Help Wiring Up A New Tempmate From Craftbrewer?

[schooey]

:lol: I nearly typed *dons flamesuit in wait for LC*....

But in all seriousness, it's no laughing matter, I posted something in the heat of the moment when I should have known it wasn't right. Maybe nobody would have been hurt, but maybe they could have, maybe they could have ruined the unit...

I think I've learned my lesson..

 

[reVoxAHB]

LethalCorpse will no doubt supply the adequate smack down

reVox

 

[Greg Lawrence]

LethalCorpse will no doubt supply the adequate smack down

reVox

The evidence is gone now that Schooey has edited his original circuit diagram. Nothing to smack him down about now.

 

[schooey]

yeah well, like I said, I read your post and slapped my own forehead. I edited it straight away, I thought it would be better for people searching in the future. As soon as I had posted it, I noticed Jye had been doing the same thing...

Anyway, I'm happy to take the wrap, it's right now, and it will only help people in the future...

 

[Barley Belly]

A big thanks guys for all your concern and especially for the help.

Here's a pic of a wiring diagram I was sent, obviously I need to wire the heater up as well the same as the fridge.

Will let you know how it all goes

 

[Crunched]

My TempMate arrived today, so I got stuck in wiring it up. I actually searched for a thread like this but could only find the announcement of CraftBrewer releasing this thing. Anyway, attached is a pic of my wiring job, which is pretty much the same as the diagrams posted here. Was easy to wire up and is now running my chest freezer cooling my new kegs. :icon_cheers:

 

[jonocarroll]

Saturday project: Complete.

Thanks to all who have posted diagrams and pics - it sure helped for wiring mine up. I've used a Dick Smith jiffy box like someone else on here has, a terminal block and 2 extension cords.

Attached is my wiring diagram (the photo is just too complicated to follow). Please let me know if you think it's a downgrade on the current diagrams (diagram can be removed if it's considerably worse). The structure is the same, slight differences on the junction box, and mine has the heat wired in. Just a note for those wiring theirs up - the face panel needs to go on before you connect all the wires up.

Also attached... happy snaps of final product. It works fine (tested with an appliance in either heat or cool plugs and adjusted temps) so I'm pretty satisfied.


Cheers! :icon_cheers:


Edit: Adding things I said I would.

 

[AntCoop]

Thanks for posting these pics and wiring diagrams.

Ive just purchased a TempMate from Craftbrewer and was wondering about using terminal blocks in the wiring, as this is very helpful.

cheers Coops :beerbang:

 

[denimglen]

I'd like to add a fan to fermentation freezer to circulate the cold/warm air. I want it to turn on when the heat or cool cycle starts.

I assume I'd need diodes in 'A' and 'B', is this correct? If so what sort of diode do I use and where do I find one?

Thanks guys.

Hope you don't mind me borrowin your photo QuantumBrewer.

 

[jonocarroll]

Picture is there to be used. DWHAHB.

The wiring of this was about the upper limit of my electronics knowledge, so - sorry. Can't help with diodes. I can only say that I hope 240V going through the fan you have chosen won't be a problem.

My only question is - why do you only want the fan going when the heat/cool cycle is on? Surely it would be better to have the fan running all (or most) of the time to keep the temperature homogeneous. I could imagine that if the fan is off, your temperature reading could in theory be off due to a cool/warm patch of air, and turning the fan on would just mix that up and give you the correct temperature reading when the fermenter was actually at the right temp the entire time... does that make sense?

I would propose either having the fan running constantly, or on some sort of intermittent switch (run every 10 mins for 2 mins). You would need a separate power supply, but these can be harvested from old electronics (printer/computer/etc... ) and a timing switch. How does everyone else do this? I probably want one too <_<

 

[denimglen]

Fan will be sweet as, gonna use a 150mm desk fan from Bunning's that plugs into the wall.

I kinda see what you're saying about the timing.

My theory was that air isn't the best conductor of heat/cold and that having the air circulating around the inside of the fridge would help the temps change a little faster and more efficiently.

I think if the probe is only reading the temp of the fermenter, ie insulated from the open air, it should be ok and that hot/cold spots in the fridge shouldn't be a problem?

 

[jonocarroll]

I guess the other main problem if you're using a normal fan in the freezer is that there will be moisture in there, and you're putting an electrical device in with that condensation. From what I've seen in other people's pics on this site (possbily wrong on this), they have used a fan to keep the cold in a chest freezer when the lid gets opened, hence the need for a trip switch.

