Looking for a suitable replacement..

[{tpc}]

So a long time ago my wife bought me a vinotemp cigar cooler. Essentially it’s a fancier looking wine cooler with a nice looking though fairly useless hydrometer on the front.

Over time I have replaced all the electronics and peltier cooler etc, but it still would get too cold. The front panel leds that show the temp are not working 100% probably due to a bad solder joint or just some bad chip on the board. I did some work to the power supply to help limit how cold it will get, and now the hinge on the door seems to be breaking a bit.

I haven’t used it in awhile since I literally have zero stock. We moved and it’s new home is the basement, which is fine by me because the bar is there too, but it’s Michigan and most basements you can hang meat in, even finished ones like ours.

I made special Spanish cedar drawers for it which I would like to reuse. But I think I need a replacement for the rest. Is there anything out there that won’t break the bank that I can keep at a nice 65-70 degrees? If I remember correctly, I could maybe switch the leads on peltier cooler and the other side would heat? But then I got to thinking and because the controller will want to “cool” it’s just going to keep driving it, and not control the heat very well. So I don’t think that will work.

Its at least 65 if not a little cooler in the basement all the time. If I could find something that would be “close” I’d try and make some adjustments to the temp down there by adding another sensor for the t-stat.

Thoughts?

 

[bfreebern]

So a long time ago my wife bought me a vinotemp cigar cooler. Essentially it’s a fancier looking wine cooler with a nice looking though fairly useless hydrometer on the front.

Over time I have replaced all the electronics and peltier cooler etc, but it still would get too cold. The front panel leds that show the temp are not working 100% probably due to a bad solder joint or just some bad chip on the board. I did some work to the power supply to help limit how cold it will get, and now the hinge on the door seems to be breaking a bit.

I haven’t used it in awhile since I literally have zero stock. We moved and it’s new home is the basement, which is fine by me because the bar is there too, but it’s Michigan and most basements you can hang meat in, even finished ones like ours.

I made special Spanish cedar drawers for it which I would like to reuse. But I think I need a replacement for the rest. Is there anything out there that won’t break the bank that I can keep at a nice 65-70 degrees? If I remember correctly, I could maybe switch the leads on peltier cooler and the other side would heat? But then I got to thinking and because the controller will want to “cool” it’s just going to keep driving it, and not control the heat very well. So I don’t think that will work.

Its at least 65 if not a little cooler in the basement all the time. If I could find something that would be “close” I’d try and make some adjustments to the temp down there by adding another sensor for the t-stat.

Thoughts?

If it were me, I'd try and reuse it unless the hinge isn't fixable. I'd bet that the temperature would regulate to around 65, which would be perfect temp for your cigars and you wouldn't have to run the cooler, just use it as a humidor. If reusing it is out of the question, get a cooler and some beads. Not fancy, but they are spot on with humidity and temp control, as long as the seal is good.

I wouldn't use any heat or try to flip the leads, that's just going to cause more issues. Buy a cheap hygrometer, salt test it and see how well your vinotemp regulates the temperature/humidity.

 

[{tpc}]

Hmm. I didn’t think of this. I don’t think the hinge is too far gone. I could just disconnect the peltier altogether, so it can’t cool, but the fan would circulate air (assuming it runs, which it probably would). I think I still have the original board for the front controls, so maybe between the two of them I could cobble together something that still reads the temp regardless of the control.

I have a xikar hydrogometer and a puck so that should work. Probably needs a new battery.

Thanks for the idea!!

I used to have a nice looking desktop humidor but I loaned to a buddy of mine, and I think he stores his weed in there now lol, so don’t think it’s coming back lol!

 

[bfreebern]

A fan to circulate would be nice, but I don't think it's necessary at all. Regarding the temp, you can always buy push sensors that do both and pretty sure they can send those to a mobile device or you just read it off the sensor itself.

Basically, what you'll have is a vinotemp, that's not plugged in or operating......unless you want the lights/display to be functioning. It will still hold humidity and will acclimate to your basement temps. Or buy a cooler

 

[{tpc}]

Ok, so here is an update. Got it back up and running. Was able to replace the front panel board with the original one which still worked, and wasn’t too much trouble. Got my xikar puck back in it, all cleaned up and plugged it in. Everything works and I remembered how I modified the output of the board to the peltier unit so that it would limit the current too it and thus not allowing it to get as cold.

Everything seems to be working so far, though the temp on the front panel is reading 59. I need to get a new battery today for the hydrometer so I can check what the actual temp might be at lol. I’m sure that front panel isn’t perfect.
Next step is to get another remote sensor for my nest t-stat and put it in the basement nearby to measure the temp down there and also to maybe kick the heat on a little more often to see if that corrects things some in the basement.

If I can’t get it to come up a bit I may try disconnecting the peltier altogether and see if that changes anything.

Soon I might be able to actually get some cigars to put in it! I’m sure I could get some now, just would like the temp to be a bit better than that. Hopefully I don’t need to do too much with the heat, wife will kill my if the bills go up to heat my cigars lol!

 

[{tpc}]

So initial temperature testing resulted in the determination that the inside of the humi is about 4 degrees hotter than the actual temp on the front. And that the nest sensor reads the same as the xikar, so I feel that’s pretty accurate. Salt testing now.

So all I need is cigars!

Once I get a nest sensor for the basement I should be able to regulate the humidor to about 65 degrees, at least for the winter ...the summer will be a different story.