Stc-1000+

[poptarts]

I have a request, can you make firmware to make the stc a timer? just like a basic kitchen countdown timer. I know that is a way under use of the stc but seriously panel mounted timers are crazy expensive, the cheapest I can find is 50$.

 

[wbarber69]

This is the timer I use. It's 26 bucksz


Sestos Digital Twin Timer Relay Time Delay Relay Switch 110-220V Black B2E https://www.amazon.com/dp/B008KV65MS/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

 

[poptarts]

wow nice i was searching forever and couldnt find anything

 

[Breadontap]

Not to get this thread anymore off topic but why would you pay $26 or even $50 for a timer? An egg timer cost like $5 at Walmart. I just use the timer on my phone.


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[poptarts]

It would be nice to have one built into the control panel because it looks cool, but yea im going to just grab a kitchen timer and some two sided tape cause i cant justify spending over double to make it look cool. that or just use a free online one on my computer like ive been doing and works well.

 

[jleiii]

I bought this 4 event timer with built in white board from amazon for $14. Just about perfect, unless you have more than 4 boil additions.
I'm very happy with it, except it runs the battery dead too quickly as you can't turn it off. I put a plastic tab under 1 terminal when not using it, and pull it out when I need it.

 

[Fermentastic]

I've been following this tread for a little while and I just purchased an STC-1000 Elitech by Lerway through Amazon and it appears to be a v1.0. The left connectors are closer together anyway. I'll probably pop it open to make sure before I try flashing it. I really want to do a Helles style and this should make it really easy to lager it along with the free mini-fridge I just picked up!

Like others have said before, thanks for all of the work to figure this out and also all of the work to serve it up here in a way most people can understand.

Yay, one post down. Many, many more to go...

 

[poptarts]

I bought this 4 event timer with built in white board from amazon for $14. Just about perfect, unless you have more than 4 boil additions.
I'm very happy with it, except it runs the battery dead too quickly as you can't turn it off. I put a plastic tab under 1 terminal when not using it, and pull it out when I need it.

Nice I like the idea of having one be a count up timer to track how long my brewday takes.

 

[wbarber69]

I have the Sestos built in to my control panel. It has relays in it, which is why the dude asked in the stc forum in the first place. I can use mine to set off alarms or I can go in the night before and set my HLT to come on early enough to get up to temp before I even wake up on brew day.

 

[Flboy]

For a timer, use a simple fan type timer made for bathrooms. Made to mount, ya can even wire a simple light thru it. Most are mechanical and come in different time ranges. No issue to run lower voltages thru them if you want led type indicators.

 

[wbarber69]

But can they be setup to run different tasks depending on what state the timer is in.

 

[TripleHopped]

I had two STC 1000 sitting in my closet. I sent off for the rest of the items to flash them and have finally gotten around to working on this project.

I'm not a computer person by any means, but I have just finished flashing them. It has taken me several days. When I ran into problems I consulted the oracle of knowledge (the internet) and found the solutions.

Thanks to Alphaomega for all your work on this. I raise a pint to you and the others who have helped with testing out the different beta writings of the code.

 

[stoneBriar]

This was my first run with the upgraded STC. I did my normal procedure for a 10g batch and taped the controller temp probe to the fermenter with WY1056 and wedged the WLP001 fermenter up against it. A EL-USB-1 temp logger in a waterproof aluminum case was in the 001 brew. You can see I knocked out at 80ish (thanks summer ground water temps) and started the temp profile. I pitched the yeast when I hit 74 about 5 hours later. Total time from grain to keg was 14 days. The attached plot is the logger recorded temp v. the set point (thanks to the badass STC-1000+ Profile Builder.xlsx). Max deviation was never more than 1 degree above set point. Given how crude the monitoring method was I'm super happy with this outcome!

Thanks so much to everyone that's worked on this project, especially Alpha. This is so much easier than juggling the temps up and down all the time.

 

[alphaomega]

Hi!
Thanks so much posting your experiences and for the kind words

 

[jleiii]

Lerway is a supplier AND a seller it seems. Multiple sellers selling their brand, and I did not pull up every item, but almost. Now it makes sense to me.
Still not liking the 'crap shoot' idea at all..... I'm the epitome of getting a 50/50 chance and 80/20 results not in my favor.

