Inkbird itc-308? $35 gets you wired, 2 stage temp controller.

[augiedoggy]

I did so yesterday but I am not disappointed I did not wait. Their "clone" has been out long enough there is a body of knowledge on it a bit of "it does work" history. A new product is a gamble until at least a few of us have tried it...in particular their original manual was impossible to decipher while the current one has, I believe, been reviewed and edited by members of this board and probably others so it reads about like you would hope...as if it were written by a native English speaker.

I have one too and yes they work fine. I removed mine and replaced it with the stc1000+ unit with alphaomegas software and proper english instructions... I flashed my own stock stc1000 units but these can be bought preflashed for like $30 and they have way more functionality like temp ramping and scheduled temp profiles for fermenting different beer types with different yeasts... just figured its worth mentioning since many dont seem to know about them.

 

[Onkel_Udo]

I have one too and yes they work fine. I removed mine and replaced it with the stc1000+ unit with alphaomegas software and proper english instructions... I flashed my own stock stc1000 units but these can be bought preflashed for like $30 and they have way more functionality like temp ramping and scheduled temp profiles for fermenting different beer types with different yeasts... just figured its worth mentioning since many dont seem to know about them.

All that seems great but I just want a more reliable, cheaper alternative to the Johnson controller so for a grand total of about $25 (plus stuff I have lying around), this and a small project box does the trick.

Heck, my eBIAB keggle is two 2000W elements (on separate circuits) with waterproof switches. I am a pretty simple guy.

 

[augiedoggy]

All that seems great but I just want a more reliable, cheaper alternative to the Johnson controller so for a grand total of about $25 (plus stuff I have lying around), this and a small project box does the trick.

Heck, my eBIAB keggle is two 2000W elements (on separate circuits) with waterproof switches. I am a pretty simple guy.

nothing wrong with that.... but you mentioned wanting simple instructions for use.... you realize your going to get engrish with this unit right? Besides that Im sure it will work out pretty well, especially for $30 or whatever it costs.

 

[Onkel_Udo]

nothing wrong with that.... but you mentioned wanting simple instructions for use.... you realize your going to get engrish with this unit right? Besides that Im sure it will work out pretty well, especially for $30 or whatever it costs.

If you look at their most current iteration of the instructions they have cleaned it up a lot. Still a bit grammatically challenged...again, I am still talking about the "1000" and not the new pre-wired unit.

 

[doug293cz]

In short (pun intended) the proper wiring would be to swap the Neutral and Hot in all locations on this schematic if you have their "1000" controller...correct?

You should follow the directions that have been on their web site (and in the .pdf tutorial) since 7/8/15 (yesterday as I write this.) The wiring directions were corrected as of that date. The bottom line is that you want the hot wire going to the relays in the ITC-1000. Their old directions had the neutral wire going to the relays. This is the corrected diagram.



Brew on

 

[mcbar]

Following.

 

[jrcrilly]

I'm patiently awaiting delivery of one here. My Johnson Controls unit works fine for cooling, but I need heat control as well.

 

[texwake]

I got mine off amazon but it says I wont get it until August!

 

[LabRatBrewer]

It looks like a nice product and the price is certainly attractive. The wiring issue mention in this thread his me a bit concerned (though I barely understand it). Following to see the reviews once people have them in hand.

 

[Onkel_Udo]

It looks like a nice product and the price is certainly attractive. The wiring issue mention in this thread his me a bit concerned (though I barely understand it). Following to see the reviews once people have them in hand.

I do not want to make to light of the issue but it is a lot like the old end-of-line switches that a lot of older homes still have...or even the older method of wiring 2-way switches. It is not inherently dangerous if not messed with but it does have the risk that the plug is always hot...so do not stick a paperclip in there while standing in water.

 

[texwake]

Mine just said it shipped but still expects to be just under a month to get to me. Anyone else have the same issue?

 

[jrcrilly]

there is nothing wrong for someone to say "hey check out this new product" but personally, I dont like it when someone pretends to be a customer who wants to buy one to promote thier own stuff to others...

He's been doing this for a long time on various facebook homebrew groups
but the mods there aren't stopping it. I much prefer the management style here.

 

[ImNoExpert]

Ordered one of these on Tuesday too. I'll report back when I get it.

I have no opinion on HBT searching techniques or communication difficulties with Chinese entrepreneurs.

 

[jmpreiks]

I ordered one today. Seems like a good deal! Now I just need to hunt craigslist for a mini-fridge while I wait for it to ship from China...

 

[jmpreiks]

Did anyone receive theirs yet? Mine says it left China July 14 but won't arrive until mid-August to September... I guess they are putting them on the slow boat.

 

[Hello]

Did anyone receive theirs yet? Mine says it left China July 14 but won't arrive until mid-August to September... I guess they are putting them on the slow boat.

It is not uncommon for something to take a month to get to the states from China. Usually, if I'm told 4 weeks, I do see it in 2. I got something from China in a week, a cable of all things. Shocked the **** out of me.

 

[texwake]

Just got mine today! took less time than they said, had Chinese words all over the package. Looks pretty dinky and the setup was alittle confusing. I have yet to test it out but it looks like its going to work.

 

[DoubleEh]

I ordered one July 7th and received it on July 17th.

