STC-1000 installation in Adelaide

[damoninja]

Hi all

Does anyone know any electricians who will fit a STC-1000 to a fridge / heat source in Adelaide?
I'm mostly only worried about the fridge, hot summers and all.....

I haven't got the fridge / heater yet, I want to make sure I can get it done before I fork out the cash.

I could probably wire it up myself but not being a licensed electrician I'm not touching it.


Alternatively... has anyone thought of selling these with plugs already wired up???
So you can just plug in your fridge to one, and heater to the other? Surely it's possible?

 

[damoninja]

Anyone have any experience with these things? Looks like crap to me.

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Digital-Thermostat-Reptile-Lizard-Heat-Mat-Lamp-Ligh-Incubator-Aquarium-EN24H-/400540556538?pt=AU_Pet_Supplies&hash=item5d4213dcfa&_uhb=1

 

[Drew]

I thought I did see someone have a go at putting these in a box and selling them.

Similar to the Keg King one for $69.95
http://www.kegking.com.au/Downloads/Catalogue%20-%20Retail%20Price%20List.pdf

The standalone box isn't as neat, compared to having it integrated in the fridge, but its more versatile.

I have the STC1000 wired up in a box (did it myself), and I also have the exact thermostat from ebay. I love the ebay one. It's so cheap, and for me it's been working without a problem for...(months? almost a year)? It's also smaller than the stc1000's project box. And at that price I can afford to have a spare one hanging around for other purposes.

Other people on the forum reckon it's probably not good quality, might fail sooner rather than later, and possibly not as safe (not sure if it has been checked against australian standards etc).

My choice: Cheap ebay one!

 

[verysupple]

The Keg King one looks pretty nifty and would be perfect as a "plug 'n' play" option. I thought about getting one a while back, but it's a bit steep so I ended up going with an STC-1000. The eBay one you linked would probably be fine and at that price 6 of them would have to die before you reach the Keg King controller price.

It does lack some features though:

You can only have it set to either heat or cool, not both at once.
It doesn't say the precision of the temp probe, but how bad could it be?
It seems to have a 1C tolerance that is not adjustable (the KK one and others are adjustable).

I guess you need to decide how you want your setup to work and then decide which product suits that setup, not choose a temp controller and then make your setup fit that.

 

[damoninja]

The Keg King one looks pretty nifty and would be perfect as a "plug 'n' play" option. I thought about getting one a while back, but it's a bit steep so I ended up going with an STC-1000. The eBay one you linked would probably be fine and at that price 6 of them would have to die before you reach the Keg King controller price.

It does lack some features though:

You can only have it set to either heat or cool, not both at once.
It doesn't say the precision of the temp probe, but how bad could it be?
It seems to have a 1C tolerance that is not adjustable (the KK one and others are adjustable).

I guess you need to decide how you want your setup to work and then decide which product suits that setup, not choose a temp controller and then make your setup fit that.

For $12:52 with no installation required, my mind is made up!

1 degree tolerance is fine by me for the moment, I'll have a thermometer in there too for accurate tracking.

As far as heating goes, I'll wait until next winter before I cross that bridge.
I figured I can just buy a ceramic heat lamp or use an incandescent light globe inside the fridge and just leave the fridge unplugged.

If it fails, I'll revisit.

Cheers!

 

[Drew]

The 1 degree precision is probably the worst feature...but I think it's tolerable.

And it's actually "+/-" 1 degree.

I set my fridge (freezer) to 3 degrees. So it will cool, but the cooling won't turn off until the thermostat clicks down to 2 degrees. Then it will wait until it gets to 4 degrees before it turns the cooling back on. Compared to the STC1000 which can go down to 1 decimal place.

 

[damoninja]

The 1 degree precision is probably the worst feature...but I think it's tolerable.

And it's actually "+/-" 1 degree.

I set my fridge (freezer) to 3 degrees. So it will cool, but the cooling won't turn off until the thermostat clicks down to 2 degrees. Then it will wait until it gets to 4 degrees before it turns the cooling back on. Compared to the STC1000 which can go down to 1 decimal place.

Compared to the strip thermometer which I'm currently running with which in its nature is difficult to get a decent temp out of due to the fact at least three squares are active at any point (may as well call it +/-2.5~ degrees).

I have a digital thermo I use for measuring steeping temps which resolves to 0.1, I'll use this to measure the inside of the fridge and see how things track.