My 80/20 rule reins. Got the STC from Leeway on Amazon and its not the right one and different from 4 of my other 5. The board number is 20140528 FR-4. White on black note, left terminals close together. I did see what look like marked holes, at least 4. I'll post more details later.

 

[mattd2]

My 80/20 rule reins. Got the STC from Leeway on Amazon and its not the right one and different from 4 of my other 5. The board number is 20140528 FR-4. White on black note, left terminals close together. I did see what look like marked holes, at least 4. I'll post more details later.

I wonder if with the knowledge of how to tell the correct controller by external identifiers would help reduce that down to 90/10 if the sellers were asked to check prior.

 

[jleiii]

I wonder if with the knowledge of how to tell the correct controller by external identifiers would help reduce that down to 90/10 if the sellers were asked to check prior.

I contacted an ebay seller, and not n option. Many don't have physical possession of the items, and mine was 'fulfilled by amazon'.

 

[wilconrad]

I have some good news and some bad news to report:

The Good News: I think I've secured a source for the correct controller version

The Bad News: You have to buy a minimum of 100pcs in order to buy from them

More Bad News (for me anyway): In the process of finding a source, I got stuck with 100pcs of the wrong version

If this turns out to be a reliable source, I'll order an extra 50pcs of the good controllers when I build my next batch of "The Black Box" and will sell them at cost to the DIY crowd. In the meantime, you'll see me selling STC-1000's on Ebay; do NOT buy these, as they are the v1.1's I'm getting rid of.

For the sake of documentation, here are some pics of the "Good" & "Bad" controller versions I used in communicating what I needed. The sensor shown as "Bad" in the 3rd pic is actually a higher quality sensor, but I'm calling it "Bad" because it's coming from the wrong supplier.

 

[JonGrafto]

So all these "bad" ones are still good to go to make just the general temp controller with Celsius, right?

You just can't flash them and change to the Fahrenheit programming.

Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[alphaomega]

Yes of course. They are only "bad" in the sense they can't be reflashed with new firmware.

 

[jleiii]

Here's what the one I got from Amazon/Lerway last week looks like. Terminals are the 'good' style, but the board is vastly different - lots more parts on main board at other end of display board, and the printing on the orange transformer is on the side, not the top.

 

[mattd2]

Here's what the one I got from Amazon/Lerway last week looks like. Terminals are the 'good' style, but the board is vastly different - lots more parts on main board at other end of display board, and the printing on the orange transformer is on the side, not the top.

SO there is a third type now!

 

[Breadontap]

Do you have a link to your eBay page? I'll buy a couple just to help you get rid of them, plus I don't mind the basic stc1000. I do want a black box soon though.

Thanks.


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[KidIcarus]

@alphaomega: Thanks for creating this custom firmware, and for taking the time to create the manual on how to flash it to the STC-1000.

I have never used Arduino before, but I just flashed my unit successfully.

Thanks!

 

[alphaomega]

The brülosopher has reviewed the black box (and in doing so also the stc-1000+ firmware).
black box review
Nice

 

[Brulosopher]

It's an AMAZING product!!

 

[jleiii]

Holy fermentation controller batman!

Ok, I haven't really done much code wise or so this weekend, but I think it has been a pretty good one for the STC-1000+ project anyway. I think that using $5 equipment for a programmer is pretty cool, when the intended programmer (PIC kit 2) costs probably 10-15 times more.

And today I made another discovery. I noticed that just next to the screw terminal for the thermistor, there is an unused solder pad.


It just 'happens' to be routed to ISCPCLK, the only pin not used in normal conditions (i.e. when not flashing). In the picture you can see that there even are pads for an SMD resistor and SMD capacitor (R3 and C3), same as for the NTC input (R2 and C2, to the right in the pic, but kind of unreadable...). And yes, RA1 (the generic pin that ICSPCLK is on) also functions as A/D.
It is "almost" as someone designed this board to be able to handle TWO thermistor inputs. :rockin:

Why is this awesome? Well, it seems that with a little bit of soldering, and some cheap SMD components off ebay and some of blood, sweat and code (at least on my part), we could have an extra temperature input. This could be used for things like measuring fridge temperature, making sure it does not shoot off too far before beer temp catches up (limit over/under-shoot). Or when I get around to finishing my mash firmware, you could measure mash temp AND output temp from RIMS.
Heck, if you are able to code yourself, you could use it for anything. Not only an input. SSR output? Float switch?
I am gonna try to enable a secondary temp reading. Personally I think it would be cool (pun intended) to be able to set limits on fridge temp (like the hysteresis).

