You can go a bit crazy.....

[Miner]

I have two wine fridge humidors, one with a compressor and the other is a thermo electric thing.

I got a bit crazy, started data logging and collected a bunch of data.....

Analysed the info to bits...

Started to go nuts.

At the end of the day my research concluded...

There is one rule..

If the cigars smoke well, then all is well.

With a couple of guidelines...

Keep the temp around 18C to 20C

Keep the humidity around 65%. At 18C the biggest impact / game changer for me is humidity so I keep mine around 65% but..I get worried when it drops below 60% or rises above 70%, plenty of room to play with.

And you'll be ok...

Remember the rule......

If the cigars smoke well, then all is well.

And you are the only one that can judge that..

Cheers

[LordAnubis]

That rH looks pretty damn steady to me. We have to start calling you the WAPiggy.

[Miner]

And the only difference is Piggy knows what he is talking about, whereas I have no idea ..........

In Perth, for the last two months I could have left the fridge doors open and got the same results..No science involved, temp = 20C Humid = 65%.

So it's about what is happening outside the fridge, not whats going on inside.

But the rule still applies......

If the cigars smoke well, then all is well.

No need to mess around with beads and kitty litter and stuff...

[muzz]

So before I go down the route of data logging you say your fridges are off and open. Thats sounds like the perfect amount of maintenance to me.

[westg]

That rH looks pretty damn steady to me. We have to start calling you the WAPiggy.

[JohnS]

That is looking great...I'd be over the moon with data like that. The main thing, in my humble opinion, is that I'd be cheering if I had data like that during summer and I lived in WA!

[Miner]

So before I go down the route of data logging you say your fridges are off and open. Thats sounds like the perfect amount of maintenance to me.

Fridges are off but the doors are closed !!

With the weather we had just recently my study is 20C/65%rh.

In summer the thermo fridge is on 24/7 and the compressor is on a timer.

Must admit things go crazy in summer, this is the compressor fridge on a timer, it runs for about 10mins every 4 hours. Any more than that and the fridge gets too cold.

The thermo behaves itself a little better....

[jimsta10]

Piggy will tell you dont bother with the compressor fridge and thermo is the way to go. I would agree. i have spent 4 weeks smacking my head to the wall trying the control the temp when the compressor kicks in. everything from beads, kitty litter, man made humidity boxes with CPU fans. your biggest challenge will be managing the influx of the temp and how it will affect your sticks. Im very pedantic, thus I threw away the idea of a compressor fridge and got a second hand thermo and never looked back. has been running stable at 17.5c-18c and 66-67RH for the past 1.5 months.

You need to also remember although your dew point looks low i think its only for the inside of the wineador not outside. meaning, if your outside room temp is say 24-25C and you leave the door open, condensation inside the wineador will occur.

Cheers

[JackFNQ]

Would this work? Chest freezer at 18c with tupperware 69%bovedas inside?

Digital Thermostat Temperature Controller Socket For Refrigerator Aquarium

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/271666479964?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

[partriar]

Would this work? Chest freezer at 18c with tupperware 69%bovedas inside?

Digital Thermostat Temperature Controller Socket For Refrigerator Aquarium

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/271666479964?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

Yep works a treat mate.

I use a compressor fridge with snap lock containers and 65% Boveda and external temperture controller. I love it, flawless system. I have set the fridge to fluctuate between 14.7c-15.3c. I use this temperature cause i have 65% Boveda. I wanted to go 62% but couldnt find any at the time so lowered the tempurate to obtian a lower water content rate in the cigar.

[JackFNQ]

Yep works a treat mate.

I use a compressor fridge with snap lock containers and 65% Boveda and external temperture controller. I love it, flawless system. I have set the fridge to fluctuate between 14.7c-15.3c. I use this temperature cause i have 65% Boveda. I wanted to go 62% but couldnt find any at the time so lowered the tempurate to obtian a lower water content rate in the cigar.

Thanks for that. i can't imagine a simpler system, and very cheap and energy efficient. Do you use the same electricity switch plug as I listed?

Might buy a chest freezer in this set up for making cheese.

Do boveda packs freeze if doing a beetle kill cycle and recover?

