Stc-1000+

You cannot guarantee a connection by holding it with your bare hands.

 

I figured it out. I had the wrong com port selected. Once I figured that out, it worked no problem!

 

Hi,

This one delivered a 'good' STC-1000:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00IJ0F2OW/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

You can notice the difference without opening the case, as I only found out after opening ;^)
There different spacings between connectors which depends on PCB, so that's the main check.

'Good' one:
Connectors: NO space between two connectors on left (with adhesive label up)
On sticker: triange with exclamation sign before word Note is BLACK ON WHITE

'Bad' one:
Connectors: quite some space (same as for connectors on the right) between two connectors on left (with adhesive label up)
On sticker: triange with exclamation sign before word Note is WHITE ON BLACK

Other Differences
'Good' one
Main PCB:
A400_P
Version:1.0
64.7*66.5mm
Thickness:1.2mm

Display PCB:
A400_D&M, Version:1.1
67.5*25.2mm,Thickness:1.2mm

RELAYS: JQC-3FF
on SIDE of trafo:
Cx
E30-10-135
BCY-432-3025
1-5: 230V 50/60Hz
7-9: 10V 1.35VA
WUXI XINCHANG ELEC.

has NO CE sticker below other sticker on cab for connections

'Bad' one
Main PCB:
S1000-Power_V1.1
2013.11.18
65*66.8*1.2

Display PCB:
S1000-Display_V1.0_121313
67mm*25mm*1mm

RELAYS: HF3FF
on TOP of trafo:
Unicreed
UC30D-2-10015
PRI 230V/15mA 50/60Hz 1-5
SEC 10V 1.5A 7-9

has CE sticker below other sticker on cab for connections


ETH

Drio

 

Good observations! One issue is that most retailers don't update their pictures with each batch that comes in. My suspicion is there are a few different factories making slightly different models that for all original intended use function the exact same. They are probably going to the same warehouse where they are shuffled around and then sent to the retailers, who in turn send to you. This makes it very difficult to tell right off the bat what you are going to get. I think the best advice is to try the ones that people have found worked, even though that isn't a sure thing, and keep trying until you get the model you need. Just like the lottery, you can't win if you don't play! They are well worth it when you get them. The other models can still be used for other things around the brewery like keezers and kegerators and work very well at that.

 

That is excellent info! Great tip for identifying version without opening!
I suspect that the 'good' version is really a knockoff. Which might be why you'd be more likely to get the wrong version when buying a branded one.
On the other hand the 'bad' one just might have gone through some kind of certification and the quality of components might be better.

On a side note, I have had somewhat of a breakthrough today with the mashing firmware today. I've been kind of stuck trying to get the fix point regulation to not overflow, but I think I have come to an acceptable solution. There's still some way to go, but it looks a lot better now.
It will probably be PI control, the D part just brings more problems than benefits. And the regulator will be pretty basic, it might not be suitable for everything. I will probably keep (at least some) profiles, but drop ramping as is serves little purpose (and I desperately need code space). First I need to make a better model and do more testing.

 

My Arduino card showed. I've had my STC1000+ running for a day now. I had a second STC1000 that I upgraded, and just swapped it out with the older one that I was using. I'll update that one at a later date.

so the STC1000+ went in mid-fermentation. I setup a profile, and then stepped ahead. love the ramping feature.

love the Fahrenheit readout, I've been able to remove a thermometer I had setup for the sole purpose of a fahrenheit display, along with my C to F conversion chart. while I'm comfortable with and work (mostly) in metric for weights and volumes, I dunno, metric came to me in my mid 20s and celsius is one of those "advanced metric" things that I just cant seem set into my brain.

love the whole profile feature - basically, I love this controller, its awesome !! it's now doing everything that I used to do manually, and will be less forgetful and more consistent than I am.

Thankyou Mats for all your work on this firmware and the user manual, and thanks to everyone who contributed. I would happily send you some homebrew as a way of thanks, but international borders, customs and alcohol regulations being what they are...well, you're probably not short of a homebrew or two anyways...

Cheers !

 

Drio - thanks for the help identifying the model number on the STC-1000.

I ordered from Amazon via the seller LERWAY. I placed my order on July 12th, and I got a v1.0 unit.

Below are pictures to illustrate the info Drio provided to determine if you got the flashable v1.0 version of the STC-1000.

As Drio mentioned, you can look at the STC-1000 unit without opening it up and determine if it is the v1.0. See the two green connectors on the left? Note that both connectors are touching (not spaced far apart).


