Now supplying STC-1000 instruments only

[Cedaronics]

I've bitten the bullet and imported a whole bunch of STC-1000s from my new chum in China and have put some of them on eBay to test the market there. I believe I am offering the best price for this item on the Bay as of now. Here's the link:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=181013210564

I felt it was a bit of a gamble sending nearly US$1000 to a complete stranger in a far off land, but it's worked out. It's been a nervous time, but they're all here!

Anyway, completely self-promoting this. If they sell ok on eBay then I think I'll put them on the ecommerce site too/instead, but the price won't be much less, to be perfectly honest - the margins are pretty narrow out there, I can tell you.


DSC06379 by Tim Redberry, on Flickr

Any queries or bulk orders most welcome!

Tim
Cedaronics

 

[tazuk]

i use a stc-1000 on my fermenting fridge can not fault them :thumb:

 

[MacKiwi]

Hmmm, I think I'm in the market for one of these :)

Just to check, do I need to add any external relays or SSRs, or does the unit switch directly?

 

[Cedaronics]

If you get an STC alone, you have to do the wiring with a bigger relay on the heating side if you want to be on the safe side. I suppose what I'm charging for on the built units is gathering all the myriad of parts and assembling them into one coherent 'thing'. This STC alone is really aimed at anyone who wants to build there own, and quite a few do. They have uses beyond brewing, which is why so many are sold in the 'aquarium' section of eBay.

I don't know of anyone using SSR' with these - you'll find those on the PIDs that are being built, but are most definitely not for fridge use.

 

[tazuk]

i built mine like this :thumb:

 

[Cedaronics]

i use a stc-1000 on my fermenting fridge can not fault them :thumb:

Yes, I think in 300 I've only had one dud.

 

[Craven Brewer]

i use a stc-1000 on my fermenting fridge can not fault them :thumb:

Yes, I think in 300 I've only had one dud.

+1 for me, brilliant bit of kit.

 

[Springer]

Wish I had waited till now instead of getting my second unit, (there are brillient) off ebay last week. :)
Price looks good to me and supporting a sponsor.
S

 

[Belter]

If you use it to control a fridge you're very unlikely to need anything other than the STC, a project box and a few sockets.


That's a great price for a UK Seller. I was tempted to do this myself but was also concerned about the market.

 

[Cedaronics]

It's not something I would recommend jumping into without a bit of experience in the first place. Importing has potential downfalls, and you have to put a huge amount of trust on the line. You are competing with fellas from China who import BIG TIME and who might be making a bit more, but then they are risking more. Some of these on the Bay for around £25 which seems absurd - if you do your homework, you'll see the benchmark is anywhere between £12 (which must be only break-even I think) and £19. Watch out for the postings costs.

I'm thinking of importing some of the ATC-800+ unit which is quite a nice piece of work, but the STC is the really popular one.

 

[MacKiwi]

Ok, I RTFMed and the internal hot/cold relays are rated to 10A. I guess this is why you've suggested an external relay on the heating side, as you could conceivably plug a 13A appliance in there.

As I'll be using this to control the temperature in a fermentation cupboard, and a 60W heating tube uses much less than 1A, I think this will be fine without any external relays (obviously I'll fuse the outputs to 10A or less to protect from overload).

Sounds good, I'll be buying one! Hopefully I can do as neat a job as Tazuk...

 

[Cedaronics]

Correct on the external relay.

Depends much on what you intend to control, heat-wise. Some use it to control an HLT (kettle element usually), that's why they demand the relay.

Good luck.

 

[Underscore]

That is a good price from Cedaronics. I just bought one off eBay a couple of weeks back and paid £18 from a UK seller.

Mine now looks very much like tazuk's (except black and the use of simple grommets where the mains cables go into/out of the box). I've fitted a 3A fuse as I'm only controlling a heated tray (and possibly a fridge in the future) so the built in relays are fine for me.

_

 

[Muddydisco]

Dam good Price I've put me down for 4 :) Thanks Tim :hat: :thumb:

I hope your pushing these on the Aquatics forums as well, a lot of them guy's use these as well :thumb:

 

[Cedaronics]

Got it MD - I'll refund a portion of the postage as it is more than covered.

Aquatics - no, I don't go on these forums. I did ask on a few about advertising, but it's so horrendously expensive, I gave it a miss. Contrary to what some might think, I don't spend my time spamming forums! But feel free to do so for me!

Yours will be out tomorrow, MD, thanks.

 

[Cedaronics]

btw, having said I'd only had one dud one in 300, I have another today!

The terminal on the cold relay won't clamp down properly, so it's no good to me, but the heating relay is ok. If anyone wants it for £2, then it's yours plus postage (£3) if interested please pm me. I'm sure someone might be able to use it for heating only.

 

[Muddydisco]

:hat: Thanks Tim

 

[TRXnMe]

Can you supply solid state relays as well as the STC1000?

I'm definitely after a STC1000 for a fridge, but might be after a couple of SSRs for a HLT I'm in the process of putting together, I'd rather buy from a sponsor if possible* :)



*especially at these prices

 

[Cedaronics]

The SSR I sourced in the past is one from Celduc, and it's the one I put in my PID. Cost would probably be prohibitive at around £15. It's a 25A model.

Problem is that I get clobbered for postage for two SSRs and this cost has to go on top of the cost of the SSR itself.

Listen chaps, if I get a nasty shock from customs and excise for import duties/VAT, I will definitely have to increase the price. When ever I have bought ten at a time, in ten transactions I think I had one demand for taxes from Fedex, so it may or may not happen.

 

[Cedaronics]

Re: the spare that had a cooling relay fault I had, that's been sold, thank you.

Secondly, the first ten flew out of eBay in three days, unbelievably! I've put another ten on there now, but need the rest to make up the controllers that go on the Cedaronics site.

If all goes well, I'll import another large batch just after Christmas.

Thanks everyone. :)

Tim