Inkbird Controller

[greyghost]

I hooked up a new inkbird last night. Checked it later and both the heat and cooling were working at the same time. the temps were a bit high so I turned it off. Checked it this morning the temp was up to 85. The heating never shut off even after i shut it off. Not impressed. Checked the wiring and all was good. Good thing I got from Amazon And it doesn't cost any to return it. Now the big question do you think it ruined my wort? It is a Blackberry Porter. It was pretty much done fermenting.

 

[KatoBaggins]

Hummm...this doesn't instill me with confidence. I just ordered one this morning from Amazon. Chinese electronics can be a bit sketchy at times, so if it were me, I'd get a replacement and try again. If I got two bad ones, then I'd call it quits.

 

[SteelManCM]

Since they're a vendor on this site, try sending a PM to username inkbird.

 

[tracyk]

I have bought one and put it together and mine seems to be working fine. Like the fact that it is in Fahrenheit as opposed to Celsius.

 

[douglasbarbin]

Did you break off the tab connecting the 2 outlets on the receptacle? Forgetting to do so is a common mistake.

 

[inkbird]

I hooked up a new inkbird last night. Checked it later and both the heat and cooling were working at the same time. the temps were a bit high so I turned it off. Checked it this morning the temp was up to 85. The heating never shut off even after i shut it off. Not impressed. Checked the wiring and all was good. Good thing I got from Amazon And it doesn't cost any to return it. Now the big question do you think it ruined my wort? It is a Blackberry Porter. It was pretty much done fermenting.

Just check this post, and find that it may something wrong in wiring. Could you double check your wiring according to this photo:

If you make sure the wiring is right, please contact us via amazon or our website, we will make a solution for you.
P.S. We have revised the wiring Diagram label in April after we received some Complaints.

 

[fimpster]

I recently bought an Inkbird and am quite pleased with it for the price. I used this wiring diagram.

 

[Subdivisions]

Just check this post, and find that it may something wrong in wiring. Could you double check your wiring according to this photo:

If you make sure the wiring is right, please contact us via amazon or our website, we will make a solution for you.
P.S. We have revised the wiring Diagram label in April after we received some Complaints.

Ahh, gotta love Chinese instructions with mis-spellings and bad english. Normally it is safer to switch the hot side so that the voltage is removed from the load when it's off. They're switching neutral in that pic.

 

[The_Bishop]

Switching neutral is easier on the relays, though. They're not carrying the startup load.

 

[day_trippr]

Switching neutral is easier on the relays, though. They're not carrying the startup load.

Umm....What?

Cheers!

 

[BR_]

I got the ITC-1000F setup today. I mistakenly used the STC1000 wiring diagram from an online write-up but that was different than this one. So, make sure you are using the right diagram. Once I switched wiring to match this ITC-1000F diagram all was good.

 

[Subdivisions]

The same potential is across the relay contacts when they're open whether you switch hot or netural. I.E. if you measure between pin 5 and 6 with the relay off it will read 120VAC if you're switching the hot or netural. You will get the same arcing when the relay turns on and opens up.

If you really want to save the contacts then you'd put an arc snubber network, consisting of a resistor in series with a small value capacitor, across the relay outputs.

 

[The_Bishop]

I'm going to have to claim 'brain fart' status on this one, I had 12v DC circuits in mind; specifically car/truck/marine. Been doing some mechanical work lately.

 

[broncosaurs]

What output LEDs if any are on on the front display? When changing the set point above and below the probe temperature can you hear the relays click on and off? Can you give a drawing of the wiring?

My two work real well.

 

[dirkomatic]

I hooked up a new inkbird last night. Checked it later and both the heat and cooling were working at the same time. the temps were a bit high so I turned it off. Checked it this morning the temp was up to 85. The heating never shut off even after i shut it off. Not impressed. Checked the wiring and all was good. Good thing I got from Amazon And it doesn't cost any to return it. Now the big question do you think it ruined my wort? It is a Blackberry Porter. It was pretty much done fermenting.

How did you wire it? Did you use a standard electrical outlet and perhaps didn't break the tab separating the two outlets?

 

[bembel]

I have two of these and used the same diagram as this, with the hot wire though the relays, and it's not working (controller powers on, relays do not)

If I switch the incoming hot and neutral wires the go into the hot and neutral blocks, (effectively switching them), that should solve the relay problem, but then I have the wires reversed for the hot and cold female socket plugs and I was told the sides matter on those ( silver neutral, brass hot)? Should I just re-wire everything?