I imagine that they could bust if bloaty to begin with.

[Blace]

Nice work! I'm planning on buying some wireless dataloggers to do a similar analysis.

I use two fridges with 65% boveda packs inside snap-lock containers. I'm pretty sure it works a treat but would like to see the data over a few days.

The cigars smoke great right out of the fridge, I also lowered my temp to get lower water content, sits about 16-17 degrees C.

I agree completely with your conclusion. All that matters is that you're enjoying how they smoke!

[partriar]

Thanks for that. i can't imagine a simpler system, and very cheap and energy efficient. Do you use the same electricity switch plug as I listed?

Might buy a chest freezer in this set up for making cheese.

Do boveda packs freeze if doing a beetle kill cycle and recover?

I imagine that they could bust if bloaty to begin with.

Not the same plug but same idea. I use a STC-1000 controller which i wired up.

I dont actually freeze any cigars at this stage, i prob should but i dont. I wouldnt freeze boveda packs, dont know what it would do but better safe than sorry!

For me its perfect, very set and forget. Change the packs every 12 months (they last ages in this environment) and you good to go.

Have to give a shout out to Blace, he was the one who inspired me to pull the trigger on this system.

[cigarsandcoffee]

Piggy will tell you dont bother with the compressor fridge and thermo is the way to go.

Are you sure about that?

[wolfain]

Can anyone recommend me a data logger for RH and temp for my project wineador?

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[CUBANO]

I use Lascar data loggers

[Dimmers]

Can anyone recommend me a data logger for RH and temp for my project wineador?

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I found one off ebay, after comparison with local electronic stores

[Miner]

I use Lascar data loggers

Me too

Lascar EL-USB-2+

Very simple to set up and comes with free software (Windows only).

cheers

[wolfain]

Thanks folks! I found 'em on Amazon. Is the wifi version worth paying the extra money?

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[CUBANO]

Thanks folks! I found 'em on Amazon. Is the wifi version worth paying the extra money?

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Don't know about the wifi one. I have the one with LCD

[PigFish]

Piggy will tell you dont bother with the compressor fridge and thermo is the way to go. I would agree. i have spent 4 weeks smacking my head to the wall trying the control the temp when the compressor kicks in. everything from beads, kitty litter, man made humidity boxes with CPU fans. your biggest challenge will be managing the influx of the temp and how it will affect your sticks. Im very pedantic, thus I threw away the idea of a compressor fridge and got a second hand thermo and never looked back. has been running stable at 17.5c-18c and 66-67RH for the past 1.5 months.

You need to also remember although your dew point looks low i think its only for the inside of the wineador not outside. meaning, if your outside room temp is say 24-25C and you leave the door open, condensation inside the wineador will occur.

Cheers

There valid points to several of the posts above, primarily, if you are happy with your cigars and your smoking experience, there is little need to seek further refinement of your storage.

I do agree with this however with some caveats. There are, or can be problems that are waiting around the corner or somewhere in the future that your storage might just be fostering, unrecognizable to you in the present. The vigilant cigar keeper, the humidor administrator, is responsible to assess his cigars often enough to avoid such mishaps.

This is why I prefer to offer specific solutions to broad sweeping advice. My advice starts with simple solutions, which may or may not work. It just depends on individual circumstances.

Based on what I see above, I would be foolish to say that the compressor cooler is the better choice here. I have often said that the lay humidor maker often finds the TE cooler easier to work with. Having read the above carefully, I see that we are looking at systems where the ambient is not data logged and used as a datum. If you have an environment (the macro) that is close to what you expect in your microclimate, then automation is not really important. If you have the perfect surroundings, there is no real need for a humidor at all. The humidor is just a box!

Active controlled humidors come in all flavors. The complexity and control stem from your needs and wants, referenced against your ambient conditions. Your conditions then control your humidor, unless you desire to over-ride them, or become the master over them. That is my specialty.

In what I refer to as ‘severe conditions’ such as my household environment, full control of all the variables that affect a humidor are important to me. My humidors then address all four issues and maladies that can affect the stability of my humidors. They heat, cool, hydrate and dehydrate. That is all that there is to control, so I choose to control all four.