Since the outside appearance seem to show that this is a v1.0, let's look inside. In small text on the bottom right of the green circuit board, you can see that this is indeed the v1.0.


Here is a closer up picture:


Hope this helps!

 

I just got done brewing last weekend with this stuff. I have my HERMS flashed with it and my fermchamber both are working perfect. The herms held nice and the fermchamber successfully did a ramp from 65 - 75 over 48hrs so thanks again for putting in the time to make and share this firmware, i mean fermware

 

Alphaomega,
This is my first attempt at using an Arduino, so I don't have experience to guide me. I have managed to set up a Pro Mini for programming the 'correct' STC, based upon the best I could make out from your post #805. It appears that you have connected to:
JP# PIN
7 1
7 2
6 2
6 4
4 1
These pins map to D8, D9, GND, VCC, and A7 respectively in the v13 diagram. Are these correct? I do not know how to map these pins to appropriate functions. I get the typical "STC-1000 NOT detected. Check wiring" message, and expect that the pin configuration definitions in the code are different for the Pro Mini... If so, (or not) what if anything needs to change in the code to program through the Pro Mini?
Thanks for any assistance you can provide.
Roger

 

The (functional) pins are the same and should be D3, D8, D9, Vcc and GND.
You should not need to make any changes to the sketch.

 

I've gone back the 20 pages to the above post, and don't see anyone listing any other seller. The current Amazon listings for the only one with "Lerway" in the description have Elitech in the the title and the pics show the 'black' note, and are sold by Lotfancy.

Handysmart, AGPtech, Brainytrade all sell them 'fullfilled by amazon' but again, the 'black' note on each one.

I have 4 Elitech units that are all the other version, so this is not a good feeling, but 2 have Elitech printed on the face, the others 2 are plain. Identical boards inside.

Anyone have luck on ebay? Lots of 'white' note pics, but not a single one shows the terminals. The note alone is not convincing, where as the terminals are much more so.

 

I wouldn't go by the pics on Amazon. I have 3 Elitech units, all are v1.0. Two were sold by Lerway and one was sold by Orino. Searching for "stc-1000" on Amazon brings up units with Elitech, AGPtek or IMAGE in the title. For the two Elitech units, one shows by Elitech - sold by Lerway - fulfilled by Amazon and the other shows by Lerway - sold by IMEEA - fulfilled by Amazon. The AGPtek unit shows by AGPtek - sold by IMEEA - fulfilled by Amazon. And the IMAGE unit shows by IMAGE - sold by BrainyTrade - fulfilled by Amazon.

So basically it's still a crap shoot...

 

OK!
On second look, I see where I misinterpreted your picture. As a NooB, had your references to (9), (8) and (3) been to (D9), (D8) and (D3), I would have figured it out without pictures... Ready to close in less than one minute!
Thanks for the clarification, and MANY MORE thanks for your fantastic presentation of this project.
Roger

 

I just received a v1.0 "sold by Lerway - fulfilled by Amazon" a few days ago. (fwiw)...
Roger

 

Not sure if anyone asked yet.

Any reason why this wouldn't work on a 12v stc?

I assume it's the same board but different relays.

Anyone tried?


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

Lerway is a supplier AND a seller it seems. Multiple sellers selling their brand, and I did not pull up every item, but almost. Now it makes sense to me.
Still not liking the 'crap shoot' idea at all..... I'm the epitome of getting a 50/50 chance and 80/20 results not in my favor.

 

Also there is one on amazon that is a Fahrenheit stc but not labeled stc. This may mean the board had to have been flashed meaning it's v1.0. It's $10.57+2.49 shipping

AC 120~120v digital temperature controller thermostat F


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There are some F controllers out there, but all the ones I've seen are single function heat OR cool, or 220 volts. But then I've not reached the end of the internet yet.

 

That isn't actually an stc-1000. It is heating or cooling. I have one of these measuring my coolant temp. They are nice, but totally not what we are looking for.

 

Ah I see that now. Couldn't read the Chinese on the label but it has 8 terminals it looks like so I assumed it was dual stage.


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I have a request, can you make firmware to make the stc a timer? just like a basic kitchen countdown timer. I know that is a way under use of the stc but seriously panel mounted timers are crazy expensive, the cheapest I can find is 50$.

 

This is the timer I use. It's 26 bucksz


Sestos Digital Twin Timer Relay Time Delay Relay Switch 110-220V Black B2E https://www.amazon.com/dp/B008KV65MS/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

 

wow nice i was searching forever and couldnt find anything

 

Not to get this thread anymore off topic but why would you pay $26 or even $50 for a timer? An egg timer cost like $5 at Walmart. I just use the timer on my phone.


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It would be nice to have one built into the control panel because it looks cool, but yea im going to just grab a kitchen timer and some two sided tape cause i cant justify spending over double to make it look cool. that or just use a free online one on my computer like ive been doing and works well.

 

I bought this 4 event timer with built in white board from amazon for $14. Just about perfect, unless you have more than 4 boil additions.
I'm very happy with it, except it runs the battery dead too quickly as you can't turn it off. I put a plastic tab under 1 terminal when not using it, and pull it out when I need it.

 

I've been following this tread for a little while and I just purchased an STC-1000 Elitech by Lerway through Amazon and it appears to be a v1.0. The left connectors are closer together anyway. I'll probably pop it open to make sure before I try flashing it. I really want to do a Helles style and this should make it really easy to lager it along with the free mini-fridge I just picked up!

Like others have said before, thanks for all of the work to figure this out and also all of the work to serve it up here in a way most people can understand.

Yay, one post down. Many, many more to go...

 

Nice I like the idea of having one be a count up timer to track how long my brewday takes.

 

I have the Sestos built in to my control panel. It has relays in it, which is why the dude asked in the stc forum in the first place. I can use mine to set off alarms or I can go in the night before and set my HLT to come on early enough to get up to temp before I even wake up on brew day.

 

For a timer, use a simple fan type timer made for bathrooms. Made to mount, ya can even wire a simple light thru it. Most are mechanical and come in different time ranges. No issue to run lower voltages thru them if you want led type indicators.

 

But can they be setup to run different tasks depending on what state the timer is in.

 

I had two STC 1000 sitting in my closet. I sent off for the rest of the items to flash them and have finally gotten around to working on this project.

I'm not a computer person by any means, but I have just finished flashing them. It has taken me several days. When I ran into problems I consulted the oracle of knowledge (the internet) and found the solutions.

Thanks to Alphaomega for all your work on this. I raise a pint to you and the others who have helped with testing out the different beta writings of the code.

 

This was my first run with the upgraded STC. I did my normal procedure for a 10g batch and taped the controller temp probe to the fermenter with WY1056 and wedged the WLP001 fermenter up against it. A EL-USB-1 temp logger in a waterproof aluminum case was in the 001 brew. You can see I knocked out at 80ish (thanks summer ground water temps) and started the temp profile. I pitched the yeast when I hit 74 about 5 hours later. Total time from grain to keg was 14 days. The attached plot is the logger recorded temp v. the set point (thanks to the badass STC-1000+ Profile Builder.xlsx). Max deviation was never more than 1 degree above set point. Given how crude the monitoring method was I'm super happy with this outcome!

Thanks so much to everyone that's worked on this project, especially Alpha. This is so much easier than juggling the temps up and down all the time.

 

Hi!
Thanks so much posting your experiences and for the kind words

 

My 80/20 rule reins. Got the STC from Leeway on Amazon and its not the right one and different from 4 of my other 5. The board number is 20140528 FR-4. White on black note, left terminals close together. I did see what look like marked holes, at least 4. I'll post more details later.

 

I wonder if with the knowledge of how to tell the correct controller by external identifiers would help reduce that down to 90/10 if the sellers were asked to check prior.

 

I contacted an ebay seller, and not n option. Many don't have physical possession of the items, and mine was 'fulfilled by amazon'.

 

I have some good news and some bad news to report:

The Good News: I think I've secured a source for the correct controller version

The Bad News: You have to buy a minimum of 100pcs in order to buy from them

More Bad News (for me anyway): In the process of finding a source, I got stuck with 100pcs of the wrong version

If this turns out to be a reliable source, I'll order an extra 50pcs of the good controllers when I build my next batch of "The Black Box" and will sell them at cost to the DIY crowd. In the meantime, you'll see me selling STC-1000's on Ebay; do NOT buy these, as they are the v1.1's I'm getting rid of.

For the sake of documentation, here are some pics of the "Good" & "Bad" controller versions I used in communicating what I needed. The sensor shown as "Bad" in the 3rd pic is actually a higher quality sensor, but I'm calling it "Bad" because it's coming from the wrong supplier.

 

So all these "bad" ones are still good to go to make just the general temp controller with Celsius, right?

You just can't flash them and change to the Fahrenheit programming.

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Yes of course. They are only "bad" in the sense they can't be reflashed with new firmware.