Stc 1000 Problems

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Coalminer said:
Brad

Have you waited for a while after you power off/on for the cooling light to stop flashing and then check what the reading is for F3?
I use several of these and they all have the same feature......
Usually the cooling function will turn on again at its user-set temp after the max 9 min delay, after a power failure, to prevent overloading
the compressor in case something/someone repeatedly turns the power on/off and the fridge is forced to start/stop without a suitable delay
This is how my 4 STC's work

cheers
Coalminer,

I suspected that this could be the case and did wait for a period longer than 10 minutes (used a stop watch and everything). The cooling light continued to flash away. Perhaps I'll leave it for longer and see.

So would you expect after a power failure that the cooling delay is initiated for the maximum set time, regardless of what you had the F3 value set to prior to the power failure?

Note that this happens only when the power is removed. Turning the device on and off via the button does not cause this to happen.

Thanks
Brad
 
I only get about a 1c range with just cooling but I haven't used heating for a while. I might adjust it when I do
 
Coalminer said:
Brad

Have you waited for a while after you power off/on for the cooling light to stop flashing and then check what the reading is for F3?
I use several of these and they all have the same feature......
Usually the cooling function will turn on again at its user-set temp after the max 9 min delay, after a power failure, to prevent overloading
the compressor in case something/someone repeatedly turns the power on/off and the fridge is forced to start/stop without a suitable delay
This is how my 4 STC's work

cheers
+1.
Exactly how all mine work. It's a safety feature of the STC brad & it's designed to do just that after a power failure. Setting F3 to 0 is asking for trouble & within a short period of time, you'll blow your compressor. I have mine set for 3mins & that's probably the minimum.
 
Ok, I have tested again, just in case I was too impatient.
I know about the compressor delay parameter and what's its for. I am not running a fridge on the cooling switch so it doesn't matter what value I have chosen for the F3 parameter.

When I set the F3 value to 0, or 1, or 4 minutes or whatever, after that delay time, the cooling switch activates as it should. When I cycle the power using the button on the device, the cooling switch still operates as it should with the previously entered value for F3. When I cycle the power by removing the power cord, the cooling delay light started flashing away. Currently it has been flashing for more than 30 minutes and the cool switch has not come on.
I don't think it should work like this.

Has anyone tried to duplicate this? I now have 2 of these devices behaving the same way.

When I check the value of f3, it is blank, not zero, not the value I previously entered, not some default value, not some maximum value, but blank. Has any one ever seen this

Now since typing this it has been 44 minutes and it is still flashing.
 
BradG said:
Ok, I have tested again, just in case I was too impatient.
I know about the compressor delay parameter and what's its for. I am not running a fridge on the cooling switch so it doesn't matter what value I have chosen for the F3 parameter.

When I set the F3 value to 0, or 1, or 4 minutes or whatever, after that delay time, the cooling switch activates as it should. When I cycle the power using the button on the device, the cooling switch still operates as it should with the previously entered value for F3. When I cycle the power by removing the power cord, the cooling delay light started flashing away. Currently it has been flashing for more than 30 minutes and the cool switch has not come on.
I don't think it should work like this.

Has anyone tried to duplicate this? I now have 2 of these devices behaving the same way.

When I check the value of f3, it is blank, not zero, not the value I previously entered, not some default value, not some maximum value, but blank. Has any one ever seen this

Now since typing this it has been 44 minutes and it is still flashing.
Who wired them up?
It's possible that it's a wiring problem if they are both doing it or you just got unlucky with two bad units.
This is the wiring diagram I used & all mine work as they should. I've wired up 4 of these & no dramas whatsoever.

post-1225-1352860634_thumb.jpg
 
Went and tested one of mine for you. F3 set to 1, pulled the plug, plugged back in and after one minute cool light stopped flashing and cooling resumed.

I'd say it's the brand as there seems to be a lot of different makes of these now. Just looking at the sellers photos show three different STC's. Pretty sure mine are all Elitech branded.
 
Hey crusty, I wired them. Same as yours except swapped 5,6 and 7-8, but that won't make a difference. They work fine provided the power doesn't go out.

Thanks camo for checking. Mine are unbranded, only having stc1000 on them.

Ultimately I don't mind, as when I eventually get a fridge for this, provided I know that the thing needs to be reset following power out I can keep the temp under control. I don't expect the temp to rise significantly provided the door remains closed.

The supplier says they have referred the matter to their supplier/techs.
Thanks all!!!
 
Half an update;

I thought I'd cool a brew to ambient approx 12 degc in the garage at the moment (brrrr Victoria is cold at the mo). Using a heat belt and no fridge.
I set the stc to 11 deg so it could never get there, and sometime the following day the cool relay indicator stopped flashing and became a solid on lamp. The f3 value is still a blank, but obviously is some obscure value.
 
Hi Brad,

Just wondering if you had made any further progress with this problem? I have experienced the same thing with the F3 value going blank and the compressor indicator flashing. It almost cost me a brew yesterday morning, fortunately I caught it before daytime temps managed to do any damage, night time natural cooling came to the rescue!

This has happened before but a fair while ago and I had forgotten about it, I haven't managed to manually repeat the problem like you have, but I will try your method tonight.

At the moment I am thinking the solution is to buy an Elitech branded unit.

Cheers, Matt
 
Hi Matt.
Thanks for validating my problem.

I still have the original unit running only a heater belt so the cooling fault is not a problem YET. I plan on getting a fridge before the summer temps make the ambient higher than 18degC.
Provided that am on top of things, I know the fault can occur and then be aware of power fault and reset as required. Not ideal I know.

I had no follow up from the supplier but am not too concerned for the price of the unit. I may seek an elitech one in the future.

It was perhaps at least a couple of days before the compressor delay ended and the cooling output came on.

Let me know if you have any luck.
 
Just checked your interests Matt. I could very well have been reading my own profile.
 
Ha ha ha, you should have a crack at it! Ive got roo sausages in the freezer which are primo . yeah i have to admit though the flying side of things has taken a significant downturn since i started brewing, haven't got time for both .

I tried your power off method to re-create the problem and it worked. So yeah any time there is a power out, which happens comparatively often out here even without storms, i will lose cooling. The seller has offered a half refund which is not bad considering i bought it in Jan. So i will re-task this unit to my new 1v mash system and buy a new one for the fridge.
 
i dont experience this with my stc1000
i have purchased another one, this time I selected the cheapest one I could find on ebay,
will be interesting to see if the new one suffers from this.
 

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