Ozbrewers Toys

[ozbrewer]

GDay All, Im in the process of Building/Rebuilding my system and bar. Here are some Pix for you all to druel over.....

The first Pic is my Font set up, In total the kegorator cost me less that $500, The freezer was new from ALDI, the font waith the 4 taps (the lancer taps, I have added the Andale ones) was $80, and the freezer contrall was $40 from Jaycar.

The second is the start of my Brew sculputer, It has had some more work done to it I have added the CFC, and a few little addons

 

[Justin]

Hi Ozbrewer,

What controller have you got from Jaycar? Is it the digital one with a range from 5-35C that runs on batteries, with the two buttons on the front to move the set point up and down ($39.95)?

If it is, just a word of warning. These controllers don't have a temperature probe and therefore the hole unit needs to be placed inside the freezer to read the temp. Unfortunately, at 5-7C you get really crappy battery life in these units and they dont appreciate the moisture in there either. A friend of mine had one and 1. the batteries died really quickly and 2. the terminals in the small relay inside the unit fused together and corroded (assuming as a result of moisture, and maybe the current draw). They are rated to 5 amps but I'm not sure what current your freezer draws?

I am currently using one on my fermentation fridge (its a bar fridge) to control temps in the 8-18C range so it doesn't run very often. On mine however, due to his advice and problems, I have extended the thermistor by adding it to the end of a length of insulated wire to make a remote probe. I get much better battery life and no moisture problems. Worth considering. FWIW this one was given to me for nothing which was handy.

Anyway, just a word of caution to keep an eye on it. If you don't have this unit then disregard the above. Hope it helps.

Cheers, Justin

Oh, and looks nice too :beerbang:

 

[ozbrewer]

no its one of these, its been working percetly for 2 weeks now

 

[davidp]

If it is, just a word of warning. These controllers don't have a temperature probe and therefore the hole unit needs to be placed inside the freezer to read the temp. Unfortunately, at 5-7C you get really crappy battery life in these units and they dont appreciate the moisture in there either. A friend of mine had one and 1. the batteries died really quickly and 2. the terminals in the small relay inside the unit fused together and corroded (assuming as a result of moisture, and maybe the current draw). They are rated to 5 amps but I'm not sure what current your freezer draws?

[post="67173"][/post]​

Not if you work a little electrical engineering mojo. You can crack open the jaycar thermostat, remove the thermistor, and put it on leads. You can also rig up a 3V voltage regulator and plug pack to power the thermostat instead of batteries. This is what I've done for my fermentation box (here http://deadpopstar.com/?page_id=15#heater ).

I also reckon you could mess with the probe so the thermostat works over a larger range using another thermometer to calibrate (obviously, the display will be usless). Awful lot of trouble to go to though with those SC kits about.

Oh, and it's rated 5 amps resistive, 3 amps inductive which is the important one for a fridge/freezer. That's really too low a rating.

 

[Justin]

As I said in my post above, perhaps I didn't convey what I did very well:

[/QUOTE]I am currently using one on my fermentation fridge (its a bar fridge) to control temps in the 8-18C range so it doesn't run very often. On mine however, due to his advice and problems, I have extended the thermistor by adding it to the end of a length of insulated wire to make a remote probe. I get much better battery life and no moisture problems. Worth considering. FWIW this one was given to me for nothing which was handy.

I did the thermistor extention you mentioned. Mine now has a 3 foot probe.

Basically, I had considered putting a 3V power supply on it but haven't worried too much about it as it gets pretty good battery life as it is and being in Tasmania I don't need the cooling option very often. I'm not battling 35C temps here. On a keg fridge that runs 24/7 I though it could have been an issue for him. FWIW I know the rating is low also, that's why I'm running the smallest refridgerating appliance I have on it and it doesn't run a lot.

Ah, I hadn't seen those kits ozbrewer, looks like a good option and should do the job well. I'll have a closer look at them out of interest. I use one of the Tobins mechanical thermostats on my keg fridge so no need to update. Nice work.

