Stc-1000+

[alphaomega]

Well, not quite. The actual problem is that it has an entirely different MCU that is not compatible. And the only datasheet I can find is in Chinese.

 

[atoughram]

I am brewing a Saison this weekend and using Danstar Belle Saison yeast.

I was thinking I would start out at 68f for 84 hours, then ramp up to 75f over the next 48 hours, hold 75f for 36 hours, then ramp up to 85f over 48 hours, finishing up the final 36hrs at 85f.

I've never done a saison - does this sound about right for a saison profile? Danstar says anything above 63f give "Quick start and vigorous fermentation"

 

[wilconrad]

I put together the attached spreadsheet to build temp profiles (helps me to visualize the profile before loading it). I'm also planning to use this to document the profiles I use for each beer, so I can replicate later if it turns out well.

You can turn the ramping feature on/off with a toggle at the bottom and enter your durations in days or hours (you'll need to program in hours either way, of course). Thought this might be helpful for others so uploading it here, let me know if you spot any errors in it.

File Linked Here

 

[BBQB]

I'm a software engineer but I don't dabble in hardware much. What are the limitations? Could the stc be controlled via wifi? Ie could we connect the device to a network with a wifi card? Basically, my goal would be able to make temperature changed on a computer and have automatically push to the device


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[barrooze]

I am brewing a Saison this weekend and using Danstar Belle Saison yeast.

I was thinking I would start out at 68f for 84 hours, then ramp up to 75f over the next 48 hours, hold 75f for 36 hours, then ramp up to 85f over 48 hours, finishing up the final 36hrs at 85f.

I've never done a saison - does this sound about right for a saison profile? Danstar says anything above 63f give "Quick start and vigorous fermentation"

That sounds fine. I did a saison with that yeast earlier this year and held it at 68 for 2 days then ramped it 1F a day until 78F and held it there for a few weeks. I never had an issue with the stalling you get with the Dupont strain. This one finished at 1.001 for me.

 

[atoughram]

That sounds fine. I did a saison with that yeast earlier this year and held it at 68 for 2 days then ramped it 1F a day until 78F and held it there for a few weeks. I never had an issue with the stalling you get with the Dupont strain. This one finished at 1.001 for me.

Thanks!

 

[atoughram]

I'm a software engineer but I don't dabble in hardware much. What are the limitations? Could the stc be controlled via wifi? Ie could we connect the device to a network with a wifi card? Basically, my goal would be able to make temperature changed on a computer and have automatically push to the device


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

Hmm... I doubt you could get that to work - the I/O is already full and talking on wifi or ethernet would require an available serial interface such as I2C or other. If you know software and can program in C, take a look at Arduino devices. You could put that together without too much hardware knowledge.

 

[barrooze]

Thanks. I'll definitely pull mine out after I keg the batch that's using the temp controller.

And confirmed! I've got a 1.0. I'll be ordering my Arduino tonight! Thanks all!

 

[day_trippr]

I'm a software engineer but I don't dabble in hardware much. What are the limitations? Could the stc be controlled via wifi? Ie could we connect the device to a network with a wifi card? Basically, my goal would be able to make temperature changed on a computer and have automatically push to the device

See this thread. A BrewPi sounds like what you're looking for, skip the STC1K completely...

Cheers!

 

[balrog]

See this thread. A BrewPi sounds like what you're looking for, skip the STC1K completely...

Cheers!

Agreed. The stc+ is awesome, and AlphaOmega has turned this into something freakishly great. I myself will use it, but also long for web-view and logging. And since Alpha made this project using Arduino to flash, and Arduino has a cheap Ethernet add on shield, and others show how to use NTC or one-wire thermistors and web based logging to Xively, I will proly go that route to log, while using stc+ to control. But if you want to do 2 way web, view/log and change from web, you'd have to go something more sophisticated on the web interface, which points to BrewPi, although I have not looked at web-side temp controller set point adjustments specifically in BrewPi.

 

[atoughram]

Arduino has a cheap Ethernet add on shield, and others show how to use NTC or one-wire thermistors and web based logging to Xively,

Actually I'm using DS18B20's sensors from Ebay - Much easier to use on the 'duino. My code is cobbled together from FuzzyeWuzze's code posted on this thread.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/real-time-online-fermentation-temperature-monitor-60-a-370966/

I think I posted my code on that thread. I can give you a schematic to follow too. It's pretty simple.

 

[RocketBrewer]

I received my new STC-1000 (the correct one!), took it apart and de-soldered the programming holes (What a PITA!). I've done a little soldering/de-soldering before, never had this much trouble. I had no luck with my sucker so reverted to blowing it out. It made a mess of the top side and took a while to get it cleaned up with some de-soldering braid but finally got all the holes separated from each other. My concern is the conductivity between four of the five and some of the connections on the long header row adjacent to them. I drew red lines showing which connections have conductivity between them (the ground is connected to 2 and the other 3 are connected to just 1 ea.) and was hoping that someone could verify that these are either supposed to have connections or that I still have stray solder connecting things that shouldn't be. If anyone has one open and a meter handy, could you verify it for me before I try to flash this and fry something?
Thanks!

