BCS-460 wiring?

Hi Guys,
I'm a newbie here and setting up to wire the BCS-460 and my control enclosure. I will be having my electrician friend come over and help me hook everything up, but I am just trying to order parts now. The design I will have is a 120V line coming in off a 30amp circuit. I would like to have a load switch to put the main power onto the enclosure or be able to shut it all down t once. I will have 5 SSRs (running 2 pumps, water heater element, gas solenoid valve, and hot surface ignitor). I will also be putting an outlet in the box for the BCS power supply and a wireless router (if that is needed). I will also have toggle switches (4 of them, On-Off-Auto positions) for the functions (though maybe I need 5 since I cannot combine the ignitor and gas valve into one without spewing gas until the surface get hot enough). Questions:

1. How do I wire the main power to all SSRs. Do I need a strip where the main power line is connected and then is branched off in 6 directions?
2. Do I need a router or is there something smaller that can be plugged into the ethernet port of the bCS-460? I've see little antennas plugged into ethernet ports before.

Thanks, any help would be great. I know the dangers of electrical work and I will not be attempting this on my own, just trying to order some parts now.

Andrew

Yes, you should use a terminal strip for the power distribution. Yes, you'll need a wireless router (or bridge). The plug in devices you are thinking of are USB wireless access cards. They can't be plugged right into an ethernet jack. I personally just pulled a data cable to the location in my garage where I have my BCS.

I don't have a readily available picture of my own, but here is a friend of mines:

JonW, thanks so much. I'm not going to be doing the outlets, but mine shoudl be pretty similar. As fas as the terminal strip goes, I am assuming that the main power (one line) woudl hook into one end of the strip and then from the terminals, wires could be branched off to the SSRs?

Yes, you are right on hooking the power to the strip and then feeding it to the SSR's. If you're new to AC wiring, please wait for your electrician friend to come help!

Thanks, JonW. Oh yeah, that's a given, I never fool with electricity. It's the one facet of DIY projects I don't touch! I'll probably set everything up and then have him come over and look it over, test it all, and then fire it up with him there. Thanks again

Another one, in terms of terminal strips. I'm trying to see from the picture, but is the "HOT" strip the only one that needs jumpers on it? Also, does anyone have a good source for wiring 3 way selector switches into the panel? I will have (On-Off-Auto) switches for each component controlled. Therefore I could manually turn the pumps and such on instead of going through BCS. Thanks guys, I appreciate all the help.

Not exactly sure what you're talking about with jumpers - all of the terminal strips shown there are wired common.

Here's a wiring diagram for doing the on/off/auto switch. Note that it is switching the low voltage to the SSR's instead of switching the high voltage. Much simpler and safer to wire it this way.

I was looking for terminal strips and the ones I have found don't have "jumpers" between the terminals on the strip. Therefore it is just a strip with terminals lined up that aren't connected to one another, but instead blocked off from one another...or are the connections internal in the strip? I am looking to attach the one hot wire from main power to the strips and be able to have that power run through each terminal. You've been a huge help, JonW, thanks

I think you are talking about this for the jumpers between the terminals of the barrier strip:

http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2103227

alowell said:

Another one, in terms of terminal strips. I'm trying to see from the picture, but is the "HOT" strip the only one that needs jumpers on it? Also, does anyone have a good source for wiring 3 way selector switches into the panel? I will have (On-Off-Auto) switches for each component controlled. Therefore I could manually turn the pumps and such on instead of going through BCS. Thanks guys, I appreciate all the help.

Click to expand...

The picture JonW posted is from my control panel. At the time I did a little write up here http://cockalebrewery.blogspot.com/2009/10/its-alive.html and included a small parts list. Maybe that will help. The jumper bars are on all three terminal strips.

I did not wire in the 3-way switches for manual control. I thought about it, but so far not having them hasn't really been an issue.

--Brian

Hey Brian,
The control box looks great and I will probably model mine after yours! I was wondering about the amperage rating on those barrier strips. It says they are rated for 15A, what if I will be pulling more than 15A through them? i.e. element-12,5A, 2 pumps-4A, and etc. Are they rated per terminal and if they are all connected with jumpers, is it the strip as a a whole rated for 15A. Just wondering if you knew anything about this, I'm an electrical newbie. Thanks!

Andrew

The rating on a terminal strip like that would be 15A anywhere - any one terminal or a combination of all. I personally would not put a high load element on the strip, I would only use it for pumps & valves. For higher loads, splice the line with a large wire nut or use a heavy gauge terminal strip (like used in breaker boxes).

You can get different sized terminal blocks to meet your power requirements. Here's a pic of my box with a large terminal block for the 240V/50A side and smaller block for the 120V/20A connections. The large block is rated for 60 amps.

I just grabbed 3 30A terminal blocks with some jumpers for hot, neutral, and ground. It might be over kill, but it should work.

Sizz - what kind of box is that you put yours in?

Fibox NEMA 4X/13 Polycarbonate Enclosure w/ Transparent Cover from McMaster.

ZymurGuy said:

The picture JonW posted is from my control panel.

Click to expand...

I see you salvaged PC power cords for your outlets. Most of those are only 18ga. You might run into problems running any element that pulls more than 7 amps on those outlets. I'd spend the cash on a 10' 12guage extension cord and hack that up for your outlets.

Looks absolutely great otherwise. I'm probably going to copy some of your layout when I get my BCS-462.

Cheers,
B

bad coffee said:

I see you salvaged PC power cords for your outlets. Most of those are only 18ga. You might run into problems running any element that pulls more than 7 amps on those outlets. I'd spend the cash on a 10' 12guage extension cord and hack that up for your outlets.

Looks absolutely great otherwise. I'm probably going to copy some of your layout when I get my BCS-462.

Cheers,
B

Click to expand...

He's only running pumps and solenoid valves with it. Trying to use a heating element would probably be futile for his 45 gallon batches!

bad coffee said:

I see you salvaged PC power cords for your outlets. Most of those are only 18ga. You might run into problems running any element that pulls more than 7 amps on those outlets. I'd spend the cash on a 10' 12guage extension cord and hack that up for your outlets.

Looks absolutely great otherwise. I'm probably going to copy some of your layout when I get my BCS-462.

Cheers,
B

Click to expand...

These ended up being 16 gauge (I had a huge assortment to choose from), but yeah, I wouldn't try powering a heating element with them. At the moment I'm only powering two march pumps and three solenoids (and not always at the same time) so I figured I would be OK.

16 will be fine for a pump/solenoids. Unless you're running a 2HP pool pump!

B

Sizz said:

You can get different sized terminal blocks to meet your power requirements. Here's a pic of my box with a large terminal block for the 240V/50A side and smaller block for the 120V/20A connections. The large block is rated for 60 amps.

Click to expand...

Sizz,

I like what you did. Do you have any more info you can share. What all do you have wired up. I am guessing heating elements (2) and a pump perhaps? I am just starting the process of a design and what exactly I want to accomplish. I think I like the idea of being able to do both manual and auto through the BCS. Am I on the right path?

I am just redoing my previous build and am am going for an on off auto switch. In my last one it was all controlled by bcs, but i had a contractor to cut all power from the element. Do you think i shoud still wire up this contractor after the on off auto to cut all power or is this simply over kill? only way i can think of having a contractor in there is another switch? or is there another way?

After a little searching I found this thread. The photo answers many of the questions I asked regarding barrier strips and wiring outlets under your brew stand. Thank you JonW!!