All Electric Brew Rig - Questions

I'm in the planning and material gathering phase of building an all electric RIMS system using (2) 5500 watt elements controlled by a BCS-460 through SSR's.

How much heat is generated by the SSR's? I will have up to (8) SSR's in the FRP control cabinet (16" x 23" x 8"). Would it be acceptable to mount the SSR heat sinks on the back panel inside the cabinet, or should I mount them extending through the rear wall of the cabinet?

Hope to post some pictures as I progress.

They'll produce a ton of heat. I know some have placed the heatsink inside, but I've only seen one or two SSRs in the cabinet. With 8 its hard to say how many will be operating at the same time. I also have 8 SSRs, I took a different approach; theres a link in my signature line with some pics.

I don't think a steel panel between the SSRs and heat sinks is a good idea.
I cut almost the entire back out of my box and made an 1/8" aluminum "back panel". I drilled the panel to allow the SSR's to be inside, the heat sinks on the outside. Not all my SSRs will likely ever be on at the same time, so the shared panel actually helps the cooling. The heatsinks are warm to the touch when the system is running. Here is a couple pictures to give you an idea:

Ed...

how are these actually mounted? Did you "pinch" the aliminum between the sinks and the SSRs? Are your heatsinks and SSRs contacting each other well enough?

Walker said:

Ed...

how are these actually mounted? Did you "pinch" the aluminum between the sinks and the SSRs? Are your heatsinks and SSRs contacting each other well enough?

Click to expand...

They are pinched, with thermal grease on both sides. The only holes for the SSRs are the screw holes that mate to the heat sinks. I think that they are contacting fine... You can feel the heat sink get warm next to a SSR's that's on (so it spreads the heat across several heat sinks). The thermal transfer seems to be fine.

A couple more pictures:

Back of box as cut:


Inside:

Thanks for the good info and pics. It looks as if an aluminum sub plate mounted externally on the rear of the cabinet will be my best option.

OT - Ed where did you get that box? Very nice!

wyzazz said:

OT - Ed where did you get that box? Very nice!

Click to expand...

Thanks. I got the box from a user here at HBT.
It was a bit scratched up, but nothing a little sandpaper and a spray bomb couldn't fix.

It's actually called a "console" enclosure if you want to go looking for one.
If you find one, you have to be a bit careful when laying out the components inside... It gets pretty shallow in the front, so switches could easily interfere with things inside (notice I have no switches near the bottom of the panel).

Ed

Thanks!