Timer To Get Hlt To Temp As You Get Out Of Bed

[Diggles]

Looking to purchase a PID controller and would like to be able to set up the HLT the night before brew day and have it automatically heat up the water to strike temp for a certain time the following morning. I've heard of a few doing this, does anyone have experience on how best to achieve this? Independent timer, or can the STC 1000 do the job?

Thanks for any help.

Diggles

 

[benno1973]

Independant timer. STC-1000 has no concept of time (no onboard clock) so can't automatically switch on. Not sure about PIDs. Grab a cheap $10 timer from Bunnings.

 

[Diggles]

Nice one, cheers for the nfo.

Diggles

 

[Thirsty Boy]

Cheap timers work fine - but for running high current like a HLT pulls, if you dont have whole of house safety switches, I'd also buy a stand alone RCD while your at Bunnings and stick it in the mix before the timer. One thing if your cheap timer/powerboard/self done wiring/crappy chinese PID/crappy chinese element etc etc bursts into flames while you are awake and paying attention ... another thing if the first thing you know about it is the smoke alarm waking you up.

 

[Diggles]

Cheap timers work fine - but for running high current like a HLT pulls, if you dont have whole of house safety switches, I'd also buy a stand alone RCD while your at Bunnings and stick it in the mix before the timer. One thing if your cheap timer/powerboard/self done wiring/crappy chinese PID/crappy chinese element etc etc bursts into flames while you are awake and paying attention ... another thing if the first thing you know about it is the smoke alarm waking you up.

So true, will get shopping. cheers and brew on.

 

[Rodolphe01]

Independant timer. STC-1000 has no concept of time (no onboard clock) so can't automatically switch on. Not sure about PIDs. Grab a cheap $10 timer from Bunnings.

Yep. I've been doing this for ages using an urn. The STC-1000 is actually accurate enough for my strike temp so I can pretty much wake up and dump my grain in the urn and go do something else for an hour.

 

[Salt]

Yep. I've been doing this for ages using an urn. The STC-1000 is actually accurate enough for my strike temp so I can pretty much wake up and dump my grain in the urn and go do something else for an hour.

Digging up an old thread here..

I am in the process of finishing up my HLT and would like to run it from an STC on a timer. Will the STC hold a set temp target if it is switched off? Presumably the timer will go in-line before the power to the HLT to turn it on. So if I set my STC to 72deg and then power it off via the timer to come on in the morning, does it have internal memory to come on at the set 72deg and power on the element?

Cheers

 

[sponge]

Yup, the STC will hold its set point after cycling the power.