New Furniture Grade Rack

Hi thanks for the replies. I finally figured it out :gj:. We had a couple of things wrong. First was that when plugging the tape in directly to an extension cord we found that the tape would heat and then after a few minutes it would pop the circuit breaker! We found that during our initial wiring job (late night and maybe a couple of beers :cool:) we wired the switches in parallel with all of the other wiring. Basically turning them into butt splices! This increased the amperage across the load and pop goes the breaker. We rewired the switches (to the original designed configuration before beers) so that now they are an interrupt on the neutral side therefore breaking the circuit. So switches are good! (pictures later). Finally i took bproffer's advice and grabbed my dad's multimeter. We found that the power going to the thermostat was 120volts ac and coming out to the load...absolutely ZERO!! :taz: I tried all the settings and could get nothing to come out of the load end either for heating or cooling. Ordering a new stat...well...stat lol(corny i know). I will update when i get it in. In the meantime I will be putting the edge banding(veneer) on to cover the exposed edges and tuck the wires. Thanks all for support and viewing my project!

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Originally Posted by ItsAllNew2Me!

Hi thanks for the replies. I finally figured it out :gj:. We had a couple of things wrong. First was that when plugging the tape in directly to an extension cord we found that the tape would heat and then after a few minutes it would pop the circuit breaker! We found that during our initial wiring job (late night and maybe a couple of beers :cool:) we wired the switches in parallel with all of the other wiring. Basically turning them into butt splices! This increased the amperage across the load and pop goes the breaker. We rewired the switches (to the original designed configuration before beers) so that now they are an interrupt on the neutral side therefore breaking the circuit. So switches are good! (pictures later). Finally i took bproffer's advice and grabbed my dad's multimeter. We found that the power going to the thermostat was 120volts ac and coming out to the load...absolutely ZERO!! :taz: I tried all the settings and could get nothing to come out of the load end either for heating or cooling. Ordering a new stat...well...stat lol(corny i know). I will update when i get it in. In the meantime I will be putting the edge banding(veneer) on to cover the exposed edges and tuck the wires. Thanks all for support and viewing my project!

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sounds like you are on the right track. Could be that because you had them wired wrong you could have damaged the relay or the controller board, Or it was defective from the get go. Either way, good luck going forward.

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Originally Posted by bproffer

sounds like you are on the right track. Could be that because you had them wired wrong you could have damaged the relay or the controller board, Or it was defective from the get go. Either way, good luck going forward.

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Thanks...I spoke with the ebay seller today and found out that the model i have does not power the load at all! :colbert: It is just to be used as a switch. They finally sent some examples of wiring (the ones they package aren't very clear at all). I am going to be trying this tonight.

Finally! We got it working!! :gj: Thermostat is installed and the heat tape is warming. We got all the switches wired correctly and the levels only start to heat when they are in the on position. Man i'm excited. All that is left is to move it to my house, put on the back panel, Route the remaining wires, and a week of testing before the big move! :dance:

Pictures following via tapatalk

Picture of the stc-1000 thermostat

http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/12...f3aa5acdb4.jpg

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My dad happens to have a biscuit cutter which was perfect for making the grooves to route the wires

http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/12...d7a815b4e4.jpg

http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/12...45f29f6d17.jpg

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Also courtesy of my dad he made some metal plates to secure the switches we will still need to drill holes in the back panel to access them (he likes to go ask out lol)

http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/12...83407c8af8.jpg
Sorry for the duplicate pic
http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/12...96adad6d0c.jpg



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Just the back with the heat tape wired and taped with Aluminum tape

http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/12...9532a7286b.jpg

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i'm glad everything worked out. :)

cutting a a channel for the wiring is a nice touch esp. if u are adding a back panel. it will help everything be flush.

the toggle switches. u just run wires in and out of them in between each level of heat tape? another nice idea. :gj:

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Originally Posted by Ax01

i'm glad everything worked out. :)

cutting a a channel for the wiring is a nice touch esp. if u are adding a back panel. it will help everything be flush.

the toggle switches. u just run wires in and out of them in between each level of heat tape? another nice idea. :gj:

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Thanks me too! Yes for the toggle switches we just put them on the neutral so that when you flip the switch you break the circuit between that shelf and the ones below it. I plan to fill the rack from the top down. That way a few weeks before any new animals come out of quarantine i just flip a switch to allow the tape to get up to temp and stabilize. This will also help to save a few pennies when not in use lol.