My Dry Cure Cabinet Build

[Mr Walleye]

I finally got around to building my dry cure cabinet. I picked up this top mount compressor commercial freezer for free. It had a wiring problem so I played around with it until I figured out the problem. Once I had it running I could figure out how I was going to tie in the controls.

I worked with Suyi at Auber some time ago to come up with a controller that could control both adding humidity and dehumidify simultaneously. He has had them on his web site for some time now. Unfortunately it took me a while to find a cabinet and some time to work on it. For the dehumidification cycle I'm using a 3 inch fan mounted on the exterior of the cabinet at the top. I also have an intake vent at the bottom on the opposite side. Both have filters on them.

Both the humidity and temperature controllers have dual display so you can see the set value and actual value at the same time which is nice.

So far I've only ran it empty but it's working quit well. I'm getting temperatures of about a 4 degree swing (2 degrees above and 2 degrees below set point). My humidity stays within about a 6% swing (3% over and 3% Under). The only exception is when the compressor cuts in I will loss about 10 or 15% humidity for about 30 or 40 seconds before it recovers. If it over shoots my dehumidify fan cuts in and reduces the humidity.





I rewired the fan you see in the cabinet to run while the compressor is running. It was thermostatically controlled but at these temperatures the compressor only runs for about 30 to 40 seconds every 15 to 20 minutes. The fan pulls air in the front and blows it down the back wall. It's a fairly large fan but I was surprised it really doesn't blow that hard which is probably a good thing.




This is the fan used for dehumidifying. There's a filter on the outside of it.




I cut a 3 inch hole for the fan and lined it with aluminum.




This is the intake for the dehumidify cycle. It's a 3 inch hole as well, lined with aluminum with a filter on the exterior.







Here's the only thing on the interior of the cabinet, just the thermalcouple and the humidity sensor.




This shows the humidity flowing in through the fitting in the side of the cabinet.




I modified the humidifier to accept a 3/4 inch hose to pipe the humidity into the cabinet.










I thought I took more pictures of the wiring but this is the only one I have. With the switch and the plug on the back the boxes are fairly full but work very well.







You can see on the humidity controller the alarm light (small red light) is on bringing the humidity down.




Mike


Edit - April 14/13 - To add settings and terminal wiring.

As I indicated I've been working with Suyi from Auber as there appears to some interference getting to the SLY 2342H humidity controller which periodically causes it to lockup. I haven't identified the source which could be the fan, the humidifier, or even the RH sensor itself but we have come up with what appears to be the solution. You will need a Noise Suppression RC Snubber. It's available from Auber. The snubber has 2 leads and you connect them to terminals 9 & 10, polarity doesn't matter. The other setting to watch is the Hy setting. At this point it works flawlessly with a setting of 1.0 on my setup. I'm still playing with this setting and will update this with what I find.

Here's the settings & terminal wiring that I'm using on this controller setup.

SYL 2342H Settings (Humidity Controller)

ALM1 = 76 (this setting you adjust based on when you want the dehumidify fan cutting in)
ALM2 = 0.0
Hy1 = 9999
Hy2 = 9999
Hy = 1.0
Pb = 0.0
AL-P = 17
COOL = 0
LocK = 0

The wiring to the controller is as follows:

1 – Hot out to the venting fan for dehumidify cycle
2 – Green wire from RH sensor
3 – n/a
4 – Red wire from RH sensor
5 – Black wire from RH sensor
6 – n/a
7 – Hot to humidifier
8 – Hot jumped from 9
9 – Hot from switch (main Hot coming to controller & jumped to terminal 8 & 13)(terminals 9 & 10 have a Noise Suppression RC Snubber across them)
10 – Neutral from switch (main neutral coming to controller, can also be jumped to the neutral for the dehumidify fan and the humidifier) (terminals 9 & 10 have a Noise Suppression RC Snubber across them)
13 – Hot Jumper from 9
14 – n/a


SYL 2342 (Temperature Controller) Settings
(these are the settings I changed, all the others are factory default)

ALM1 = 9999
ALM2 = -1999
Hy = 1.2 (You may have to play with this setting. You don't want the compressor running to frequently. With this setting mine only runs every 15 minutes or so.
At = 0
t = 10 (this is the cycle time and is recommended to be set at 20 for relay control. The 20 second time frame is to protect the compressor from frequent starts)
P-SL = 34 (this is the lowest SV you will be able to set on the keypad)
P-SH = 110 (this is the highest SV you will be able to set on the keypad)
COOL = 9

The wiring to the controller is as follows:

1 – n/a
2 – n/a
3 – n/a
4 – TC+
5 – TC-
6 – n/a
7 – Hot to compressor on fridge/freezer
8 – Hot jumped from 9
9 – Hot from switch (main Hot coming to controller)
10 – Neutral from switch (main neutral coming to controller)
13 – n/a
14 – n/a

I think I have it all there...  ::)  ;D

Mike

[classicrockgriller]

Gee Whiz you do nice work.

Very Nice! Hope it works great for you.

[devo]

Mike nice build. Should work OK for you. The real test will be when you have 20 pounds of wet sausage and your trying to get the R/H down in the cabinet to 75%. I know my first build with a stand up freezer had a hard time with that. Also the summer weather will play with your R/H as it will not be as dry as in the winter months. I like your idea of keeping the humidifier on the outside. Not sure if I could do that with mine unless I use duct tape  ;D

Good luck and start making some salami.
Don

[SiFumar]

Very nice!  Can't wait to see your products lol!

[Habanero Smoker]

Mike;

As always; you have put together another great appliance that  is well thought out. With the ability to dehumidify, you should be able to control the RH. I can't wait to see some of the dry cured products that you will be creating.

[KyNola]

Lots of work!  Nice build Mike.

[Smoke some]

very impressive build, Looks like you put alot of thought into this one too...... Great post thanks

[Keymaster]

Awesome build Mike, Very impressive!! I know a lot of time, research and a little money went into this project but will pay off soon :)

[Mr Walleye]

Thanks Guys!

I'm still waiting for a supply order but hopefully I can run this baby through it's paces shortly.  ;)

Mike

[lumpy]

Very cool Mike.
Thanks for the play by play and pictures.

Lump

[beefmann]

very cool

[squirtthecat]

WOW....

[mikecorn.1]

Nice build for sure.


Sent from my iPhone 5 using Tapatalk

[BAM1]

What Squirt said. WOW!

[Caneyscud]

Great looking merchine Mike!  Biding my time until I can build me one also  We just finished out an Italian restaurant - the chef/partner is from Sardinia and is supposed to share some salumi recipes with me.  Hopefully!  No once you get the beast up and running I volunteer for quality testing!  To send samples for testing - my address is...........  BR549!