Digital Thermostats

[parktho]

Has anyone used any of the digital thermostats which are readily available on Ebay for either a mash tun or converting a fridge into a temperature-controlled incubator?

Here is an example.

Thomas.

 

[porky]

That will work fine mate.
Less than half the cost of ones sold here, same functions.

 

[QldKev]

Yep I think it will work excellent; I just got one myself :wub:


Notice the 0.1c.... herms

 

[LethalCorpse]

Careful Kev - 0.1C resolution, 1C accuracy. It'll still most likely be better than something with 1C resolution, but if you want to trust it at that sort of accuracy you'll need to calibrate it against a very good thermometer.

 

[Flash_DG]

Nice find! will be getting one of these ASAP

 

[yardy]

Yep I think it will work excellent; I just got one myself :wub:


Notice the 0.1c.... herms

Gday Kev, did you get yours through ebay ?

cheers

Dave

 

[gava]

damn!! could have got three of theses for the price of one and bit tempmates.. oh well... three tempmates is also ok.

 

[Batz]

Will that be ok for a fridge or herms?
I'm wondering if these might have a load that frizzles that thing.

This device is also suitable for Laboratories use and other temperature-controlled systems.

Applications:

Aquarium
Terrarium
Vivarium
Paludarium
Chicken Incubator

Batz

 

[gava]

i saw the follwoing on the features

"Refrigerating control output delay protection "

 

[Fourstar]

Ive been looking at these for a little while now. if somone gets one and can post their results it would be good. It looks like it has compressor delays and can take multi AC inputs. Niiice

 

[porky]

Will that be ok for a fridge or herms?
I'm wondering if these might have a load that frizzles that thing.




Batz

It says 10 amps in the switch. both heat and cool. If your load is higher just use a relay.

Cheers,
bud

 

[QldKev]

Careful Kev - 0.1C resolution, 1C accuracy. It'll still most likely be better than something with 1C resolution, but if you want to trust it at that sort of accuracy you'll need to calibrate it against a very good thermometer.

Yep I did notice that; but I checked the specs for mashmaster and they happen to also be 1C, fridgemate 1C.

So I concluded it doesn't really matter which one I get, I will need to measure it against an alcohol filled thermometer to get a base line.
QldKev

 

[QldKev]

Gday Kev, did you get yours through ebay ?

cheers

Dave

Yep sure did, the one parktho had linked to only had one left; but if you search by the seller he has several other listings at the same price.

QldKev

 

[Cortez The Killer]

Just ordered one

Cheers

 

[komodo]

I have two. I fried my fridgemate (that'll learn me to leave the jiffy box open) and just stumbled across these and thought "bugger it". So I bought two - one for my kegerator and one for my fermenting fridge.
Just gotta find 5 minutes to set them up. Seem very simple to use so hopefully they work out. Otherwise it was a learning curve. Seems to do everything that a tempmate does - how it actually compares I dont know as I've not got a tempmate.

 

[pdilley]

Digital Thermostats Warning

Before hanging out on specifications alone as a decider. Here is a photograph I took 30 minutes ago after wiring up the second TempMate.

Both TempMates have their sensors in the same glass or water at the bottom in the same position.

Both TempMates were allowed to sit for 2 minutes to stabilise.


TempMate #1



TempMate #2



Temperature differential 0.5C which finally settled on 0.4C after sitting for a period of time. Thats still nearly 1/2 a degree off so if you have been brewing off of the one TempMate for a long period of time and expand to two TempMates you will need to make note of the difference on the second unit and adjust all your fermentation temperature regimes to adjust for the difference in measurement between the two units.



I don't know what the eBay units are like but they probably will be similar differentials.



Cheers,
Brewer Pete

 

[porky]

Good heads up....

All units only claim to be good to 1 degree, so .5 is well within the spec.

I have to ask, does .5 degree really matter in your fermenter???? It doesn't seem to in mine.

bud

 

[pdilley]

I use mine for growing mould for Sake brewing as well as fermentation. I have some pretty tight temperature targets to hit for mould to hit specific enzymes production in very narrow ranges. For now most people can get away with it as I have not finished the Sake post and got many into making it.

What would be good is if people with the eBay version can post a picture of the guts. More specifically the relays used in the eBay units to switch the AC on and off and see what the Amperage ratings are stamped on the relays themselves.


Cheers,
Brewer Pete

 

[QldKev]

Good heads up....

All units only claim to be good to 1 degree, so .5 is well within the spec.

I have to ask, does .5 degree really matter in your fermenter???? It doesn't seem to in mine.

bud

Even running in your herms, 0.5c would be a good result, compared to the hit n miss without one.

QldKev

 

[pdilley]

Just noticed bluedogs post. I've read the manual on the eBay unit and the rating on hot/cool is 10 Amps. The rating on the TempMate is hot/cool 20Amps.

Cheers,
Brewer Pete