Simple cheap controller

by **flamehawk** » Tue Feb 25, 2014 10:04 am

Usual disclaimers apply. If your not a sparky don't try this at home folks.

Found this on eBay
http://m.ebay.com.au/itm?itemId=300631234682&pAction=VI

Looks like it will do the job for under $10 shipped.

Says it's good for over 3000w but I'm skeptical. I only want 2400 anyhow so it's worth a shot

All I need now is a metal box to house it all in for earthing reasons

Ian

by **Dusty_ben** » Tue Feb 25, 2014 10:11 am

I've just brought this same one. Could you put up how your going to wire it?

by **Milky** » Tue Feb 25, 2014 10:45 am

Dusty_ben wrote:I've just brought this same one. Could you put up how your going to wire it?

If you are asking this question, I don't think you should be wiring up anything. Get a qualified sparky to do it for you.

sent from tapatalk

by **flamehawk** » Tue Feb 25, 2014 1:25 pm

If your not sure get a sparky.

It should take him 5 minutes. You'll need an appropriate box to place the item in so make sure that's done prior to arrival.

It think its money well spent if you're unsure.

Ian

by **Crankyyankee** » Tue Feb 25, 2014 2:48 pm

Just buy a router controller at harbor freight for 25.00 and plug it in.

by **Smbjk** » Tue Feb 25, 2014 4:12 pm

Think there is a thread somewere on hear regarding this controller. Get a sparkey to check mate I just got my controler checked today andnall was good except for the earthing :scared-eek: thats why we get them to check. 5mins and he had it all sorted :D

by **flamehawk** » Tue Feb 25, 2014 5:43 pm

Did they ship a manual with your item?

Ian

by **kelbygreen** » Tue Feb 25, 2014 8:18 pm

second picture in that listing would be the manual at my quess them cheap electrical stuff wont tell you alot

by **backyard brewdog** » Tue Feb 25, 2014 8:38 pm

I used one of these originally and have a spare one sitting here in the cupboard.

I'll probably wire it up in a spare box i've got soon and use it on my 2kw elements for my beer gear.

They work fine just make sure you wire them up correctly

by **flamehawk** » Tue Feb 25, 2014 8:39 pm

yep. Should be an easy build

by **OzKev** » Tue Feb 25, 2014 9:15 pm

I got one. It works on lower wattage items such as my household kettle. But on my 2200w heating element it just runs at 100% all the time. Not sure why the 2200w element exceeds the 3600w triac. I ended up building one with a ssr and pot.

by **flamehawk** » Tue Feb 25, 2014 10:14 pm

Well thats no good. :handgestures-thumbdown:

I'll let everyone know what happens when it arrives.

Any chance you got a dodgy one?

by **Dominator** » Wed Feb 26, 2014 5:56 am

I used one of those but it is 10000W. Works great.

edit: The one I used is different and wired differently. http://m.ebay.com.au/itm/390767359862?nav=SEARCH You can find them cheaper on ebay this was the first link that came up.

by **OzKev** » Wed Feb 26, 2014 11:52 am

flamehawk wrote:Well thats no good. :handgeures-thumbdown:

I'll let everyone know what happens when it arrives.

Any chance you got a dodgy one?

More than likely. I went the ssr style to be sure. The above style is easier to hook up and is cheaper.

by **APR** » Fri Mar 07, 2014 10:29 am

I picked up a couple of these off eBay. The price was too good to only buy one.

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/271355766269

After looking around for a box to mount the thing, I decided on an old ATX computer power supply box. I stuffed up by thinking I would save a buck and use the IEC power input socket already mounted in the box, but after assembling the thing I found every IEC power cord I had is only 0.75mm^2 wire size and therefore smaller than what I was prepared to use.

I mounted a small 12v fan, that I removed from a failed computer graphics card, onto the power controller heatsink, and also left the original 12v cooling fan in the box. Both fans have a label rating of 140 milliamp, so I used a small 150ma 12v-0-12v transformer to drive the fans and half wave rectified the 12v by placing a diode in the centre tap connection to make it the negative to both fans. Each fan is using one half of the transformer.

I initially tried the controller out on a large desk fan, and found that the controller did not start to rotate the fan until the potentiometer was three quarters of the way to full power, however, powering a 2200 watt kettle the degree of rotation of the potentiometer seems to be in line with the percentage of power being provided by the power controller.

I am considering whether I should buy a 250 volt analogue meter ... http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/110938888939 ... to fit into the box to give an accurate indication of the power going to the boiler. The power controller is right at this moment being used on my 2000 watt boiler and is so far performing faultlessly.

by **Mr Four Square** » Sun Mar 09, 2014 12:19 pm

:text-+1: APR that looks the business. Happiness is a well made bit of gear.

Flamehawk mines a cheap controller like the one you are looking at (220 volt 3000w) and has been working just fine for over a year . Runs cool for hours choking an 1.8 kw element down to 700 watts or lower. I dont need a fan to cool it and use the same design as APR cutting the plug and socket off an extension cord.

I calculated watt out put and put settings against the dial so I could estimate the heat setting.

I have since read about others using http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/MULTIFUNCTION%20...%204897.l4276 one of these to measure the wattage. Seems a pretty simple solution. Anyone using that set up with this controller ?

by **OzKev** » Sun Mar 09, 2014 12:41 pm

Four square, that link is busted.

I measure Voltage on my controller.
http://www.uxcell.com/class-0250v-analog-voltage-voltmeter-panel-meter-85l1v-p-377728.html
So as I reduce the power with my controller, the volts drops. I find 110v in the early stages, up to 120v for the later end worked great. (only tested once so far)

by **APR** » Sun Mar 09, 2014 1:45 pm

Mr Four Square wrote:I dont need a fan to cool it and use the same design as APR cutting the plug and socket off an extension cord.

I did not know whether I would need forced cooling on the heatsink or not, and I did not put a load through the device to see what the heatsink temp rise would be like before assembling the box. As I had the connectors, fans and transformer I used them. I have used the controller twice now on a 2000 watt boiler and cannot feel any heat at all in the air leaving the case, so it seems I also didn't need the fans at all.

by **Mr Four Square** » Mon Mar 10, 2014 10:56 am

I have since read about others using http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/MULTIFUNCTION ... 4897.l4276 one of these to measure the wattage. Seems a pretty simple solution. Anyone using that set up with this controller ?

Four square, that link is busted.

Try this one... http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/AU-Plug-Power-Energy-Consumption-Watt-Meter-Electricity-usage-Monitor-Analyzer-/191070026208?pt=AU_B_I_Electrical_Test_Equipment&hash=item2c7ca939e0

Maximum 2400 watts through this unit. I haven't tried this set up myself but others are using something similar. Anyone?

by **OzKev** » Mon Mar 10, 2014 12:45 pm

I've got a "Belkin Conserve Insight Energy Use Monitor" which is similar feature wise to the ebay one. Works great for monitoring power usage. I've never thought of plugging the heating element into it to see the load for product runs. My only concern as you throttle back the power the unit may cut out once the voltage drops to much. I'll plug it in next run and see what happens.

Getting offtopic, these devices are a great tool for monitoring power consumption around the house. As many beer brewers end up with, I have 5 fridges around my house. 1 is often off as it's mainly a salami fridge, and another set to 18c for fermenting, the last 3 are at 4c. Using this device I found out my sons computer uses more power that ALL the fridges combined :scared-eek: