Stc 1000 Temp Controller

[slash22000]

Thought I'd post an update on this situation. Put a brew down last night in the ole Willow container.

Wort was at about 36C when I first put it in the freezer. It took a very long time to cool down to 18C, after 4-5 hours it was at 24C or something. I left it overnight to cool down and pitched my yeast this morning at 18C, hopefully I managed to sanitise the container properly, I've never left wort sitting around for ~12 hours before.

I have room for another container in the freezer but I'm somewhat worried about putting down my next brew, if it takes that long to cool down to 18C with the freezer running flat out, how long will a new batch take to get down to 18C just sitting inside the cooler? Damn tropics.

 

[MaltyHops]

Thought I'd post an update on this situation. Put a brew down last night in the ole Willow container.

Wort was at about 36C when I first put it in the freezer. It took a very long time to cool down to 18C, after 4-5 hours it was at 24C or something. I left it overnight to cool down and pitched my yeast this morning at 18C, hopefully I managed to sanitise the container properly, I've never left wort sitting around for ~12 hours before.

I have room for another container in the freezer but I'm somewhat worried about putting down my next brew, if it takes that long to cool down to 18C with the freezer running flat out, how long will a new batch take to get down to 18C just sitting inside the cooler? Damn tropics.

Panic! No wait ... at first I thought you were proposing to put another
hot cube into fridge to cool while you've still got one fermenting in there.
This would definitetly not be a good idea.

A way that might help is to put a cube of water in the fridge a couple of
days before you brew and cool it down as much as you can.

Then when you put a hot cube into fridge the cold cube of water in there
will help to soak up a good deal of the heat from the hot cube and this
ought to speed up cooling of the hot cube. Check both cubes after a
couple of hours and if they are at about the same temp, remove the
cube of water.

Large blocks of ice would be even better if you can freeze some. If you can
fit even more water containers in the fridge with the 2 cubes, add them to
the pre-cooling as well.

 

[slash22000]

Panic! No wait ... at first I thought you were proposing to put another
hot cube into fridge to cool while you've still got one fermenting in there.
This would definitetly not be a good idea.

Well I wouldn't put a boiling hot cube in there alongside one fermenting. Thing is though, in Darwin, outside the fridge the coldest the wort is going to get is maybe 24-28C depending on air conditioning. It's going to need to go in the cooler eventually to get down to pitching temperature. :unsure:

 

[Silvern]

Ok so I'm not sure if I've done the right thing here, But I'll let you guys be the judge

I broke the temperature control probe in my fridge a while back and ordered an STC-1000 to fix the problem. Basically, I've disconnected all the wires from the original temperature control box and this is what I've got:

Now unfortunately these are all inside the fridge. What I was hoping to be able to do was to extend the wires outside the fridge an into an STC-1000:

But this looks like a bit of an odd way to do it from what I've seen on these forums, most seem to have put the controller at some point along the main power line into the back of the fridge??

Is what I'm trying to do even possible?

Quick EDIT: At the very least, which of the wires above would I need to connect together to just get the fridge to run! At the moment it obviously does nothing (also not game to turn it on with exposed wires)

 

[nathan_madness]

Yeah it is possible. I have my fermenting fridge set up this way. I just cut a hole to fit the STC in the door of the fridge just in front of where the standard thermostat was and then wired it up inside and also added the heater to the inside too. Just have a look in the back of your fridge where the compressor is and there will be a wiring diagram or if there is not you can just trace the wires to where they go.
It looks like the same wiring as my F&P fridge Brown is constant positive, blue is negative green and yellow is earth and orange is compressor switch. Definately double check yours though.
I also extended the wires so that the door could swing fully open use a junction box where your thermostat was and get a bit of flexable electrical tubing to protect the wires

Ok so I'm not sure if I've done the right thing here, But I'll let you guys be the judge

I broke the temperature control probe in my fridge a while back and ordered an STC-1000 to fix the problem. Basically, I've disconnected all the wires from the original temperature control box and this is what I've got:

Now unfortunately these are all inside the fridge. What I was hoping to be able to do was to extend the wires outside the fridge an into an STC-1000:

But this looks like a bit of an odd way to do it from what I've seen on these forums, most seem to have put the controller at some point along the main power line into the back of the fridge??

Is what I'm trying to do even possible?

Quick EDIT: At the very least, which of the wires above would I need to connect together to just get the fridge to run! At the moment it obviously does nothing (also not game to turn it on with exposed wires)

 

[Dunkelbrau]

So you want to wire the fridges power (female side of the original diagrams) into the STC directly?

 

[Silvern]

So you want to wire the fridges power (female side of the original diagrams) into the STC directly?

Yep.

Update, was able to pull this cable loom through the back of the fridge, so that I can run it to the STC-1000 OUTSIDE the fridge Turns out back of fridge just has a long length of plustic tubing that the cable all runs through. Thanks for the advice Nathan, ues the same wiring as your fridge by the looks. Checked and the orange runs to the compressor switch.

Trying to work out how to wire it up now

 

[dammag]

Wouldn't you just join the active to the compressor switch wire so that the fridge would run continuously and do the controlling as per the normal arrangement outside the fridge putting the STC1000 in between the wall outlet and the lead going to the fridge?

Of course do your homework before doing this to confirm that this will work and be safe.

I bought a fridge with a broken thermostat and I am pretty sure this is what I did.

 

[nathan_madness]

It should go:
Terminal 1 Brown
Terminal 2 Blue
Terminal 1 and 7 connect together
Termainal 8 Orange

Yep.

