Here's That ITC-1000 Hardwire Question Again

[sremed60]

I know this has no doubt been answered a kerzillion times. You'd think it would be easy to find a simple, straightforward, layman terms, not needlessly complicated thread.

There's a lot of threads on the STC-1000. I thought the only difference was that the ITC was Fahrenheit, but after reading a few posts and watching a few videos, the wiring seems to be different on some.

I'm an idiot when it comes to electricity. I can't get my head around it. Some people look at a wiring diagram and it makes complete sense, without putting any effort into thinking it through. I'm not one of those people.

So I just bought a GE 5 cu ft chest freezer and another Inkbird ITC-1000. I put an ITC-1000 on a fermentation chamber I built a few months ago. I figured it wouldn't be much different for this, except this freezer has one of those "Fast Freeze" buttons, which means extra wires I don't know what to do with.

I'm attaching some pics as well as the wiring schematic for the freezer. I don't care about any of the OEM controls on the freezer. It's never going to be used as a freezer so I don't care about the "Fast Freeze" feature. All I want to do is wire the ITC-1000 up to turn the compressor on and off.

If you can look this over and give me a simple explanation on how to get that done I'd be grateful. Again, I'm an idiot when it comes to this stuff so don't feel like you'll be offending me if you explain it on a 2nd grade level. On the contrary - I might almost be able to grasp that.

 

[day_trippr]

The easiest way to do this is to simply wire the controller to the line cord, set the oem thermostat to whatever setting you want (it won't matter as long as it's not Off), and switch off the "Fast Freeze" function (whatever the heck that is).

You can still locate the controller wherever...

Cheers!

 

[sremed60]

The easiest way to do this is to simply wire the controller to the line cord, set the oem thermostat to whatever setting you want (it won't matter as long as it's not Off), and switch off the "Fast Freeze" function (whatever the heck that is).

You can still locate the controller wherever...

Cheers!

So in other words just make one of those controllers with the outlets and plug the freezer into that?

Like I said, I have a hard time grasping this stuff. Leaving the factory thermostat hooked up and using the ITC-1000 simultaneously doesn't make sense - but that's just how my non-electrical mind works.

 

[day_trippr]

You could still "hard-wire" the ITC-1000, but I don't see any value-added to bypassing the oem thermostat - and I have one of the more hard-core instrumented/controlled keezers you'll ever lay eyes on so if there was any value there I'd say so.

A "boxed" controller solution isn't necessary. If you were thinking of mounting the controller in the skin of the freezer (I mounted mine in the front of the lid, others have cut them into the sheet metal covering the compressor area) you can still do all of that.

Cut the line cord in the right place and you can wire both ends to the ITC with a couple of wire nuts and one short jumper wire and be good to go...

Cheers!

 

[raouliii]

The Fast Freeze switch is a thermostat bypass switch. Turn it on, the blue light illuminates and the thermostat is bypassed.