Selecting a PID

I am getting ready to upgrade my system with a E-HLT/ future upgrade to HERMS. I am going to use a 4500 - 5500 watt element and I am look at this PID. It comes with a K type thermocoupler but I am looking at a Pt100 sensor for a better resolution.
Is this a good choice?
Any inputs would be appreciated.

Looks good, and will probably work. But this model has the ability to drive mechanical relays, and you only need to drive SSR's, right? I think the SSR version of this PID is available straight from Auber Instruments fabout the same $$ as the ebay model. Check it out yourself:

http://www.auberins.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1&products_id=3

Appears to be the "standard" Auber PID that a lot of people here have used very successfully.

Probably won't go wrong with that one.

There is also an SSR only version here.

I was thinking about this PID, it's programmable! 31 different programs, so you could basically program 31 different beers in it.

Drawback it's about 2x the price and you still need to get temp probes.

http://www.mpja.com/prodinfo.asp?number=18258+MI

B

bad coffee said:

I was thinking about this PID, it's programmable! 31 different programs, so you could basically program 31 different beers in it.

Drawback it's about 2x the price and you still need to get temp probes.

http://www.mpja.com/prodinfo.asp?number=18258+MI

B

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I took a cursory look at its docs... no obvious "manual mode", which makes boils nearly impossible to control.

It appears that this PID can be either SSR and relay output and it is a few dollars cheaper and the resolution can go down to .1F with pt100 sensor. IM I right?

And yes I am looking at a SSR output

sambogi76 said:

It appears that this PID can be either SSR and relay output and it is a few dollars cheaper and the resolution can go down to .1F with pt100 sensor. IM I right?

Click to expand...

That looks like a winner. I bet it is functionally identical to the 2352, which is very common around the campus.

If it's identical, you'll find a lot of help. If not, well, you will have to sorta figure it out yourself. Me, I'd go with the crowd. There are a lot of settings on one of these things... some matter, some don't.

Can these things be calibrated? Or do they even need to be calibrated?

yea, a little bit. There is an offset you can add to the reading. For example, if your PID/sensor says 75°F, and you verify by some other method that it should be 72.5°F, you can enter -2.5 into the offset register in the PID. It will read correctly then.

There is also an "autotune" feature in which it learns how fast your system reacts to input. You do this one time, after your system is set up. It's easy and keeps the system from overshooting the temp you set. More on that in other threads.

passedpawn said:

yea, a little bit. There is an offset you can add to the reading. For example, if your PID/sensor says 75°F, and you verify by some other method that it should be 72.5°F, you can enter -2.5 into the offset register in the PID. It will read correctly then.

There is also an "autotune" feature in which it learns how fast your system reacts to input. You do this one time, after your system is set up. It's easy and keeps the system from overshooting the temp you set. More on that in other threads.

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That sound pretty cool. I thought that this PID was the norm around here, but just wanted to double check before I bought it. I am very excited about this upgrade and the fact that I will be just a step away from a HERMS.
Thank you for the help.

Good luck. BTW, cute pic of daughter. I have one of those too.

Just out of curiousity, what's the PWM period on these PIDs? Can you change it?

You can change it. I can't remember what the default was, maybe 2 seconds. I changed mine down to 0.5s and had problems. It has been set to 1s for all of my brews.

[edit] upon further review, I think mine is set to 2 seconds now. ]

What were the symptoms with 0.5s?

Sizz said:

What were the symptoms with 0.5s?

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This was before I had it in my system... I had it on a bench with a scope probe tied to it.

Here's the thread I made about it... looks like I have it set to 2 seconds, oops.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/auber-pid-syl-2352-undocumented-bug-145013/

passedpawn said:

Good luck. BTW, cute pic of daughter. I have one of those too.

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Thank you, Yea she is my baby, dont let her looks fool you... She is rotten.

sambogi76 said:

It appears that this PID can be either SSR and relay output and it is a few dollars cheaper and the resolution can go down to .1F with pt100 sensor. IM I right?

Click to expand...

Those are the exact PIDs I have for both my HLT and BK. I've only run several wet tests so far, and no brewing, but they are fully capable of taking care of your brewing needs. They are easy to program as far as inputs or temp offsets, etc, too. I ran two separate auto tune functions with both PIDs, and they were set in about 25 minutes. It also easily bumps from PID mode to manual mode.

FYI, I didn't have to calibrate my PT100 sensors at all. They were dead on. I also used panel mount connectors on my control panel that you can get from Auber Instruments as well; I highly recommend that.

Here you can see in the upper right corner the panel mount RTD connectors.


Here's a shot of the PIDs in action. Note the temp probes were not submerged in water at the time; they are much more responsive when submerged.


Hope this helps,
TB