ebay aquarium temp controller build

[infection]

I wasn't sure what the transformer consisted of... Now I see that the mod is made to the board itself. Originally I was thinking that it went between each line in/out. Not the case here. Can you point me in the right direction to acquire one? I got two weeks to get this in line before my next batch, again I appreciate the feedback!

the 5 I ordered were from here:
https://estore.heilind.com/partdetail.asp?pn=BV301S09015&dp=ZTMBV301S09015&cp=

 

[BraxtonBrewery]

the 5 I ordered were from here:
https://estore.heilind.com/partdetail.asp?pn=BV301S09015&dp=ZTMBV301S09015&cp=

That is where I got mine as well. Now Im just waiting for them to arrive. Once they get here I only need one of them.

 

[MonkeyMashBrewing]

That is where I got mine as well. Now Im just waiting for them to arrive. Once they get here I only need one of them.

I'm no mathematician but I think that leaves you with four... I need one, so you'll have.... A 110 temp controller when your all done!

I'll take the last four, use one and sell the three I have to the next guy. This may end up being five bucks each once you figure in shipping... Again I'm no mathematician, I master in consumption.
Let me know if you want the headache

 

[BraxtonBrewery]

I'm no mathematician but I think that leaves you with four... I need one, so you'll have.... A 110 temp controller when your all done!

I'll take the last four, use one and sell the three I have to the next guy. This may end up being five bucks each once you figure in shipping... Again I'm no mathematician, I master in consumption.
Let me know if you want the headache

If you need one, I can send ya one. I have one guy that needs 2, another who needed one, and then you would get the last one. That would take up all 5. Man that went quick. Haha.

 

[Adeering]

I have a question about the wiring, I want to wire this directly up to a heating element, no plug inbetween and not sure how to do it. Looking at the picture you can see the three wires from the power cord currently. red is hot, (ignore the white and the random piece of black they were for the electronics that use to be in it) the black on the upper right is the neutral and the lower black is the ground.

Ground: Change nothing keep it there
Hot: connect it to spots 1, 5, 7 (though Im not using the cooling function) on temp controller and then spot 6 goes to where current hot is connected
Neutral: Im thinking just spot 2 and where it currently is but not sure on this one

Does that sound right?

 

[Balto]

First what are we looking at? I'm assuming the white ceramic is the element?

 

[Adeering]

its the inside of an electric turkey fryer, the white is the connection point for the heating element yes, ive already figured out what each cable is, since i wired it up and tested it, just not sure how to put the controller in line to make it control it

 

[Balto]

its the inside of an electric turkey fryer, the white is the connection point for the heating element yes, ive already figured out what each cable is, since i wired it up and tested it, just not sure how to put the controller in line to make it control it

you got it!

 

[StormBird]

I'm re-purposing an old full size fridge into a temp chamber for fermenting/ lagering and I'd like to get another 4 feet worth of sensor cable. Has anyone tried extending the sensor wire?

 

[JuanMoore]

I'm re-purposing an old full size fridge into a temp chamber for fermenting/ lagering and I'd like to get another 4 feet worth of sensor cable. Has anyone tried extending the sensor wire?

Yes, I used speaker wire. You may need to recalibrate the temp depending on the type/length of wire and connections used.

 

[Kingfish]

I ordered a single stage Fahrenheit version to use for controlling a space heater in my SO's warm room (her bathroom). Will post a pic of the build. Ordered it from one of the China sellers last Thursday morning and it came in the mail yesterday. I will do another dual stage at some point for a fermentation chamber.

 

[buckley28]

I'm looking to purchase one of these as many others already have. I do have a question though about using it for dual devices (heating and cooling). I'm pretty sure the STC-1000 has this ability but it reads in C.
Wondering if anyone knows anythign about this one and its dual possibilities (it reads in F)
http://www.ebay.com/itm/AC-110-120V...628?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3a6626468c

 

[flyfishnc]

I'm looking to purchase one of these as many others already have. I do have a question though about using it for dual devices (heating and cooling). I'm pretty sure the STC-1000 has this ability but it reads in C.
Wondering if anyone knows anythign about this one and its dual possibilities (it reads in F)
http://www.ebay.com/itm/AC-110-120V...628?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3a6626468c

I have one that looks very similar and it is single stage. There's a setting where you tell it to heat or cool to your specified temp. So, it's only going to do one or the other.

