ebay aquarium temp controller build

GotPushrods · May 23, 2013

If you somehow had it wired wrong, shorting it somewhere in the controller, then yes it could very well be fried.

Assuming short lengths of 12 or 14 guage wire with good connections, you could have pulled a few HUNDRED amps through it for about 17 milliseconds, assuming the breaker tripped in a single cycle. (You sure hope so)

Justdrumin · May 23, 2013

raouliii said:
Exactly where did you see an arc and what made a popping sound?

It came out of the plug in holes of the receptacle I plugged it into. I had the box put together so it may or may not have arced. But as far as I know, it all came from the receptacle I plugged the controller into.

Justdrumin · May 23, 2013

GotPushrods said:
If you somehow had it wired wrong, shorting it somewhere in the controller, then yes it could very well be fried.

Assuming short lengths of 12 or 14 guage wire with good connections, you could have pulled a few HUNDRED amps through it for about 17 milliseconds, assuming the breaker tripped in a single cycle. (You sure hope so)

Other than having the the green wires (heat cool coming from the controller) on the silver/neutral screws and the white/neutral wires being on the brass screw side everything was correct. I'm not an electrician, so if that could fry it than so be it. I used a 14 gauge power cord to wire it as well.

raouliii · May 23, 2013

The arc and tripped breaker means that you absolutely had something miswired or the controller was already bad. Did you find an over-stripped wire that may have allowed hot and neutral to short to one another? Hot and neutral miswired, but not shorted, at the receptacle would not create this problem.

Justdrumin · May 23, 2013

raouliii said:
The arc and tripped breaker means that you absolutely had something miswired or the controller was already bad. Did you find an over-stripped wire that may have allowed hot and neutral to short to one another? Hot and neutral miswired, but not shorted, at the receptacle would not create this problem.

They were over stripped but it didn't seem like there were any strays crossing over anywhere. I know for a fact that I had the neutral wires on the wrong side. I'm not sure if that's a huge problem or not but I had the neutral wires going to the brass screws on the receptacle and the ground wires going to the silver ones with the tab broken. I ordered another controller : / o well. Lesson learned.

user 103238 · May 24, 2013

I highly recommend purchasing a circuit tester - http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0002O1E7W/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20. I've had one for nearly 20 years, and use it religiously before plugging anything "real" into an outlet I've wired or re-wired. As a matter of fact, I just used it yesterday to ensure my second STC-1000 temperature controller was wired properly before plugging in my freezer. Best of luck on round 2!

alien · May 24, 2013

There is a GFCI version too which I find useful.

http://amzn.to/1afkTcO

beercity23 · May 24, 2013

android said:
mobius, yes, it functions as a two stage controller. one plug will control my fridge and the other a space heater (when i need it). there are times when my basement is pretty cool (58-59) and times when it gets 70+ during the summer, so mostly i'll need cooling power, but occasionally heat also, especially if i want to ferment a saison or something that needs really high temps.

here's the exact item on ebay

Any idea how to wire this for a fan to run only when the compressor turns on? I dont think the fan would have to run continually, or maybe it should, that would keep the compressor from kicking on as much. What about a light, plugged in to a constant hot, but only turns on when door is opened?

THanks,

tre9er · May 24, 2013

See if you can get a new unit. Perhaps the unit was defective. I don't see your wiring as the issue, Justdrummin.

day_trippr · May 24, 2013

beercity23 said:
Any idea how to wire this for a fan to run only when the compressor turns on? I dont think the fan would have to run continually, or maybe it should, that would keep the compressor from kicking on as much. What about a light, plugged in to a constant hot, but only turns on when door is opened?

THanks,

A stirring fan is best left running continuously, but if you want it to only run with the compressor, hook it to the same output as what you connect to the fridge (ie: use the cold side relay output).

A light you have to deal with on your own, the controller will be of no help...

Cheers!

marshallwms · May 24, 2013

tre9er said:
See if you can get a new unit. Perhaps the unit was defective. I don't see your wiring as the issue, Justdrummin.

I would remove all wires from the controller. If you have a volt meter or a continuity tester (or can borrow one) you can check the power line prongs to make sure you don't have a short between any two of them. If you want some guidance on doing that, let us know. (Maybe you can borrow one from a neighbor if you don't have one.) This will verify that your power cable is good. If you can't find a tester, you can carefully separate the 3 loose ends (putting wire nuts on each of them is a good idea) and see if the circuit pops.