 

[wilconrad]

I think you've still got stray solder making a connection there, below is a pic of an unsoldered board.

However, I think the bulk of those solder joints are structural (hold the vertical board to the horizontal board). I'd bet it doesn't matter that you've got connectivity there, but I'm far from an expert on these matters so maybe someone else can weigh in.

 

[atoughram]

I received my new STC-1000 (the correct one!), took it apart and de-soldered the programming holes (What a PITA!). I've done a little soldering/de-soldering before, never had this much trouble. I had no luck with my sucker so reverted to blowing it out. It made a mess of the top side and took a while to get it cleaned up with some de-soldering braid but finally got all the holes separated from each other. My concern is the conductivity between four of the five and some of the connections on the long header row adjacent to them. I drew red lines showing which connections have conductivity between them (the ground is connected to 2 and the other 3 are connected to just 1 ea.) and was hoping that someone could verify that these are either supposed to have connections or that I still have stray solder connecting things that shouldn't be. If anyone has one open and a meter handy, could you verify it for me before I try to flash this and fry something?
Thanks!

Wow... Looks like the solder pads came off... yikes.

The PIC MCU is on the board with the LED display so every one of the programming ports is going to have continuity with one of those solder pads. If you dont see a solder bridge, try looking with a magnifying glass, I'd try to power it up.

 

[atoughram]

There is a bunch of gunk on the bottom of those boards that needs to be cleaned off before you try blowing the solder out - clean them carefully with denatured alcohol and a rag.

 

[MikeInMKE]

This may sound counterproductive, but sometimes it really helps to add some fresh quality solder first, before you try to remove the original solder.

Once upon a time, I made a modest living doing flat-rate repairs of Atari 2600 gaming consoles. There was a buffer chip between the 9-pin joystick connector and the 6502 microprocessor that would take the brunt of static discharges to the joystick connector and switches. Later versions had the buffer chip in a socket, but the earlier versions didn't, and the solder they had used was cheap and very dry (no flux). I'd use a side cutter to cut the leads from the chip. If I didn't add fresh solder, I'd have to use so much heat the pad would lift right off of the board, and if I pulled too hard I'd pull the plated-through hole out with the lead. If I added some fresh solder, the solder would melt as it should, the lead would pull out cleanly without effort, and a solder sucker would suck the hole clean of solder.

 

[jmark]

I've got the same problem as RocketBrewer I think... the unit powers up and I have connectivity across that bridge in the same places, so I'm guessing that's actually okay. However, when I go to click 'd' to check for the STC-1000 from the serial monitor UI just get the 'STC-1000 NOT detected. Check wiring' error... can't see anything wrong with the wiring. Can somebody check to see where the continuity on the front panel should be for each wire?

 

[KindofBlues71]

I checked my STC controller last night (bought 6mo ago from Elitech) and I have v1.0! I'm going to buy the UNO and a RPi to build a BrewPi and I'm wondering if I would still be able to use the UNO to flash updates to the STC?

 

[alphaomega]

That depends on what you mean.
Of course you can use the same UNO, but not at the same time of course. Depending on your setup, it might be a bit of work to 'free' the UNO (aside from mounting), you may want to dump program and eeprom after brewpi duty so it can be restored one you have updated the STC.
BTW, depending on what setup you are looking for with brewpi, I am currently working on getting brewpi running on the Arduino Yún, so that you will not need the raspberry pi. Everything on one (UNO sized) board, with WiFi and everything.

 

[dtgrdn]

BTW, depending on what setup you are looking for with brewpi, I am currently working on getting brewpi running on the Arduino Yún, so that you will not need the raspberry pi. Everything on one (UNO sized) board, with WiFi and everything.

This would be awesome, I'm currently using an old computer instead of the RaspPi to run BrewPi, but after looking at the Arduino Yun I am very intrigued. I would even be willing to buy the board and assist in testing

Dave

 

[KindofBlues71]

That depends on what you mean.
Of course you can use the same UNO, but not at the same time of course. Depending on your setup, it might be a bit of work to 'free' the UNO (aside from mounting), you may want to dump program and eeprom after brewpi duty so it can be restored one you have updated the STC.
BTW, depending on what setup you are looking for with brewpi, I am currently working on getting brewpi running on the Arduino Yún, so that you will not need the raspberry pi. Everything on one (UNO sized) board, with WiFi and everything.

That would be awesome! So you would just have the BrewPi shield and the Yun? Or would you need the UNO as well? I'm very new to this and have zero electronics knowledge (but I'm eager to learn!).