 

[Kingfish]

I'm looking to purchase one of these as many others already have. I do have a question though about using it for dual devices (heating and cooling). I'm pretty sure the STC-1000 has this ability but it reads in C.
Wondering if anyone knows anythign about this one and its dual possibilities (it reads in F)
http://www.ebay.com/itm/AC-110-120V...628?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3a6626468c

That is the one I have...The exact one. It most definitely is a SINGLE stage for either heating or cooling but not both.

 

[buckley28]

Thanks for the reply guys. Bit the bullet and went with the stc 1000 from the seller overseas. Made sure I found and ordered the 110V. It's in celsius whic kinda blows but not that big of a deal. Now we'll wait for that And begin the build on the ferment chamber

 

[Kingfish]

So, I am going to build out THIS single stage unit and I took it apart to check out the relay. The site says "5a 220v" but mine has a 15a 110v (12a 250v) relay. Very good news as I was going to have to get a $10 relay from RS. Now off to find a box to put it in.

 

[wandering]

The site says "5a 220v" but mine has a 15a 110v (12a 250v) relay.

It's not the relay that you should look at. It's the transformer that you need to check.

 

[Kingfish]

It's not the relay that you should look at. It's the transformer that you need to check.

Why is that? This is a 110v Fahrenheit model. I have already tested it and confirmed. The issue was that I was going to have to get a bigger relay to control the heater I am building this for because it is listed in the ebay ad as a 5amp relay. I looked inside and it has a 15amp relay...Which is more than enough for my needs. The transformer takes 110v incoming and converts it to 12v to run the electronics and activate the relay.

The point of my post is that even though the ad listed it as a 5amp unit that the unit I received can be used out of the box to power a heat only or cool only fermentation chamber (though it can be switched in the programing menu) or keezer and reads in Fahrenheit.

 

[wandering]

The point of my post is that even though the ad listed it as a 5amp unit

Misunderstood your concerns. I thought you were concerned that it was a 220VAC model.

 

[Kingfish]

Misunderstood your concerns. I thought you were concerned that it was a 220VAC model.

 

[Kingfish]

So, I am going to build out THIS single stage unit and I took it apart to check out the relay. The site says "5a 220v" but mine has a 15a 110v (12a 250v) relay. Very good news as I was going to have to get a $10 relay from RS. Now off to find a box to put it in.

This was the only box either of the 3 thrift stores in town had. I need to trim the leather that I used to shim out the controller as the box was a bit small. Also need to replace the metal box with something plastic as I am only using a 2 wire cord but need to find something pretty.

 

[cheesecake]

I built mine today. I may sell this one and buy a single stage as that is all i will need for my keezer. not sure yet as i may use it for a ferm chamber for a couple of brews. I used a recessed outlet so i can mount it on the keezer collar and then push that corner of the keezer into the corner without worrying about the cord hanging out too much.

Here are the pics

http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g119/ecocav04/Brewing
/IMAG0713.jpg

 

[Kingfish]

I used a recessed outlet

Very cool.

 

[BraxtonBrewery]

I only have 1 transformer left, does anyone need one?

 

[Balto]

Nice Work cheesecake!

 

[Berniep]

Ok so i just brewed a weeheavy and this time of year the temp swing above and below my desired ferment temp of 60.
Of course I didn't think of this until i had it in the fermenter and was setting my single stage controller. I had ordered the two stage one a while back and it has been setting on the shelf waiting, like most of ny projects do, for desperation to set in and move it to the front burner.
A quick trip to lowes and an excuse to buy a new tool, a Rockwell sonicrafter cordless model (honest honey I cant complete this without it). It worked great for cutting the plastic box.
Here is my quick and dirty temp controller build.


View attachment 49995

 

[atjsparty]

cheesecake and Berniep,

Excellent looking builds. I've seen a lot of pictures of the box everyone builds...but curious on the temperature sensor. I assume most people are using this setup for a fermentation heater/cooler or keezer, but I'm looking to build something similar for a RIMS tube and not sure if people are using the temp sensor that comes with this inserted into a thermowell, or if the probe can be put into a 1/4" (or other) compression fitting.

Cheers,
Aaron

 

[morbothegreat]

Has anyone devised a method to log when the controller turns on/off?

 

[RossA32]

Maybe a bilge pump cycle counter for a boat? They're DC though, so you'd have to work around that.
http://www.defender.com/product.jsp?path=-1|51|299222|84462|316439&id=1527107

 

[BobJ]

Very cool builds guys! Much appreciate this thread!