If all goes well when you do that, unplug and reinsert, carefully, wires 1 and 2 (black and white wires) into the controller. You should use wire nuts and the individual black and white wires to the controller. Make very sure you have no shorts (loose strands if you are using stranded wire which is not as good or safe as solid wire.) Plug into the wall socket and see what, if anything happens. If you trip the circuit, we need to do more investigation. If you don't trip the circuit, you very likely have a faulty controller. If you have power on at the controller, we can move forward.

Let us know what happens.

Voltmeters make this sort of thing much easier to trouble shoot. Good luck!

atoughram · May 24, 2013

I've installed two of these, one for my beer fridge/fermentation cooler and the other for my fermentation cabinet heater. I installed a SSR on the refer side, the contacts are only rated at 10A and the SSR is rated at 25A. Anyone have trouble switching the refer directly on the 10A contacts? I would think that inrush current is significantly higher that 10A but I could be wrong. (I should measure it...)

sa1126 · May 24, 2013

Stupid question of the day:

what plug do you use for the fridge? heat or cool? the fridge sits about 50 degrees but needs to be set to around 65.

tre9er · May 24, 2013

sa1126 said:
Stupid question of the day:

what plug do you use for the fridge? heat or cool? the fridge sits about 50 degrees but needs to be set to around 65.

All the fridge knows how to do is cool. The warmest it can get (unplug it for a few hours, or overnight) is the warmest it can get, based on ambient temp. You'd plug it into cool. If you want to heat, I suggest a lamp with a paint can over it, or a SS bowl over it, which is what I do.

sa1126 · May 24, 2013

tre9er said:
All the fridge knows how to do is cool. The warmest it can get (unplug it for a few hours, or overnight) is the warmest it can get, based on ambient temp. You'd plug it into cool. If you want to heat, I suggest a lamp with a paint can over it, or a SS bowl over it, which is what I do.

Awesome...thanks!

Justdrumin · May 24, 2013

marshallwms said:
I would remove all wires from the controller. If you have a volt meter or a continuity tester (or can borrow one) you can check the power line prongs to make sure you don't have a short between any two of them. If you want some guidance on doing that, let us know. (Maybe you can borrow one from a neighbor if you don't have one.) This will verify that your power cable is good. If you can't find a tester, you can carefully separate the 3 loose ends (putting wire nuts on each of them is a good idea) and see if the circuit pops.

If all goes well when you do that, unplug and reinsert, carefully, wires 1 and 2 (black and white wires) into the controller. You should use wire nuts and the individual black and white wires to the controller. Make very sure you have no shorts (loose strands if you are using stranded wire which is not as good or safe as solid wire.) Plug into the wall socket and see what, if anything happens. If you trip the circuit, we need to do more investigation. If you don't trip the circuit, you very likely have a faulty controller. If you have power on at the controller, we can move forward.

Let us know what happens.

Voltmeters make this sort of thing much easier to trouble shoot. Good luck!

Unfortunately my only neighbor is an elderly lady that lives alone and I doubt it if she has one. The swmbo is already unhappy about how much this project has cost. With the mini fridge it cost $85. Not bad right. So I guess ill be going to be the other route. Can you explain a little more? I take which three wires and put nuts on them and what do I do after that?

marshallwms · May 25, 2013

Justdrumin said:
Unfortunately my only neighbor is an elderly lady that lives alone and I doubt it if she has one. The swmbo is already unhappy about how much this project has cost. With the mini fridge it cost $85. Not bad right. So I guess ill be going to be the other route. Can you explain a little more? I take which three wires and put nuts on them and what do I do after that?

I would be happy to. You have a 3 wire (hot, neutral, ground) plug and cord. That is the one I was talking about. Disconnect it from everything. For safety's sake, put wire nuts on the exposed ends of the 3 wires. This is over cautious, but much better safe than sorry. Now plug that into the wall socket. If the socket pops and the circuit trips, you have a bad cord. Replace it. I found really cheap extension cord / multisocket items at home depot. And relatively cheap replacement cords at Ace Hardware.

Again, I recommend solid copper wires if you can find some. If you know anyone who has done any shed or garage or house wiring, they probably have a few feet of left over wire they used and might be willing to give you some. Three or four feet should be plenty. If you can't find any solid and have to use stranded, make sure the ends are twisted together with no loose strands.

Report back, we will go to the next step. Good luck!

Justdrumin · May 25, 2013

marshallwms said:
I would be happy to. You have a 3 wire (hot, neutral, ground) plug and cord. That is the one I was talking about. Disconnect it from everything. For safety's sake, put wire nuts on the exposed ends of the 3 wires. This is over cautious, but much better safe than sorry. Now plug that into the wall socket. If the socket pops and the circuit trips, you have a bad cord. Replace it. I found really cheap extension cord / multisocket items at home depot. And relatively cheap replacement cords at Ace Hardware.