 

[alphaomega]

No you would not need an UNO only the Yun.
Nice that there is an interest, but Im still trying to get it working, so dont rush into it just yet. I will probably start a new thread if I can get PoC working.
I just thought Id mention it, so if you are interested dont waste money on an UNO when you might want a Yun in the end.

 

[Spellman]

Thank you so much alphaomega for all that you have done with this neat little device. I just got a 1.0 in from ebay (mixtea), and am waiting for my uno to get off the slow boat before I dive in. With regards to the Yun, did you ever doubt there wouldn't be any interest? Now there is something else on my must have list! Again, great work and thanks for sharing your talents! You have made many people very happy!

 

[RocketBrewer]

I received my new STC-1000 (the correct one!), took it apart and de-soldered the programming holes (What a PITA!). I've done a little soldering/de-soldering before, never had this much trouble. I had no luck with my sucker so reverted to blowing it out. It made a mess of the top side and took a while to get it cleaned up with some de-soldering braid but finally got all the holes separated from each other. My concern is the conductivity between four of the five and some of the connections on the long header row adjacent to them. I drew red lines showing which connections have conductivity between them (the ground is connected to 2 and the other 3 are connected to just 1 ea.) and was hoping that someone could verify that these are either supposed to have connections or that I still have stray solder connecting things that shouldn't be. If anyone has one open and a meter handy, could you verify it for me before I try to flash this and fry something?
Thanks!

I finally was able to take apart my fermentation controller to verify the continuity of these pads. My STC was still OK!
I plowed ahead with the project, fighting the install of drivers for the Arduino UNO as my windows 7 laptop has no COM or LPT ports showing in Device Manager (That's how the Arduino website tells you to go). After much research and head banging, I finally just tried installing the USB drivers for the device directly (the computer showed "unknown Device" which I assumed had to be the Arduino). It worked! It took me a little while to figure out how to download and install the sketch but the actual flashing of the device was a piece of cake after that following alphaomega's directions.

End result was a functioning STC-1000+ !!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks so much to alphaomega and the rest of you for all the countless hours you have put in developing and testing this project. This is one of the coolest things I've seen done here! I'm going to hook this one up to my keezer today.

 

[alphaomega]

Hi!
I have uploaded a change to the work branch on GitHub, if anyone is able to help test it, then that would be great.
The only change is that I think I have managed to improve on the approximative ramping, so instead of 8 steps maximum it is now 64 steps maximum. If this works out ok (which I think it will, but I have not done ANY testing myself yet), then it is probably good enough that you don't need to care that it is not true ramping. For example for simplicity's sake say you run a ramp for 8 days, this would mean that SP would be updated once a day with v1.00 but every third hour with the new version (v1.01).

 

[RocketBrewer]

OK I just set up my second STC to flash and when I send 'd' I get a message saying

Enter low voltage programming mode
Leaving programming mode
Device ID is: 0x0
STC-1000 NOT detected. Check wiring.

Does anyone have any idea what is wrong. I've checked and re-checked the wiring a half dozen times and it is right. The STC seems to be powered up and working fine. I've tried to re-upload the sketch and still the same thing.

Putting the header in this one went so well, I thought this one was going to be a snap.

 

[StittsvilleJames]

Thank you so much alphaomega for all that you have done with this neat little device. I just got a 1.0 in from ebay (mixtea), and am waiting for my uno to get off the slow boat before I dive in. With regards to the Yun, did you ever doubt there wouldn't be any interest? Now there is something else on my must have list! Again, great work and thanks for sharing your talents! You have made many people very happy!

Awesome news, that's the same seller I bought one from, also on a slow boat from China. This gives me hope that it's a 1.0 as well!

 

[atoughram]

Hi!
I have uploaded a change to the work branch on GitHub, if anyone is able to help test it, then that would be great.
The only change is that I think I have managed to improve on the approximative ramping, so instead of 8 steps maximum it is now 64 steps maximum. If this works out ok (which I think it will, but I have not done ANY testing myself yet), then it is probably good enough that you don't need to care that it is not true ramping. For example for simplicity's sake say you run a ramp for 8 days, this would mean that SP would be updated once a day with v1.00 but every third hour with the new version (v1.01).

I can flash it Saturday. I've got a saison to ferment on Sunday.

 

[MrMista]

Does anyone have a link to an Amazon seller where they have gotten the proper STC 1.0 board? I already have a STC but it is v1.1 unfortunately. I'd like to order another but I'd really like to get the v1.0.

 

[atoughram]

Does anyone have a link to an Amazon seller where they have gotten the proper STC 1.0 board? I already have a STC but it is v1.1 unfortunately. I'd like to order another but I'd really like to get the v1.0.

I've ordered three from this vendor and all were 1.0's

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008KVCPH2/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20