Trigger alarm with this timer?

I was looking for a cheaper alternative to Kai's Omega timer (or the Auber timer). I am trying to figure out if a Sestos B2E timer (found via ebay, http://bit.ly/jvKZud) can be wired to trigger a 120v alarm.

I know relay output is possible, but not sure about an alarm (or a workaround to one).

Here's a link to the PDF manual: http://www.sestos-hk.com/english/download/B2E-EN.pdf

Thanks for any insight.

Pins 9 and 10 are your incoming power, polarity shouldn't matter. You need to supply 120 to pin 7. When out of alarm the relay contact pins 7 and 6 are connected. When into alarm the relay contact pins 7 and 8 are connected. So when you activate the timer, when your value is reached 7 and 8 close letting your supplied 120 to your alarm.

hugely helpful. thanks for the diagram and explanation Maxkling!

A follow up. I am trying to figure out if the cryptic instructions indicate you can program a 'schedule' into the timer.

Say for a boil: 30 min, 15 min, 10 min, 5 min corresponding to hop additions or something.

I was also looking at the eBay timer as a board replacement. Have you integrated this into your system yet? Any thoughts on performance or use?

I am just about ready to wire up everything in my box, so I can't speak to performance on brew day.

That said, I'm very happy with the timer. I've tested its basic functionality and find it very easy to use. It has four input buttons for the time (corresponding to 00:00), similar to the Omega timer, which makes entering times a little easier than the Auber version. And the relay output will work fine with an alarm (per above diagram). It is not programmable, so you'll be either setting one countdown clock, or breaking the brewday up into units and reprogramming the clock at each alarm (my preference). It can count up or down, and you can change between various units (hours, minutes, seconds). It displays the set value (say, 30:00) and the current timer state (23:45 for example). The instructions included were easy to follow, and my experience w/ the ebay seller was great.

I have thought about using the second output for a separate level of control (say, turning off a pump after a set amount of time), but that would be down the road, if at all.

In general it was a low cost way to have a dedicated brewing alarm which integrated with my control panel and alarm.

Fantastic...thanks for the quick reply!

Why the one from ebay vs. the Auber timer? The ALS-51 is like $6 more.

Not knocking your choice. Just curious why you went with the one you did?

The quick answer is I don't know what the ALS-51 is - but would love to know!

... in general, I used those as comparisons because the Omega and the Auber where the two choices Kal offered over at theelectricbrewery.com

This Sestos one was a cheap alternative to these w/ similar functionality.

Duh...
you meant the ASL-51? Didn't know the auber model number. Quick answer was, particularly w/ shipping, I got the ebay Sestos timer much cheaper ($20 shipped).

Second reason is, similar to the more expensive omega timer, the Sestos allows you to change each digit of the timer w/ a dedicated button. On the auber you scroll back and forth. Kal seemed to indicate this was more of a hassle - so I'm basing this advantage on his advice.

More generally these were all options to work in a setup which would have a 120v flashing alarm and be based around a 1/16 DIN PID, so the 1/16 DIN timer would 'match up'.

Cool... so how do you think it will work out?

I like the up/down features too for the time programming.

I have the same concerns (after reading Kal's site) about the Auber timer (which you re-iterated in your reply).

I think that it will work great w/ my panel and 120v flashing buzzer. I'll have to update after a brew day w/ my finished panel.

Of course, I can't make any guarantees on the longevity. And for an added price, something programmable would be nice (I'm not sure if either the auber or the omega allow this). Also, w/o knowing how other timers work, this one gains from a switch on the alarm circuit. There's no way to stop/turn off the alarm from the timer (unless you reset the timer to a new countdown). I like the convenience of a switch when the alarm is buzzing.

All in all, less than (comparable to?) a new watch (my Timex stopped beeping a few months ago...).

any idea what the Gate, Reset, +12, OV (terminals 2,3,4,& 5) are for? or ideas of how they could be used? I have this timer and im installing it this week in my control panel

Gate stalls the timer. See page 2 where the ramp levels off for a bit. Reset restarts the timer at the beginning of the count.

I initially wired my timer to this schematic, however when I turned my alarm switch on the alarm sounded constantly until the timer hit zero, then it stopped. In my setup pin 8 was wired to my switch, when I move that to pin 6 the alarm went off when the time hit 0. So I think either my timer is wired wrong or there has been a change since this thread was started

How do you wire up The reset button ?

For the timer? It has one built in (or at least my version of it does). I know the reset is included in Kai's build with an Omega timer, but I don't see why it would be necessary with this one.

If I need to reset/change the time, I use the timer. If I just need to kill the alarm, I use a switch on the alarm circuit.

Dogtrash said:

How do you wire up The reset button ?

Click to expand...

If you use a momentary switch between pins 3 and 4 it will reset it, but you have to change one of the settings to make it work. The input select value needs to be changed to PnP

njbabs said:

For the timer? It has one built in (or at least my version of it does). I know the reset is included in Kai's build with an Omega timer, but I don't see why it would be necessary with this one.

If I need to reset/change the time, I use the timer. If I just need to kill the alarm, I use a switch on the alarm circuit.

Click to expand...

I dont need it but it sure looks empty at My controlpanel without it.
And i got one of those momentary switches layin around.

Thanks mrwizard0

No worries, just repaying all the help I got with mine.