Stc 1000 Temp Controller

[Nibbo]

Good idea, where did you get it from?

QldKev

Got it from AWM, a local electrical distributer. I'm sure Middy's or even bunnings sell them. This was more of a longer thinner power point as apposed to your regular household one. But in saying that i have seen these installed in homes so it's not as though there as rare as hens teeth. They do come with bridging wires so all you need to do is remove them. Simple i thought. Used a hole saw to cut out the 2 holes required, screwed it in and wal lah...instant sexyness.

 

[QldKev]

Got it from AWM, a local electrical distributer. I'm sure Middy's or even bunnings sell them. This was more of a longer thinner power point as apposed to your regular household one. But in saying that i have seen these installed in homes so it's not as though there as rare as hens teeth. They do come with bridging wires so all you need to do is remove them. Simple i thought. Used a hole saw to cut out the 2 holes required, screwed it in and wal lah...instant sexyness.

Cool, will have to go find a coupe for my next project; should make it a bit neater

QldKev

 

[Nibbo]

Cool, will have to go find a coupe for my next project; should make it a bit neater

QldKev

Its called a Twin Skirting Mount. This one is from Clipsal.

 

[bignath]

Others use a small container filled with water close by. They are happy with this set up. I think this is flawed, as you aren't measuring what you actually want to control. Yes, your coke bottle full of water will have a very steady temperature, but your beer could be a different temperature. If you aren't measuring your beer how would you know?

A set up like this works very well with a little forward planning.

What i've done before is after my cube is filled from my boiler, let it cool outside. Come back the next morning and put it in the fridge for a few days at the desired ferment temp for that beer.
With a bottle full of water for the probe, over a few days, the temp of the cube will obviously be very close to the temp of the water bottle. I allow a day or two to account for the extra thermal mass of the cube...
Open cube, transfer to fermenter, pitch yeast, back in the fridge. Worked well. I stay ahead of my fermentation schedule with beer ready to go stored in cubes waiting for a spare FV. So it's no hassle for me to have a cube or two stored in the fridge equalising before i start fermenting it.

This assumes a pretty large fridge though.

Besides, even though a cube may go in the fridge mid 20's when the fridge is set to 18 because i'm already fermenting something else, i wouldn't mind betting the amount of time the small amount of extra heat of the warmer cube provides would be offset by the amount of time it would take to start dropping it the last couple of degrees. Thermal mass and all that stuff. I reckon it's pretty negligible.

Of course, none of this is scientific, just based on my own experiences.

Will have to get the fridge sorted again soon as the weather is starting to warm up. Have been fermenting in a spare room in the house for the last 9months as our house temp is very stable.

 

[cbet]

The latest addition to my brewery:


With the thermometer I was using before (showing room temperature).


Sitting on top of the fridge I just scored for $35.

Thanks for all the helpful posts in this thread.

 

[Tim F]

these guys are smart enough to know that Aussieland is 240V, and so you've screwed up.

I think you'll find the Australian standard is 230v and a 220v appliance would generally run fine on 240 anyway

 

[Dazza88]

Yep 220v is suitable for our electricity system, 110v not so good.

 

[stux]

hey dude i saw your awesome work on the STC-1000 in this thread:
http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum/inde...st&p=824333

can you confirm what parts you used? i know what box you got, but what cables etc...

1x Instrument Case, I think it was this one
http://www.jaycar.com.au/productView.asp?ID=HB5912

2x Mains Panel Socket
http://www.jaycar.com.au/productView.asp?I...UBCATID=1001#12

1x Spare PC 3 pin power cable, which I chopped the end off, but you could just use this or any spare power lead you have
http://www.jaycar.com.au/productView.asp?ID=PS4110

1x Cable Gland (i think this is the one I used), for the power cord
http://www.jaycar.com.au/productView.asp?ID=HP0720


1m or so of 0.75mm2 hookup wire. I just bought a couple of meters of 3 core mains cable from bunnings, then I cut it into 30 cm lengths and pulled the cores out with pliers
something like this
http://www.jaycar.com.au/productView.asp?ID=WB1562

3-way screw terminal strip. Just cut a cut off from a larger one that I actually had in my stash, but something like this
http://www.jaycar.com.au/productView.asp?ID=HM3196

Zip ties. I used 100mm zip tie on the sensor cable, to stop pull-through, and you can pass it through the STC enclosure to keep it away from the mains wires, and 250mm one the inside side of the power cable gland to help prevent pull through, which were cut to size
http://www.jaycar.com.au/productView.asp?ID=HP1200
http://www.jaycar.com.au/productView.asp?ID=HP1202

And a small screw to screw the terminal block into the case.

I ensured that the earth leads were longer than the rest of the wires so that if the power cable did get pulled through the earth would be the last to fail.

 

[Defacto]

1x Instrument Case, I think it was this one
http://www.jaycar.com.au/productView.asp?ID=HB5912

2x Mains Panel Socket
http://www.jaycar.com.au/productView.asp?I...UBCATID=1001#12

1x Spare PC 3 pin power cable, which I chopped the end off, but you could just use this or any spare power lead you have
http://www.jaycar.com.au/productView.asp?ID=PS4110

1x Cable Gland (i think this is the one I used), for the power cord
http://www.jaycar.com.au/productView.asp?ID=HP0720


1m or so of 0.75mm2 hookup wire. I just bought a couple of meters of 3 core mains cable from bunnings, then I cut it into 30 cm lengths and pulled the cores out with pliers
something like this
http://www.jaycar.com.au/productView.asp?ID=WB1562

3-way screw terminal strip. Just cut a cut off from a larger one that I actually had in my stash, but something like this
http://www.jaycar.com.au/productView.asp?ID=HM3196

Zip ties. I used 100mm zip tie on the sensor cable, to stop pull-through, and you can pass it through the STC enclosure to keep it away from the mains wires, and 250mm one the inside side of the power cable gland to help prevent pull through, which were cut to size
http://www.jaycar.com.au/productView.asp?ID=HP1200
http://www.jaycar.com.au/productView.asp?ID=HP1202

And a small screw to screw the terminal block into the case.

