BCS-460 Fermbelt/Probe Issue

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micky5752
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BCS-460 Fermbelt/Probe Issue

Post by micky5752 »

https://youtu.be/KipGuSiUQRw

As you can see, when I activate the Heat Ferm, the temp probe goes all over the map and the only way I can get a true reading is to shut it off. Cooling works just fine. Any ideas as to what is going on here?
JonW
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Re: BCS-460 Fermbelt/Probe Issue

Post by JonW »

Not much to go on here - need more info.

How is it cooled vs how is it heated?
What kind of heater is it?
Where is the probe in relation to the heater?
Where is the probe wiring in relation to the heater wiring?
micky5752
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Re: BCS-460 Fermbelt/Probe Issue

Post by micky5752 »

Sorry...

I have a "Reptile Belt" that is wrapped around the outside of my 14G Chronical and it's Heated with that. It sits inside my refridge/chamber that I use cool it when needed.

The Probe is in the thermowell of the Chronical. The wire for the heater just plugs in out of the corner of the door and into one of the outlets of my panel which doubles for the "Left Pump" output when brewing. The Cooling uses the "Right Pump" output to run the Fridge in the same manner, using the same Temp Probe for both purposes.

When I set it to Cool Ferm, it stays put and reads temp accurately.

If you need me to take another vid and upload if that would help you more.
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oakbarn
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Re: BCS-460 Fermbelt/Probe Issue

Post by oakbarn »

Is it a sine curve? Could be a grounding issue.
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Re: BCS-460 Fermbelt/Probe Issue

Post by JonW »

I'm a bit stumped on this. I'm thinking there's an electrical interference issue with the heat unit, but the question is, how to figure that out.

Can you remove the heat belt and have it to the side and not touching the conical or other hardware and see if turning it on (via the BCS) causes the same issue?
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Re: BCS-460 Fermbelt/Probe Issue

Post by micky5752 »

The real odd part is that it got up above the set-temp last evening, and being in the enclosure with the heat of fermentation pushing it up, it sits at about 69.3 solid and doesn't run wild like it had been all day yesterday like it was in the video.

I'm stumped now.
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Re: BCS-460 Fermbelt/Probe Issue

Post by micky5752 »

Let it go last night and the fermenter started to get a tad too warm, so I turned on the cool and brought it down to 68 as a set-point... With the differential I ran it down to 67.

So, just being curious, I bumped the Heat set-point from 68 to 69 to see what it would do and it started to go all over the map again, but all this time after it reached the set point prior to me messing with it, it read the temperature fine/stable even with the Heat option still turned on... Any guesses? Programming? I'll check the ground on the output to be sure it's still secure. Outside of that, I'm lost.
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Re: BCS-460 Fermbelt/Probe Issue

Post by JonW »

What exactly does "all over the map" mean? Are you getting spikes of many degrees and then dropping back down? Do you have a ground jumper from the BCS GND terminal to an earth ground? This is required for stable temps. Back to my original observation: there's obviously some interference from the heater, but the question remains, what exactly is the interference and how to mitigate it?
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Re: BCS-460 Fermbelt/Probe Issue

Post by micky5752 »

Sorry, I would say it means a fluctuation Above and Below the actual temperature. I don't think it has anything to do with the Temp Probe itself actually. When used for Cooling the same exact probe holds the read temp very well, without any wild fluctuations.

Now with that being said, the heater I do have does not have a ground plug on it. It is just a Reptile Undertank Heater that I have wrapped around the outside of the fermenter. Perhaps it is giving off some interference that is messing with the probe. I will take a realtime video tonight and show the intricacies of everything so perhaps something will stick out to you Jon.

As far as a "Earth Ground" .. I'm almost certain grounded it in the box when I built it. I'll open tonight and see exactly what may be going on. It never did it before the last couple brews, and then it started this erratic behavior. When I get that vid done and uploaded I'll post the link.
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