ebay aquarium temp controller build

[toddzio]

This thread is so informative thanks!
My STC-1000 is on a slow boat from China as we speak. I want to ask has anyone used one to control a water pump?

I ask because SWMBO won't allow me another fridge for Beer, apparently one chest freezer for beer purposes is enough... I don't get it but she makes the rules.
So my plan is to make a fermentation chamber out of insulation and plywood, put an ice chest on top, put a pump in that hooked up to the STC-1000 and use frozen milk jugs full of water to cool water pumped into the fermentation chamber.
I plan on putting a coil of copper tube inside a 3" pvc pipe with a computer fan circulating air through the tube as a heat exchanger inside the chamber.

Does this seem like a workable plan?

 

[JuanMoore]

This thread is so informative thanks!
My STC-1000 is on a slow boat from China as we speak. I want to ask has anyone used one to control a water pump?

I ask because SWMBO won't allow me another fridge for Beer, apparently one chest freezer for beer purposes is enough... I don't get it but she makes the rules.
So my plan is to make a fermentation chamber out of insulation and plywood, put an ice chest on top, put a pump in that hooked up to the STC-1000 and use frozen milk jugs full of water to cool water pumped into the fermentation chamber.
I plan on putting a coil of copper tube inside a 3" pvc pipe with a computer fan circulating air through the tube as a heat exchanger inside the chamber.

Does this seem like a workable plan?

Seems like it would work to me.

 

[Polboy]

This thread is so informative thanks!
My STC-1000 is on a slow boat from China as we speak. I want to ask has anyone used one to control a water pump?

I ask because SWMBO won't allow me another fridge for Beer, apparently one chest freezer for beer purposes is enough... I don't get it but she makes the rules.
So my plan is to make a fermentation chamber out of insulation and plywood, put an ice chest on top, put a pump in that hooked up to the STC-1000 and use frozen milk jugs full of water to cool water pumped into the fermentation chamber.
I plan on putting a coil of copper tube inside a 3" pvc pipe with a computer fan circulating air through the tube as a heat exchanger inside the chamber.

Does this seem like a workable plan?

I use it to control water pump, works great but my design is little different, you can find more detail in my thread here (go to post 18 for summary):
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/office-water-cooler-temp-control-289108/
Its walk away system, just punch desire temp in stc and it will keep set up temp between 55 and 90F, i could probably insulate box and get it in to high 40 for lagers, o and i sold the idea of having water cooler in the house to my
wife by making it actually usable for original purpose (you know drinking water)

 

[241]

Just got my STC-1000 today and am a electrical wiring moron . Please advise.

I've looked at the diagram on the back of the unit and it suggests that I could simply .......

1) Wire the mains input into 1 and 2.

2) Probe wires obviously go to 3 and 4.

3) Connect my 100 watt heating lamp directly into 5 and 6

4) Connect the power to freezer power directly into 7 and 8.

5) Turn my freezer thermostat onto MAX.

Is this method correct ? Or am I missing something ??

Any advice much appreciated.

I like the diagram and video here:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/stc-1000-wiring-diagram-question-362214/

I'm a complete noob to wiring and that worked perfectly for me. Currently holding temps for a little starter batch and tomorrow it gets 5 gal of holiday ale...

 

[jeepinjeepin]

This thread is so informative thanks!
My STC-1000 is on a slow boat from China as we speak. I want to ask has anyone used one to control a water pump?

I ask because SWMBO won't allow me another fridge for Beer, apparently one chest freezer for beer purposes is enough... I don't get it but she makes the rules.
So my plan is to make a fermentation chamber out of insulation and plywood, put an ice chest on top, put a pump in that hooked up to the STC-1000 and use frozen milk jugs full of water to cool water pumped into the fermentation chamber.
I plan on putting a coil of copper tube inside a 3" pvc pipe with a computer fan circulating air through the tube as a heat exchanger inside the chamber.

Does this seem like a workable plan?

That sounds good to me. The other option would be having the carboy in a water bath and having the copper coil in there. I was actually thinking about doing that with glycol and my kegerator freezer before I snagged some minifridges.

 

[ianoconnor]

Just finished wiring mine tonight, and it is working correctly! This was my first foray into electrical wiring, so I'm pretty pleased with myself, haha.


