Stc-1000+

Williams 728
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Is there instructions on what all of the LEDs mean on the front panel ?
 
I don't think there is.
But the two dots on the far left is heating/cooling as expected. The third dot is lit when a profile is running if I remember correctly. The upper dot between the two large 8's is lit when viewing temp probe 2 (if two probe firmware). The dot next to the C (and the C if celsius version) is lit when a temperature is displayed. That's about it.
 
alphaomega said:
I don't think there is.
But the two dots on the far left is heating/cooling as expected. The third dot is lit when a profile is running if I remember correctly. The upper dot between the two large 8's is lit when viewing temp probe 2 (if two probe firmware). The dot next to the C (and the C if celsius version) is lit when a temperature is displayed. That's about it.
Click to expand...
2 questions What version did you add the profile running dot and how do I determine what profile I'm running? I think I'm running a profile but there is no profile dot on
 
Bigdaddyale said:
I want to jump in and start a profile on SP3 instead of going through all of the other steps.How do I do that?
Click to expand...

Start the profile.Change St to 3. (Change SP if wanted/needed). Wait an hour.

Bigdaddyale said:
2 questions What version did you add the profile running dot and how do I determine what profile I'm running? I think I'm running a profile but there is no profile dot on
Click to expand...

It's pretty much been there from day 1.
Pressing arrow up / down shows information (SP / profile + step + duration).
 
Hey Mats,
I was looking at that firmware you have for the humidity control and was thinking of using it for cheese. When my fermentation chamber is not in use I like to use it for making cheese but whilst I can control the temps it sits at 99% humidity all the time. I would love to install a fan to blow air through until the humidity drops to a setpoint.
Is it possible for me to change the hours to minutes in your firmware as 1 hour delay and duration would be too long,
Cheers for everything,
D
 
@hidara: You'd have to do some coding to make the changes you need. It does not support minutes as is.

Cheers!
 
How long until I can control my STC1000+ from my phone? ;)

Just kidding but how's the interface with the ESP8266 going?
 
I have a "Black Box" temperature controller and it's worked flawlessly for over a year. I couldn't find the thread on it and I believe it's based on the STC-1000+ so hopefully this is the right place.

All of the sudden I can't set the setpoint. I'm in thermostat mode and when I enter a new setpoint, it doesn't actually change it. I change the setpoint and it displays that temp for ~10 seconds and then it goes back to displaying the actual temperature, but it doesn't actually change the setpoint. It appears to run programs just fine, so I'm just using that for now. I've tried resetting with power button and unplugging/plugging. Any ideas?
 
groom said:
How long until I can control my STC1000+ from my phone? ;)
Click to expand...

Idk, how far have you come and how much you got left? ;)

Just kidding but how's the interface with the ESP8266 going?
Click to expand...

Not at all. I've not made any progress, because I've not worked on it at all. I've just not had the time and/or motivation :)
It should be in an almost usable state though, so why don't you try it out? Maybe give it a little spit and polish yourself?

Cheers!
 
alphaomega said:
@hidara: You'd have to do some coding to make the changes you need. It does not support minutes as is.

Cheers!
Click to expand...


Excellent, in pretty comfortable with programming in VB.net so hopefully I should be able to figure it out.
Id really appreciate it if you could give me a headstart and let me know which file in your github contains the code I need to change and what compilers would I need?
Cheers
D
 
@hidara: I suggest using a linux distribution for development. A virtual machine with linux should be fine. I've made some pointers on setting up a development environment on the WIKI.
The source code is located in the src directory. There are not that many files, so you should be able to find it. I'd guess that page0.c is probably where most work will be.
There is a lot of conditional compilation for generating the different firmwares.

Also the relative humidity firmware does averaging and only 'acts' after enough data is above the threshold. That might be fine for you, if just the timebase is sped up, but just so you know about it.

Code: 
				// Control RH every 7.5 min
				if(millisx60 >= 7500){
					control_rh();
					millisx60 = 0;
				}

Start by changing the 7500 in the above section to say 125 (that is 7500 / 60 (though it will actually really be 128 since millisx60 is incremented by 16 each loop at that point, but whatever)) and see what happens...
Happy hacking!
 
Hey Mats, I'm looking at building a single vessel electric brewery controller and I'm hoping to use your OVBSC software. I'm sure this gets asked a bunch and I apologize for the repetition, but is the software working pretty well? I'm only planning on using 1 element and I doubt I'll add the pump functionality in my initial set up. Also, I've found some AC to AC relays (Fotek SSR-40AA) so I'm not planning on modifying the STC relay outputs.

I've only seen a few posts on the OVBSC whereas with the fermentation software there is a lot of various feedback online.
 
@CNevay: I'd say so, I know of a few other guys that'd also say so. I'm sure there's a few people cursing at it as well :)
To put it like this, I'd consider OVBSC pretty stable, but it might not be the user friendliest controller out there.
 
