Electric Question

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Post #322 he says that he screwed a DIN clip to the BCS. Not sure about the contactor though. I'd be interested to know that as well.

Geoff

I took the front cover off the BCS and drilled a hole to mount a clip to it.

I used 2 clips to mount the contactor through the contactors mounting holes.

The clips look like:

8961k29kp1l.png


http://www.mcmaster.com/#din-rail-mount-clips/=dln88r

Ed
 
So having your BCS after the E-Stop kills it if you turn off the system correct? I assume you are only using the BCS to control brewing and not to control fermentation chambers or kegerators.

Did you ever have any diagrams for having the BCS outside of the E-Stop? I plan to use the diagrams that are posted in this thread (clear, correct and easy to understand) and I didn't see one for having the BCS always on and outside the E-Stop.
 
So having your BCS after the E-Stop kills it if you turn off the system correct? I assume you are only using the BCS to control brewing and not to control fermentation chambers or kegerators.

Did you ever have any diagrams for having the BCS outside of the E-Stop? I plan to use the diagrams that are posted in this thread (clear, correct and easy to understand) and I didn't see one for having the BCS always on and outside the E-Stop.

Not on mine

The BCS is powered *before* the contactor that the e-stop shuts off.. E-Stop is fully correct if it stops all High-Voltage leaving the control panel, but leaves internal HV that powers LV supplies and such still powered. (there is a fuse for the non-switched circuit that is not on the diagram)

For fermenters, you can have probes and output leads leave the box, say on a cat5 wire, to a box many feet away, that box has local input power that is switched by an SSR controlled by the BCS (that never lost power when you hit the e-stop) to power your fermenter.
Brewery%20Controller%20v1.3.png
 
If you have a single power cable to your control panel, bear in mind that if there is a condition that trips the power line circuit breaker you will lose power to everything powered/controlled by the control panel (yes, that was obvious ;)). If you really want your BCS to stay powered on regardless of your control panel, power it separately (either another power cable running to the control panel - not desirable for most people probably, or having the BCS located away from the control panel).

As pointed out, you can run cat5/6 cable many feet away. I have my BCS separate from my control panel (both have their own power cables, and both with GFCI) and run a cat5 cable from the BCS to my control panel. Granted, I don't have many things to control, so I can use just 1 cat5 cable to do it. Then I have a different cable (phone line cable, actually) that runs from my control panel to my probes.

It comes down to how much you care to keep the BCS powered when problems arise.
 
So having your BCS after the E-Stop kills it if you turn off the system correct? I assume you are only using the BCS to control brewing and not to control fermentation chambers or kegerators.

Did you ever have any diagrams for having the BCS outside of the E-Stop? I plan to use the diagrams that are posted in this thread (clear, correct and easy to understand) and I didn't see one for having the BCS always on and outside the E-Stop.

I only use the BCS for brewing.

As said in a couple previous posts, it would be fairly easy to power the BCS upstream from the E-Stop. I thought about this, but decided to cut as much power as possible inside the panel with the E-Stop.

Ed
 
having the BCS located away from the control panel

This is a good point. You know, I swear I thought about that at one point but must have forgotten. I think this is the route I will go. Have the BCS in its own enclosure somewhere and feed the controls to the brewery, and other pieces that I want to control, through cat 5 wires. Thanks!

Also, thanks for clearwaterbrewer for posting that diagram! Thats what I was looking for.
 
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