Thanks everyone for such a great thread.

 

[fergusmj]

Just got mine completed last week. Pretty easy to do. 1 hot, 1 cold outlet. The Cord is going out the back so I can sit it flat on top of the mini-fridge I'm going to use for my fermentation chamber.

The digital display is not that crooked...but the picture makes it look like it is.

 

[Roadliner]

So many pages! Do I want the 110 or 220?

 

[cheesecake]

So many pages! Do I want the 110 or 220?

If your in the us 110

 

[Roadliner]

If your in the us 110

Excellent, thanks

 

[user 64661]

I have one of these working as we speak. I'm upgrading my freezer capacity to two units and was wondering...
I purchased a second temp controller. I have a broken Black box Pow-R-Boot power hub (https://surpluscityliquidators.com/view_product/164469/530) that is rated at 15 amps. Could I gut it and mount two temp controllers for the two freezers? I guess the real question is can you run two freezers of of one 15 amp power cable?
Thanks,

Tx

 

[emjay]

I guess the real question is can you run two freezers of of one 15 amp power cable?
Thanks,

Tx

Yes.

 

[user 64661]

Excellent, thanks.

 

[seedubxj]

If one were to use this type of controller combined with a chest freezer for cooling and a brew belt for heating and taping the insulated probe to a carboy, where would be the best location for the belt and for the probe? I wouldn't want to get a false reading due to the carboy material (glass or plastic) heating up due to the brew belt. Any thoughts?

 

[emjay]

If one were to use this type of controller combined with a chest freezer for cooling and a brew belt for heating and taping the insulated probe to a carboy, where would be the best location for the belt and for the probe? I wouldn't want to get a false reading due to the carboy material (glass or plastic) heating up due to the brew belt. Any thoughts?

Belt would be best near the bottom, for reasons of convection, but not so low that it'll be around a mass of trub instead of liquid. So around 4 inches or so from the bottom...

And I would put the probe maybe 4-6 inches from the top of the liquid level.

 

[jerryk]

What are your thoughts on putting the temp probe inside a white labs yeast bottle with water or alcohol instead of taping it to the side of the fermenter? I think it might let the probe sit in just enough of a mass to cut down on cycling with out having to tape it to what ever you are fermenting in.

 

[zachattack]

What are your thoughts on putting the temp probe inside a white labs yeast bottle with water or alcohol instead of taping it to the side of the fermenter? I think it might let the probe sit in just enough of a mass to cut down on cycling with out having to tape it to what ever you are fermenting in.

That works fine for a kegerator, but isn't ideal for actively fermenting beer. Since the temperature in the fermenter can be 5-7+ degrees above ambient, that's where you want to get your reading. Tape it to the side of the carboy.

 

[jerryk]

That works fine for a kegerator, but isn't ideal for actively fermenting beer. Since the temperature in the fermenter can be 5-7+ degrees above ambient, that's where you want to get your reading. Tape it to the side of the carboy.

Thanks, I was just board and thinking again. I know that can be dangerous.

 

[notzj1701]

i'll have to measure it when i get home, but either 7x5x3 or 8x6x3. depending on where you mount the controller, it's a tight fit between the back of the box and the wiring.

So which one is it?

 

[notzj1701]

i was excited about the prospect of this temp controller, so i got one from ebay and put the whole thing in a project box from radio shack. one plug is switched for heating and the other for cooling. i have yet to build up my fermentation chamber that i'll use this on, but preliminary tests confirmed that the unit worked great. there is a 0.3 deg C differential on this thing, so it is pretty accurate and easy to set. i used a 14 gauge extension cord for all the wires. it does read in celcius, but that's OK by me.

all of the parts:

did some sloppy cut outs and wired it up:

power cord and sensor gives plenty of slack:

close up of the temp controller:

powered up:

my wiring diagram (sloppy also). i only used one wire nut to join the hot wires as you can see in one of the pics above. also, very important to break off the jumper tab on the hot side so you can control each outlet independently.

Wouldn't this one work? It's in degrees fahrenheit

http://www.ebay.com/itm/AC-110-120V...628?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3a6626468c

 

[pabloj13]

Wouldn't this one work? It's in degrees fahrenheit

http://www.ebay.com/itm/AC-110-120V...628?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3a6626468c

Sure, but isn't that single stage?

