Webcontrol curing chamber

[Yannis]

At last my curing chamber is ready
It is based to webcontrol board from cai networks http://cainetworks.com/products/webcont ... l-faq.html

Here is a photo of the unit assembled in two cases from damaged pc power supplies. Almost eveything I used was found in my "junkbox" of electonics components. The controller is on the left, the middle board holds relay driver and relays,right board is a triple power supply 12V for relays, 9V for controller, adjustable 0-5V for humidity sensor.



Sensors are placed inside a vapona moth killer with thermoglue.





Utp cable is used to connect sensors to controller (upper RJ 45 connector) and ethernet (lower RJ 45 connector).



To connect ethernet from garage to home LAN I used a TPLink powerline adapter as it was the easier way by far.



Best thing with the controller is that I can monitor/program it from my room or from everywhere in the world through integrated web server !!!

I can also log status of chamber, here is a print screen showing temp and RH variations with 1 minute step.




Here is the controller placed on top of chamber. The smal brown box is a watchdog timer. If controller fails to send at least one pulse within 2 minutes then power is disconnected from controller for 8 sec performing a hardware reset. I had to do this as I had (and still have) reliability issues with sudden crashes. I have contacted support and probably I have a faulty board and I am considering buying a new one.



The refrigerator is very old, my parents bought it around 1968. It still works great and it only needed door seal replacement.



I removed door from freezer compartment for better air circulation as freezer is used as dehumidifier also.



I noticed that using freezer for cooling and dehumidifying sometimes causes compressor to turn off and on again quickly. As this can damage compressor I connected a delay on break timer and a 220V relay so after turned off it won't start again before 5 minutes have passed.



The curing chamber is not large but I think it will be enough for my family.



When I started this project I planned to use the exhaust fan to reduce RH but most of the time when I brought ambient air inside the RH increased instead. I use the exhaust fan twice a day for 3 minutes to bring fresh air in the chamber.



As the refrigerator is not frost-free I have to tranfer condensed moisture to a bucket outside.



The humidifier is Honeywell HH200E and a small 12V 60mm fan connected to 7V to disperse humidity which turns on when humidifier also turns on.



I tried a tubular heater 120W but it had very slow response and it took a lot of space so I made a 100W 230V heater from 20 100 Ohm 5W resistors and a small fan. The housing is from wraped aluminum sheet I will replace it soon with proper case.






The air outlet with gravity vent




The air inlet has insect screen and gravity vent inside chamber



And finaly a coppa is drying

[solaryellow]

Very imaginative! Did you write the code for the controller as well or did it come with it?

[Yannis]

Thanks solaryellow, I wrote the code for the controller and a friend helped me with the script that logs data to PC polling controller.

[solaryellow]

Thanks solaryellow, I wrote the code for the controller and a friend helped me with the script that logs data to PC polling controller.

Given any thought to producing a small run of them for those who may be interested but lack the time and knowledge?

[Yannis]

Given any thought to producing a small run of them for those who may be interested but lack the time and knowledge?

Unfortunately I also lack the time but I will be glad to help providing the code and information if anybody wants to build it. I have to mention though that this is not an easy project for someone without any experience in electronics.

[solaryellow]

I am not an EE but I do dabble from time to time with PLCs and other IO devices. My chosen profession is as a network engineer so what you have done isn't completely foreign to me but I do lack the time at the moment.

You have definitely done what I wanted to do with my fridge. Great job!

[Yannis]

Well it seems that we are colleagues, I have a degree in electronics but my chosen profession is also network engineer !!!

Ofcourse you would easily build this project but for somebody who has never used a soldering iron would be impossible.

[DanMcG]

Given any thought to producing a small run of them for those who may be interested but lack the time and knowledge?

that would be me.

I'm very impressed with you setup Yannis. I'd love to be able to check my chamber (if I ever make one) from a computer anytime , anywhere.
I always wanted something like this for my smoker .
If either of you decide to make these and need someone to test it out, I'm in.

Oh And the copa looks very nice too!!!

[wheels]

If either of you decide to make these and need someone to test it out, I'm in.

Oh And the copa looks very nice too!!!

Get in the queue!

That's superb Yannis.

Phil

[Yannis]

Thanks guys, I hope that it will pay me back the nights I spent and my wife's nagging

I made a batch of saucisson sec yesterday, my first ever dry cure salumi !!!

[NCPaul]

No web cam live feed? I hope my primitive approach works.

[Yannis]

That will be the next project