Stc-1000+

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Hi All,

I bought three STCs from the link on the github site a few months back. Successfully flashed them, and built them into project boxes. I then got the bright idea to run some USB fans in my ferm chambers and thought I could just run them off the 5v take offs on the board.

I hooked the first unit up and everything went well. Fans ran, several runs without load (just multimeter) showed that both heat and cool ran as they should to achieve a given temperature.

I plugged it in and started a beer fermenting, the next day, I checked on it and it was nowhere near correct! Multimeter showed no power. I slapped the project box in frustration and Bam! Power.

Huh

Messed with wiring, checked resistance across my solders. No problems. Tried changing the temp so the heat would run instead of the fridge. Same problem!

Switched to another unit. Same problem.

I am so confused. If you unplug the unit or give it a slap it will switch on, but after that it won't close the circuit.

Is it a bad batch of units? Or am I leeching too much power with the fans and messing it up? Why does it work when there is no load on the AC side?

Any thoughts anyone? I'd be incredibly appreciative!

Thanks!
 
I run fans off the 5V internal board as well. I had a bigger fan that drew to many amps and it messed things up (the relays need a certain amperage to close I guess). I switched it to a small fan and it's been fine since.

You can see my build here:
http://knoxhomebrewer.com/upgrading-a-dorm-fridge/

renniSaint said:
Hi All,

I bought three STCs from the link on the github site a few months back. Successfully flashed them, and built them into project boxes. I then got the bright idea to run some USB fans in my ferm chambers and thought I could just run them off the 5v take offs on the board.

I hooked the first unit up and everything went well. Fans ran, several runs without load (just multimeter) showed that both heat and cool ran as they should to achieve a given temperature.

I plugged it in and started a beer fermenting, the next day, I checked on it and it was nowhere near correct! Multimeter showed no power. I slapped the project box in frustration and Bam! Power.

Huh

Messed with wiring, checked resistance across my solders. No problems. Tried changing the temp so the heat would run instead of the fridge. Same problem!

Switched to another unit. Same problem.

I am so confused. If you unplug the unit or give it a slap it will switch on, but after that it won't close the circuit.

Is it a bad batch of units? Or am I leeching too much power with the fans and messing it up? Why does it work when there is no load on the AC side?

Any thoughts anyone? I'd be incredibly appreciative!

Thanks!
Click to expand...
 
I would definitely NOT use the internal 5V supply for anything outside the STC1000! The internal transformer (PIC version) is only 1.5 Watts and with that it needs to power both the relays (running at 12V) and the microcontroller with display. The power supply in these cheap controllers is certainly not overdimensioned.

On top of that, fans could give you all kinds of HF interference which is then directly injected into the microcontroller. The microcontroller needs a stable power supply in order to operate in a reliable way.

Even though StoneBriar states that it works, I would not recommend this. Use a cheap external 5V of 12V supply to power the fans.

And slapping electronics? :(
 
How can you advance to the next step manually. If my fermentation is complete early I want to move to the cooling step.
 
Thank you all for the replies. Well, I will try to unplug the fans and then reset everything and see if it makes a difference. Could I have done permanent damage to the units? That would be a bummer! The most confusing part for me is that when I bench test them they work perfectly. Why would it matter if there is a load on the AC side of the relay....?
 
renniSaint said:
Could I have done permanent damage to the units?
Click to expand...
Sure you could. It is probably the 5v regulator that would be damaged in that case. I think they are pretty good at handling the abuse, but you never know.

Why would it matter if there is a load on the AC side of the relay....?
Click to expand...
My guess would be that it takes more energy for the relay to switch when under load. And you might be dropping the 5v rail enoug to bring the driver transistors for the relays out of saturation.
 
adam01 said:
How can you advance to the next step manually. If my fermentation is complete early I want to move to the cooling step.
Click to expand...
If you're using set profile go in and reset up a profile. If you are using set point, even easier, change set point! I do that regularly
 
Hey all, just an update and thank you for the help.

I disconnected the fans and everything seems to be working fine now. I am cold crashing today so we will see if everything is running as expected when I get home tonight, fingers crossed!

So, I guess that answers the question of why I never saw anyone pulling power from one of these for fans. I will go get a cheapo PS and put it in the boxes and that should solve it!

Thank you again for all your help on this. I feel pretty silly for not figuring it out sooner. You guys rock!
 
