Thermoelectric wine cooler drying and curing - DIY

T

Tricky Babsly

Member
Howdy peeps.

I just wanna get a slightly better understanding of the cycles proper buffer settings.

So I chopped and hung for 24hrs at ~65/60%, removed all but small sugar leaves short stems on larger buds all else is just nugs. I placed in the Koolatron and started at 60f/68% with 5 point buffer. Have since moved to 55f/66% with 3 point buffer. (The 6th will be 72hrs in the Koolatron) Now the cycles of the dehumidifier are very rapid (i.e. 2 mins or so) goes from 58f/66% at cycle start and runs until it hits 60f/62% and cycles off. These short cycles seem like I'm overworking/not enough buffer. Am I doing something wrong here I'm not seeing after reading this thread up until now? I see a few changes since the start, like no hang time now and starting at ~76rh and working down 1% a day. Anything I need to change, I would appreciate the insight.

I included a graph of the cycles.
 

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TCH

TCH

Well-Known Member
Tricky Babsly said:
Howdy peeps.

I just wanna get a slightly better understanding of the cycles proper buffer settings.

So I chopped and hung for 24hrs at ~65/60%, removed all but small sugar leaves short stems on larger buds all else is just nugs. I placed in the Koolatron and started at 60f/68% with 5 point buffer. Have since moved to 55f/66% with 3 point buffer. (The 6th will be 72hrs in the Koolatron) Now the cycles of the dehumidifier are very rapid (i.e. 2 mins or so) goes from 58f/66% at cycle start and runs until it hits 60f/62% and cycles off. These short cycles seem like I'm overworking/not enough buffer. Am I doing something wrong here I'm not seeing after reading this thread up until now? I see a few changes since the start, like no hang time now and starting at ~76rh and working down 1% a day. Anything I need to change, I would appreciate the insight.

I included a graph of the cycles.
Click to expand...
When fresh, the humidity will be constantly on the move. You can tell it's working if 1. the dehumidifier is cycling like you said and 2. If your water tray on the bottom is filling up. Also, keep on eye on that tray and soak up the water out of it as often as needed. You don't want that to overflow and cause problems or damage. You'll be amazed how much water actually gets pulled out.
 
Foilcard

Foilcard

Member
Hey I'm hoping someone can help me here. I've got the inkbird set to trigger at 62%, but can't figure out how to have it keep running until it gets to 53%. It always just stops running when it gets below 62%. Do I need a different controller?
 
Hook Daddy

Hook Daddy

Well-Known Member
Foilcard said:
Hey I'm hoping someone can help me here. I've got the inkbird set to trigger at 62%, but can't figure out how to have it keep running until it gets to 53%. It always just stops running when it gets below 62%. Do I need a different controller?
Click to expand...
Set the dehumidifier to 53% if you want it to run to 53%. I’m not sure why you would want that though.
 
Foilcard

Foilcard

Member
Oh sorry! I might be confused. I noticed on the first page of this forum you mentioned "set for 62% rh to trigger the dehumidifier, 9% drop until it turns off". That's where I'm running into trouble. I have it set for 62, but turns off right when it gets under 62. I'm not sure how to set the 9% drop until it turns off if that makes sense. Also, thanks for all this. I almost bought a cannatrol and am really happy I found you!
 
Hook Daddy

Hook Daddy

Well-Known Member
Foilcard said:
Oh sorry! I might be confused. I noticed on the first page of this forum you mentioned "set for 62% rh to trigger the dehumidifier, 9% drop until it turns off". That's where I'm running into trouble. I have it set for 62, but turns off right when it gets under 62. I'm not sure how to set the 9% drop until it turns off if that makes sense. Also, thanks for all this. I almost bought a cannatrol and am really happy I found you!
Click to expand...
On the first page we were still figuring some things out. I now set the difference to only 1%, which on the Inkbird is in settings and called dehumidification difference value. If set at 62%, it will then turn on when humidity rises above 63% and turn off at 62%. If the difference is set at 9% it would turn on at 71% and back off at 62%.
 
gooshpoo

gooshpoo

Well-Known Member
UnknownRemedy said:
She's been loaded for almost 4 days now, bringing her down to 68% hopefully by Saturday, and then dropping by 1% every day after. I'm excited to see how she smokes.
View attachment 5398313View attachment 5398314
Click to expand...
I dont hang dry first, I go in wet and put the dehumidifier on a 3min on 2 min off cycle and check the min max humidity once a day. And once it hits the 60's in the max range thats when I start to do rh set points and walking it down.
 
UnknownRemedy

UnknownRemedy

Well-Known Member
gooshpoo said:
I dont hang dry first, I go in wet and put the dehumidifier on a 3min on 2 min off cycle and check the min max humidity once a day. And once it hits the 60's in the max range thats when I start to do rh set points and walking it down.
Click to expand...
Hmm I'll keep that in mind. What I did was set my dehumidifier at 73 with a buffer of 5. So when it hit 73 it turned on and dropped it to 68. Over 6 days I walked it down to 68, and now over 8 days I'm going to walk it down with a 1% buffer all the way till 60.

I didn't hang dry either btw.
 
B

binkskii

New Member
gooshpoo said:
I dont hang dry first, I go in wet and put the dehumidifier on a 3min on 2 min off cycle and check the min max humidity once a day. And once it hits the 60's in the max range thats when I start to do rh set points and walking it down.
Click to expand...
Could you detail how you took apart the dehumidifier and which wires you connected where? This is the only issue I’m having
 
UnknownRemedy

UnknownRemedy

Well-Known Member
binkskii said:
Could you detail how you took apart the dehumidifier and which wires you connected where? This is the only issue I’m having
Click to expand...
I've used my little knowledge of electrical work. There's 4 wires that connect to the peltier. 2 red, 2 black. Red is positive and black is negative. Strip the wires a bit, connect red to red, and black to black. Then use connect 2 wires to your now connected wires. Connect red to light blue and black to dark blue. Just like he has on the first page. https://www.rollitup.org/t/thermoelectric-wine-cooler-drying-and-curing-diy.1088980/#lg=attachment5273720&slide=0
 
CWF

CWF

Well-Known Member
This is the rH controller I'm going to use ($17). It also does temp, but the internal circuit for that works fine and has some cool features, so I'm going to leave the temp control and display as-is, stock. The controller is small and can be mounted in the back side panel space if you cut a small rectangular opening. I'll probably sticky tape it on until I decide where to cut a hole for it in the wine cooler back area. The probe is shown hanging my the Ecowitt room T&H unit. I calibrated the controller to match the eco. I got a 12V unit because I was hoping to power it off the dehumidifier supply, usually 12V (I tried tapping 12V off the Koolatron power supply, but it bogged it down).
ctldev_noex.jpeg
Plan is to power the controller and dehumi with the same DC wall power supply that comes with the dehumidifier.

It's pretty easy to remove the back cover. I did some reverse engineering study of the stock supply and how it's wired, some online research. It's a pretty elegant circuit, has defrost built in, and if it ain't broke ... leave it alone. SO I just gotta add the dehumi, and wire it up.
 
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