Hello everyone! I wanted to share a fun DIY project I recently worked on using my Shelly 1 with a temperature add-on. The goal was to control the fermentation temperature of my homebrew using a cooler. While the process was a bit tricky, it turned out to be a great learning experience!
The Challenge:
I needed to maintain a specific target temperature for my beer fermentation, with occasional adjustments throughout the day. The Shelly 1 made it easy to set temperature thresholds, but I also wanted a delay before the cooling cycle started. This was to prevent the compressor from turning on immediately, which could cause issues if there was a temporary failure.
The Solution:
After some research and experimentation, I came up with a setup that uses two additional Shelly units. Here’s how it works:
- Temperature Monitoring: The Shelly 1 with the temperature add-on continuously monitors the environment.
- Threshold Detection: When the temperature exceeds the set threshold, the system triggers a delay mechanism.
- Delayed Cooling: After the delay, the compressor turns on to start cooling. This ensures that the cooling cycle is self-reliant and doesn’t depend on external services.
How It Works:
- When the temperature is below the threshold, the system remains off.
- When the temperature rises above the threshold, the system triggers a delay before activating the compressor.
- The setup uses two parameters: the target temperature (T) and the delay time (D).
Testing and Results:
I tested this setup using a DS18B20 probe and a light bulb as the load, and it worked perfectly! The next step is to implement it in my actual fermentation fridge. I’m really excited to see how it performs in a real-world scenario.
Call to the Developers:
If the Shelly could support a configurable delay before turning on or off, it would make this device even more versatile and cost-effective for temperature control applications. This feature would eliminate the need for additional hardware and simplify setups like mine.
I’d love to hear if anyone else has tackled a similar project or if there’s a more efficient way to achieve this. Feel free to share your thoughts or alternative solutions!
Cheers toDIY innovation and homebrewing! 