Again, I recommend solid copper wires if you can find some. If you know anyone who has done any shed or garage or house wiring, they probably have a few feet of left over wire they used and might be willing to give you some. Three or four feet should be plenty. If you can't find any solid and have to use stranded, make sure the ends are twisted together with no loose strands.

Report back, we will go to the next step. Good luck!

Ok. I did your test and it came back negative. No pops at all. I think the problem may have been that I bought a standard wire cord. I got my new controller in today and I fixed up all the wiring. I twisted the crap out of them and everything. I plugged it in and a small arc happened when I attempted to plug it in again. It didn't trip the breaker or the gfi plug I attempted to plug it into. So I tried to REALLY make sure all of the wiring was flawless and I plugged it in once more and no pops when I plugged it in, but.........the controller won't turn on......I really hope I didn't fry another controller......

Edit: My dad did have a voltage tester. Is that of any use here?

Edit #2: SO..........I just read everything very carefully and well......I figured out my problem. I bought two of 12v DC version.....I bought them off of amazon so hopefully I can return them.

raouliii · May 25, 2013

Justdrumin said:
...... SO..........I just read everything very carefully and well......I figured out my problem. I bought two of 12v DC version.....I bought them off of amazon so hopefully I can return them.

That IS a problem. Applying 110v to them has likely fried them.

Justdrumin · May 25, 2013

Ok. Just to double check this time guys and gals. This is the right one right? I just ordered one.

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

Justdrumin · May 26, 2013

raouliii said:
That IS a problem. Applying 110v to them has likely fried them.

They told me I could return them. Gave me shipping labels too. So hopefully all goes well.

sa1126 · May 26, 2013

Justdrumin said:
Ok. Just to double check this time guys and gals. This is the right one right? I just ordered one.

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

Yes, but there are cheaper ones on eBay. I got one to $16 shipped.

Justdrumin · May 26, 2013

sa1126 said:
Yes, but there are cheaper ones on eBay. I got one to $16 shipped.

Does yours ship in 3-5 days? I didn't want to buy one from china. It's worth the extra couple bucks to get it in a few days. Mine was $23 shipped. Especially when I have a batch ready to brew and I want to use my new toy to ferment in

I want it here ASAP.

Edit: The SWMBO put my ingredient kit from the table to the floor. Then we leave for lunch and come back to find newspaper everywhere and my grain bag is torn open with not a grain left....the culprits? My 6 month old terrier and my 6 month old pitbull!! New grains are on their way...the controller isn't due for a day or two. So I guess it works out.

raouliii · May 27, 2013

Justdrumin said:
They told me I could return them. Gave me shipping labels too. So hopefully all goes well.

I'm guessing that you didn't inform them that you had mistakenly applied 110v to them and let the magic smoke out?

Justdrumin · May 27, 2013

raouliii said:
I'm guessing that you didn't inform them that you had mistakenly applied 110v to them and let the magic smoke out?

They never asked about the condition of them. They look completely normal so unless they somehow test them, they won't know. I just told them I bought the wrong ones...which I did buy the wrong ones. Lol. That's why I'm returning them : )

BambiB · May 28, 2013

Looks like a cool project. What is the amperage rating for the controller? Most home-size aquariums use heaters in the 50-100 watt range. Refrigerators (especially at startup) can draw 700 watts or more. Heating pads are typically in the 50-250 watt range, and light bulbs can be anywhere between a few watts and a thousand watts.

If the current rating i$n't high enough, and you're lucky, you'll ju$t fry the unit and ki$$ your inve$tment goodbye. If you're unlucky, you could burn the hous$e down.

raouliii · May 28, 2013

BambiB said:
...What is the amperage rating for the controller?....

The contacts are rated for 15amps for 110vac operation.

Justdrumin · May 29, 2013

My new (110v this time) controller came today and I wired her up : ) here it is hooked up to my mini fridge happily cooling away. I have the probe, a digital thermometer and my dial in a beer bottle of water. The controller is about .6* off! Very happy with it. Thanks everyone for all of your help!

:mug:

Edit: I still need to drill holes to mount the receptacle. It's not crooked I swear!

tre9er · May 29, 2013

You can adjust the temp of the controller. It's the F4 setting.

Justdrumin · May 29, 2013

tre9er said:
You can adjust the temp of the controller. It's the F4 setting.

I'm not sure about the accuracy of my digital to get an accurate temp to adjust to. I'm just using my $15 one from Walmart I use for the bbq. Now I have the probe taped to the outside of he bottle with bubble wrap, hen a folded paper towel. Should I put my bbq thermometer in with the probe and then adjust the temp in F4?

ebay aquarium temp controller build

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