HELP: GE 7.0 + STC-1000 = issues?

[Skep18]

I got this hooked up, hardwired into the freezer. I know the thermometer probe is free standing in air in the freezer, but the freezer never turned off. I set it to 4.4deg Celcius with +/- 3deg Celcius with a 3min compressor delay, but it got down to like -25deg Celcius and never turned off, after plenty more than 3min...

At first, I wired it into the "cooling" circuit, but it never turned on. I wired it into the "heating" circuit and it turned on.

Take a look at the photo below, but I think my settings maybe off? Can anyone advise why my keezer isn't working properly?

HALP!!!!

 

[Skep18]

Wiring:

Both white wires = 1
Black & Red = 2
Sensor = 3
Sensor = 4
Red = 5
Black = 6

 

[raouliii]

Wiring the compressor into the heat relay will result in nonstop cooling.

When you had it correctly wired, did you wait 3 minutes for the cooling to begin? During the compressor delay the cool led should flash.

 

[Skep18]

Wiring the compressor into the heat relay will result in nonstop cooling.

When you had it correctly wired, did you wait 3 minutes for the cooling to begin? During the compressor delay the cool led should flash.

No, I did not. I didn't realize that was what that parameter did, hehe. But come to think of it, I don't think the cooling light blinked either. I think just the heat light stayed on.

I will wire it back up and check it out. I did change that parameter to 1 minute just to try and troubleshoot the issue. This leads me to my next question...

Any good threads on what the best settings to use are in terms of freezer longevity? Also, thermocouple placement? Should I put it in a bottle of water or something to avoid frequent compressor cycling?

 

[raouliii]

.......Any good threads on what the best settings to use are in terms of freezer longevity? Also, thermocouple placement? Should I put it in a bottle of water or something to avoid frequent compressor cycling?

I always recommend attaching the probe to the side of the keg or fermenter, under a decent layer of insulating material. The allows the wort or beer to be fairly accurately monitored and controlled. I use a layer of closed-cell, pipe insulation, and a strap made from 2" nylon webbing with a section of elastic added. Works great.

 

[Skep18]

Problem solved. Switched the wiring back and then realized to put into effect the parameter changes, you must hit the power button after adjusting settings.

I always recommend attaching the probe to the side of the keg or fermenter, under a decent layer of insulating material. The allows the wort or beer to be fairly accurately monitored and controlled. I use a layer of closed-cell, pipe insulation, and a strap made from 2" nylon webbing with a section of elastic added. Works great.

I found a thread I thought was pretty good. They recommended turn the delay time all the way up (10min max) and set the variance value to +/- the minimum value (+/- 0.3*C). To complement this, as stated above, I taped over a few times the probe to attach it to a plastic water bottle for the thermal mass.

I thought about doing it to the keg, but mine were at room temp so the probe would probably read warm for quite a while I figured, and my freezer might get too low. To heat up that much thermal mass might take the actual freezer temp way down, causing the beer to maybe freeze since it'd be well below freezing when the keg got to temperature and kicked off the compressor. The water bottle seems to be enough to avoid dramatic swings, but still allow long enough cycles to make a difference?

Just my thought process. I may strap it to a keg when they get down to temperature.

 

[acidrain]

The actual beer is what you want to measure. If you put 50 deg. beer into a 60 deg. fermenter, it won't stay 60 deg for long. It will pretty instantly assume the temp of the beer.
Regardless of what the air inside the chamber is doing, you want to monitor and control the beer. If the cooler runs and it get's freezing cold until the beer gets to it's desired temp, that's OK... it won't freeze.

 

[limulus]

I have a Magic Chef 7.0 and use an STC-1000. I keep a 1L plastic bottle on the hump with the probe inserted into the water. I have a lid on the bottle so there is no evaporation. I drilled a hole into the cap, inserted the probe and sealed it with silicone. The cycle time is over an hour. I have another version of this in my garage in my fermentation cabinet. That bottle has a 4" stainless thermowell inserted through the cap and the probe goes into that. The one in the basement works better inserted directly into the water w/o the thermowell.