I'm using it to turn a lightbulb on and off inside a warming box that keeps the box at a constant temperature, but for that it's perfect.
Has two 10-amp 120 volt capacity relays: one for heating, one for cooling.
The heating relay turns on (closes the circuit) when the supplied sensor reads 0.5C below the target temp. This setting is adjustable. The relay stays closed until the target temp is reached.
The cooling relay turns on (closes) when the desired upper temp is reached, to turn on a refrigeration compressor. To protect the compressor, there is an adjustable compressor delay value.
Four programmable values:
1. Target temperature (default: 10C/50F; adjustable from -50C to 99.9C) (-58F to 211.82F)
2. Difference (how far the temp falls or rises until the relay closes) (.5C is default); adjustable between .3C and 10C
3. Compressor delay time (1-10 min; 3 min default)
4. Temp calibration value
The box is small fits in your palm. It's designed to be panel mounted. Fits in a 71 mm x 29 mm opening. The orange things ratchet from behind to snug the box against the panel opening. They can be removed if desired.
I posted a picture of the instruction/spec sheet, but it may not be readable. Too bad we can't post PDF.
Relays are mechanical nonelectronic and audibly click when activated. No idea how many cycles they can take.
The sensor is at the end of a 2-meter 2-wire cable. The sensor itself is about 1/4" in diameter and about 3/4" inch long.
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Stop crying people, the item description says that it reads in Celsius. Why in the world would you buy a product that's description says it reads only in Celsius, then rate it low and complain that it doesn't work for Fahrenheit? If you can't convert with the app for smartphones and learn to work with Celsius, then don't buy this item. Go find the Fahrenheit version and pay a few bucks extra for it, don't buy the Celsius version and whine.That said, it works just great. I need to keep my tanks heated to about 72°F, so I set the unit for 22°C and off we go. It comes on when I have it set for and shuts down when it hits temp. It works just great, running two heating elements off the heating relay. I don't have anything hooked up to the cooling side since I don't need that side of it. For the price you can't beat this anywhere even if you only need one side of it, and considering that it runs two relays, one for heating and one for cooling, it's amazing at this price. Well worth learning to use an app on my phone or making up a chart for temps you need converted.
I wish I could rate it about 20 stars to make up for the people that rate it low because it does what the item description says it does, Celsius only. Why anyone would buy and item that says in it's description that it only reads Celsius and then complain that it won't switch to Fahrenheit I can't figure out, especially when there is a version of this item that reads °F and cost just a few bucks more.
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I usually write reviews for things I feel I should share information about. this is one of them.Electronic equipment like this should cost AT LEAST 5x more. I've purchased similar electronics for my research work that do far simpler tasks, yet cost hundreds of dollars. this little guy is just as good in quality and costs far less.
Background: i use this to control a mini fridge to effectively create a fermentation chamber for my homebrew wort/beer. You can use it for nearly anything that needs temperature control. Ive even heard of people creating heating chambers using a lightbulb that turns on and off. that is the beauty of this switch, is the flexibility and simplicity of use. I call it a switch because essentially that's all it does. It reads a temperature and switches the circuit on and off depending on your set parameters.
I read a lot on forums about wiring diagrams etc. because i was afraid i would wire it wrong. actually it's REALLY easy to wire, you only need the wiring diagram that came with it. Most people who use the STC-1000 on forums have it wired in a FAR more complicated manner than necessary, which, IMO is excessively complicated. If you want to use this as a temperature controller for a fridge like I did, you only need a couple of extra things: extra medium duty extension cord (3 prong), elecrical tape or shrink tube, and/or wire nuts and/or crimp connectors. The extension cord is TECHNICALLY optional because you could cut the fridge cord and wire it inline but you really should leave that cord intact and use a separate one incase you need to rewire later. You don't want to mess with the appliance wire anyway, and you get extra wire that helps you to hook the STC-1000 up properly. trust me, just spend the extra few bucks a get an extension cord from home depot. Also, Ideally you should use a soldering iron to get a good connection, but wire nuts or crimps work just as well. I prefer soldering my connections but your preference is fine. Just don't try to twist and electrical tape it your you're just asking for a fire.
Next, to wire it up, you only need to be concerned with two color wires, the black (hot) and white (neutral). If you cut the spare cord, to minimize the soldering or crimp/wire nut work, be sure to not cut the green (ground) wire. Its ok if you do, but you then need to connect the two lose ends again later anyway, wasting crimps/wire nuts. When you cut the black and white wires, be sure to cut an extra 5-6 inches or so of wire out as leads for the next steps.
No one mentions this, but what I did is actually put 2 wires into each numbered port, therefore minimizing the number of connections. If you do it right, the only crimped connection you'll need is 1 neutral (white) wire. If you cut the green (ground) wire, you'll need 3 connections....
Here's how I did it:
first, put the incoming (outlet/male) side black wire into port 1, then take one loose black wire end and also put that into port 1. Tighten the screw for port 1. Run the other end of the loose black wire that's in port 1 and put it into port 7 (cooling port). Tighten port 7. Take the appliance (female) plug side black wire and put that into port 8 (the other cooling port) and tighten port 8. place the white wire from the outlet/male side into port 2. Take one end of the loose white wire that you cut out of the extension and also put that into port 2. Tighten port 2. Now solder/wire nut/crimp the loose end of the white wire to the female/appliance port side. That's it!
The beauty of this is that it doesn't matter if you reverse ports 1/2 (put black into 2 and white into 1) or use neutral (white wire) in ports 7/8 instead of hot (black wire), which is why it isn't labeled as such. This controller is very flexible and allows many ways of wiring. For me, this way was the simplest which is why I used it. Good luck!
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Received it after a couple weeks or so. Got a radio shack box, cord, outlet and a couple 120v neon (amber) lights to indicate which of the 2 outlets was hot. Google for instructions on homebrew sites, etc.So, for about $20 in parts (cord was the most!) got a full fledged dual controller for $40 or so. Temp is accurate. Note that the " LCD Digital Thermometer for Refrigerator/Fridge/Freezer by Ufener $2.85" which pops up with this unit might not be accurate. Mine wasn't, it's off by about 2° C (~ 4° F).
[Edit: For Homebrewers, still pleased with the purchase, but may re-purpose it from a fermentation controller. Right now the Raspberry Pi Raspberry Pi Model B Revision 2.0 (512MB)is looking really good. For about $100, it can be made into a smart sensor. Ramping up temperatures on a "set it and walk away" schedule!]
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I was in desperate need to control my fermentation temperatures using a fairly cheap wine cooler whose temperature control was basically worthless. It would either chill or not and I still have to figure out what determines that. Then I came across excellent tutorials on how to use this gadget to build your own temperature controller (search on youtube and homebrewtalk). All you need is a regular wall socket, a box to put everything in, some wires, a power cable, and the STC-1000. In retrospect I'd even add an on/off switch so you don't need to unplug anything.Anyhow, I installed the STC-1000 to control the wine cooler with the "cold" arm of the circuit (don't know how to describe it better), so whenever the temperature was too high it would turn on the wine cooler. I set the cooler to maximum in the hope it would always feel the need to actually kick on when it gets power. Low and behold it works great! I placed the temperature probe in a small bottle with glass beads that simulate the temperature changes in liquid and allow for a accurate temperature monitoring.
If you're looking for an affordable DIY solution to control fermentation temperature look no further!
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