 

[cannman]

subed.

Getting ready to wire another stc 1000 today... not really looking forward to it... this looks really good right now

 

[jmpreiks]

Great, looks like I should get it a lot sooner since you guys got yours already.

 

[doug293cz]

Mine is waiting for me when I get home today.

Brew on

 

[TenaciousJ]

got mine a few days ago. looking to run some tests with the fridge I've been using to ferment in. then building a dual stage chamber

 

[doug293cz]

I received an Ink-Bird ITC-308 controller that was sent to me at no-charge by Ink-Bird as a result of some communications I had with them about bad recommendations they gave for wiring their ITC-1000 controller. As a result of our communications, Ink-Bird corrected the instructions for wiring the ITC-1000. I brought this up in this post to this thread., and surfaced my concerns that the ITC-308 may also be wired in violation of the NEC.

I have checked the wiring of the ITC-308 controller and it is not in compliance with the US National Electrical Code (NEC.) NEC Article 404 (as well as other articles) requires that switches be wired to interrupt the hot line to a load, rather than the neutral wire, in order to switch the load on and off. The ITC-308 is wired to switch the neutral connection to its output sockets, which violates the NEC.

The following pic shows the socket tester I used in some of my tests of the ITC-308




The next pic shows the socket tester in the COOLING socket of the ITC-308 while the probe temp is less than the setpoint temp and the ITC-308 has switched on the HEATING socket. The tester indicates that the neutral line is open (as a result of the ITC-308 switching the neutral wire), and that the COOLING socket is powered (otherwise no LED would light on the tester.)




The final pic shows that the COOLING socket is in fact energized to 120V when it should be off.




I also opened up the cases of the unit, and traced the internal power to relay to socket connections. All results are consistent with the ITC-308 switching the neutral side of the loads rather than the hot side of the loads.

The above information has been communicated to Ink-Bird. Ink-Bird responded that they would change the wiring as of today to comply with the NEC, and will make existing customers whole. Ink-Bird has responded quickly to the product issues I raised with them. However, it is troubling to me that a company that sells electrical products to consumers can make this kind of error in design.

I informed Ink-Bird of the compliance issue yesterday, and they requested that I delay going public with the information. I agreed to hold off for one day, and did so. They asked for additional delay, but I did not agree to that. I feel my responsibilities are to the HBT community, rather than Ink-Bird.

NOTE: Even though the ITC-308 is not in compliance with the NEC, the controller does work as advertised. I am not enough of an expert to advise on how much risk may be involved with this particular non-compliance. Therefore, I will not make any recommendation on whether or not you should purchase a current release controller. You will have to make that decision yourself.

Brew on

 

[Gavin C]

Great stuff Doug. very thorough and informative. thanks for taking the time to do this and document it so well.

 

[Onkel_Udo]

NOTE: Even though the ITC-308 is not in compliance with the NEC, the controller does work as advertised. I am not enough of an expert to advise on how much risk may be involved with this particular non-compliance. Therefore, I will not make any recommendation on whether or not you should purchase a current release controller. You will have to make that decision yourself.

Excellent, straight-forward testing method.

To those who want the specific listing of what, not how severe, the risks are on this it is no more complex than this:

With single phase power the neutral and equipment ground both end their journey in your home going to a big copper rod in the ground (or a metal water pipe if your house is very old).

The hot comes from the transformer outside your house, through your meter to your breaker box and eventually to the socket or fixture.

When the neutral is switched, this mean any path to ground (standing barefoot in a puddle) will complete the circuit.

In my house the common issue would be my basement takes on a little bit of water that I am squeegeeing to the floor drain in flipflops. The fermentation chamber fridge gets bumped, the control falls off the the side into the puddle and I get zapped. The $15 GFCI eventually pops...oh, wait the fridge in question trips GFCI's due to the start-up surge and subsequent spark so I uninstalled it. Instead, I get a +2000 Watt zap.

A lot of older switches in homes had both the fixture and the switch always hot (end-of-line). This was considered acceptable for many years. It is no fun when you run into one (or twelve!) of these so I for one am glad the code changed.

 

[texwake]

Thanks for the review! So I wonder how there going to make current customers "whole"? Am I getting another unit?

 

[Eamster]

That is my question too. I would hate to have a product that is unsafe. Are they going to contact us or is the ball in our court?

 

[ImNoExpert]

Well that is disappointing. On Amazon it says that there is a manufacturer's warranty from one year of purchase date... for what it's worth.

I'll be interested to hear if they contact me. Is NEC law in that all electrical devices sold in the US must conform to it? Or is it kind of a "best practices" code? I know dwelling codes make it law for construction but I'm curious about how it applies to appliances and this device.

 

[doug293cz]

Thanks for the review! So I wonder how there going to make current customers "whole"? Am I getting another unit?

That is my question too. I would hate to have a product that is unsafe. Are they going to contact us or is the ball in our court?

The e-mail I received from Ink-Bird said:

"I will contact our customers and replace a new controller to them"​

This is all I know, and have no information on schedule.

Brew on

 

[1977Brewer]

Doug, you're doing the Lord's work here, and I commend you. I'm ordering mine today, and will follow your test procedure to ensure the integrity of my unit when it arrives.