Temp Controller

[Garrete]

UPDATE
First, a B-I-G toast, beer raise to OZWALD!!!
We talked for a bit on the phone. He was trying to help me wire my A419ABC-1C. I got myself in trouble by looking at other sites. I thought I had it under control. I took the old power cord from the old unit. The color of wiring inside threw me; a brown, a blue and a green and yellow striped wire. So Ozwald is trying to explain how to do this, but it isn't making sense. Finally he realized what power cord I was trying to do and that is why things did not make sense to me. So he told me how to wire it up, once I get a proper cord. So later I get a cord cut it up, splice it up, and hook it up. My future brother-in-law, who is an electrician, see me messing around with some stuff and so he checks it out. Guess the jumper wire fell out on me, but I didn't see it. So he fixes that for me. Today I go down to finish the project, we started to drink beer yesterday... beer+electricity=TROUBLE. I re-check all the wire to make sure they are going where they need to. I close up the box and fearfully plug in the controller. Nothing showed up on the controller screen. After a few seconds I unplug it from the wall and open it up. Guess my brother-in-law did the same thing I did and the jumper wire came out on him too! Guess I didn't check my wires as good as I thought either. Plugged it in... it runs like a dream. Cuts out when it should. Since I am not fermenting at the moment, letting the yeast do some clean up in my Irish Red, not 100% positive, but I am sure it will cut-in when it needs to.

For those wondering which unit to buy, the little $57 controller from Northern Brewer or the $80 one, the one I bought. Go for the A419. IF I had to do over again, I would have spent the extra money at first.

Now to plan for my next brew and REALLY test the controller. Thanks again to everyone who helped and especially Ozwald!
PROST

[Ozwald]

UPDATE
First, a B-I-G toast, beer raise to OZWALD!!!
We talked for a bit on the phone. He was trying to help me wire my A419ABC-1C. I got myself in trouble by looking at other sites. I thought I had it under control. I took the old power cord from the old unit. The color of wiring inside threw me; a brown, a blue and a green and yellow striped wire. So Ozwald is trying to explain how to do this, but it isn't making sense. Finally he realized what power cord I was trying to do and that is why things did not make sense to me. So he told me how to wire it up, once I get a proper cord. So later I get a cord cut it up, splice it up, and hook it up. My future brother-in-law, who is an electrician, see me messing around with some stuff and so he checks it out. Guess the jumper wire fell out on me, but I didn't see it. So he fixes that for me. Today I go down to finish the project, we started to drink beer yesterday... beer+electricity=TROUBLE. I re-check all the wire to make sure they are going where they need to. I close up the box and fearfully plug in the controller. Nothing showed up on the controller screen. After a few seconds I unplug it from the wall and open it up. Guess my brother-in-law did the same thing I did and the jumper wire came out on him too! Guess I didn't check my wires as good as I thought either. Plugged it in... it runs like a dream. Cuts out when it should. Since I am not fermenting at the moment, letting the yeast do some clean up in my Irish Red, not 100% positive, but I am sure it will cut-in when it needs to.

For those wondering which unit to buy, the little $57 controller from Northern Brewer or the $80 one, the one I bought. Go for the A419. IF I had to do over again, I would have spent the extra money at first.

Now to plan for my next brew and REALLY test the controller. Thanks again to everyone who helped and especially Ozwald!
PROST

That jumper can be a bitch on the left side. You didn't call back, so I figured you had it all worked out. Good to hear brotha, ferment away!

And for anyone interested, you can save quite a bit of money by using the BN's Amazon link & purchasing the unit through there. If you go with the A419ABC-1C instead of the A419ABG-3C to save money, I'd recommend buying it from Energy Saving Controls & definitely not HVAC Parts Warehouse. The list price is just a touch higher, but the cheaper shipping breaks you even, or maybe a touch less. I bought one from each of them & HVAC's customer service rep was a complete asshole. After dealing with that idiot, I'd even pay a few extra bucks to support someone else's business.

[BanditoBrewito]

So I started off with a Johnson A419, and it swings from 64-70F (when I have it set at 69F, 1F dif, 12min asd). I'm a relatively novice brewer, and have been steadily tweaking my process with each brew I do. Bought a Ranco for tighter control, managed to properly wire it, and it was holding 66-69F (set at 68F, 1F dif). Unfortunately a set of of the spliced wires fell out, had a short, and the Ranco's done. My questions are: is the 64-70F swing acceptable (know it's not ideal)? And can I somehow salvage my Ranco?

[Ozwald]

So I started off with a Johnson A419, and it swings from 64-70F (when I have it set at 69F, 1F dif, 12min asd). I'm a relatively novice brewer, and have been steadily tweaking my process with each brew I do. Bought a Ranco for tighter control, managed to properly wire it, and it was holding 66-69F (set at 68F, 1F dif). Unfortunately a set of of the spliced wires fell out, had a short, and the Ranco's done. My questions are: is the 64-70F swing acceptable (know it's not ideal)? And can I somehow salvage my Ranco?

You shouldn't be having that much swing with the A419. How do (did) you have it wired? How is the probe on the inside? Do you have a fan inside? What are you using for the fermentation chamber?

As far as the Ranco, it really depends on how/where it shorted & what got damaged. Tough one to answer over a forum.

[scotchpine]

I figure this fits here, rather than start a new thread, so here goes: I bought an A419 2 years ago and it worked fine controlling my keezer temp till I came home from a week at the beach this August and found it at 7 degrees! Blown up bomber bottle mess and 4 kegs frozen solid. I recovered from that and reset the controller (settings still looked right when froze up, btw), since I can check it twice a day when home. It worked fine another 30 days then I realaxed a couple days and checked it and found 7 degrees again. It's set at 40 and the probe is hanging halfway down keezer wall from lid opening. I figure the gasket being so thick an soft is not stressing the probe wire. I emailed 3B and they did'nt know what to tell me unless I need a new probe or unit. No idea why it would failed. Anyone have a similar experience with and A419? Should I just send the whole thing back to 3B after more than 2 years now? Luckily, I had a spare Ranco unit I was gonna use for a ferm chamber later so I'm still ok for now. It still looks brand new but does the A419 just go in the trash?

[Ozwald]

Just a guess, but it sounds like the probe went bad which is known to happen from time to time. I've had 3 of these for years & never had a problem with them. I know PexSupply sells them for about $20, but if you spent a little time digging for A419 sensor or A419 probe, you could likely find one cheaper. I wouldn't give up on it, but having a cheap analog unit around for a backup wouldn't be a bad idea either.

[mordantly]

my johnson.. tee hee. no, really, my a419 seems to have figured out how not to overshoot temps. i have 39F, 1F DIFF, 12 ASD. nothing has changed, but now it comes on at 40F and kicks off 20 or so minutes later and the probe still reads 40F. then the temp slowly drops (compressor has turned off remember) down to 37-38F. then at some 8ish hour interval she kicks on again. anyone else heard of this temp compensation?

[scotchpine]

Bump for this reason: The Ranco controller I replaced my Johnson 419 with last Sept has now gone the same route. Set at 40 and it is heading down to freezing so I have unplugged it. This time I have a hunch the "brown out" we had at my house yesterday had something to do with this. Power was flickering on and off for several minutes. I have unplugged and replugged in the unit and checked the settings. I'm afraid this unit is fried but don't know how to test it and that make 2 temp controllers I now have that are useless. Beer will be served at room temp in about 12 hours. These things ain't cheap. Any suggestions before I am forced to buy a 3rd new unit?