Aussiedistiller, Home Distilling, Moonshine, Home Brew

I would run it how it' wants to run.

Good advice.
It is the temperature and flow of the water at the RC that is important (generally how the pros build their automated systems).
To control vapor temp would require real time ABV readings from the wash as the various fractions that boil at different temperatures are converted to vapor.
An algorithm probably could do this but you would need to be reasonably clever.
On a side note if you have a thermometer that measures temperature of the vapor in the boiler (yep vapor not wash), after a few runs you can tell a lot about where the wash is at in it's cycle. This is really useful to predict the onset of the tails, especially useful if you are slack and want to use a larger collection vessel, just for the hearts cuts.

OK. Pretty much done now.
I cant believe I was going to try and cut the PVC box with a Stanley knife. This stuff is tough and about 3 mm thick which creates another problem that my push fit fittings now won't lock into place. Using the jigsaw took me about an hour and a half to cut the holes to size. Yep. Your eyes aren't crooked. The faces aren't perfectly square but close enough.
I've wired it all up and just need to shrink wrap the terminals to prevent accidental short circuiting and then test it under load. Testing the potentiometer it seems the two legs that are wired up are the wrong ones. Turning the knob doesn't create a change in voltage across the two wired legs however it does if you put one of your multimeter probes on the unwired leg. Go figure? I'll try it under load first before I muck with it.
I thought the box had loads of room but once all the wirings in place that space seems to shrink rapidly. Bit of a squeeze getting the lid closed.

This is a pic of the IEC connectors on the bottom of the box. I guess I'll have to use sikaflex or some other strong glue to hold them in place as the locking clips wont clip onto the wall. Not sure what will stick to the plastic AND pvc. Superglue?? Araldite??

This is one of the Box opened up with everything in situ before the wiring.

And here's the spaghetti. Used 4 mm for the load bearing wires and 2 mm (I think) from a 240 volt extension lead offcut for anything with small current draws like the instruments.

And here's the front with power on the SCR circuit. All the circuits seem to work. Just have some minor tidying and shrink wrapping to do, a quick look over by the sparky, and then testing it all under load.

One thing that has me stumped is how to wire in the fan without putting power through the other two units that aren't being used (through the fan cable). I want the fan on no matter where the plug gets plugged in but if I wire the two power cables for the fan to all three live and neutrals in parallel then the power will feed the three pins on the feed side making exposed 240 volt live pins. Anybody out there with some electrical knowledge that could help???? The sparky I talked to was stumped as well. :think:
Hopefully it'll be ready to run by Tuesday when I can fire it up for realsies.

I would put diodes in there.
All pointing towards the fan.

That should work.

Something like this?

Hey Warra, I'm not 100% sure, but it looks to me that you have the wrong ssr (solid state relay) :-B . The one I can see in your photo has the control (pins 3 & 4) at 3-32Vdc. I think you need the one that has the control 0-470K ohm or 0-500k ohm, depends on the manufacturer. There are 4 different versions of each ssr. I believe you need the SSR-40VA and you have the SSR-40-DA. The 40 is the amps, the V is resistance and D is 3-32Vdc. Look at datasheets on the internet for reference if you need.
Maybe your pid will output the 3-32Vdc you need but most will output 4-20mA and then you would need a SSR-40LA.
Sorry to bring you bad news but hope this helps you and others for future reference.

andybear wrote:Hey Warra, I'm not 100% sure, but it looks to me that you have the wrong ssr (solid state relay) :-B . The one I can see in your photo has the control (pins 3 & 4) at 3-32Vdc. I think you need the one that has the control 0-470K ohm or 0-500k ohm, depends on the manufacturer. There are 4 different versions of each ssr. I believe you need the SSR-40VA and you have the SSR-40-DA. The 40 is the amps, the V is resistance and D is 3-32Vdc. Look at datasheets on the internet for reference if you need.
Maybe your pid will output the 3-32Vdc you need but most will output 4-20mA and then you would need a SSR-40LA.
Sorry to bring you bad news but hope this helps you and others for future reference.