So I got my 0602 05 rqc stc1000s in and tried to program them. I kept getting errors and was about to give up when I decided to power the units when programing them. Worked like a charm. I'm so happy to have my stc1000+s now. So if you try Emile666's version you need to have the units powered. I wired every thing, only soldered one thinking that was the problem. The other ones i just held the header in place with my finger.(only recommend if you are not afraid to get shocked, my finger touched a bad spot on the board when it was plugged in and I felt a little tingle) Then I plugged into usb followed by wall outlet, held header in place and click program about 3-5 seconds later was done programing. I unplugged from wall then usb plugged back in wall and all is gravy.
 
@Toejam792:
I'm not all that familiar with the STM version STC's, but I do know that you don't *need* them mains powered during programming, so I think that is terrible advice to give as a general statement.
I would suspect that you either have a bad/no +5V (power) connection or a weak/bad +5V line from the programmer.
But it is good you got it working (and without *seriously* electrocuting yourself).
 
Special thanks to alphaomega, and everyone who has posted in this thread. I've had mine flashed for a couple of years now and kept meaning to post but never got around to it. I looked back through the thread, and at least I don't THINK I've posted this already.

I would like to change the color of the display on mine, but not sure if I can swap out the SMD LEDs or try to find another display like that but in a different color. Mine has the boring red LEDs. I am using this unit to control the temp on my kegerator, but may move it to fermentation duty soon, as I plan to convert the kegerator to an Arduino based temp controller.

Again thanks so much! I was just getting into programming and electronics at the time I did this, I've learned so much in the past couple of years but this project gave me a lot of confidence and was a lot of fun for me.

I just soldered some patch cables onto the board directly, and when I was finished removed them. At that time I didn't have any pin headers laying around.

Cheers!

PB230109.jpg


PB230112.jpg


PB240112.jpg
 
alphaomega said:
@Toejam792:
I'm not all that familiar with the STM version STC's, but I do know that you don't *need* them mains powered during programming, so I think that is terrible advice to give as a general statement.
I would suspect that you either have a bad/no +5V (power) connection or a weak/bad +5V line from the programmer.
But it is good you got it working (and without *seriously* electrocuting yourself).
Click to expand...

Emile666 only has you hook up 3 wires to the unit, ground rst and sig. I just figured I'd post what I did to get it to work. I'm sure if you knew were to hook up a dc power supply that would work to. But i don't see any danger of soldering headers onto the programing ports and wiring the unit up for 110v power to program. I was just cautioning against not soldering a header and just using your finger to maintain contact for the programing. Electricity has to be respected and you have to know what you can and can not touch if your working with exposed live lines.
 
@Toejam792: Using either mains or Vcc for programming is fine (with a diode in line with Vcc, even both at the same time should be fine), either will power the chip. But yeah, mains powering and using the 'press down the pin header with your hand' method of programming, is a bad idea for obvious reasons :)
 
Toejam792 said:
Emile666 only has you hook up 3 wires to the unit, ground rst and sig.
Click to expand...
That is true, but I connected to a device that was already powered-up. I don't really like to power the entire device from the programming unit. So best way (as you already found out) is to power-up the device and then connect to the programming device. AND keep your fingers away from anything that is connected to the mains voltage!

Sorry about the misunderstanding, I have added a less confusing description to the README file.
 
@Emile666: You don't power up the entire unit, only the 5v rail (the relays won't work). Powering through the programmer should not be an issue, the 5v supplied comes from USB and should be well enough to feed both the programmer and the STC.
Not that there's anything wrong with powering through mains, if you do it in a safe way, but I'd say using the programmers supplied 5v would be better general advice (less risk).
 
Has anyone run into the problem of the sketch being too big to upload? I have my Stc1000 project box all built out and the last step is to flash Vanilla Version onto it. I have followed the instructions to the T and I end up with Arduino IDE telling me that the sketch is too big.

It tells me that the sketch uses 16604 (115%). The maximum is 14336 bytes.

the hardware I'm using is this CP2102
and this Pro Mini Module

I am clueless when it comes to programming so I'm not sure as to what or how I can edit to make the sketch fit. I have tried doing a search both on this thread alone and as well as the HBT Forum. If anyone out there has any insight I would be so grateful!

