Double sockets

[Matt in Birdham]

I am thinking of buying one of the ready-tp-go Inkbird temperature controllers (http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B016 ... TXY26MYLSA), which are available from Amazon with Euro sockets only.
I would replace the plug and trailing sockets with UK equivalents.

My question is: does anyone know what the internal wiring of a standard double socket looks like? e.g. one of these:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/TRAILING-MAINS- ... HA1NQEQZJT

Of course I would need to wire up the live of each socket independently, as they have different functions, so whilst I assume there is likely to be a single connection point inside the socket for all three wires, how hard would it be to make separate connections to each for the live?

Of course I could just wait until they release the UK socket version, or build a normal one out of and STC1000..

[themadhippy]

normally theres a brass bar linking the 2,youd need to cut that and solder the lives to it,the other option is 2 single sockets in a double single pattress

or use 2 circular sockets in a suitable box

[Matt in Birdham]

Thanks - yeah I figured there would be a single bar in there. Actually I decided against it and just pulled the lever on a standalone STC1000 and a pair of single gang extension cables that I will butcher - works out a bit cheaper and perhaps a bit more flexible. I might even hardwire the heater cable to it (went for a 1ft, 45W tubular which apparently comes without a plug anyway).
Now I am just wondering if I am going to need a fan, or if I can get away with having the tubular on the bottom and relying on convection? Also is it always safe to screw into the bottom of a chest freezer or can that house chilling tubes as well?

[Fil]

a fan will improve both the efficiency of the chilling as well as the heating, spend real money on a hi end fridge and it will have a fan built in for this self same reason, so do fit a small fan and run it 24/7.. i use a pc fan powered by a redundant phone charger after a few years running in a damp environment 24/7/365 a pc fan may die (mine did) so dont epoxy it to the freezer wall like i did it makes replacing it with a £1 replacement a bit tricky

secure the tube heater to a thin sheet of something (ply, plastic, ally??) and stand that in the freezer as not to puncture the insulation, freezers operating above freezing temps may suffer from condensation and without a drain this can permeate the insulation and go manky/mouldy.. a towel for a weekly mop up is the simple solution to this.

if your stc1000 arrives and is a version 1.0, check out the software upgrade stc1000+
https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j ... 7506,d.d24

[Matt in Birdham]

Thanks Fil. How do you mount your fan then? presumably just recirculating ?
I was actually thinking of hot-melt gluing (love that stuff) the mounts for the tubular on to the bottom - I think it should hold well enough, and come off if needed. I do have a drain hole in the bottom as well, but was planning on running the heater wire out of it. I might pick up a 240v PC fan and run that off the same power as the heater, but I've still got it in my mind that a heater at the bottom/side would/should set up a pretty decent convection current

[Fil]

my fan #1 was 'whoops' epoxy glued to the fridge wall, to fit #2 i cut out the fan from frame#1 and have bolted fan #2 to fan frame #1

a 240v fan will be expensive imho, a pc fan is probably free from an old puter case
you must have a redundant phone charger in a drawer somewhere

[Matt in Birdham]

Yeah - I was thinking it needed to be 12V but on reflection it probably doesn't, does it? In which case I might have something - lower voltage might even be better I suppose, it doesn't need to be a hurricane in there - and I do have a PC fan knocking about. Do you just sort of mount it in open space and let it go? I may go for hot melt glue again - I'm obsessed with that stuff now, so useful for so many things although I must admit I haven't tried removing anything glued with it yet (can always use a bit of heat if required).

You can get the 240V AC PC fans for about a tenner.

edit: actually less than a fiver: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Heat-Eliminat ... 1242852245

Not a bad option I suppose, and easy to mount.

[irv]

i bet those 240v fans are noisy, also the one you linked to has v small blades, so prob not very effective. there are 240v 120mm ones that might be better if you were wanting to go down the 240v route.

you could mount on foam to reduce vibration noise, and link into the heater power so that is only on with the heater.

[Matt in Birdham]

Yeah - could be, although they draw next to nothing so they could just function like normal PC fans. That one does have small blades though - strangely small, even - though I guess you don't really need a huge amount of air movement, just something? I've actually just unearthed an old BT Homehub 12V wall wart and I've got a dead PC here with some fans in.. so looks like I'm set up!