Thanks for the heads up. The unit was sold as a package. I should have it all shrink wrapped and boxed up by tomorrow night so I'll fire it up through the multimeter and see what it does. It seemed to be trying to heat up with nothing connected to it. Luckily those things are fairly cheap and should be a straightforward change out if it is the wrong one.
Cheers.
Warra

Spewing. Tested it all and it looks like the Stc-1000 is a bust. Power in, nothing out in heat up or cooling mode. Sounds like the relays pulling in but nada. There's a small rattling sound coming from the 240 to 10 volt step down but I wouldn't have thought that was the problem. Will have to replace it. Ssr is fine, Scr I'm hoping it'll work under load as everything else seems fine with it but it wont out put any power through the output IEC pins.
I'm hoping I don't have 2 dodgy units.

warramungas wrote:There's a small rattling sound coming from the 240 to 10 volt step down but I wouldn't have thought that was the problem.

10V? What do you mean 10V? :think:

punchy21 wrote:

warramungas wrote:There's a small rattling sound coming from the 240 to 10 volt step down but I wouldn't have thought that was the problem.

10V? What do you mean 10V? :think:

I'm assuming the electronics work on 10 volt. That's why I didn't think it could be the transformer. :think:

warramungas wrote:Spewing. Tested it all and it looks like the Stc-1000 is a bust. Power in, nothing out in heat up or cooling mode. Sounds like the relays pulling in but nada. There's a small rattling sound coming from the 240 to 10 volt step down but I wouldn't have thought that was the problem. Will have to replace it. Ssr is fine, Scr I'm hoping it'll work under load as everything else seems fine with it but it wont out put any power through the output IEC pins.
I'm hoping I don't have 2 dodgy units.

The STC is just a switch for heating and cooling. Even though you power up the unit, you won't get any power from the outputs, they will only switch power you feed to them.

brewman wrote:

The STC is just a switch for heating and cooling. Even though you power up the unit, you won't get any power from the outputs, they will only switch power you feed to them.

What do you mean? If you look at page 1 you'll see in the wired up picture I have live input to port 1 and neutral into 2. Then live out of port 5 and neutral out of port 6 to the iec that feeds the heating element.
Have I got that wired the wrong way or should there be another switch?


I'm not getting any power out on the heating or cooling circuits no matter what temp I'm set on and that's with a multimeter directly onto the screws on the back of the unit.

Yep, there's ya problem with the STC.

The STC outputs are just a couple of relays or switches. To get it working you need to wire it as a switch to turn on/off your heating or cooling devices.

For heating on connectors 5 and 6. Active into 5 from your 240V source, active out of 6 to your element. Neutral bypasses the STC straight from element to source. The STC switches your active line - that's all it will do.

If you can hear the relay clicking then it's working fine. Your wiring as shown above basically just shorts the element to itself when the relay closes so no damage is done and no current will flow. If you need a diagram let me know.

Cheers.

Aha. Wunderbar. Thanks for the heads up sir. You're a gentleman and a scholar. ^:)^
Same as the ssr. Oh well. The second one I ordered earlier off fleabay can be a backup.
Cheers.

No worries,

You can never have too many STCs. The next one is for the ferment fridge.

The scariest thing is the electrician told me it must be buggered. :handgestures-thumbdown:
Might try another lecky.

Go easy on him, Electricians don't normally deal with this sort of stuff. He'll give himself a headslap and feel like a turkey when you tell him how it works but then he'll be able to make sure it's safely wired for ya.

Already told him. He's alright. Not too long out of his apprenticeship and luckily on nightshift with me and more than willing to help. Save me some expensive bits and pieces not to mention call out costs for a Sparky in Perth.

Ssr is not responding now. Quite a saga this thing. The pid is outputting the correct voltage, 2 to 30ish volts but the Ssr isn't outputting any amps. Always giving 240 volts with pid on or off but no amps.
Maybe the relay is buggered. There was popping sound when it was first fired up.
As the great and wise man Meatloaf once said 'Two outa three ain't bad.'
Enough to get me started anyway until I figure out what's going on with the pid.
Ujssm strip here I come.