direction to acquire one? I got two weeks to get this in line before my next batch, again I appreciate the feedback!
infection
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the 5 I ordered were from here:
https://estore.heilind.com/partdetail.asp?pn=BV301S09015&dp=ZTMBV301S09015&cp=
BraxtonBrewery
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That is where I got mine as well. Now Im just waiting for them to arrive. Once they get here I only need one of them.
MonkeyMashBrewing
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BraxtonBrewery said:
I'm no mathematician but I think that leaves you with four... I need one, so you'll have.... A 110 temp controller when your all done!
I'll take the last four, use one and sell the three I have to the next guy. This may end up being five bucks each once you figure in shipping... Again I'm no mathematician, I master in consumption.
Let me know if you want the headache
BraxtonBrewery
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If you need one, I can send ya one. I have one guy that needs 2, another who needed one, and then you would get the last one. That would take up all 5. Man that went quick. Haha.
I have a question about the wiring, I want to wire this directly up to a heating element, no plug inbetween and not sure how to do it. Looking at the picture you can see the three wires from the power cord currently. red is hot, (ignore the white and the random piece of black they were for the electronics that use to be in it) the black on the upper right is the neutral and the lower black is the ground.
Ground: Change nothing keep it there
Hot: connect it to spots 1, 5, 7 (though Im not using the cooling function) on temp controller and then spot 6 goes to where current hot is connected
Neutral: Im thinking just spot 2 and where it currently is but not sure on this one
Does that sound right?
Ground: Change nothing keep it there
Hot: connect it to spots 1, 5, 7 (though Im not using the cooling function) on temp controller and then spot 6 goes to where current hot is connected
Neutral: Im thinking just spot 2 and where it currently is but not sure on this one
Does that sound right?
its the inside of an electric turkey fryer, the white is the connection point for the heating element yes, ive already figured out what each cable is, since i wired it up and tested it, just not sure how to put the controller in line to make it control it
JuanMoore
Getting the banned back together
StormBird said:
Yes, I used speaker wire. You may need to recalibrate the temp depending on the type/length of wire and connections used.
I ordered a single stage Fahrenheit version to use for controlling a space heater in my SO's warm room (her bathroom). Will post a pic of the build. Ordered it from one of the China sellers last Thursday morning and it came in the mail yesterday. I will do another dual stage at some point for a fermentation chamber.
I'm looking to purchase one of these as many others already have. I do have a question though about using it for dual devices (heating and cooling). I'm pretty sure the STC-1000 has this ability but it reads in C.
Wondering if anyone knows anythign about this one and its dual possibilities (it reads in F)
http://www.ebay.com/itm/AC-110-120V...628?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3a6626468c
Wondering if anyone knows anythign about this one and its dual possibilities (it reads in F)
http://www.ebay.com/itm/AC-110-120V...628?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3a6626468c
I have one that looks very similar and it is single stage. There's a setting where you tell it to heat or cool to your specified temp. So, it's only going to do one or the other.
That is the one I have...The exact one. It most definitely is a SINGLE stage for either heating or cooling but not both.
Thanks for the reply guys. Bit the bullet and went with the stc 1000 from the seller overseas. Made sure I found and ordered the 110V. It's in celsius whic kinda blows but not that big of a deal. Now we'll wait for that And begin the build on the ferment chamber
It's not the relay that you should look at. It's the transformer that you need to check.
Why is that? This is a 110v Fahrenheit model. I have already tested it and confirmed. The issue was that I was going to have to get a bigger relay to control the heater I am building this for because it is listed in the ebay ad as a 5amp relay. I looked inside and it has a 15amp relay...Which is more than enough for my needs. The transformer takes 110v incoming and converts it to 12v to run the electronics and activate the relay.
The point of my post is that even though the ad listed it as a 5amp unit that the unit I received can be used out of the box to power a heat only or cool only fermentation chamber (though it can be switched in the programing menu) or keezer and reads in Fahrenheit.
Misunderstood your concerns. I thought you were concerned that it was a 220VAC model.