Later on I might decide to integrate the STC-1000, but if this does the trick and I don't need to stuff around installing it well it'll do!

 

[Liam_snorkel]

I ran one of those cheapies for a while, it seemed to work fine until one day it blew up. The end.

 

[drsmurto]

Jump on BrewAdelaide and introduce yourself. Plenty of handy blokes capable of wiring these up otherwise I would still be wrapping fermenters in sleeping bags.

 

[sp0rk]

Anyone have any experience with these things? Looks like crap to me.

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Digital-Thermostat-Reptile-Lizard-Heat-Mat-Lamp-Ligh-Incubator-Aquarium-EN24H-/400540556538?pt=AU_Pet_Supplies&hash=item5d4213dcfa&_uhb=1

I've been using one for about 2 years now
It does the job, but like others have said there's a +/-1 degree precision which isn't the end of the world I guess
I'm only changing over to an STC1000 now because I was ordering one for my electric HLT so I thought I might as well grab another for the fermenting fridge

 

[damoninja]

Got myself a 140L bar fridge that fits perfectly into the nook I planned for it to go into, it's quiet and my vessel fits perfectly.

I had to make some slight modifications to the door to allow the fv to fit, the door shelves bumped it so I cut one away.

Now the waiting game for the el cheapo thermostat to arrive from hong kong.
Should be here in 2-4 weeks (or years).

 

[macca05]

Those ebay controllers you have listed are selling here in a LHBS for 50 or 60 bucks.
I say buy one off ebay and buy yourself an stc too, as they take forever to turn up now, if they actually do and while you are waiting fro them to arrive take a look at wiring diagrams. If you like ill open mine up and take some hi res photos for you to look at. There are some good wiring diagrams that ill try find for you.
But like i say if the LHBS is selling those then they should be good.

Macca

 

[damoninja]

I've had this fridge turned on all day set to the lowest point on the thermostat, and what do you know it's sitting at 19 degrees.

I'll leave a bucket of water in there for a few days and take some temp readings a few times a day. I might be able to start using it sooner than I thought.

 

[damoninja]

And overnight it got down to 10 degrees. Fail.

I think I might order an STC-1000 as well and figure out the wiring.
I just found out Brew Adelaide stock them for like $22 so I'll just get one in my next order.

 

[punkin]

It's not hard to figure out if you follow the instructions in this thread.

http://aussiehomebrewer.com/topic/66428-stc-1000-in-pictures/

Best thread on here and should be a sticky.

 

[macca05]

Are u saying you had the fridge just plugged in to wall and running. So no temp controller hooked up. Thats not a fail man.
I use a bar fridge too for fermenting and with the stc contoller hooked up it sits on 19deg easily. Turn your fridge up to normal or above normal as if u want to get into cold crashing your fridge will be able to get down to 2deg.
Also when you put a temp probe in fridge a good way to mount it is to use some foam and stick the probe to side of fermenter. Cover with foam then tape again. Use good tape tho as u dont want it falling off.
Macca

 

[damoninja]

Are u saying you had the fridge just plugged in to wall and running. So no temp controller hooked up. Thats not a fail man.
I use a bar fridge too for fermenting and with the stc contoller hooked up it sits on 19deg easily. Turn your fridge up to normal or above normal as if u want to get into cold crashing your fridge will be able to get down to 2deg.
Also when you put a temp probe in fridge a good way to mount it is to use some foam and stick the probe to side of fermenter. Cover with foam then tape again. Use good tape tho as u dont want it falling off.
Macca

What I meant was my initial thoughts that the fridge's thermo at lowest setting. Yesterday it sat at 19 degrees all day. Overnight it went down to 10.
My theory that it would sit at 19 degrees was a fail ;p

 

[macca05]

Oh ok

 

[damoninja]

My STC 1000 showed up today.

I've got some extensions cords I can steal the plugs from and a container I'm gonna seal it up in...


Only thing I'm missing from the walk through is a connector block... I do have some wire joiners similar to these:
http://www.narva.com.au/sitebuilder/products/medium/1033/joiner-images.png


Otherwise I can solder, seal with hot glue and electrical tape. Is this a safe option for 240v?

 

[booargy]

Otherwise I can solder, seal with hot glue and electrical tape. Is this a safe option for 240v?

Solder is best