As best I know now, what you would need is a new 3 pole screw terminal (5mm pitch) to replace the 2 pole. And an SMD resistor and capacitor (probably 0603 form factor) and an extra NTC thermistor (B3435). The resistor is 10K with as good accuracy as possible (1%?, this is part of the voltage divider with the NTC). The capacitor should not be as critical, from what I could find with google 10-100uF is prolly in the right range.

Cheers!

I went through this entire thread last night looking to see if there was any info on the 'bad' boards that suggests they might also be flashable, but found nothing. This post is of particular interest, though. The 'third' style board that I just got from Lerway also has the exact same setup alphaomega describes here. This suggests these may be just variations of the same units, and got me wondering.....can it be flashed as well?

I did some research, and it looks promising. This one uses the HT66F40. From the data sheet it has 4kx15 program memory, 198x8 data memory and 128x8 eeprom.
There are 5 labeled pads: GND, RST, VCC, NTC1, and NTC2. NTC1 connects to the 'common' pin of the RTD connector. NTC2 and RST connect to pins on the display board. Based on the data sheet programming notes, it is very likely it can be programmed in the same was as the others, Data, Clock, Reset, VDD and VSS. While I have 40+ yrs of electronics background, I'm not in a position to work through this on my own. My last hands on with processors was with 8008 and 6809 (for those that might remember them). I would be happy to assist in any way I can if someone with PIC experience wants to take the lead. If this board starts showing up regularly it would expand the options for reprogramming.

I really 'need' 2 flashed ones for my lager chambers, but so far I'm 0 for 5 (of 6) on the ones I've gotten over the last 2 yrs, and won't buy any more until we have a confirmed source. The 6th one is in a cooler, and not easily accessed, but it's a full 2 yrs old. Being able to flash these others would be helpful for me! I'm on the pre-sale for the Fastrack Fermenter which is way too big to put in my fermentation chambers, and will be adding temperature control to that once I get it in the fall, so I'll be needing another controller eventually.

wilconrad, what 'bad' boards did you get?
I added my email to your wait list as a backup plan, but I want the 'bare' units you mentioned on your site, as I will swap them into my enclosure.

 

[alphaomega]

Well, I think I did some research on the matter. If I remember correctly, then this MCU should be supported by SDCC, which is positive. The general hardware specs seem somewhat similar, which is also positive. On the downside, this is a completely different architecture and while the code probably could be ported, it would be a non trivial task and one might be forced to make trade offs. This is not a PIC, and the sketch for uploading will need to be completely rewritten for this arch.
The biggest issue would probably be that I can't find a decent enough datasheet and specifically data on the programming interface and protocol. I also don't have access to any such unit, so even with the specs, I can't do much.
I would absolutely give porting a shot, but without the prerequisites there is just no chance. So if you want to see this happen, try and find some good data sheet and specifically data on how programming the MCU is performed.
It sounds like Will might have found a good source for 'good' units, so I think your best bet is to try and source one from him.
Cheers!

 

[jleiii]

I linked to the data sheet in the post. 300 pages.
I'll study it more and see what I can learn. My last experience with programming devices was eeprom and epld's so I'm behind the times, by decades.

 

[alphaomega]

Yeah, and that's the one I've been looking at, and while it ha some good info it says nothing about the programming specifications, which we need if we are to use cheap arduinos to program the thing.
I just remembered, it might even be required to buy development tools from holtek. Depending on cost, it could be one way to go. Then the programming protocol could probably be reverse engineered, if no other source of this info could be found.
I'm just saying, there would probably be a long way to go to get this done.
It would be cool to attempt, but there are a lot of issues in the way, and some may not be practically 'solvable'. More info is needed. It would be interesting to know what the cost is of the Holtek dev tools for one.

I'd say your programming history is a good one for this even if rusty. This is pretty low level stuff, it is better to have a general understanding of digital electronics and processor architechture than being a java or html god. This is not rocket science, but can be cryptic if you are used to work at higher levels of abstraction.