HeaterMeter ---> CoolerMeter


 

MANowell

New member
For cold smoking in hot climates, I'd like to use a HeaterMeter with fan to introduce cold air into a smoking cabinet to keep the heat DOWN, not UP. Is there a way to do this simply, maybe inverting values in the PID settings?
 
Or select "invert output" for the fan? That should make the fan stop blowing when the pit temp is low and make it start blowing when the pit temp is too high I'm pretty sure... Never tried it myself but it seems that is what it should do...
 
Or select "invert output" for the fan? That should make the fan stop blowing when the pit temp is low and make it start blowing when the pit temp is too high I'm pretty sure... Never tried it myself but it seems that is what it should do...

I think this is the correct way to do it. The PID doesn't care about heating or cooling, it just wants to keep things at the set temperature. Might need to tweek the PID values a bit, but sticking with the defaults to start is probably a good start.
 
Or select "invert output" for the fan? That should make the fan stop blowing when the pit temp is low and make it start blowing when the pit temp is too high I'm pretty sure... Never tried it myself but it seems that is what it should do...
Yup, right as always.

I've run a cooling device before with HeaterMeter except with the "invert output" set (back when it was called "invert fan output"). It was actually a fan sucking air from a insulated area filled with ice into the temperature controlled region. Worked pretty well. I've also used it with peltier TECs for both heating and cooling purposes.
 
Yup, right as always.

I've run a cooling device before with HeaterMeter except with the "invert output" set (back when it was called "invert fan output"). It was actually a fan sucking air from a insulated area filled with ice into the temperature controlled region. Worked pretty well. I've also used it with peltier TECs for both heating and cooling purposes.

That was exactly where I was going. You find a peltier that worked well? The cheap stryo cooler filled with ice occurred to me yesterday...
 
Peltiers aren't that great. I have a couple lying around from when I used them to cool my Athlon Thunderbird back in the day. I have no idea where I got them but I remember them being very expensive. Oh, how far China has come in the past two decades! Older HeaterMeters (4.0 and 4.1) were more capable of handling peltiers because they only did PWM. With 4.2's buck converter, all the current has to pass through the inductor, which is rated for 1A max. All the traces on the PCB are kinda skinny to carry more than 1 amp as well. You can sort of mod the HeaterMeter board with some thicker gauge wire to interconnect 12V -> MOSFET -> output if you go this direction.

The "cool chamber" idea works very well actually. I used some 1" styrofoam board from home depot to build a two-chambered box. The cold chamber I put a frozen 1/2 gallon milk jug in, and put my fermenter in the other side. They were separated by a wall with a hole at the bottom for a fan with a piece of paper taped to the top which flopped down to sort of form a damper when the fan was off. Return air came from a hole near the top. I'd swap out the milk jugs as they'd thaw. Worked sufficiently well.
 
This did not seem to work for me. With or without the invert polarity option checked my fan comes on when the temp is too low, I would like it turns turn on when the temp is too high. Anyone have any suggestions? Does it work for anyone else?
 
With the Invert output option selected, as the temperature rises, the blower output should increase and as the temperature lowers, the blower output should decrease.

Can you provide some more info on how you've got things setup?
 
With the Invert output option selected, as the temperature rises, the blower output should increase and as the temperature lowers, the blower output should decrease.

Can you provide some more info on how you've got things setup?

Sure. I am running a newly built Heatermeter 4.3 thermocouple build with a raspberry pi 3 linkmeter. I am trying to use a fan to evacuate hot air from the top of my propane smoker when the temperature is too high rather than using a blower to stoke the fire when the temperature is too low. What I had hoped (and the way it seems to be supposed to work) is that when I checked the fan's "Invert Output" the fan would come on when the temp was too hot and shut off when the temp was too low.

What I seemed to find when I tried yesterday was that checking the button did make some sort of change (seemed to slow the fan speed down), it did not alter the on/off state when compared to the setpoint. I can run a few more trials tonight or tomorrow, I didn't have time to experiment too much last night. Thanks for any assistance!
 
Maybe it is your "on above" or Min/Max settings for the blower?
Keep it simple, set on above 0%, min 0% and both Max 100% and see what she does....
 

 

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