DIY Temp Controller

hawkinsrgk · Sep 4, 2016

Haven't had a DIY project in a while so wanted to share on a temp controller that I setup.

I got all of the parts from Amazon, except for the plug and wiring. This is where the controller itself will be mounted in the box.

hawkinsrgk · Sep 4, 2016

Cut the holes with a damsel. For the most part it turned out good. The plug was a little large for the side of the project box so had to bend the metal pieces a little.

hawkinsrgk · Sep 4, 2016

Found the plug on a clearance at Home Depot for 50 cents.

hawkinsrgk · Sep 4, 2016

Next was time to wire the switch. Epic fail. Since this was my first AC project I totally didn't know what I was doing.

hawkinsrgk · Sep 4, 2016

At this point I had to start over and do some research on how to wire the switch. Turns out the middle connection is the AC power to the cord, the bottom pin is for the load side of the power and the top pin is the neutral side.

Once that was figured out everything was pretty easy. This is the layout that I was working off of. Found it on a make your own brew website. Basically the way it works is that if the plug where the heater is running is activated the red light is on. If the other plug that is connected to a fan is running a blue light is on. Totally not necessary, but it looked kinda cool.

hawkinsrgk · Sep 4, 2016

Here is the pic with everything installed.

hawkinsrgk · Sep 4, 2016

Here I set the temp controller at 79 degrees. Since the temperature is where it is suppose to be neither plug or lights are running

hawkinsrgk · Sep 4, 2016

Here I set the temperature really high to verify the plug for the heater and red light would turn on

hawkinsrgk · Sep 4, 2016

The temperature was set really low to verify the fan plug and blue light would turn on

hawkinsrgk · Sep 4, 2016

Back of the controller where the switch is mounted

hawkinsrgk · Sep 4, 2016

Picture of the right side. I put a piece of blue painters tape on the fan plug so I wouldn't mix up what plug was to what.

Live Water · Sep 4, 2016

hawkinsrgk said:
Picture of the right side. I put a piece of blue painters tape on the fan plug so I wouldn't mix up what plug was to what.

This looks like a fun little project how much altogether do you have in it

hawkinsrgk · Sep 4, 2016

Made a small shelf for the bad boy to sit on. Cut it to the size I wanted, took a propane torch to it and did a couple of clear coats.

hawkinsrgk · Sep 4, 2016

Made a shelf for this bad boy to sit on. Cut it to the size I wanted with some scrap, took a propane torch to it and did a couple of clear coats.

hawkinsrgk · Sep 4, 2016

Here it is all setup and running.

The temperature was a little off from the reefkeeper.

Time to break out the cheap tie breaker to see which one was closer.

That is pretty much it. Nice and fun weekend project.

njtiger aquariums · Sep 4, 2016

nice project. I have a temp sensor on my DYI controller and did the same thing (compare it with my cheap temp sensor). I am thinking about adding more options to this area. I'm thinking of having it where if my temp gets to a critical point it will kill power to the heater. I also thinking of having a backup heater and have if it my temp drops below a citric point it will kick the backup heater on. I like the big lights you have.

hawkinsrgk · Sep 4, 2016

Live Water said:
This looks like a fun little project how much altogether do you have in it

Total was $60. It could have been made for around $30 if I took out the switch, the LEDs and used a spare computer power cord.

hawkinsrgk · Sep 4, 2016

njtiger aquariums said:
nice project. I have a temp sensor on my DYI controller and did the same thing (compare it with my cheap temp sensor). I am thinking about adding more options to this area. I'm thinking of having it where if my temp gets to a critical point it will kill power to the heater. I also thinking of having a backup heater and have if it my temp drops below a citric point it will kick the backup heater on. I like the big lights you have.

Thanks for the feedback. I will definitely check out what you did with your setup. That's a very good idea about the heater. In the coldest part of winter, since the sump is in the basement I have to add a second heater to the mix when the main one can't keep up. I am in Alabama so the coldest part of winter is most likely not that cold to people not in the south.

Live Water · Sep 4, 2016

hawkinsrgk said:
Total was $60. It could have been made for around $30 if I took out the switch, the LEDs and used a spare computer power cord.

That's a good deal and is very accurate, I like the heater idea, you could do the same thing with multiple sets of fans, or have fans click on for small temp changes then have the chiller turn on only when it hits the critical point

hawkinsrgk · Sep 4, 2016

Live Water said:
That's a good deal and is very accurate, I like the heater idea, you could do the same thing with multiple sets of fans, or have fans click on for small temp changes then have the chiller turn on only when it hits the critical point

It has a difference value of one degree f or .3 degree c. So if you use Celsius you can have a closer difference value between plugs

I wired mine to handle 15 amps, but you could probably wire it for 20 amps if you needed something that high. I have a 800 watt heater and it draws something like 6.3 amps

When I first set this up I was planning to use two sets of plugs. Basically have one set for the heater and one set for the fans. I got two of the 50 cent plugs, but the project box I had was very limited on space. I saw a YouTube video where one guy used one of those gray boxes the cable companies use to give himself a little more room. Home Depot/ lowes has several different sizes to choose from