Help a brother out?
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Sure, it usually comes down to the Arduino using an old version of the bootloader (that is bigger and thus leaves less space for the sketch).
Look for these lines near the top of the sketch:
/* Set to 0 to omit Fahrenheit version from sketch */
#define INCLUDE_FAHRENHEIT_HEX_DATA 1
/* Set to 0 to omit Celsius version from sketch */
#define INCLUDE_CELSIUS_HEX_DATA 1
Click to expand...

if you intend to use Fahrenheit change the 1 following INCLUDE_CELSIUS_HEX_DATA to a 0 (or vice versa, but only change one of them).
That will exclude the Celsius HEX data from the sketch, and save a bunch of space.
 
alphaomega said:
Sure, it usually comes down to the Arduino using an old version of the bootloader (that is bigger and thus leaves less space for the sketch).
Look for these lines near the top of the sketch:


if you intend to use Fahrenheit change the 1 following INCLUDE_CELSIUS_HEX_DATA to a 0 (or vice versa, but only change one of them).
That will exclude the Celsius HEX data from the sketch, and save a bunch of space.
Click to expand...

Awesome, I will do that. Thank you for the reply!
 
alphaomega said:
Sure, it usually comes down to the Arduino using an old version of the bootloader (that is bigger and thus leaves less space for the sketch).
Look for these lines near the top of the sketch:


if you intend to use Fahrenheit change the 1 following INCLUDE_CELSIUS_HEX_DATA to a 0 (or vice versa, but only change one of them).
That will exclude the Celsius HEX data from the sketch, and save a bunch of space.
Click to expand...

I tried what you had suggested and still no luck. Arduino IDE still tells me that sketch is too big. I'm thinking I may need to buy a different processor.
 
@FireManDan:
I'm sorry, yes you do. I didn't notice that the Arduino you got, has an ATmega168. You need an ATmega328 based one. The one you got only has half the code space, and that is not enough.
 
alphaomega said:
@FireManDan:
I'm sorry, yes you do. I didn't notice that the Arduino you got, has an ATmega168. You need an ATmega328 based one. The one you got only has half the code space, and that is not enough.
Click to expand...

Okay, I do apologize I'm not sure how i missed that when i made the purchase, i think i was to concerned with finding a ttl/usb that had matching pins to the pro mini clone. If it's not too much trouble can you confirm if this would work. I see that you mentioned i currently only have half of the memory i need at 16, yet this uno clone states it has 32kb but 2kb is taken up by the bootloader. Worth that said I'm not sure if it will work.
 
FireManDan said:
Okay, I do apologize I'm not sure how i missed that when i made the purchase, i think i was to concerned with finding a ttl/usb that had matching pins to the pro mini clone. If it's not too much trouble can you confirm if this would work.
Click to expand...

That *should* work (I mean, as far as I can tell). Also, the link you supplied is not working, but I fixed it in the quote above).

I see that you mentioned i currently only have half of the memory i need at 16, yet this uno clone states it has 32kb but 2kb is taken up by the bootloader. Worth that said I'm not sure if it will work.
Click to expand...

I'm sorry, I don't follow what you are trying to say here...
The pro mini clone you indicated you had already purchased, says it has an ATmega168. That MCU has 16kB of flash. The UNO clone you linked to (sporting an ATmega328), has got 32kB of flash (0.5kB of which is used by the bootloader, which should be correct).
I think it will do just fine :)

Edit: To clarify, the sketch (to flash the STC) mainly consists of three parts, the logic to *do* the upload, STC-1000+ HEX data (to upload) Fahrenheit version and Celsius version. Each roughly the same size and adding up to about 31kB, pretty much filling up the flash on an ATmega328. With half the flash space, you just don't have room for control logic + just one HEX data version.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
alphaomega said:
That *should* work (I mean, as far as I can tell). Also, the link you supplied is not working, but I fixed it in the quote above).



I'm sorry, I don't follow what you are trying to say here...
The pro mini clone you indicated you had already purchased, says it has an ATmega168. That MCU has 16kB of flash. The UNO clone you linked to (sporting an ATmega328), has got 32kB of flash (0.5kB of which is used by the bootloader, which should be correct).
I think it will do just fine :)

Edit: To clarify, the sketch (to flash the STC) mainly consists of three parts, the logic to *do* the upload, STC-1000+ HEX data (to upload) Fahrenheit version and Celsius version. Each roughly the same size and adding up to about 31kB, pretty much filling up the flash on an ATmega328. With half the flash space, you just don't have room for control logic + just one HEX data version.
Click to expand...


