Stc-1000+

[wilconrad]

Just put the Flashed and "Flashable" controllers in stock, fire when ready.

I also have the v1.1 (wrong version) controllers posted for $12 (less than I paid for them, sadly) and will ship them for free if you're buying something else. If you've got a keezer project or something and are able to take these off my hands, I'd be forever grateful.

 

[stoneBriar]

I need some "explain it like I'm 5" help. I have 2 stc's that are version 1.04 and I'd like to bump them to v1.05. I looked through the manual but it didn't mention best practices for upgrading. What file do I need to download? I'm guessing I take file x, upload it to the arduino, plug in the stc and use the "Send 'g' to upload Fahrenheit version (program memory only)." since i've already initialized the EEPROM data the first time?

Is 1.05 the version I should use?

 

[alphaomega]

Sounds to me like you got it right. Just dowload latest or go to the releases page and get v.1.05 and use that ino file.
If you want to retain eeeprom data then I think that should be fine. But if you don't care much about your settings, it should always be safest to use 'f'.

On another note, this thread just broke 1000 posts!!! Fitting as it is STC-1000+

 

[wilconrad]

I need some "explain it like I'm 5" help. I have 2 stc's that are version 1.04 and I'd like to bump them to v1.05. I looked through the manual but it didn't mention best practices for upgrading. What file do I need to download? I'm guessing I take file x, upload it to the arduino, plug in the stc and use the "Send 'g' to upload Fahrenheit version (program memory only)." since i've already initialized the EEPROM data the first time?

Is 1.05 the version I should use?

To update you can pretty much just follow the same process you did to flash originally. You're right that you can send "g" instead of "f" if you like, but it doesn't hurt to do the full flash all over again, either.

And yeah, 1.05 is the latest "production" version.

 

[alphaomega]

Some good news to report: I just received 250 pcs of the correct controller version! I'll drop them on my website for sale as soon as I have some time to box/ship them. I'll ask $20/pc for them, which is at a small markup, but seems fair. I'll also offer them flashed for $30 for folks that want to do the build but don't want to mess with the flashing.

I'd say that is more than fair, after all you did all the work securing a reliable supplier (and got burnt trying). I hope you can make up your losses from the v.1.1 ones!
Good job Will!

 

[wilconrad]

Thanks Mats! I've gotta say, I was pretty relieved when I opened up the box today and had finally gotten the right version!


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[stoneBriar]

I'm still confused about which file I need to download. I don't see a picprog.ino file with v1.05 next to it. I only see a stc1000p.h which I don't know how to use.

 

[jwollmer]

I get the following error when trying to upload the sketch. any ideas what the issue is? I have uncommented the Farenheit constant.

Thanks
Jim

 

[fubar32]

So will either the "Flashed" or "Flashable" versions have the header installed on the pins needed for programming, or is that part still DIY?

Thanks!

 

[alphaomega]

I'm still confused about which file I need to download. I don't see a picprog.ino file with v1.05 next to it. I only see a stc1000p.h which I don't know how to use.

I get the following error when trying to upload the sketch. any ideas what the issue is? I have uncommented the Farenheit constant.

Thanks
Jim

I think both of you have kind of the same problem. You only need the picprog.ino file. That is what you open in Arduino IDE and upload. Everything else is only needed to make the ino file and is included for completeness.
The files are packaged into versions, so the file will still be picprog.ino, no matter what version it has. You just need to get the correct one. Latest version is 1.05 you can get it by just 'dowload ZIP' from first page or by visiting releases page.

 

[wbarber69]

Where to go to buy them from you

 

[wilconrad]

Where to go to buy them from you

here

 

[wilconrad]

So will either the "Flashed" or "Flashable" versions have the header installed on the pins needed for programming, or is that part still DIY?

Thanks!

Neither has a header soldered in, as I use the "solderless" method of flashing. However, if you order one and want a header installed, just shoot me a note and I'll solder one in before I ship to you.

 

[disney7]

Matts, it looks like there isn't a standard pin out on those cp2102 boards. The ones I'm finding have the pins in different orders.

Did you seek one out that lined up with the pro mini or did you just get lucky? Do you remember which eBay vendor you used?

Btw, nice compact, cheap setup. I'm thinking about building one to free my Uno up for another project.

 

[alphaomega]

I buy them as a combo search for "pro mini 5v 16m cp2102" on ebay.
Note also that rx should connect to tx and tx to rx.
The seller I bought from was alice1101983.

 

[stoneBriar]

So I updated my 2 controllers to 1.05 last night had had a straight freak-out moment when I saw the screen in picture. To the point I called disney7 and he had to do the "did you turn it on ya'dummeh?" except way nicer, b/c he's awesome. Anyway, all it took was holding the power button until the led's blinked and then holding it again to turn it on and everything was fine. It's hard to tell but yes there is a thermocouple installed. The second unit showed "8.n" instead of "'.A.r" but otherwise behaved the same.