Update, was able to pull this cable loom through the back of the fridge, so that I can run it to the STC-1000 OUTSIDE the fridge Turns out back of fridge just has a long length of plustic tubing that the cable all runs through. Thanks for the advice Nathan, ues the same wiring as your fridge by the looks. Checked and the orange runs to the compressor switch.

Trying to work out how to wire it up now

 

[Silvern]

It should go:
Terminal 1 Brown
Terminal 2 Blue
Terminal 1 and 7 connect together
Termainal 8 Orange

Thanks Nathan, this makes sense to me but just to be on the safe side I'll get one of my electrician friends to wire it up

Cheers for the help!

 

[contrarian]

Instead of starting yet another stc-1000 thread I thought I'd post here to see if anyone has any ideas.

I've hooked it up following the designs in this thread, double and triple checked it and everything seems to be fine. It is switching both heat and cool sides on and off relative to the measured temperature.

The problem is that after running for about 10 minutes the measured temperature goes completely haywire and starts reading 80-90C even though the probe is in a chesty running flat out. I'm wondering if the temp sensor is faulty but after going to Jaycar and dick smith it doesn't look like it will be easy to get another sensor to test the theory... Any ideas?

 

[yum beer]

Sounds like a dodgy controller, may need to shell another red back for a replacement. Not a bad idea to have a spare one laying around in case this sort of thing happens.

 

[vortex]

I've hooked it up following the designs in this thread, double and triple checked it and everything seems to be fine. It is switching both heat and cool sides on and off relative to the measured temperature.

The problem is that after running for about 10 minutes the measured temperature goes completely haywire and starts reading 80-90C even though the probe is in a chesty running flat out. I'm wondering if the temp sensor is faulty but after going to Jaycar and dick smith it doesn't look like it will be easy to get another sensor to test the theory... Any ideas?

Do you hear two relays click when it turns on or just one? I'd be thinking there might be a wire wrong if it's just one relay clicking, otherwise if it's two clicks then the unit may be faulty. Can you post some detailed shots of the wiring so the gurus can offer further suggestions?

If you do choose to try a different sensor, look for a temp sensor called a 'thermistor' as that's the style of thermometer used by the STC-1000.

 

[QldKev]

Where are you? Maybe a local person can lend you a probe for a test.

Post some close ups of the probe wiring, do you have a connection going into the enclosure?

If you go to you local electronics shops and get a 10KΩ resistor for <$1 then replace the probe with that. ie, remove the probe and use the resistor between the 2 terminals. It should show 25c
(Jaycar has a pack of 8 for 46c)
If you can't get a 10KΩ grab any close value one and let me know what value resistor you have so we can tell you what temperature reading to expect.


QldKev

 

[contrarian]

Thanks for your reply qldkev. I have taken some photos but can't figure out how to upload them from my phone and can't login from the computer for some reason, will try later.

Have checked the wiring again and it matches the diagrams in this thread so pretty sure it isn't that.

The unit seems to run properly for a few minutes with one click when the cooling delay has passed and the same for heating. After running like this the temperature starts jumping around up to around 90 degrees and then hovers around there. The unit is also making a chirping sound which seems to change as the numbers change.

Hopefully will be able to post some pics later on today.

It's annoying as having wired it up and given it a general test I put a brew down and it is bubbling away nicely in the chesty but with no temp control. I live at Callala bay on the nsw south coast so it is pretty mild and beer should be fine but this will do my head in until I figure it out!

Edit: vortex, here's a few pictures of the wiring and a close up of the sensor connection. The wire is straight into the unit with no connectors.

The tape is an interim measure to stop the wires pulling from the back of the box until I pick up some cable ties.. or find the ones I know are in the shed somewhere!

 

[QldKev]

I had one about a year ago die, the relays would start chattering when the last digit on the display was an 8.

If the unit is also making chirping sounds, I'm guessing there must be an issue with the unit itself.

But later if you can get a pic up, we can verify that the wiring looks ok. My guess is you will need another unit.

QldKev

 

[contrarian]

Sounds like a dodgy controller, may need to shell another red back for a replacement. Not a bad idea to have a spare one laying around in case this sort of thing happens.

Thanks mate, have been in touch with the seller who seems genuinely helpful so if that is the case I might get a replacement. Would almost rather this was the case as the other option is that I'm an idiot!

 

[QldKev]

I see the pics are up now, all looks good and nice neat wiring.

Double check where the sensor probe goes into the stc that the insulation is not getting in the way. But honestly I don't think it is a probe wiring issue as 80-90c is closer to 1KΩ, if it had a bad contact you would expect a higher resistance, not lower.

 

[contrarian]

I see the pics are up now, all looks good and nice neat wiring.

Double check where the sensor probe goes into the stc that the insulation is not getting in the way. But honestly I don't think it is a probe wiring issue as 80-90c is closer to 1KΩ, if it had a bad contact you would expect a higher resistance, not lower.

Thanks mate, is it worth trying a different sensor or should I just start again?

 

[QldKev]

You could try a different sensor, or the resistor as above. It would isolate if the probe was the cause. If you have a jaycar/electronics shop local it's cheap enough to try. If you can;t get the 10K, don't get a 1K as it would put you in the temperature range you are seeing now.

With the extra sounds you mentioned I'm guessing it's in the unit itself. You could open up the unit and have a look at the soldering, looking for solder or other crap that could cause any bridges that would allow a small current to short.

QldKev