I built a DIY temperature controller

apastuszak

apastuszak

AC Members
Jun 2, 2015
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Bensalem, PA
www.stamphacks.com
Real Name
Andy
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iPhone XR
Here's a pic of said wonder:

ad3FRSp.jpg


I watched these two YouTube videos:



A couple of notes on the temperature controller:

  1. There are LOTS of STC-1000 controllers on Amazon. Seems some company in China cranks these things out and rebrands them for a bunch of people. They DO NOT all come with the same probe however. The first one I ordered came with a stainless steel probe. Probably OK for freshwater. Totally not cool for Saltwater
  2. The STC-1000 controller is Celsius only. The first few videos I watched were all done by Canadians and British people. And I am in America, and we're stupid and can't a adopt the metric system for some stupid reason. So, for all the Americans out there, you ned the ITC-1000 controller instead of the STC-1000. This controller on Amazon will do both F and C and has a rubberized temperature probe.
Took me about an hour to put the thing together.

I SUCK at cutting holes in project boxes. hence why it's crooked.

It's been up and running since Monday. I'm quite pleased with it.

I plan on making a version 2.0 with:

  1. A 3.5mm jack for the temperature probe, rather than wiring it directly to the controller in the box
  2. An LED showing when the heater is on. There is an indicator on the digital display, but it's rather small
  3. An inline 5 amp fuse, so if the controller shorts out in some way, the fuse will blow before the thing melts on me.
 
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Reactions: Andytay70
Andy thanks for this thread
 
I'm going to building another one of these things for my other fish tank. But I have decided on a few upgrades I think others may find interesting.

First., instead of running a power cord directly into the box putting it into the controller, I am going to put an IEC connector on the back.

male-power-connector-iec-320-c13-c14.jpg


This will allow me to use a standard PC power cord with it.

The other upgrade would be to use a 3.5mm mono jack for the temperature probe.

S20-0132P01WL.jpg


The temperature probe is a 2 wire lower power connection. That exactly what a headphone jack is. So if I add the above female connector to the back of the box, and this male connector to the end of the probe wire:

61w7NncTbrL._SL1500_.jpg


I now have a detachable probe.

I've seen some where people add an LED indicator showing the heater is on. I don't think I really need that, but it is cool.

This video shows a very nice version of the same build, but the guy really is more showing it off than he is showing you how to build it. But he added the 3.5mm jack, a power switch, and indicator LEDs.


I've seen some nice ones done with a Raspberry Pi that will actually send you email alerts if temps go out of range. But adding a Raspberry Pi to the project significantly increases cost.
 
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Reactions: Andytay70
I most certainly will post pictures if I decide to make one.
 
Hi Andy. I just looked on Amazon for a controller unit. I am in Canada so would prefer a Celsius readout. I found several units, made by several companies, and although I do not expect you to endorse any certain company, what is the brand of the one you used? I think I should incorporate one into each of my tanks. Thanks in advance.
 
Awesome project! Hope to see more. How much did it actually cost you?
 
newaquariumguy said:
Hi Andy. I just looked on Amazon for a controller unit. I am in Canada so would prefer a Celsius readout. I found several units, made by several companies, and although I do not expect you to endorse any certain company, what is the brand of the one you used? I think I should incorporate one into each of my tanks. Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...

InkBird is the brand that I bought. If you're in Canada, then you can use the STC-1000 if you want. But the InkBird ITC-1000 does both US and metric and it's temperature probe is rubberized.
 
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