 

[jwollmer]

Thanks Mats, that was the ticket. I deleted the rest of the files from the picprog directory and it verified perfectly.

I appreciate the quick response.

Jim

 

[disney7]

Alpha, thanks for the e-bay pointer on the pro-mini/CP2102 combo. I couldn't help but order a few extras since they are so cheap.

Regarding the last post from StoneBriar, I'm still running 1.04 on my "production" units and haven't had the chance to open the cases up and update them.

On mine, if I soft power-off the unit, unplug them, and then plug them back up to mains, I see some junk like StoneBriar mentioned appear on the display for less than a second before the display goes blank. At that point, soft powering on turns the unit on fine.

Did you change anything that might relate to that between 1.04 and 1.05? Sounds like 1.05 might be leaving the junk on the display until you soft power the unit on. Was that intentional?

Thinking back, I seem to recall you saying that implementing an "off" display for a few seconds after applying mains power would take up too much code space.

 

[adam01]

To the guy who removed the relays. What voltage is controlling the relay ?
I too would need fan control with this solution. Only my fan needs 5-10v.
So ideally, it would be easy to pinout the relay control to drive a computer fan.

 

[jleiii]

To the guy who removed the relays. What voltage is controlling the relay ?
I too would need fan control with this solution. Only my fan needs 5-10v.
So ideally, it would be easy to pinout the relay control to drive a computer fan.

I got a reply of "I think they are 12v" but that was all. I've not pulled my 2 fried ones out of the enclosure yet.

 

[Spellman]

I don't have an open one close by, but since the unit can be powered when hooked up to an arduino, there is a good chance that it would be 5v to keep everything simple inside. Doesn't mean that I'm right, just my guess without having one in front of me.

 

[OneGlobe]

This one delivered a 'good' STC-1000:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00IJ0F2OW/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

FYI, I also got a "good" one from the source above!

This is a fantastic project!!! 1000+ thanks @alphaomega and all contributors!

/anders

 

[jleiii]

I don't have an open one close by, but since the unit can be powered when hooked up to an arduino, there is a good chance that it would be 5v to keep everything simple inside. Doesn't mean that I'm right, just my guess without having one in front of me.

That would be my guess as well. My recollection is that there is only 1 voltage regulator on the main board, but the relay would be perfectly happy with the unregulated power feeding the 5v regulator. So it could go either way.

 

[alphaomega]

That is correct. I believe that from the transformer, there is a rectifier and smoothing caps that puts out dirty 12v (ish). Then a regulator feeds 5v to the logic. Then there is a transistor for each relay to drive the coil with the 12v.
That makes sense, as the mcu can't drive the relays directly and using the regulated 5v would put extra load on the regulator and might affect logic power.

 

[Bigdaddyale]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Pro-Mini-at...ible-CP2102-USB-2-0-to-UART-TTL-/200937465025

 

[alphaomega]

Alpha, thanks for the e-bay pointer on the pro-mini/CP2102 combo. I couldn't help but order a few extras since they are so cheap.

Regarding the last post from StoneBriar, I'm still running 1.04 on my "production" units and haven't had the chance to open the cases up and update them.

On mine, if I soft power-off the unit, unplug them, and then plug them back up to mains, I see some junk like StoneBriar mentioned appear on the display for less than a second before the display goes blank. At that point, soft powering on turns the unit on fine.

Did you change anything that might relate to that between 1.04 and 1.05? Sounds like 1.05 might be leaving the junk on the display until you soft power the unit on. Was that intentional?

Thinking back, I seem to recall you saying that implementing an "off" display for a few seconds after applying mains power would take up too much code space.

Yes, I changed completely how the soft off was handled between those versions. From handling the condition in software, to turning off the timer that handles the logic. The display should be initialized, but I might have to review the code and check the order that stuff is done during init. That would be the probable cause. I'll have a look at it when I can.

Are ppl really using soft off?
Here are my arguments against it:

• it does not turn the unit off, it only blanks display and don't run logic, you really need to turn off mains to power off
• it is confusing (even if I fix it so screen would blank correctly at start up)
• it uses more codespace than I like for such a shi*ty feature, codespace that could be put to better use, I only included in the first place because the original firmware has it
• the button could be put to better use

I'm not unreasonable. If this really is a feature that ppl want, then ok. But I would really like to get second thermistor input to do something useful and need to free up code space to do so. The button could be really useful as well to switch between which temperature is shown.

 

[wilconrad]

My $.02: get rid of "soft off" and free up the code space. The feature creates more confusion than value. If I don't want the unit to run I can unplug it or build in a switch to disconnect power.


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[disney7]

+1 ^^^

 

[ejluttmann]

I have a situation where I use "soft off". I have four controllers in a single box, three of them each control a single conical fermentor. It's a glycol cooled system, so for cooling they simply turn on/off the flow of glycol. For heat they will control some heat tape. The forth one controls the glycol chiller. They are all fed from the same power source and the "soft off" allows me to turn off the conicals not in use. I may be the odd duck here, but maybe you can make it a compile option in the project?





