ebay aquarium temp controller build

[brew2enjoy]

Just started my build tonight. I'll finish up the wiring tomorrow and try it out. Great info in this thread!

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[marshallwms]

Just about anything that puts off heat will work with this build. If you have more than one beer fermenting at a time, I would avoid directly heating a fermentation bucket and putting the probe on it since the other bucket(s) might end up varying greatly. FWIW I have a couple old 35W and 45W soldering irons lying around. I put one, in its metal stand, in the fermentation chamber, and I have a fan running all the time. It works perfectly. I use a .3 difference setting, and put my cooling delay at the max to avoid ping pong. I have never seen the temp outside of the .3 range. I use an extended mini-fridge. So just about any heat source will work. Large ceramic resistors are a great idea.

 

[ChocolateMaltyBalls]

I use this reptile heater:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001OVBEEK/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

In a 4.6 CuFt fridge it warms quickly, I've gotten it up to 80F. It looks pretty safe, and heats gently. I got the idea from someone else on here, very satisfied.

 

[h22lude]

Put a light bulb in a paint bucket. Cheap, easy and works extremely well

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[TripleHopped]

That's an MH1210F or G (can't read the fine text on top).
Fahrenheit single stage with ASC, works great.
I installed one in the lid of my new keezer.

It can be set for heat OR cool - not both - as it is in fact a single stage controller...

Cheers!

Nice integrated design.
Can you show how you have the power is coming into the controller?

 

[day_trippr]

Nice integrated design.
Can you show how you have the power is coming into the controller?

The freezer has an integrated interior light mounted in the lid liner with its AC fed through the back edge of the lid (the square black thingie in the first picture), so I tapped that AC feed to run the controller logic. However, the 18 gauge wire used for the light was way too wimpy to run a compressor, which would have meant running a beefy AC cable in and out of the lid and through the controller relay.

Rather than do that, and having run a 12VDC line through the lid to run my fans anyway, I tapped the 12VDC and ran a leg through the MH1210 relay, then back out to a beefy 30A relay that's inside the small panel in the dolly. The cable for that is just to the left of the AC feed in the first picture (and to the left of that are the two gas feeds).

A socket for DC power to the fans is at the left end of the lid liner in the next to last picture, and a dongle to plug in the temperature probe pops out on the right end. I replaced the dangle with a fixed socket in the liner once it finally showed up in the mail, and the two sockets are different diameters so you can't plug the fans into the sensor path or vice versa.

The liner hides the spaghetti-fest of wire nicely and the keezer has been running flawlessly since first power on two months ago.
Very happy with the MH1210 controller, it works very well and isn't too hard on the eyes...

hth

Cheers!

 

[brew2enjoy]

What is the general consensus on the accuracy of these controllers? I just finished my build and will be using it to control fermentation. I had it set to 63 in my chest freezer for testing. According to my CDN instant read thermometer it was around 61. Not sure which one to believe.
Here's a pic, fun build!


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[alien]

Calibrate with ice water.

 

[day_trippr]

^Agreed, you definitely want to calibrate before using. The MH1210 in my build needed 5.4°F correction applied to correlate the ice slurry temperature reading to my Thermapen...

Cheers!

 

[leftcontact]

What is the general consensus on the accuracy of these controllers? I just finished my build and will be using it to control fermentation. I had it set to 63 in my chest freezer for testing. According to my CDN instant read thermometer it was around 61. Not sure which one to believe.
Here's a pic, fun build!


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Smart idea mounting it on the end of the box.


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[Edbert]

What is the general consensus on the accuracy of these controllers? I just finished my build and will be using it to control fermentation. I had it set to 63 in my chest freezer for testing. According to my CDN instant read thermometer it was around 61. Not sure which one to believe.

I think they are extremely accurate since fish can die easily if they were not. Being an aquarium thermostat though measuring water (more stable) does not translate directly to measuring air temp. Another issue with freezers is that there's a difference of a few degrees from top to bottom, some folks with inefficient insulation on lid and collar can see drastic differences.

Quite often folks put the probe in a bottle of water around middle height in the fridge or freezer to help.

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[day_trippr]

The STC-1000 is a general purpose dual stage temperature controller with advertised accuracy of +/-1C that has found its way into lots of applications - from beer fermentation to aquariums. That's pretty much the beginning and end of it...

Cheers!

 

[sladek]

For those using this temp.controller for their fridges to ferment. What device/appliance or you using to inside the fridge to heat it? Light bulb? Hot plate?

 

[dan6310]

For those using this temp.controller for their fridges to ferment. What device/appliance or you using to inside the fridge to heat it? Light bulb? Hot plate?

I use a 60 watt reptile heating element that screws into a light socket. Others use a heating pad or light bulb in a can


Dan6310

 

[uatuba]

I bought a reptile heating pad and it works fine for knocking off the chill and not over correcting when trying to keep the temperature lower than ambient. When trying to ferment at higher than ambient, I use a light bulb because the reptile pad just won't cut it.

 

[sladek]

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.

What size project box is that? Must be really deep to mount the temp. controller in the top.

 

[dford]

I use the 7" L x 5" W x 3" D project box from Radio shack and it works fine.

 

[sladek]

Thanks everyone for the input! did not look like the controller would fit from the top but as read more I see the back cover is off and it will be a tight fit. Still not sure which way i am going to build this...controller and socket on top or controller in front and socket on top. Any pictures on how you ran your heating AC cord from the controller to inside the fridge?

 

[sladek]

I use the 7" L x 5" W x 3" D project box from Radio shack and it works fine.

Thats the one I am considering if I dont add a second unswitched outlet in the box. I think the 8" L x 6" W x 3" D box will work if I do.

 

[Lurch69]

I finally got this wired up and working. The only problem now is that the temp probe is not long enough to reach deep enough into my keezer for proper placement. Does anyone know what type of wire I can use to extend the probe? Would speaker wire work or is just using some left over 14ga wire a better bet? Thanks!

 

[IslandLizard]

I finally got this wired up and working. The only problem now is that the temp probe is not long enough to reach deep enough into my keezer for proper placement. Does anyone know what type of wire I can use to extend the probe? Would speaker wire work or is just using some left over 14ga wire a better bet? Thanks!

It doesn't carry much current, a few mA at most. 14ga is total overkill.
Any wire, like speaker wire, will be fine. The more flexible the easier it is to work with. Make sure the joint is strong and insulated.

 

[sdgenxr]

Putting out a feeler to see how many people would be interested in purchasing one of these Digital Temperature controllers with the following specs:

• 110V
• 2 relays, one for heat and one for cool
• Display in Degrees Fahrenheit

I would need to order a quantity of them to meet these specs and would hate to be stuck with a bunch that nobody wants. My target sale price would be $25 shipped via USPS. If you're interested, please follow the link to the cross post and respond to the poll and I'll make sure to order the appropriate quantity.

Thanks,
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/stc-1000-temperature-controller-fahrenheit-462425/

 

[MX1]

I get sent to a beer discussion about Blue moon


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[millstone]

Same with me

Tom


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[sdgenxr]

I get sent to a beer discussion about Blue moon

Huh, the links worked for me. Here it is again though:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/stc-1000-temperature-controller-fahrenheit-462425/

 

[MX1]

Still about blue moon like beers


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[sdgenxr]

Weird. Try to copy and paste the link in your browser.

 

[millstone]

The copy/ paste worked

Tom


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[barrooze]

Appears to be an issue with the HBT app on iPhone. I tried from computer and the link worked fine. Tried on the app and it goes to the Blue Moon thread. Very odd.

 

[Edbert]

Link works on HBT app for android. ..

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