I totally understand now and I thank you very much for clarifying that for me. I received the Arduino Uno R3 clone three days earlier than expected from Amazon. Today, I sat down to flash my stc1000 it took no time at all and everything went smooth. So once again thank you for your contribution and thank you for taking the time to help me figure this out.
 
I just flashed my STC. Seemed to go okay. I went to wire it up and it isn't getting any power. LED display is dark. I put it back on my arduino to try and re-flash. I get the following message:

STC-1000+ firmware sketch.
Copyright 2014 Mats Staffansson

Send 'd' to check for STC-1000
Enter low voltage programming mode
Leaving programming mode
Device ID is: 0x3FFF
STC-1000 NOT detected. Check wiring.

When I hook it up with out the probe it makes the howling noise...so I'm hoping there is still a chance?
 
Hello, this is my first time posting. I've been following this thread for several months (it took a long time to read all those posts) and finally made my own STC-1000+ with dual temperature probe. I have successfully flashed the 2-probe STC-1000+ code but I am not getting meaningful readings from the second temperature probe. Is it possible that I failed to properly solder the pull up resistor on the second probe? It reads 63.8 F no matter what the temperature is. Any help would be appreciated.
Thank you.
Dave
 
Medic_Dave said:
Hello, this is my first time posting. I've been following this thread for several months (it took a long time to read all those posts) and finally made my own STC-1000+ with dual temperature probe. I have successfully flashed the 2-probe STC-1000+ code but I am not getting meaningful readings from the second temperature probe. Is it possible that I failed to properly solder the pull up resistor on the second probe? It reads 63.8 F no matter what the temperature is. Any help would be appreciated.
Thank you.
Dave
Click to expand...

I had an issue because I got sent a 10 ohm instead of 10k ohm smd resistor.

Sounds like a resistor problem.

A photo might help.
 
Q , is temp prob needed in wort for unit to run correctly once boil starts ?

I have been hanging the prob over the side of kettle during boil and seems to give off incorrect temps after 20min or more . But the mash stage is fine ? if its not in the kettle will the unit still run the recipe programme to the end with the hop additions etc ?
 
Also the link in github to purchase the stc say longer for sale ? is there another supplier link for the units ?
 
whats everyone running the SO - Strike output % at ? I've had it at 100% but not happy with the time taken to reach temp. should I run it at 200%?
 
Ht, Ho and Hd whats everyone setting these to ? I have mine at 98c,80% and 15min. Thinking 15min might be too long seems to take an age to countdown to 1st hop addition.
 
gillie said:
whats everyone running the SO - Strike output % at ? I've had it at 100% but not happy with the time taken to reach temp. should I run it at 200%?
Click to expand...

I have my SO @ 200%, PO @ -100%, BO @ 100%, & HO @ -150% (HT @ 95°C & Hd @ 15), these work well for my set up, but may not work well for anyone else's set up. Trial and error gets you there. :)
 
Hi Kaljade,
PO @ -100%, HO @ -150% are these meant to be minus numbers ? I tried but was very slow to work . Changed to 100% and 150% seem ok now .
 
gillie said:
Hi Kaljade,
PO @ -100%, HO @ -150% are these meant to be minus numbers ? I tried but was very slow to work . Changed to 100% and 150% seem ok now .
Click to expand...

Yeah, I have two heating elements on my system the "cool" relay runs the 500w element and the "heat" relay runs the 2200w element. So -100% means the 500w element is constantly on (100% of Pd setting), and -150% means the 500w is constant and the 2200w element is on for 50% of the Pd setting (my Pd is set to 2.0 so that equates to 1 second on, 1 second off).

Cheers,

Kal
 
Keeping the dream (thread) alive! I just finished my first successful flashing of an STC-1000. A second one is on the way (slow boat from China). I'm looking to leverage the communications build. I have an extra Particle Photon kicking around that I have already integrated with Dallas one-wires, and publishing to an online datastore. In the next few weeks/months I plan on building a mobile app that can monitor temps from both the STC and a couple of auxiliary Dallas probes (for ambient fridge), and ambient room (garage) temps - as well as control the STC.

Although BrewPi has done great work in this realm, I think that building a solution around the STC is still a valid endeavor. Stay tuned for photos and more!


Mylo
 

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