Wine cooler conversion curer

[MindSoup]

You just want any thermoelectric/peltier mini dehumidifier. One with a rocker switch so it will power on and off with the inkbird is handy, the touch button ones like mine need to have the button  pressed each time the power comes back on so you have to modify them. 

[MidgeSmith]

8 hours ago, ravsta said:

Can someone tell me what dehumidifier i need again as the sites only letting me see the first 4 pages and the last one and it wont let me go back 

Yeah, as Clumsy says, if you search the bay for electriq 900  you will find the model.  I bought an entirely different device, but practically all the 500ml / 900ml / 1litre peltier (thermo-electric) dehumidifiers should be fine if you customise them correctly - or just make room for them.

Edited October 26, 2023 by MidgeSmith

[ravsta]

Cheers chaps 

[Clean Green]

Interesting stuff in here.  I have to dry fully sealed in a barrel as can only do a few guerilla plants each year.  The photos done in October always come out nice taking around 10 days before jarring up It's done over silica gel at outdoor building temperatures.  Humidity goes up after first loading the barrel and comes down by a couple of percent a day usually going from low 60s to low 40s.  This gradual decline in humidity and lower temps work well for terpene preservation it seems and I can see likenesses to the wine cooler - albeit a completely different set up.  Catching the buds at just the right stage seems to be leading to some incredible devine smelling cobs as well this year. 

[highjokr]

Got a cooler pretty much the same as OP's in terms of size only difference with mine is the thermostat is a dial and to adjust you need to open the door which I don't think is ideal.

 

What would be the best way to sort this type of issue?

 

1) Should I wire in an STC 3028 although I think someone on the post said they aren't great and to just go inkbird. This will be able to control both temp and rh while allowing light and small fan to continue working.

 

2) Buy a inkbird IHC-200 and a ITC-308 and just plug the fridge in the ITC and dehumidifier in IHC, issue with this it just kills power to the whole fridge which will in turn cut the light in the cooler and the the small fan on the back wall.

 

3) Add a digital thermometer to the fridge and open the door to adjust the dial when the temp needs to be reduced? Not sure if this would be ok.

 

Any solutions would be appreciated thanks.

[MindSoup]

12 hours ago, highjokr said:

only difference with mine is the thermostat is a dial and to adjust you need to open the door which I don't think is ideal.

 

Well you don't need to adjust the temperature once you've got things going, mine is set at 14°c the whole way through, so if it's accurate enough just set it and forget it. Mine has the same sort of thermostat on it and it's not accurate at all temperature swings by a few degrees, so I just have it turned to the lowest temperature and run a temperature inkbird as well as a humidity one. 

Edited December 9, 2023 by MindSoup

[Hazeytones]

I only set mine up the other day but can't get the temp down to 14, it's been at 15/16 since the dehumidifier was turned on.

I'm hoping the temp will come down once the humidity drops a bit more and the dehumidifier isn't working as hard.

[highjokr]

2 hours ago, MindSoup said:

 

Well you don't need to adjust the temperature once you've got things going, mine is set at 14°c the whole way through, so if it's accurate enough just set it and forget it. Mine has the same sort of thermostat on it and it's not accurate at all temperature swings by a few degrees, so I just have it turned to the lowest temperature and run a temperature inkbird as well as a humidity one. 

 

Thing is I'm not sure what the built in dial thermostat temperature swing is before it turns itself on/off. With the Inkbird I can set the temperature differential to 0.3 meaning it should kick on/off sooner.

 

Looking at BPB fridge it doesn’t seem to have a fan inside at the back wall so I don’t think there will be an issue with just killing the power with the ITC 308 as it will only really be powering the peltier fan, small inside fan and light.

 

Picked up both the itc 308 and ihc 200 for £55 i will try it with and without the itc 308 saves me having to mess with the fridge internal wiring if i was to go the STC 3028 route. I will just set the internal dial to the coolest temp in the fridge and let the itc 308 do the work.

 

Also got the electriq 900ml dehumidifier any ideas on the best way to wire a drain pipe into it with BPB modifications as my fridge doesn’t have a drip tray at the bottom just a small one in the middle of fridge right below small internal fan which is no good unfortunately. Thanks

Edited December 9, 2023 by highjokr
Typo

[MindSoup]

1 hour ago, Hazeytones said:

I only set mine up the other day but can't get the temp down to 14, it's been at 15/16 since the dehumidifier was turned on.

I'm hoping the temp will come down once the humidity drops a bit more and the dehumidifier isn't working as hard.

 

If you start at 80% and drop it 1% a day then the dehumidifier only comes on for a few minutes at a time and the fridge can stay as cool as you like . 

[Slippy One]

I'd be keen for a cooler for long term storage, but not curing fresh, I'm usually bang on 18C-60rh when I dry. (Oct-April) 

 

Are regular compressor type fridges too damp for this? I thought they dried the air? 

 

Why have companies not making weed coolers/curers/de/humidifiers?

 

There must be something out there that cools jars/Grovebags down to a respectable 16-18C (my home is usually 29 indoors) in the summer months that doesn't need modifying or use much electricity (well sealed)?

 

 

 

 

 

[Hazeytones]

19 minutes ago, MindSoup said:

 

If you start at 80% and drop it 1% a day then the dehumidifier only comes on for a few minutes at a time and the fridge can stay as cool as you like . 

Sweet dude thanks for that, I'm at 68% today so I've set it to 67% I'll drop it 1% until I hit 60% then leave it at that. I was starting to wonder if the cooler wasn't working properly but pretty sure it's just the dehumidifier on flat out heating it up.

[Hazeytones]

@Slippy One I think the problem with compressor fridges is they would dry it out too fast.

 

There are companies making curers but there a total rip off. Just knock one up yourself it's really simple and all the info is in this thread. It will be a perfect environment to store your jars.

[latigid aikon]

1 hour ago, Slippy One said:

Why have companies not making weed coolers/curers/de/humidifiers?

The first post in this thread talks about the commercial product that is available.

On 19/10/2021 at 0:29 AM, FarmerPalmersNT said:

As per another topic, I was looking at the 'cannatrol' unit online. As far as I can tell it's a thermoelectric cooler (a peltier cooler based fridge) on a dew point controller. I figured I could have a pop at making one.

 

[highjokr]

On 15/08/2022 at 5:53 PM, MindSoup said:

Made a bit of progress on the new curer today. Got the dehumidifier in its new housing (surf gel tab box), found a place to mount it, and fitted the baking mesh to the shelves. Just waiting on a new soldering iron as my other one has disappeared and I'll get it finished up ready for my next crop. 

 

 

@FarmerPalmersNT where would you recommend for the sensor placement? Mine will be controlling both temp and humidity (temp control on this fridge is naff) so slightly different to you, but I would imagine a similar spot would work ok. 

Hi mate had another look back over the thread seems your fridge is similar to mine in terms of the dial thermostat and small fan at back in the middle, are you just using the built in thermostat dial to maintain the 14c and is your small internal fan inside the fridge running at all times? Also how did you go about adding the pipe to the dehumidifier washing pod box  did you just glue it to the bottom?

[MindSoup]

5 hours ago, MindSoup said:

 

Well you don't need to adjust the temperature once you've got things going, mine is set at 14°c the whole way through, so if it's accurate enough just set it and forget it. Mine has the same sort of thermostat on it and it's not accurate at all temperature swings by a few degrees, so I just have it turned to the lowest temperature and run a temperature inkbird as well as a humidity one. 

 

Edited December 9, 2023 by MindSoup