Cooler designs will shine based on the delta of the ambient to that of the desired set point. TE coolers cool more ‘gently,’ for lack of a better term. They are less effieceint and being smaller, if you can transfer heat to them fast enough, they will not get cold as quickly as a compressor unit. This is the difference, and it is a double edged sword. They are better for small delta-Ts. If your set point is say 70 and your ambient is say 72, and you have no knowledge of interior cooled humidor design, a TE cooler will likely provide a better result. I have just described the typical layman’s homemade wine cooler humidor.

Once you begin to push the delta-T, the TE cooler begins to fail. They typically run on a long duration basis and their cycles become rather deep and long wavelength. If that is what you prefer to call stable then that should be perfect for you. It really depends on what you want and expect from your humidor, and what you define as the “Q” or the quality of your system.

So in this case, where I see two charts, one being markedly better than the other, I would say that during this time and in this test the TE cooler is better. I see the same thing the rest of you do!

We have had some warm days the past few and if I have the inclination to go to the shop to read some data logs I will be happy to post what a compressor cooled humidor will do in those circumstances, if properly designed and controlled. You see there are caveats as well as complexities to make any of these coolers run better. The layman will never likely stumble on my designs. They have been years in the making and the testing alone will likely cause most to give up on the endevour.

You really have to love humidor science to get where I am at. I don’t expect that most reading really care beyond the basics but that is what makes us all a little different.

Overall, I feel that TE coolers are inferior. However, since I taylor my response to the needs of the thread and OP, I have to move from my hardline position if it means that I am assessing what I think the OP wants as far as performance goes.

I am afraid that a compressor cooler conversion is a challenge that most will fail at if left on their own. The design ideas that I have created are really not to be cheated. If they could, I would have taken the easier route long ago.

Much of this all depends on the amount of fuss that you want to put into a system. My fussing now is largely academic and represent refinements. I am satisfied with my products. I can leave my systems for week and not have the slightest thought about the conditions of my cigars. I have seen my shop go into the mid-nineties and I don’t worry about my cigars moving above 70.2, or drying beyond about 58 rH for more than a minute or two. This is what I have come to expect and demand. A TE cooler won’t cut this test. As a matter of fact, it will fail miserably rather quickly.

I put cigars in and I take them out. My cigars, post acclimation are always the same. That ‘same’ is what I have determined provides the best smoking experience. I fuss and fret over my projects because that is now my hobby. My humidor fusses and frets over my cigars, as I have moved beyond that. I fuss over my projects because it is a life challenge to make the best one in the world. I no longer give a thought to the care of my cigars. My designs take care of all of that for me, so I can play with my humidors and enjoy a good smoke.

Cheers! That is what Piggy has to say on the matter!

[wolfain]

Hello, thanks piggy for input. Perhaps you would like to share with me your products/projects/designs? Tell me how much it would cost, (the services your provide etc)? Thanks !

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[PigFish]

Hello, thanks piggy for input. Perhaps you would like to share with me your products/projects/designs? Tell me how much it would cost, (the services your provide etc)? Thanks !

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Wolfy I have been busy as hell and I am sorry for leaving you hanging. Please send me a reminder to [email protected] and I will we will open a further dialogue and we will advance. I am sorry, I know I have left a few of you guys hanging compelling you to remind me when I come back to the forum.

I do a lot of pro-bono work on the site and from home but my current schedule is a real killer (my day job) and that is why I cannot spend as much time here, or pitching my products privately, as I would like. I like to spend my time here helping others so please remember, if it hints of commercial in nature I take the traffic off of FoH as it does not belong here.

Cheers! -Ray

[jimsta10]

Orange is RH, Red is Temp. I have been experimenting with a compression bar fridge. Looks promising. Data log was nearly 24 hours worth. Ignore the data captured at ends, that was when I put it in and took it out.

[wolfain]

ImageUploadedByTapatalk1435638389.428803.jpg

Orange is RH, Red is Temp. I have been experimenting with a compression bar fridge. Looks promising. Data log was nearly 24 hours worth. Ignore the data captured at ends, that was when I put it in and took it out.

Interesting... But the humidity seems a bit low?

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