JCI vs STC

[kevinb]

I am finally building a fermenttion chamber. The cost of the STC temp controller seems to good to be true, but I see a lot of people using them. Any advice on which controller to use?

 

[user 103238]

I have no experience with the Johnson, but I've been running an STC on my kegerator for over a year, and I made a second one a few months ago to use in my fermentation chamber. You can usually find the, for about $20 each, cheap enough to keep one on hand as a spare. Or to have available for that project you haven't yet discovered you need to build. Good luck with your decision!

 

[Fordzilla]

My vote is on the STC. I run one on my ferm chamber and one on my keezer. It has the Johnson beat in price and flexibility. It is dual stage, and you can wire many outlets to it. Each of mine have hot, cold and always on outlets. I believe the Johnson is only single stage.

 

[kevinb]

Did you guys add any SSR or did you wire direct to the STC relays?

 

[day_trippr]

All the implementations I've seen wire right to the relays. As long as you stay under the contact ratings (iirc, 10A@110vac) you're good...

Cheers!

 

[Fordzilla]

I've wired direct to the STC. You can open it up and see the relay ratings. I believe some models may be 10A and some may be 15A.

 

[kevinb]

Thanks. Sounds like I can skip the SSRs