Yeah, I'll put it together for you. I'm not a certified electrician, but I did wire my own house and I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night.
I can start a new thread about the build and take detailed pictures so everyone can approve or disapprove of my methods. I do have a certified electrician friend and he could come over and verify for us that I did everything right. I will have a 50a outlet to plug it into and risk blowing myself up before you have to risk blowing yourself up. My 25 gallon BK should be ready in time for me to use it as a test to verify that the PIDs are working correctly.
Lord knows I've looked over this electric brewing forum enough in the past month - it's time for me to put my knowledge to use.
I'm planning on building my own 50a 240v system. I'm just waiting to have enough cash to buy all the pieces.
Here's what I'm planning:
(2) 5500w elements with the ability to run both simultaneously. I might drop one of the elements to 4500w if the amps being used are too close for comfort for the 50a circuit breaker
(2) PIDs connected to pt100 probes, one for the BK and one for the HLT
(2) digital temp displays connected to pt100 probes, one for the MLT and one for the chiller
(2) 40a SSRs to allow the PIDs to tell the elements to turn on or off
(2) 240v 2-pole contactors to energize the elements when I want them be be energized or not
(2) illuminated push button switches to turn the pumps on and off
(2) illuminated push button switches to turn the contactors on and off
(2) regular switches to energize the PIDs or not
(2) LED lights to let me know when the elements are energized
(1) buzzer alarm to let me know if I've gone over my temps, but I've heard that the buzzer is really freaking loud, so I might hook up a simple computer chirper mounted inside the control panel to let me know to look at the panel
(2) regular switches, one for each alarm on each PID, to be able to shut the alarm up if I want
(1) E-stop button
(2) 25a 240v DIN-mounted circuit breakers to power the elements
(1) 15a 120v DIN-mounted circuit breaker to power everything else
(80) miles of wire to hook all of this stuff together
And a few 1a fast-blow fuses to protect stuff like the E-stop button, the PIDs, the illuminated switches and all that jazz
I was also planning on adding in a keyed switch and an LED light to show that power was on in the panel, but after finding out how much a 50a 240v 2-pole contactor costs ($100 at McMaster-Carr), I don't think I'm going to go that route. I could get one off of eBay for a lot cheaper, but since I'm already controlling power with switches to the elements and switches for the PIDs...how necessary is that extra level of switching? Not very, in my estimation.
Here's a pic of my planned control box. I already bought a 16"x20"x8" for real cheap off of eBay.
Anyway, if you want to talk more to me about this, just send me a private message and we can work the details out. If you're not comfortable with a guy that's never built one of these before doing it, I won't be offended.
