Beautiful! Very nice setup!
I looked at that tilted panel too but decided I needed more room so got a 16x16x8" box instead as everything will be on one box (and it'll probably be tight!). For those looking for engraved plastic electrical panel tags, I bought a bunch from this place:
Signs Banners & Tags | Engraved and vinyl signage for industrial and commercial applications. (Any trophy shop will do them too - this place is in Canada so it was convenient for me). Cost me about $35 or so along with an engraved 4x2" aluminum plaque like this that I drew up:
What's nice about those automation direct switches is that they're lit so you save some space on your panel as you're combining a pilot light with a switch. How bright are they when lit? Got any shots of them running in the dark?
I bought pilot lights off Ebay from 'electrical_parts' - the one that have with replacable 120V LED lights but frankly I don't like the look of them and some are too dim. Their non-replaceable LED pilots are much nicer (I bought one to try it out) and are identical to the cheapest ones that Automation Direct sells. So I ended up re-buying all my pilot lights twice.
(Actually I've done that with a few things now as I see something nicer- by the end I'll have enough to build a second small panel that I should give away... ).
SSR's have leakage current and I didn't want to just use the SSR's to switch one 120V leg, so instead I'm using two relays too (exact same ones you're using, also from 'electrical_parts')) to completely turn on or turn off one element at once, and then the 3rd relay powers the whole unit with a key switch. Very smart idea.
Two Auber PID's which im not to crazy about. They dont have much of a lip so they dont seal very tight to the panel. I was thinking of finding an O ring that fits tight around them, maybe that will help.
Let me know if you find any. I noticed that as well. There's actually quite a big hole in the bottom of the front that would allow moisture to get in.
I imagine 1/16 DIN rubber gaskets would be available but I haven't been able to find any. Very thin weather stripping of some sort may work too. We need something because it seems silly to have a nice NEMA 4/12 box and then have loose/rattlely PIDs destroy that rating.
Actually, I'm not that impressed with the auber pids at all really (I have 3). They're pretty REALLY cheaply made compared to real manufacturing stuff. But then, what do you expect for ~$40. Others cost $100+.
I did get the SSRs and heat sinks from Auber. It was your post that got me motivated to get this project underway. Do you have any idea how much money your costing me?
Tell me about it. Just spent $170 last night on ONLY the locking power cable disconnects! And that's a discounted ebay price for new-old stock (NOS). Would have been at least $100 more locally.
Well, there is a fair ammount of heat generated over the course of a 60 miunute boil. I have my cycle time set at 1 second, and I can keep a rolling boil going at about 60-65%. That is A LOT of switching. The heat sink gets noticeably warm to the touch, and mine is mountd outside the box. If you ventilate the box well so that it can pull air in and exhaust it, you will be fine. If not, Id find a way to mount them on the exterior.
That's unfortuate that they run that warm (Pol uses a 5500W element FWIW - same as what I'm planning). I was hoping to have the heatsinks inside too for a nice enclosed look. I wouldn't punch a hole in the box and use a fan as that'll again wreck any NEMA rating that you may have had before (if you care, but seems a shame to get a box with a nice sealed lid and then just punch holes in the side that are completely open).
I'd mount the heat sinks externally with 4 screws drilled in the corners of the heat sinks and then cut a smaller SSR sized hole in the box to allow the SSR to have 100% contact to the heat sink. Then use a thin rubber gasket between the heatsink and the box wall to make sure it's water tight.
The other option that I'm toying with is to simply mount the heat sinks and SSRs on opposite sides of the box wall. SSR's inside, heatsinks outside. I'd sand down and clean an area on the inside & outside of the box and simply mount the SSR to the heat sink with the box wall in between (2 small holes drilled through the box for the 2 screws that hold the two together). A thin layer of heat sink compount on both sides and it should work fine to heat transfer. The box walls are pretty thin and the box itself will also help dissipate some of the heat too I imagine which may help offset the fact that your heat transfer won't be as good as you have an extra change of material type. You'd have to make sure it's completely flat and tight. Some silicone sealant around the heat sink on the outside after may be a good idea too. Thoughts?
(EDIT: BrewBeemer mentions later that the SSRs themselves will of course get hot so there's still some heat in the box. Hmmm).
Anyway, nice setup... keep us up to date! I'll be posting my own thread in the next few weeks as my parts keep coming in too.... sloooowly....
Kal