ebay aquarium temp controller build

sorry i missed the question, but JWS answered perfectly. hope you get it wired up and running!

 

JWS,

Thanks again. I think I got it now. Yeah, it looks like there is a yellowish line coming out of the extension cord. Now that you tell me that the blue represents the white coming out of the cord I get it now. I'll let you know how it goes.

Cheers!

 

Here is my build

 

Couple more here, size comparison and right at home on the keggerator

 

if anyone ordered the wrong controller (220 V) I have 4 extra replacement transformers that can be soldered in....just pay my cost plus shipping and i'll send them right out

 

Thanks for this thread and everyone who has helped!!!

I finally finished with the contollers in my build. Still have some shelving to work out, but I can ferment and lager! Details are here.

 

^creative use of a water dispenser! Nice work.

 

Thanks! Thought I could make use of otherwise dead space

 

Mine isn't pretty but it works!. thanks for the thread....

 

Here is mine:

 

Hi all, i've finaly got round to trying to wire all this up, only to find I couldn't get it to work.

The unit itself powers on, but the socket never gets power. I only have a single socket for now that I've attached to the cold in/outputs. If I change it to be wired into heat then it turns on if I adjust the settings to be higher than room temp. (im testing it with a lamp at the moment).
But I just can't get the cold one to come on.

I couldn't see a tab anywhere like people have mentioned, the unit is flashing its "cool" LED, should it be on or have a missed something? Or is it just broken?
:-(

 

Unless you change the setting the cool side takes 3 minutes to turn on. Its a compressor delay to keep from short cycling the compressor.

 

Ah ok, I'll re wire and leave it on a bit longer.

 

If the light changes from blinking to solid and you still dont have power to the outlet then there is a problem. I think the setting is F5 but it will be what ever menu option is 3. You can lower it all the way down to 30 seconds if you want. I wouldnt recommend lowering it that low though unless you are not using something with a compressor.

 

Yay! Put it all back together, lowered setting to 1 min and actually waited. Working fine, clearly just too impatient! Thanks for the help! Have put it back to 3 mins so should be good to start my next brew!

 

There is no good reason not to max out the ASD at 10 min. Its only purpose is as a last ditch safety to prevent the compressor from starting too soon after it just ran due to an event like the door being opened. It not supposed to be used as part of a temp control strategy. If your compressor is activating more frequently than every 10 minutes, there could be something wrong with your sensor placement.

 

Got my STC1000 today, built it into a 4x4x4 PVC Conduit Box from Home Depot (no radio shack in Canada anymore). Ignore the zipties, buying bolts to secure the outlet to the lid.

Pics

 

I'm just trying to control a keezer, so I'm just coming out of the cold. The blobs are pigtailed with wire nuts. I'm using an old computer power cable (18 AWG) for the power supply, and all of the internal wiring is stranded 14 AWG. I figure it's pretty straightforward, and I'm confident that I got it right, but it's my first time so I thought a thumbs-up from others who have more experience couldn't hurt.

 

that's it! good luck

 

which unit are you guys buying and from what user name on ebay?
I would like to get one.

 

What a difference adding 2 pc fans made. I couldnt get mine below 14c so i added 2 fans and it was dropping like a rock. I was shooting for 10,c Got it down to 11 before my daughter needed a trip to the park. I wanted to monitor it so i put it on hold for now. Gonna try and get it down to 40 so i could try some lagering. If not i'll cut out a barrier to split the chamber. Anybody else use a movable barrier for lagering?

 

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:



Here is the new transformer soldered in, worked perfect:



I have 4 more transformers if anyone else accidentally buys the 220V version of this, yours for my cost plus shipping....PM me if interested


here are some useful pics showing where to cut the case to make the slightly bigger transformer fit

Salute'

 

I got mine from quality_link2000 and it works great, but there are a lot of sellers that are selling the same darn thing. The important search phrase is 'Mini Digital Temperature Controller Thermostat Aquarium'.
Here's a link to get you started. I know for a fact that the first four results would work perfectly for you.

 

Can somebody measure the probe diameter for me? I am wondering if it will fit in my current thermowells.

Thanks,
-G

 

Mine is oval and ~3/16" on the narrow side x ~1/4" at the widest. FWIW I just bought a few of the cheaper single stage ones and they have SS probes that fit perfectly in 1/4" OD copper tubing (my ghetto thermowells).

 

Thanks

 

Thank you!

 

I just wanted to drop a line and also say thanks for this.
i already had all the parts including the project box, just needed the temp controller.
Got mine up and running and cooling.
I'm doing what GnomeEnthusiast did with cooling only, works great!
thanks again for doing the legwork for us!

 

Here are a few pictures of my build:


The pieces.


The dremel and I have a love/hate relationship...


It all fits!


Note the custom labeling


It works!
Big thanks to all of you that have posted schematics and ideas that have made this such a great DIY project!

 

Is there an easy way to add a fan that would run all the time? I'd like to add it to the basic hot cold wiring diagram.

 

yes, but if that is beyond your abilities, you would be better off getting some help with the wiring.

 

to make a fan run all the time just wire it directly into the black and white wires from the power

if you want it to run only when there is hot / cold called for on the controller, then you will need a relay....that wiring diagram is in this thread somewhere

 

Its just two wires. One to the white from tht feed and one to the black. Youll need a seperate receptacle though, if youre using cooling And heating

 

Here's a dumb question.. Is there anyway to convert this to display in degs F and not C?

 

Dont think so, if there was, someone on this forum would surely have figured it out But there are plenty of conversion charts in this thread which work great.

 

After a little while using a conversion chart you learn to think in C. If you only need single stage control (ie keezer) there is a similar controller available with a fahrenheit display. The seller will negotiate some and combine shipping for multiple units unlike the sellers I found for the STC-1000.

http://cgi.ebay.com/AC-110-120V-Digital-Temperature-Controller-Thermostat-F-/150606638066?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2310daebf2

I have one of these controlling my keezer, and two controlling my HERMS.

 

I just finished building my temp controller, but alas, it does not seem to be working! Hopefully someone can tell me what I've done wrong. I'm using separate receptacles for hot and cold. My multimeter registers 120v at the cold receptacle, but it won't turn the compressor on (the freezer works fine plugged right into the wall). The temperature sensor itself it working just fine, it just seems to not want to engage the compressor.

I've attached my circuit diagram.

Any ideas?

 

gotta start simple... are you waiting the 3 or however many minutes the compressor delay is set for to make sure it's not turning the compressor on?

 

I could be mistaken, but I thought that # 1 & 2 were for the probe leads, not line power which should be #3 & 4. None of the wiring seems to be correct. Like I said, I'm doing this from memory, so check the wiring diagram that came with the unit or someone can help who actually owns one. If you energized it as you have it shown, it may be smoked permanently. Hopefully, that is not the case.

 

Start with the simplest possible circuit. Remove the switch. Remove one of the receptacles. Remove all the dist. blocks. Get that working, then start adding functionality. Otherwise, chances are you'll start chasing your tail and getting frustrated.