Does anyone have much experience of the tube heaters? I got a small one - 45W, 1 foot long. In ideal conditions, 45W should be able to heat 25l of water at about 1.5c an hour, which seems more than sufficient. My only question is how much it will be fighting against the cooling in a freezer out in the garage in, say, the dead of winter (ambient 0C)? I'm guessing the insulation should be good enough.. it's a small freezer.

[Fil]

your potentially going to use the fridge in 2 ways
1) to change the beer temp from one state to another, like when you first put it in and when crash cooling..
2) maintain an optimum temp.

when changing the temperature, the risk of chasing itself or cycling the heating and cooling can be deterred by setting a wider gap off target say 4-5C before the alternate source is switched.

when simply maintaining an optimum temp then the temp gap to stimulate input can be narrowed as the risk of cycling is far less since the beer bulk is not going to be far off optimum.

I know what i mean to say i just doubt if im making it clear....

[BenB]

I used 240v fans in my Fermentation chamber- one in the main body of the chamber (120mm) and one (80mm) in the freezer component. Both work fine. They were both about a fiver and provide a lot more grunt than their 12v equivalent. Equally, there are 12v fans and 12v fans!!! I just bought a 50W 12v centrifugal fan the size of a 80mm axial fan and it gives some serious power.

I'm not sure it really matters whether it's 12v or 240v AC. Standard computer fans are often quite weak, more powerful ones are available but you could get a 240v for that much. The wiring is more tricky with a 240v and I must admit some of my 240v fans have relatively exposed terminals.... But it does avoid having a seperate wall wart power supply...

All I know is I wouldn't try using most PC 12v fans as their power output is poor....

[Matt in Birdham]

But how much power do you really need Ben? I wired up a spare PC fan just now, and it's pumping (and a little noisy). I would have thought that in a closed chamber with a gentle heater, all you really need is something to gently move the air around. I must admit I'm still not 100% sure I need one at all, and that convection will do the job - but I can't think of any good way to test this theory (multiple probes might do it, but I only have one).

[Fil]

well I fitted a fan in my fridge from day 1 , after about 2 years the first one failed on me , and I did notice a huge difference, with the controller set to trigger with a 0.5C temp change off optimum the fanless fridge was chassing itself continually, adding a replacement fan cured that straight away..

check out the top end fridges and all the commercial offerings they all contain fans, convection alone wont circulate the air (medium of heat exchange) around the FV..

ok im a self confessed fridge fan-fanboy

[Matt in Birdham]

OK - STC is wired and appears to work, and I've plonked the tuber heater and fan in loose to do a wet run with 15l of water @ 13C. I am aiming for 20C so it will be interesting to see how well this does.. (45W heater). Any thoughts on placement? I think bottom, as opposed to the free ledge on the side but am open to suggestions.

[gmlogan]

I am thinking of buying one of the ready-tp-go Inkbird temperature controllers (http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B016 ... TXY26MYLSA), which are available from Amazon with Euro sockets only.
I would replace the plug and trailing sockets with UK equivalents.

My question is: does anyone know what the internal wiring of a standard double socket looks like? e.g. one of these:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/TRAILING-MAINS- ... HA1NQEQZJT

Of course I would need to wire up the live of each socket independently, as they have different functions, so whilst I assume there is likely to be a single connection point inside the socket for all three wires, how hard would it be to make separate connections to each for the live?

Of course I could just wait until they release the UK socket version, or build a normal one out of and STC1000..

I just got one and simply swapped the plugs on my freezer and heater over to European ones. I happened to have 2 (used to live in Germany for a while) lying around and used travel adapter for the power to the controller itself.
Tried adapters into the trailing lead but not enough space.
Opened up the trailing lead, 4 wires earth, neutral and 2 switched lives. Uses common brass connection to link the shared ones. So you will need to create in effect this with say loops from terminal to terminal.
Honestly for 4£ if you have to order the plugs it is much neater and you are not opening up to break and warranty cover