Having issues wiring in my temp controller...

[mojo2008]

Greetings,

Here's what I've got going. I have a Kenmore side-by-side that I am attempting to turn into a lagering chamber and kegerator. I wired in a STC-1000 to replace the freezer thermostat to I can use that side for lagering.

Before I even get to my problem, will this even work? Now that I think of it, it looks like the fridge side might be designed to normally cool using the cold air from the freezer and a damper. If this is the case I'm going to have to use the fridge side for lagering and the freezer for storage. Does this sound right?

OK, back on track...I have my STC-1000 wired in so that the hot and ground from the freezer thermostat are going to the power supply (pins 1 & 2) on the STC-1000 and the "freezer control" wire and ground are connected to the cooling connections (pins 7 & 8).

When I powered the system on, the recirc fan kicked on and the controller sensed a reasonable temperature so I figured it was working. Over the course of the next hour though, the compressor never kicked on. I figure the controller is simply a set of relays that passes the power through to the cooling terminals when the conditions are set. Seems it would be doing the same thing as the original thermostat in that case. Has anybody had any similar trouble of have any ideas what the problem might be?

In the morning I am going to throw my multimeter on and get some voltage readings in both the original configuration and with the controller wired in.

Thanks,
Andy

 

[raouliii]

You need to use hot and NEUTRAL to power the STC-1000 on pins 1 & 2. Ground will work but creates a dangerous situation in your home by using the ground bus as a current carrying conductor. Not good.

Don't connect ground to pin 7 or 8. There is a relay contact between 7 & 8. Connect hot to pin 7 and the compressor hot to pin 8.

Standard configuration for a residential refrigerator/freezer is to cool the freezer compartment with a fan blowing over the evaporator coils and deflect a portion of this cool air into the refrigerator compartment for cooling.

 

[robbiex0r]

I used one of these to override a burned out control panel on a keg fridge, so yes it's possible. I had to wire up the fan separately though. What raouliii says, I believe, is correct.

 

[BlackZX3]

I would use two controllers. One set on the freezer side to control your keg temps. I would install a computer case fan on a second controller between the freezer and fridge to control the warmer fermentation temps

 

[mojo2008]

Thanks for the replies guys.

I just switched the controller over to the refrigerator side and made the suggested wiring changes. I'll check back in a few to see if temperatures are dropping. With this controller on the fridge side I had already resigned myself to buying a second for the freezer side so I can precisely control the temp in both. If this is done right, the original circuitry will control the damper and fan between the freezer and fridge and I won't need to install an additional fan.

 

[carlisle_bob]

Hi

The problem you will run into with two controllers is that the fridge side normally cools (or not) when the freezer compressor is running. More or less:

Freezer decides it needs cold
Compressor turns on
Freezer starts to get cold
Controller looks at fridge - does it need cold?
If so open the damper.

If you open the damper when the freezer is not actively cooling, you will drive it's controller a bit nuts. It will indeed work, but not as well as you might hope for.

Bob

 

[mojo2008]

Thanks Bob and gang. I did indeed get it to work as intended, but backwards from what I envisioned. Freezer is operating as normal and the fridge is holding steady at 50 degrees. So I'll use the fridge as the fermenting chamber and the freezer as cold storage. I was hoping to have more space for storage since I don't see myself fermenting more than two batches at a time. When that situation hits, I'll have much more dedicated equipment!

Thanks again!
Andy