I'm not saying it won't work, I'm just cautious about a 240V open device sitting inside a wet box. This may be why people use computer fans - the power supply unit drops the power down to 12V (AFAIK), which should be pretty safe in those conditions.

Maybe it's just safer to not open the door too often and to accept a slight loss in cooling efficiency from not circulating the air?

 

[rclemmett]

I'm not saying it won't work, I'm just cautious about a 240V open device sitting inside a wet box. This may be why people use computer fans - the power supply unit drops the power down to 12V (AFAIK), which should be pretty safe in those conditions.

+1

Where is Lethal Corpse h34r:

If moisture gets into the windings of the motor who knows what the results might be.

Diodes will cut out one of the half cycles, either positive or negative, so if you put them in at A and B with opposite polarity it should work, but I don't know how a fan would behave operating on only one half cycle..........

IMHO it sounds like a bad idea. If you do it, make sure the circuit you plug it into has an RCD.

 

[Batz]

Computer fan cobber

And have it running 24/7,I hooked mine to one of those power usage checker thingy's,two weeks running it cost zip.
Oh it's 12 volt much better than a damp 240 volt zapper.

Batz

 

[jonocarroll]

We're slightly OT here, but I think anyone interested in wiring their Tempmate will be curious...

Batz - Did you use a computer PSU for your computer fan? Small fan or large fan? And most importantly - have you noticed any improvements by using it?

 

[Batz]

Just a computer fan I scored for nothing from the repair shop,they will give you one.
Used a transformer like a mobile phone type, that I scored from a Vinnie store,they have a couple of boxes full,I just go through till I find a 12v on..$1.00 each

As for a difference,I have had one in my fermenting freezer and keg freezer for ages.I used to get ice forming on the wall of the freezer in one section,now I don't.

Batz

 

[jonocarroll]

Batz - just for clarification, could you post a pic of your fan and accompanying wiring? Or link in if you have done so elsewhere?

Sounds like a reasonable bargain. I may even have all the parts lying around anyway.

 

[denimglen]

Thanks guys, probably will just skip the fan wiring then and run it 24/7 from a separate power supply.

Batz - just for clarification, could you post a pic of your fan and accompanying wiring? Or link in if you have done so elsewhere?

I'd like to see it too, mainly for how it's mounted.

 

[Barley Belly]

I know I'm not Batz but this is how I mounted mine.
It's just 2 bits of aluminium bent to suit and stuck on using a good double sided tape. (Originally thought of sticking directly to the roof but the fan needs a gap to pull air through)
It runs 24/7, hard wired in to 240v/12v adapter.
Does the job for me, hope this helps.

 

[pdilley]

More pictures top down of the wiring to help anyone who needs an idea of how to wire it to work.

Picked up after work at Post, drove to Bunnings for crimps, done in a few hours work. Would have read instruction sheet, but diagram self explanatory. One note for Ross, would have been nice for a cutout template the average Joe could cut out and paste onto their chosen box. Room on the instruction sheet for one. I have digital calipers so in seconds I had an exact measurement down to the tenth of a mm and I drew my pattern out in seconds and drilled and jigsawed out in 5 minutes but I could see how others might find a template handy without the tools I have at their disposal.

Paint scheme to come will be "Painted for Dummies", the hot side gets painted red, the cold side gets painted blue and the rest of the box gray.

"SCORPION" layout of cables earned this TempMate its new nickname.

Lid eventually semi-permanently tacked on after painted and dry.



Wiring from Top-Down look. With crimps, I doubled up the common wires on the hot and cold (neutral [blue], and ground [yellow/green] wires) so it would fit together nicely on the lugs. Large photo for those that want a good look. The two brown bridging wires to get power over to the relays were put on first so unfortunately they don't stand out as well. In hindsight it would make a better training photo if they were put on last. On the doubled up lug attachments the bottom connection is from the mains power male plug, while the two wires to single crimp connector on the top of the lug comes from the two female power connectors on each side of the box. The doubled up brown wires to single lug is the two bridging wires which are only doubled up on one side shared with each end a single crimp connector, a typical 'Y' cable configuration. A simple 3m extension cable from Bunnings. I ended up getting 3 of them to cut in half and use for this and the A/C stirplates.

Knots on all cables into the box is important to prevent the cable from being pulled out and then pulling directly on the lugs. This is standard strain relief for any such scenarios.


Cheers,
Brewer Pete