Fridge or STC1000 issues??

[ian_2005]

im running a fermenting fridge with Stc1000 and a heat pad

Never had an issue, until one day last week the house had a powder cut

A few days later I went to the garage and noticed the reading on the STC was at 34 - I remembered the short, and reset the controller

24 hours later, I'm still getting odd readings, and assumed the fridge was stuffed, and given up on doing its job, quick google search said to turn off the fridge, defrost and try again, tried that, no change


So I'm now blaming the controller, right???

STC was originally set to 16 degrees, but wouldn't read lower than 34 (I'm in Sydney in winter - outdoor max temp 20 degrees)

Manual thermometer inside fridge reads 15

Fridge turns on and attempts to cool

I have not disconnected the STC and ran the fridge standalone

So, any ideas, I'm thinking the STC is shot (fingers crossed) and just needs replacing

Thanks in advance

 

[ein stein]

F4 on the stc 1000 is the temperature offset/calibration setting, you can take a few readings against your manual thermometer and determine if the readings are still linear but just out by a few (or19) degrees and adjust the f4 to recalibrate it. they can sometimes drift a few degrees out but if it is 19 degrees out, it is probaby pretty shot.

edit: possibly an issue with your temp probe?

 

[ian_2005]

Cheers for the reply

I was more concerned about having to replace the fridge. So its worth a $15 gamble on the STC

Cheers

 

[ein stein]

bypass the stc and run the fridge as normaland see if it starts cooling

 

[TwoCrows]

Check the wires for the probe, maybe wrong way around????

 

[Garagebrew]

Fill a glass with ice and then add water, the ice doesnt have the energy to freeze the water so instead it just brings it down to zero so when you dip the temp probe in the water and ice it should come up pretty close to zero degrees if everything is working as it should, simple method to get an exact temp when calibrating the unit.
Hope this helps mate.

 

[fdsaasdf]

im running a fermenting fridge with Stc1000 and a heat pad

Never had an issue, until one day last week the house had a powder cut

A few days later I went to the garage and noticed the reading on the STC was at 34 - I remembered the short, and reset the controller

24 hours later, I'm still getting odd readings, and assumed the fridge was stuffed, and given up on doing its job, quick google search said to turn off the fridge, defrost and try again, tried that, no change


So I'm now blaming the controller, right???

STC was originally set to 16 degrees, but wouldn't read lower than 34 (I'm in Sydney in winter - outdoor max temp 20 degrees)

Manual thermometer inside fridge reads 15

Fridge turns on and attempts to cool

I have not disconnected the STC and ran the fridge standalone

So, any ideas, I'm thinking the STC is shot (fingers crossed) and just needs replacing

Thanks in advance

I have an STC that behaved like this, it almost froze a batch in my SS fermenter last year. I suspected a power outage was the cause, and even after changing over the probe the behaviour didn't improve, so I stopped using it for fermentation control.

However, on a later brew day I decided to see if it was more accurate at mash temps... and sure enough it read 67 consistently throughout a mash controlled by another STC. It seems accurate between 40-90 degrees when compared with a thermapen; but at ambient or ale fermentation temps the temp reported is 15-20 degrees higher than true.

 

[ian_2005]

Replacement STC-1000 has now been ordered

Thanks for everyones comments

 

[Liam_snorkel]

I have 3 stc1000s and had similar problem fixed by replacing the probes.

 

[TwoCrows]

Make sure your probe is worken "That's what she said!"