Stc-1000+

[alphaomega]

Thanks for the pictures! This chip is a chinese 8051 clone and is not an stm8 nor a PIC microcontroller. I have an identical version and got it by following the link Mats gave for a PIC version. So the PIC versions are probably no longer available.

I do think they are still available. Ordering straight from the manufacturer, you'd definitely get the right one (but they will only sell in bulk). The manufacturer uses AliExpress to sell their products in lower quantities, but I think the ethics of AliExpress is quite... relaxed... so, they'll just send anything anyways... There are a lot of ppl though that have got the right units form there as well. But it sucks that you can't be sure...
But I agree, as clones are becoming cheaper, finding the PIC units (from anywhere other than the manufacturer) is probably only gonna get harder (that's what she said).

This clone only has chinese documentation, so I gave up trying to identify if and how this thing is programmable.

I've had a look as well at a few of the other clones, and had the same conclusion. None of them seem 'open' enough to do anything about (i.e. lacking in documentation and/or tools).

If you order on ebay, you probable get the v2 hardware of the STM8 (see https://github.com/Emile666/stc1000_stm8/blob/master/WR-032-v2-2016-4-7.md). But you only know for sure when they are delivered. I ordered a few on them on ebay (http://www.ebay.com/itm/Digital-STC...With-Sensor-New-/131951655891?var=&hash=item0), so maybe you have luck with getting the STM8 v2.

As an alternative however: I am busy creating new versions of both PCBs (frontend and backplane), so you have all the STM8 option available again (with wireless nRF24L01 control and One-Wire sensor interface). Most of the components on this PCB can be reused if you are willing to do some de/resoldering. But it is still work in progress.

One can only hope that the STM8 ones become the most common one, as the PIC ones are getting harder to find, but it is always nice with alternatives and more features is always cool, wireless communication is certainly welcome

Cheers!

 

[gillie]

Question, can I set Pf 1,2 and 4 to run at same time or is it 1 or the other? I want the pump to run while ramping temp as well as during mash step.

 

[alphaomega]

@gillie: Yes, you add them together

PF
1 Pump during heating of strike water
2 Pump during ramping up to reach next mash steps
4 Pump during the mash steps
8 Pump during heating up to reach hot break
16 Pump during hot break

So, if you want the pump to run during heating of strike water, ramping up to reach next mash steps and during the mash steps, you'd set PF to 1+2+4 = 7.

Cheers!

 

[gillie]

awesome, doing a test run tonight all seems good. One more thing is possible to do a whirlpool step with pump? would be at end of boil for 20min or so ?

 

[alphaomega]

@gillie: No, not really. Currently, the program ends when boil time is up. After that you're on your own
You can however manually turn on the pump by setting the cP parameter to 1 and then turn it off (cP = 0) after you're done whirlpooling.

 

[gillie]

ok sorry to be a pain doing a 2nd test run and 15min into a 39min step mash it started ramping up ? not sure why didn't do it 1st time ? Ive not changed anything from the first time apart from changing the hop additions?

 

[gillie]

30min not 39min!

 

[gillie]

ok 3 mash steps.1st was meant 30min duration was 15min, 2nd 40min was 37min duration and 3rd mash step was mash out for 10min was 9 . 3min? not.sure why.

 

[gillie]

Ok I changed the APF numbers from the preset and now the alarms are not working ? in test #1 there was alarms for the dough in etc now nothing ? Not sure but would using a incorrect number do this, it still functioned correctly just no alarms?

 

[alphaomega]

Yes it would. The APF toggles alarms and pauses.
I suggest you read the documentation. I've tried to explain it as best I could there.

 

[renniSaint]

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!

 

[stoneBriar]

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/

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!

 

[Emile666]

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?

 

[adam01]

How can you advance to the next step manually. If my fermentation is complete early I want to move to the cooling step.

 

[renniSaint]

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....?

 

[alphaomega]

Could I have done permanent damage to the units?

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....?

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.

 

[Kampenken]

How can you advance to the next step manually. If my fermentation is complete early I want to move to the cooling step.

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

 

[renniSaint]

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!

 

[Toejam792]

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.

 

[alphaomega]

@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).

 

[estricklin]

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!

 

[Toejam792]

@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).

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.

 

[alphaomega]

@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

 

[Emile666]

Emile666 only has you hook up 3 wires to the unit, ground rst and sig.

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.

 

[alphaomega]

@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).

 

[FireManDan]

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?

 

[alphaomega]

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

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.

 

[FireManDan]

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.

Awesome, I will do that. Thank you for the reply!

 

[FireManDan]

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.

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.

 

[alphaomega]

@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.