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[krazydave]

I use it.
In my setup, I use several chest freezers for fermenting and they aren't always in use. All of my mains outlets are behind the freezers, so the soft off is the easiest option to keep the freezers and heaters from coming on when they aren't needed.
Without it, I'd have to mess with unplugging power cords which messes up my tidy wiring that I struggle so hard to keep in place.

However, I could live without it, but I do prefer it to be there.
Then again though if you came up with some other amazing feature to use that button and code space for (which you are very good at btw!), I doubt I'd miss it too much.

 

[disney7]

Would it work (and not use any more code space) to just have it display "OFF" in the soft power off state? That way you'd know it wasn't controlling anything and it would remove the blank/gibberish display confusion.

If you didn't want it wearing out your led display, you could still unplug it or put a switch in.

 

[DrunkleJon]

I have a situation where I use "soft off". I have four controllers in a single box, three of them each control a single conical fermentor. It's a glycol cooled system, so for cooling they simply turn on/off the flow of glycol. For heat they will control some heat tape. The forth one controls the glycol chiller. They are all fed from the same power source and the "soft off" allows me to turn off the conicals not in use. I may be the odd duck here, but maybe you can make it a compile option in the project?

View attachment 216375
View attachment 216376


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Thats purdy. As a n option, individual rocker switches could be a solution if the soft off is removed.

 

[ejluttmann]

Yes displaying OFF works. I'd prob prefer that vs blank screen anyhow. Really just use the soft off functionality


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[ejluttmann]

Thats purdy. As a n option, individual rocker switches could be a solution if the soft off is removed.

Yes, i was originally going to add power switches but then realized I didn't need to


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[Spellman]

I'm another soft off guy. I have individual hard-wired switches for the functions, but not the units. I like the soft off simply because it will silence the alarm if no sensor is plugged in. In my experience they only display the gibberish if they loose main power and it comes back on when they are in soft off mode. Turning them on then soft off again clears the display and the world is right again. I really like this feature for fermentation, and I'm not sure there is really any more features that I could think of to add to justify removing the code, but then again I'm not the coder and don't know what is in the realm of possibilities. It may be something that could be removed for the mash versions where there might be more gain and they wouldn't be run all the time.

 

[alphaomega]

I have a situation where I use "soft off". I have four controllers in a single box, three of them each control a single conical fermentor. It's a glycol cooled system, so for cooling they simply turn on/off the flow of glycol. For heat they will control some heat tape. The forth one controls the glycol chiller. They are all fed from the same power source and the "soft off" allows me to turn off the conicals not in use. I may be the odd duck here, but maybe you can make it a compile option in the project?

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Holy freakin' moly...
That is insane. Props!

Displaying "off" won't help much. If anything it will add, a bit of code (to show "off"). The biggest part is actually the state machine to detect the key press and duration.
Even removing the soft off functionality won't save an awful lot of codespace. But I'm really tight on it so every word counts.
Ok, so I'll try and keep the functionality if possible, and if possible show "off".
I'm trying to refactor the code to see if I can free up some space, but I it pretty well written from the start

 

[alphaomega]

And thanks for posting the pictures by the way! Awesome to see your builds! And furthermore, it is nice to see that there are STC-1000+ units in use. I haven't had a lot of feedback, so I was under the impression no one really uses it

 

[Spellman]

I think it is quite the opposite, it works and there is nothing to complain about!

BTW the word "excess" is not in my vocabulary. I had been thinking about doing fermentation control, but your firmware is what kick-started my build. Right now I have a mini fridge with a coolant tank and individual pumps for the fermenters. It works ok, but later this fall when I get some time I'm going to do it up right with a glycol chiller made from a window ac unit. I have dupont cables soldered into the boards all with the same color wire, so all I have to do is pop the front off and hook the same colors up to the corresponding cables on my arduino. Here is a shot of the inside when it was about 90% done (note that the top unit measuring coolant temp isn't an actual stc-1000). Everything is very low amperage, so I don't worry too much about everything being on one circuit. Someday I hope to start a new thread with my build and things that I found that have worked and didn't work. Once again I went down this path because of what you did with the firmware, and that really sparked my imagination on what could be done. I have a commercial grade eherms system I built last December, and now I have a commercial grade fermentation control.

 

[ejluttmann]

Agreed ... It just works for me. I actually have two others that I have wired up individually to control a freezer fermentor and a "cold box".

Plus I've also programmed several for folks in the neighborhood as well.

There is the possibility that I might someday replace a few of them with a Arduino like setup if it would allow for remote monitoring - but everything I've seen so far are a project in itself and looks to be a maintenance nightmare ... But these work so well, cheap and so easy to use, I'm in no hurry - if ever.


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[bigvalen]

I likely missed it somewhere back...but what's the problem with the v1.1 units ? Not able to get the board into a flashable mode ?

(I bought two on Amazon, one turned out to be a WK7016C1, which seems to be a copy without cooling ability, the second is a v1.1, so I'm .. a little irritated).