Cheers, Justin

 

[shmick]

For the little Jaycar units, using a power supply instead of the batteries is most definitely required in warmer areas.
They are designed to heat. ie turn on (heat) for short time then off (cool) for long time.
If you use the normally open contact to power a fridge, it works in reverse. The relay turns on to disconnect the fridge motor and off to make it run - hence the relay is powered on most of the time. This kills the batteries quick as.

 

[davidp]

Well, I'm an idiot.

Don't suppose you are also having problem with the themostat wigging out every once in a while (every week or so) - it keeps the relay on despite the temperature exceeding the setpoint? Turning it off and then back on an hour later fixes the problem. But unusual nonetheless, unsure whether it's due to my meddling or not.

Still, I wouldn't be terribly comfortable running a fridge, even briefly, on a relay rated for 3amps. That is what you're doing, right? <rubs eyes, scratches head, staggers to kitchen to get a beer...>

 

[Justin]

All cool. I was just saying

Nah, mine has been working fine. As I said I don't use it a lot, it was given to me by a mate and I made a few mods to get it to do what I wanted. But yes, I am running a small fridge every now and then and I'm not sure on the current draw of the appliance. It has worked well so far but as you may have gathered from my first post I dont have total confidence in it. The Coolmaster looks a much better option.

My battery life is a lot better that what others have stated above. ie. I haven't changed the batteries yet and it's been lagering a schwarzbier for 3 weeks. Still, it's not ideal but seems to work.

Cheers, JD

 

[tonydav]

the font waith the 4 taps (the lancer taps, I have added the Andale ones) was $80,

[post="67168"][/post]​

Nice looking setup. Dare we ask how you got a 4 tap font with taps for $80!!!

tony

 

[ozbrewer]

the font waith the 4 taps (the lancer taps, I have added the Andale ones) was $80,

[post="67168"][/post]​

Nice looking setup. Dare we ask how you got a 4 tap font with taps for $80!!!

tony

[post="67196"][/post]​

I got the taps from ebay

Im having no problems at all with the termo unit, it was designed for this purpose, and im very happy with it, the small battery operated ones need to much mucking around with to do what i want

 

[ozbrewer]

GDay All, Im in the process of Building/Rebuilding my system and bar. Here are some Pix for you all to druel over.....

The first Pic is my Font set up, In total the kegorator cost me less that $500, The freezer was new from ALDI, the font waith the 4 taps (the lancer taps, I have added the Andale ones) was $80, and the freezer contrall was $40 from Jaycar.

The second is the start of my Brew sculputer, It has had some more work done to it I have added the CFC, and a few little addons

[post="67168"][/post]​

Yeah but forget about the thermo for a minute......how good does it all look, come on my time for bragging rights

 

[pbrosnan]

Hey Oz,

What's the range of the thermo? And, forgive my ignorance, but how do you set the temperature? It looks like there's some sort of port??

 

[ozbrewer]

with the sensor provided i think it can go to 16-18 deg c......but it can be changed to go higher with another IC....Jaycar have another kit that i built and added a relay to, it ranges from 0 to 260 deg


toadjust temp it is supplied with a trim pot, but im going to chang it it a potentionmeter to mate it easyer to change

 

[ozbrewer]

here

 

[BRAD T]

Oz, Set up looks great, are those the taps and font from W.A that were sold a couple of weeks ago on Ebay. If so good score, I was watching them but unfortunately forgot to place a bid near the end of the auction.

Cheers

 

[ozbrewer]

yeah they are the ones

 

[ozbrewer]

the next update.....still no HE/HLT but the kettle will become that, and a new ketle is being made now

 

[AndrewQLD]

The setup is looking great, what is the insulation around the mash tun and where did you get it?
I bet your itching to fire this baby up.

Cheers
Andrew

 

[ozbrewer]

its some camp matresses from Dimmies, $5 each, it took 3 to do the sides twice around and top and bottom

 

[AndrewQLD]

Thanks Ozbrewer, what would we do without Dimmies. I'll duck out today and grab a couple.

Andrew