Stc 1000 In Pictures

[adraine]

I'm planning the same. Just waiting on the stc1000 to turn up I already have the probes. I'll report my findings also. I'll have my dad check it out his an elect engineer.

 

[JakeSm]

sorry for being a noob but i dont understand.

how is the STC-1000 connected to the fridge if its rigged up seperatly (only asking as i am about to get into kegging and i do require one of these), is it the modified power cable that the fridges power cable plugs into? if so does the STC have another cable that plugs into the wall socket or something.

if someone can describe the process or post some pics of ones that are fitted and wired to the fridge and where it connects to, that would be great. sorry for the obvious questions to you guys and im sure some will be chuckleing when reading this.

cheers jake.

 

[benno1973]

JakeSm - You have it correct in your post, and you can see it in breakbeers picture... the STC-1000 has a male part of an extension cord that plugs into the wall socket (black cord in the picture). It also has a female part of an extension lead (white cord in the picture) that the fridge's power cord plugs into. Finally, it has a temperature probe that measures the temp within the fridge.

When the temp gets above a set point, it allows power to flow to the fridge and the fridge starts to cool. When the temp falls below the set point, the power is cut to the fridge.

Not a silly question at all, just much easier to understand when you see it in operation.

 

[billygoat]

The SS probe that Mashmaster and Craftbrewer sell are 10 K ohm NTC thermistors that are compatable with Fridgemates and STC 1000's.
The Tempmate uses a 5K ohm NTC thermistor so is not compatable with the sensor used on the STC 1000.

 

[Jay Cee]

The SS probe that Mashmaster and Craftbrewer sell are 10 K ohm NTC thermistors that are compatable with Fridgemates and STC 1000's.

Thank christ for that, I just bought one of those SS probes last week for use with an STC1000

 

[breakbeer]

the temp shown on the installed dial thermometer matches what is displayed on the screen of the STC, so I'm happy with that

:icon_cheers:

 

[philmud]

I got my brother in law, who's a sparky to wire one of these up today - I can't seem to get it to work & want to make sure it's not a user end issue. I'd like to check my assumptions about how it operates if anyone can help. This is what I did to test it.

1) plugged a halogen light into the cooling plug
2) switched it on
3) entered "set-up" by holding "S", the functions are all set as follows:
-F1 - 10c
-F2 - 0.5c
-F3 - 1 (can't select zero)
-F4 - 0.00 (assume I can leave this alone)

So, upon confirming the selection by pressing the power button the unit displays an ambient temp of 16.4c - am I right in thinking that after 1 minute my halogen light should have kicked in?

 

[kahlerisms]

There's a little heat and cool LED on the front panel - use that to help you figure out if the thermostat's behaving as you'd expect.

 

[philmud]

Cheers, yep the "cool" LED is lit up, but the light isn't switching on, even after 5 minutes.

 

[yum beer]

Wired wrong...I suspect.

 

[yum beer]

might seem silly, but is the switch on the lamp, switched on.

 

[Cocko]

Dont have an STC but a tempmate..

DO they have a compressor delay setting? Could be the delay...

Just tryin to help.

 

[philmud]

The switch is defo on, I also tried with my kettle. I just had a look at the wiring & while it seems to match the diagram on the actual unit, that seems different from the diagram I've attached .

My BiL has run the live mains wire to port 1, the mains neutral wire to port 2, 3 & 4 are sensor probes of course, 5 has the heating live wire, 6 the heating neutral wire, 7 the cooling live wire and 8 has the cooling neutral wire.

Wait, stop press!!!

Ahhh, I think I see the problem!! The wiring configuration that comes with the unit says the heating and cooling unit need their OWN external power source! Presumably the diagram attached allows the heater and cooler to use the same power source as the STC! Does that sound right?

 

[philmud]

Dont have an STC but a tempmate..

DO they have a compressor delay setting? Could be the delay...

Just tryin to help.

Cheers Cocko, it has a compressor delay, but I set it to one minute, so should've kicked in. I reckon the issue is that he (and I) assumed that the AC power going to the unit would power the fridge/heater & it needs to be wired differently to do that.

 

[yum beer]

As per your diagram.....
5/6 and 7/8 act as a relay switch, you need power in to 5/7 and power out from 6/8

 

[Screwtop]

The switch is defo on, I also tried with my kettle. I just had a look at the wiring & while it seems to match the diagram on the actual unit, that seems different from the diagram I've attached .