 

[notzj1701]

Just because it has a lower contact rating doesn't mean considering one is dumb. I have one of these controlling my keezer and two controlling my HERMS. As long as you only need single stage and you're not switching anything over 5A, these actually have several advantages over the STC-1000. They are cheaper, easier to program, have more programming options, fahrenheit readouts, and SS temp probes.

I lost this link, could someone direct me please? Thx!

 

[JuanMoore]

So which one is it?

Looks like 6x8x3 to me. FWIW I used a 6x6x2 j-box, and the controller with one outlet was a very tight fit.

I lost this link, could someone direct me please? Thx!

You provided a link to one two posts ago.

 

[Newgene]

I lost this link, could someone direct me please? Thx!

http://www.ebay.com/itm/251083841214?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649

This one is a little cheaper. It's the same single-stage Fahrenheit model. I'm waiting for one to come in. My gut is that these are not 5A models because I don't think anyone has reported getting an actual 5A version of this yet. I'm gonna pop it open as soon as I get it and confirm. It'll likely be another week before it arrives, though.

 

[stoneBriar]

I can think of several applications where I only need temp control in one direction. Cooling would be all I need for my keggerator build. Do you think you could run that model in heat mode also? Heating would be all I need for an electric HLT. I'm also thinking of building a control panel with 2 of those single stage controllers in it so I could use my 2 stage to keep the fridge at lagger temps but use fermwraps to keep two more fermenters at ale temps.

Anyway, keep us posted!

http://www.ebay.com/itm/251083841214?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649

This one is a little cheaper. It's the same single-stage Fahrenheit model. I'm waiting for one to come in. My gut is that these are not 5A models because I don't think anyone has reported getting an actual 5A version of this yet. I'm gonna pop it open as soon as I get it and confirm. It'll likely be another week before it arrives, though.

 

[JuanMoore]

I can think of several applications where I only need temp control in one direction. Cooling would be all I need for my keggerator build. Do you think you could run that model in heat mode also? Heating would be all I need for an electric HLT. I'm also thinking of building a control panel with 2 of those single stage controllers in it so I could use my 2 stage to keep the fridge at lagger temps but use fermwraps to keep two more fermenters at ale temps.

Anyway, keep us posted!

Yes, they can be switched back and forth between cooling and heating mode easily. I use one in my keezer, and two of them in the control panel for my HERMS, but my HERMS is gas. These aren't rated for the amperage needed to control even a small electric HLT, so you'd need to add an SSR, at which point you'd probably just be better off buying a PID instead.

 

[JuanMoore]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/251083841214?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649

This one is a little cheaper. It's the same single-stage Fahrenheit model. I'm waiting for one to come in. My gut is that these are not 5A models because I don't think anyone has reported getting an actual 5A version of this yet. I'm gonna pop it open as soon as I get it and confirm. It'll likely be another week before it arrives, though.

I'm not sure what you mean about a 5A version, that's simply what they're rated for. Mine have the same relays as the STC-1000, but that doesn't necessarily mean that the controllers as a whole are rated for the same amperage as the STC-1000. It might be the traces or other components that bring the rating down to 5 amps.

 

[notzj1701]

Looks like 6x8x3 to me. FWIW I used a 6x6x2 j-box, and the controller with one outlet was a very tight fit.



You provided a link to one two posts ago.

And since the link you provided didn't work I'm supposed to know that it's the same one, how....??? ipe:

 

[benbradford]

I think I read this sometime and the answer was the can heater, but anyone use this to control a space heater is that too many amps?

 

[Newgene]

I'm not sure what you mean about a 5A version, that's simply what they're rated for. Mine have the same relays as the STC-1000, but that doesn't necessarily mean that the controllers as a whole are rated for the same amperage as the STC-1000. It might be the traces or other components that bring the rating down to 5 amps.

It's the relay contact current. It is what would be stamped as the rating on the relays attached to the board itself. As suspected, mine is not 5A. So, this is what is said:

Relay contact current: Rated 5A (in the actual ebay ad)
Relay contact current: Rated 10A (in the paperwork that came with the controller)
Relay contact current: 15A @ 125VAC (as stamped on the actual relays)

LOL