I bought this on ebay Module Atmega328 5v 16M+USB2.0 To TTL 6Pin CH340G Converter F Arduino Pro Mini.
http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&id=191146731721&alt=web

I'm going to take a stab at flashing a stc1000 controller that I purchased following the github's instructions. Sorry if it's a repetitive question: how do you put them together? If someone could point me to directions or a diagram even a picture of one I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks in advance

Dave
 
daewooo10 said:
I bought this on ebay Module Atmega328 5v 16M+USB2.0 To TTL 6Pin CH340G Converter F Arduino Pro Mini.
http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&id=191146731721&alt=web

I'm going to take a stab at flashing a stc1000 controller that I purchased following the github's instructions. Sorry if it's a repetitive question: how do you put them together? If someone could point me to directions or a diagram even a picture of one I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks in advance

Dave
Click to expand...
https://github.com/matsstaff/stc1000p/commit/7157df8ad847b41795695c53efdc3f6eb547e391
https://github.com/matsstaff/stc1000p
 
Mats, I'm going to give it a go! Thank you again for everything you do for the home brewing community. Beers on me if you're ever in Vancouver, Canada!
 
I saw the post above from daewooo10 above. I also bought the same Arduino ebay, the Module Atmega328 5v 16M+USB2.0 To TTL 6Pin CH340G Converter F Arduino Pro Mini: http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item...731721&alt=web

In case you need it, here are the pin assignments for this setup:
DTR -> GRN
RXD -> TX
TXD -> RX
VCC -> VCC
CTS -> GND (TAKE PIN OUT)
GND -> BLK

Best,
Brian
 
I have made it through 77 pages and did a search of the thread without seeing the answer. I am looking to implement the flow meters for raspberry pints. They use an alamode for the interface to the flow meters. Will this work to program the stc. Does anyone know what the pin layout will be? This is all new to me but it looks very strait forward with all the excellent directions/videos but the different adruino implementations are foreign to me.
 
mcl said:
I have made it through 77 pages and did a search of the thread without seeing the answer. I am looking to implement the flow meters for raspberry pints. They use an alamode for the interface to the flow meters. Will this work to program the stc. Does anyone know what the pin layout will be? This is all new to me but it looks very strait forward with all the excellent directions/videos but the different adruino implementations are foreign to me.
Click to expand...

I see no reason that won't work. The pins would be the the same, D9, D8, GND, 5v and D3. See github for details.
But I don't think I've heard of anybody else using it, so while I don't think there is anything to it, you're on your own.
And yes, the Arduino clones are dirt cheap on ebay (but maybe look at UNO or nano).
 
Thank you. I will probably give it a try. I have 4 stc's but haven't checked the versions yet.
 
I was wondering if I could use this for making cheese. Let me explain: I am using a buffet type water bath food warmer for heating my milk. The stc would be used to heat/control the water bath. As an example I may need to heat the water to 86 deg and hold for x amount of minutes then I need to increase the temp 15 deg over a 30 minute period and hold for x amount of time. I know the STC will do this but it is in hours not minutes.
Anyone have any input? I have two of these all ready flashed so would prefer to use one of those instead of spending big bucks on a PID.
Thanks for any help.
Tt
 
Sure. You can already find a version on github that is (pretty much) the same, except with minutes instead of hours. Or you can use the sketch generator, and select 'STC-1000+ (minute timebase)' to download the sketch.
 
:mug:
Thank you for your quick response as well as all of your hard work that makes this possible.
Next I will look into using the humidity sketch to control the RH in my cheese cave (small fridge).
Tt
 
alphaomega said:
Hi!

I'm very pleased to announce the inital release of my project for the last few weeks, STC-1000+.

I have reverse engineered the STC-1000 and reprogrammed it with new firmware that is specifically made for beer fermentation. What that means is that I have added possibility to run temperature profiles (i.e. change setpoints at given times). And yes, I have also made it possible to use Fahrenheit scale (why anybody would want that beats me, but as I understand that is a pet peave for you guys).
Moreover, as I realize most of you (including myself) dont have the programmer needed to perform the upgrade, I have designed a sketch targeted for the Arduino UNO, to do the actual flashing of the firmware. All you need (in addition to the UNO) are a few pieces of wire (and maybe some soldering skills, I guess you could use hot glue or tape or something in a pinch).

It is all released as open source, so feel free to modify, but please contribute if you can.

Now, here's the downside, I've been working my ass off on this project for a week or two now and finally have something to present, but it is not 'done' yet. It is not production ready so to speak.
I would like all the help I could get, please try it if you can and report bugs. Don't try it on beer though, if you do and fail, don't blame me.
Also, the code running on the STC-1000 is protected, that means, once you reprogram, you cant go back. They are pretty cheap though...