I ensured that the earth leads were longer than the rest of the wires so that if the power cable did get pulled through the earth would be the last to fail.

you're an absolute legend!!!! hope mine looks as good as yours

 

[michael_aussie]

these guys are smart enough to know that Aussieland is 240V, and so you've screwed up.

I think you'll find the Australian standard is 230v and a 220v appliance would generally run fine on 240 anyway

i think you missed the point. He actually ordered a 110V by mistake.... yet they sent him a 220V unit.

i'll bet people from all countries do that all the time (order the wrong voltage) .. and these guys (sellers of cheap electronic stuff in asia) are used to people screwing up, so rather than saying "are you sure" and entering into 10 emails that still doesn't sort out what you want, they just assume you've screwed up when you order a voltage different from your country's voltage, and the "fix" your order for you.

 

[craigo]

this is proberbly a silly question but how do you set the temprature for these things?

 

[Yob]

Hold down the set button for 5 secs, F1 will come up, press set again and you can then edit the setting up or down to choice

Yob

[edit] Then press the power button to confirn the setting

 

[Maheel]

1turn on the power
2hold in the s button for a while
3press arrow to F1
4hold in s button while adjusting temp on screen to desired temp
5adjust for F2 F3 F4 if desired by going back to "3"
6 press power button once

profit

 

[craigo]

Hold down the set button for 5 secs, F1 will come up, press set again and you can then edit the setting up or down to choice

Yob

[edit] Then press the power button to confirn the setting

thanks for the quick reply

 

[Malted]

this is proberbly a silly question but how do you set the temprature for these things?

You will probably have more questions once you set the temp. Read these:

Programming the stc1000 ----AHB LINK

Download the operation manual in pdf LINK - this is easy to find in Google, heaps of people have it for download.

 

[Mr. No-Tip]

Got one of these on the way, and a brand new chest freezer in the garage. Fired up the chest freezer the other day - very good seal - had to use a blunt tool to even get it open again.

I'd prefer not to drill into the unit while it's in warranty, and I am not inclined to build a collar at this point.

Am I going to cause too much in the way of inefficiency by running the probe under the seal? Maybe taping it up with some insulation tape? There's also a drainage pipe under the freezer, but that would require the probe living in a bit more permanently...

Thoughts?

 

[raven19]

If it seals that well draped over the lip/seal should be fine. Cold air sinks so should not leak much being a chesty.

I have them running past the seals in fridge doors with no issues.

 

[Muscovy_333]

Just wired up, plugged in and am observing my new STC-magic at work.
Waiting for temps to settle, but looking the goods so far.
Amazing what I can achieve when I,m supposed to be writing school reports for the kiddies.
Ahh Procrastination!
Keep smelling the airlock on the two fermenters as well...whats with that! (Sorry bit OT...Procrastinate, Procrastinate...)

 

[MaltyHops]

Have a look at this BrewAdelaide post Re: STC-1000 or this?

T.

 

[iralosavic]

I wired my STC1000 up this weekend. Costs are as follows:

$26 STC1000 to my door.
$6 Plastic Jiffy Box
$7 2x 2m extension leads
$2 wire connector (cut it off at 3 terminals, leaving another 9 for future controllers).
$.50 2x home brews

Total $41 (Everything was from Jaycar)

Tools required

Drill with a drill bit slightly smaller than the extension lead diameter and another one to suit the temp probe relay wire
Hack/coping/pistol grip saw.
A sharp knife
A wire cutter (optional).
A small flat head screwdriver

First I taped around the footprint of the controller body on the front of the jiffy box, then I drilled holes in each corner to provide headroom for the hacksaw, then I cut out the hole and trimmed it down with a sharp knife. Next I drilled three equally spaced holes in the rear of the box to accommodate each of the mains leads and one smaller one on the side where the temp probe relay is closet to.

All I did was cut the two female leads, leaving 40cm (roughly) lead length with a knife, then stripped 15cm of the insulation off (including one of the male lengths). Then I used wire cutters to strip 2cm of the insulation off each mains wire for all leads. Then I stripped back the uneeded male lead and cut out a few donor wires of colours matching their applications. You'll understand why these are needed when analysing the wiring diagram. Then it was just a matter of playing dot-to-dot, using the screwdriver to secure each terminal. I simply braided wire junctions together before inserting into each terminal.

I deliberately left the lead holes too small and whittled the insulation down on the leads so that I could force them through. Then I just wrapped the lead in electrical tape on the inside to provide a shoulder that would prevent them being able to be pulled through, not that you could do so by accident anyway as they were extremely tight fitting. I did the same for the temp probe wire, which sat a lot looser in the hole.

I will probably glue the contoller face to the box soon, but I cut the hole so that it fits quite tightly for now.


I was over-cautious, being not so electrically minded, and the whole process took around an hour. The unit works perfectly and the temp sensor is operating at the right temp straight out of the box (1 degree +/-), but I will attempt to calibrate to 0c using an ice slurry anyway. I confirmed the temp by comparing to my body temp with a body temp thermometer

Hope this helps someone.