Thermoelectric wine cooler drying and curing - DIY
- Thread starter Hook Daddy
- Start date
Hollatchaboy
Well-Known Member
You an electrician?
Hollatchaboy
Well-Known Member
No, it's not stagnant. It's not airtight, and there's a fan on the dehuey.
Hollatchaboy
Well-Known Member
That's basically how it's done now.
gooshpoo
Well-Known Member
You dont use a compressor type of Ac unit because it pulls way to much humidity at a time and this will effect the end product.
You could "hack" the kooltron by direct wiring the peltier to the ac infinity controller directly. but within the controller you will need a complex automation to cycle peltier wile still maintaining what temp you want. you want the cycle in case it freezes . right now using the controller i have a rather long 5 part automation thats just controlling the humidifier. im not even using a RH set point, I have it off for the first 10 mins of every hour, this is so the humidity cam come back up some, then during the up time im cycling on for 1 min and off for 3 min. im just check the rh periodicly to make sure it is going down and staying down. doing this im having decent results using the controller 69 pro. but there is no reason to use the controller to control the temp its just a waste the onboard stuff works fine.
You could "hack" the kooltron by direct wiring the peltier to the ac infinity controller directly. but within the controller you will need a complex automation to cycle peltier wile still maintaining what temp you want. you want the cycle in case it freezes . right now using the controller i have a rather long 5 part automation thats just controlling the humidifier. im not even using a RH set point, I have it off for the first 10 mins of every hour, this is so the humidity cam come back up some, then during the up time im cycling on for 1 min and off for 3 min. im just check the rh periodicly to make sure it is going down and staying down. doing this im having decent results using the controller 69 pro. but there is no reason to use the controller to control the temp its just a waste the onboard stuff works fine.
The cannatrol (or wine fridge) is sealed, for one. That’s the basis of how it works. The rest of the process that cannatrol uses is predicated by using a completely sealed environment with no intake/exhaust/leaks. A tent cannot provide that fully sealed environment unless you find a way to make sure no air can pass through the seams, zippers, or tent fabric/liner. Since a tent can’t be adequately sealed, you’re always chasing something—heating, cooling, humidification, dehumidification—with your supporting devices as you maintain the necessary environmental settings.
Figure out how to manage a sealed environment with PID controls for temperature & humidity and you’ve got a full recreation of a cannatrol.
Hollatchaboy
Well-Known Member
Kinda the point I was getting at. The inboard temp control on the koolatron, doesn't need upgrading, so the inkbird is the cheaper, logical choice.
Hook Daddy
Well-Known Member
Generally the TEC is not turned off and on to cool, but is voltage regulated through a feedback loop. Power is never completely removed from the peltier, otherwise the heat sinks just cause the hot and cool sides to return to ambient temp very quickly, so using a separate controller to regulate the cooler by turning it off and on is counter productive.
and more reliable when using the plugs. Anytime I use a plug I lose functionality. It's a bug they still haven't fixed.
hoangcavalli
New Member
Let's learn about camera dehumidifiers 
Hook Daddy
Well-Known Member
A quick look showed me they do not control temperature, just humidity. Also they appear to be made more for components and electronics which don’t contain their own moisture, there is no drip tray, etc. The manuals I read for the several models I looked at said anything chemical, food, spices, etc. had to be in separate and sealed containers. That would be like taking sealed jars of buds and putting them in the Koolatron, not very effective. I’m sure they could be modified as well, but they are nothing more than a sealed environment with a dehumidifier, only half the battle.
Hollatchaboy
Well-Known Member
stale
Well-Known Member
i built two and took them on a test run.
i put my harvest directly in there. in about 5 days i tested some rosin and it was great. good consistency for squishing. dense dry buds. I then jared up those buds… jar sat at 60rh after a day… nice
i learned my airflow sucks. this mesh sucks and i can measure a big change in rh swing from top to bottom racks. Where do you guys get that food grade mesh for your racks?
Do you guys set them for a constant temp and rh? or step it down gradually?
i was pretty surprised that my bud was looking so good after 5 days. and i can fit about 1 plant per fridge if i pack them in there a little… still allowing for airflow… it definitely helps with the logistics around my little grow room. very happy with them
i put my harvest directly in there. in about 5 days i tested some rosin and it was great. good consistency for squishing. dense dry buds. I then jared up those buds… jar sat at 60rh after a day… nice
i learned my airflow sucks. this mesh sucks and i can measure a big change in rh swing from top to bottom racks. Where do you guys get that food grade mesh for your racks?
Do you guys set them for a constant temp and rh? or step it down gradually?
i was pretty surprised that my bud was looking so good after 5 days. and i can fit about 1 plant per fridge if i pack them in there a little… still allowing for airflow… it definitely helps with the logistics around my little grow room. very happy with them
gooshpoo
Well-Known Member
I think most people here are stepping down gradually, im using a ac infinity controller and have an automation setup that turns the cycle of 1-2 min on 3 min off ,then turns off for a full 10 min at the beginning of each hour. im still testing these settings but im seeing a gradual decrease in rh over time.
Hook Daddy
Well-Known Member
Glad to hear you’re liking them. I found my mesh for the racks on Amazon, it a food grade mesh for grilling and dehydrators.
Here’s a link: https://amzn.to/3RXlz4t
I set mine for a constant temp at 55-60f, I haven’t noticed a huge difference between the two. I step the rh down gradually.
Hollatchaboy
Well-Known Member
What were the observed differences?
Hook Daddy
Well-Known Member
Like I said not much noticeable, but I haven’t done a side by side with the same plant at different temps (yet). They both come out excellent, I think the lower temp may preserve some of the terps better but don’t want to say that without being able to back it up. Now that I have two coolers it might have to be an official test next harvest.
TCH
Well-Known Member
I just listened to the Growcast episode from 1/1/2024 and they talk about vpd and touch on curing as well. Great episode and they break down the vpd for dummies. I'm gonna listen again and take a couple notes to apply to dry/cure in the Koolatron.
Just in case anybody is interested.
Just in case anybody is interested.
Hollatchaboy
Well-Known Member
I'm sorry, my bad eyes. I thought you said you seen a difference. Lol