Dry Cure chamber project

TrickyDick

New member
Well I began today. Long ways to go still. Going to try to add some pics to the thread from my droid phone. Wish me luck.

TD
 

TrickyDick

New member
29121f9056183c7147f823f81b0ffffc.jpg
 

TrickyDick

New member
Well I'm stalled out on this for the moment. I'd originally planned to use an STC-1000 temp controller to run the fridge and installed lights for heating/cooling. For humidity control, I had planned to operate a an ultrasonic humidifier via a humidity controller. there was no means to do both humidification and dehumidification without a second humidity controller, and the two would need to be manually turned on or off. There is no means of temp/RH% logging. Then I stumbled onto someone else's project that offered all of these options with control via an Arduino Uno. So I am stalled at the programming phase. The wiring, I have a decent concept about. The programming, I know basically nothing about: dabbled with stuff in my teens and college, but that was it. This is way over my head, and unless I can get some specific help or advice, its going to be a long time for me learn how to write the code to operate the controller(s) to do what I want.

I'll hopefully be figuring this out in the next few months, and will proceed with either that dumb temp controller/humidity controller option, or get a programmer to help me out.

TD
 

TrickyDick

New member
Well had a breakthrough on this today. I was able to get the code to compile and upload to my Uno board. Next steps are going to be wiring it all up and final hardware mounting, etc.

More to come, and hopefully soon!

TD
 

TentHunter

Moderator
Dick, glad you got it figured out. You have me intrigued with this Arduino Uno controller, and I see they are relatively inexpensive to boot.
 

TrickyDick

New member
Yes. In addition you need some additional electronics: fan (s), some lamps if you want to heat/ferment or live somewhere cold, some relays, an LCD display, and a few other components. The Ultrasonic humidifier is perhaps the most expensive piece, besides the fridge.

I should be wiring my unit up soon.

The coding on the Arduino Uno I think needs additional work to enable some of the primary functions, and to streamline its operation, but from what I have seen, it does work at controlling humidity up or down and temperature down. Can optionally be modified to make a cold smoker or even hot smoker.

I am waiting for a couple of parts from UPS and then I'll be testing out my wiring abilities!

TD
 

TrickyDick

New member
OK. SO I think I fouled up the sensor. New one arrives tomorrow. I believe that I have all the wiring correct on the test setup. Once I can confirm that its working, I'll do the final wiring. With luck might finish over the weekend. Also, at the local sausage shop where they do dry cure and fresh sausages, I obtained the source for their casings. You can buy pre-flushed and tubed! Unfortunately the arrival of 90º+ days in FL will probably prevent me from doing much until fall, but maybe I'll do a few small batches indoors. My indoor kitchen is pretty small for all the grinding and stuffing apparatus.
The Uno board I have is the Italian Arduino one, and was $27 I think. Its all open source though, and you can get China made versions for under $10. I ordered two of these for some additional projects: Temp controlled proofing chamber, TBD.
TD
 

TrickyDick

New member
Well... I can't seem to get things working right with my sensor. Might go back to original plan, which is a dumb setup (cannot log the data over time) that can add humidity, or raise or lower temperature, each controlled individually with standard controllers. In the meantime I can tinker with the Arduino Uno, (and possibly a raspberry Pi board combined) to get everything working.
 
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