If you are experienced in PIC programming, please have a look at the code. I would consider myself experienced in embedded programming, but not so much towards the Microchip line of MCU's.

With the source I provide, it is also possible to repurpose the the STC-1000 pretty much any way you'd want if you are cool with some coding. It could be a PID for example if you exchange the relays for SSRs. The PIC fairly puny though, so you will need to be careful when coding, especially RAM is very tight.

The firmware I provide, features 6 programmable profiles, 10 setpoints each with 1-999 hours between setpoints. You can also set hysteresis, temperature correction offset, cooling delay, you can change current step and duration in the running profile and you can set current setpoint, finally you can choose and run profile or simply thermostat mode.

Right now programming is made by sending the HEX file through the Arduino usiing a serial terminal emulator that supports sending files (I use CuteCom in GNU/Linux). But once I reach something that I feel is good enough I'll provide the option to embed the HEX in the sketch and you'll just need the Arduino IDE to (user friendlier to the non-developer).

The programming header ont the STC-1000 is a bit difficult to reach from the top, you might have better luck on the bottom of the board. I have provided a picture of my dev board, but in it I have already soldered in a pin header.

So, again, if you can, please contribute and maybe soon enough everyone can run a slightly better STC-1000.

Lastly, documentation is suffering right now, I'd like to improve it as well, but I feel like I want to get this project 'out there' as soon as possible.

Find the source here.

Cheers!
//Mats

Edit: Update 04-04-2014, v1.00 now released. This is the first version that should be good enough for actual use :)

Edit2: Update 06-22-2015, there has been a lot of progress to this project.
Most notably Will Conrad has tracked down the manufacturer of the STC-1000's with the correct hardware version. They are manufactured an sold by HongKong U-control electric CO Ltd. They have a store through AliExpress where you can buy individual units.
Check out the github project page for more info on the project.
Click to expand...

Hi Matt

I've recently installed a flashed STC 1000 with your OVBSC firmware on my Grainfather. It's a great improvement, thanks. However, I wish to control the pump also but an having a problem. I can get the pump to work during SO output fine, but during the Mash steps the PO output is 0 unless the temperature falls below the set point, no matter what I set the %age to. Am I doing something wrong here or is this a problem with the firmware? In the meantime I can operated the pump manually.

Thanks

Dave
 
@dave-s : Hi! Cool :)
How have you hooked up the pump? Since you are asking about PO output, I'm guessing you have it hooked up through one of the relays?
The firmware does support controlling a pump, but the signal for controlling the pump is not through the relay. The relays are for controlling heaters.
The pump control signal can be found on the back near the tempprobe terminal.
Read this part and I hope it makes it more clear.

Cheers!
 
Thanks, Matt, you are right, I had it connected to the 'Cool' relay. I thought that was what you meant by 'unpopulated output'. Will give what you say a try for the next brew.
 
alphaomega said:
@dave-s : Hi! Cool :)
How have you hooked up the pump? Since you are asking about PO output, I'm guessing you have it hooked up through one of the relays?
The firmware does support controlling a pump, but the signal for controlling the pump is not through the relay. The relays are for controlling heaters.
The pump control signal can be found on the back near the tempprobe terminal.
Read this part and I hope it makes it more clear.

Cheers!
Click to expand...

One last question if I may. Is the pump signal from the pad right next to the probe connector, or is it one of the three pads grouped together behind the probe connector?

Thanks

Dave
 
It is the one unpopulated pad right next to the tempprobe terminals.
The board is actually prepared to house a three pole terminal, but only two are used, so for pump control, the third (and normally unused) one, comes into play.
 
alphaomega said:
It is the one unpopulated pad right next to the tempprobe terminals.
The board is actually prepared to house a three pole terminal, but only two are used, so for pump control, the third (and normally unused) one, comes into play.
Click to expand...

Marvellous, thank you, Matt :)
 
Hi Alphaomega, nickmv and rocket4x4, and all others,
I see everyone on here is smarter than I am, so I wonder-can my semi-cheap controller with its 1200 deg. F. limit be hacked around to achieve 2000 deg. F.? I have today ordered an Auber, but if I could make an arduino do it my dad would be impressed with his tech not-savvy son, and I'd beat the ebay seller who promised between -9999 and 9999 capability. sure it's not for beer it's for a kiln, but I have made mead a couple of times, and exploded some beer bottles in failure too. Cheers to all and any help or directional heading'd be fab. andy
 
Hi all,
New to arduino, hooked it up to my computer today. Loaded the blink sketch - upload complete. Tried to upload the picprog sketch, upload fails.

Here is the message:

sketch\ntc-lut-generator\lut.c:5:20: fatal error: unistd.h: No such file or directory

#include <unistd.h>

^

compilation terminated.

exit status 1
Error compiling.


Board choosen is "Arduino/Genuino Uno" - strange, since Blink works. Anything I miss??
 

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