 

[day_trippr]

There's nothing wrong with that diagram - at least for an actual STC-1000.
It switches hot and the loads are returning to neutral.
No reason to change anything...

Cheers!

 

[day_trippr]

I'm going to have to claim 'brain fart' status on this one, I had 12v DC circuits in mind; specifically car/truck/marine. Been doing some mechanical work lately.

fwiw, again, polarity doesn't matter.
If you switch DC hot or Ground, the energy across the relay points is the same, just the polarity is reversed. So you'll either pit the posts or the points...

Cheers!

 

[bembel]

There's nothing wrong with that diagram - at least for an actual STC-1000.
It switches hot and the loads are returning to neutral.
No reason to change anything...

Cheers!

The ITC-1000 diagram shows the neutral getting switched, will this make a difference?

 

[douglasbarbin]

The ITC-1000 diagram shows the neutral getting switched, will this make a difference?

No difference if you don't mind the hot wire always carrying current. Technically, it's probably safer to switch the hot instead of the neutral.

 

[Subdivisions]

No difference if you don't mind the hot wire always carrying current. Technically, it's probably safer to switch the hot instead of the neutral.

Yes, always switch the hot wire. If you switch the neutral there will still be voltage at the load that someone could touch and become a nice path to ground.

 

[redllama]

check to make sure that you don't have a stray wire from your hot side touching another wire. I had that problem when I wired mine up but on the cold side so the freezer never turned off. Upon review I had one stray strand of wire reaching across the isle to the main power. A quick fix and mine has worked perfectly since then.

 

[mkblackmart]

I got the ITC-1000F setup today. I mistakenly used the STC1000 wiring diagram from an online write-up but that was different than this one. So, make sure you are using the right diagram. Once I switched wiring to match this ITC-1000F diagram all was good.

I too noticed this discrepancy in wiring when I first began installing this Inkbird. Their included directions specified switching the neutral, but it became quickly apparent (through some review reading, and some threads on this site) that this was in violation of NEC. Inkbird had adjusted their instructions to switch the hot.

As it stands, however, I hooked mine up switching the hots, and while the controller appears to function properly (set up as expected, lights for cooling and heating come on at the correct time, compressor delay for cooling, etc), there appears to be a faulty relay with my particular controller. There is no "clicking" noise when the relay is activated, and no current flows through on the heating (pin 6) or cooling (pin 8) side. Not good right out of the box. Just for fun I wired it up switching the neutrals instead - same result. In short, the relays seem to be faulty, and I've arranged for a replacement through Amazon. I like the ability to read in Fahrenheit, but now I have a big concern that these Inkbirds might be unreliable, may have sent out some from a bad batch (some others on Amazon have expressed the same issue), or both.

We'll see if the replacement works tomorrow when I receive it, but if not, I'll go with a Centigrade-only Lerway.

 

[KartRacer54]

I doubt the ITC is bad however they are tricky to wire. I have four and once I got got hot and neutral to each outlet they work perfectly. It was several months ago and can't remember exactly. If I can find the time to pull one out I'll post in here. There is no relay clicking sound when working. My guess is it is not a mechanical relay. Can't remember for sure but think I only broke one tab on the receptacle.

 

[mkblackmart]

Thanks for letting me know about the lack of clicking noise. Even with multimeter checking for current b/w neutral and #6 or #8 confirms the relays are not closing the circuit. There is current to both #5 and #7, but that's where it stops. Cool light, and heat lights illuminate as expected on the controller lcd, just no current flows through. Really just hoping it's a rare dud. Will find out tomorrow.

 

[mkblackmart]

Update: The replacement Inkbird arrived, and functions perfectly. Bad relays on the first one. There is a clicking noise when the relays close and open.

I'm glad Inkbird was so quick to make a replacement, but a little concerned with reliability. Time will tell. Nice unit though!

 

[doug293cz]

One of the things that suffers with really low cost electronics is reliability. You are buying hobby level equipment. If you want high reliability electronics, they're going to cost you 5 - 10 times (or more) as much. Choose your trade off.

At least Ink-Bird has shown themselves to be a responsive supplier, and will try to make things right very quickly.

Brew on