My BiL has run the live mains wire to port 1, the mains neutral wire to port 2, 3 & 4 are sensor probes of course, 5 has the heating live wire, 6 the heating neutral wire, 7 the cooling live wire and 8 has the cooling neutral wire.

Wait, stop press!!!

Ahhh, I think I see the problem!! The wiring configuration that comes with the unit says the heating and cooling unit need their OWN external power source! Presumably the diagram attached allows the heater and cooler to use the same power source as the STC! Does that sound right?

For the umteen billionth time ............................. These things simply switch the ACTIVE to the outputs. Yes Active and Neutral need to power the unit (terminals 1&2), Neutral and earth need to be wired through to the two outputs. Then two actives run via the Cooling (terminals 7&8) and Heating (terminals 5&6) switch contacts.

The diagram shows a Live (Active), Neutral and Earth Block, to connect multiple wires. In the simplest form these would be 240V insulated screw terminals. I prefer to use a terminal strip to for this.

These devices are a simple switching device. They are powered by 240VAC and have two internal switches. Each is used to switch an active to an outlet.....................................SIMPLE!!!!!!!!!!!! Don't try to overthink them.

240VAC enters via the cable and plug, and then the Active (Brown/Red), Neutral (Blue/Black) and Earth (Green and Yellow) are split using a connector (screw terminal of some type) into:

Earth - 2 (one to each outlet cable). Extending the Earth through to each outlet cable.

Neutral - 3 (one for the STC 1000 (Terminal 2) and one to each outlet cable. Extending the Neutral through to each outlet cable.

Active - 3 (one for the STC 1000 (Terminal 1), one to Terminal 7 (Cooling switch in) and
one to Terminal 5 (Heating switch in).

The active (Brown) of the Cooling outlet cable is wired to Terminal 8 (Cooling switch out)

The active (Brown) of the Heating outlet cable is wired to Terminal 6 (Heating switch out)

Now I've gone and complicated it all again.............for some maybe :lol:

Screwy

 

[philmud]

Haha, cheers gents, after I posted last night I did see a post a few topics down that addressed this, so apologies for being repetitive. One further question, my BiL cut the earth wires, saying they weren't necessary as the STC casing is plastic. All the diagrams I've seen have earth wires connected, presumably, if I fixed the active/neutral wiring but left the earth disconnected, the fridge won't be earthed? Is this correct?

Edit: Screwy, I did read your instructions re: the earth wires, just wanting confirmation that my BiL's reasoning that the STC is housed in plastic is ignoring the fact that the fridge at least, needs to be earthed.

 

[QldKev]

The switch is defo on, I also tried with my kettle. I just had a look at the wiring & while it seems to match the diagram on the actual unit, that seems different from the diagram I've attached .

My BiL has run the live mains wire to port 1, the mains neutral wire to port 2, 3 & 4 are sensor probes of course, 5 has the heating live wire, 6 the heating neutral wire, 7 the cooling live wire and 8 has the cooling neutral wire.

Wait, stop press!!!

Ahhh, I think I see the problem!! The wiring configuration that comes with the unit says the heating and cooling unit need their OWN external power source! Presumably the diagram attached allows the heater and cooler to use the same power source as the STC! Does that sound right?

I assume your sparky mate is clued on enough to look at the wiring diagram on the unit itself?

THAT WIRING DIAGRAM ABOVE IS WRONG!

Also if he just cut off the Earth leads he is a dickhead. As you said, you need them joined for the fridge to have the earth circuit.

Edit: Here is my wiring pic, all that is different is the heat and cool are reverse. So you dont actually need to change anything, just update the output names.

 

[philmud]

Thanks Kev, yeah, I'm not sure why he read the diagram on the unit the way he did, I assume he thought the unit distributed 240V to the outputs. As for the earthing, I reckon I haven't properly explained how the unit works in practice - he's a sparky & as far as I know hasn't electrocuted himself or anyone else, or caused any fires, so I'll give him the benefit of the doubt.

 

[QldKev]

If he knows what he is doing, he shouldn't need you to explain to him. It's got 2 power outlets connected to it, he should have been able to work it out pretty quick. Leaving the earth off won't necessarily immediately electrocute you. It's only there as a safety measure in-case the fridge itself should become energized, which hopefully will never happen. But if it does, and without a earth connected, you will be the best earth path!. So it could be an issue a couple of years later. At that stage it probably would not be directly linked back to this wiring job. By the sounds, I wouldn't trust him with my wiring. Just to make it clear, I'm not an electrician.