Electric HLT temp. controller

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I have a 5 gallon igloo cooler that I have converted into an electric HLT using a 1500 watt water heating element mounted through the bottom of the cooler. I was thinking about getting one of these units to control the heat of my HLT.. any opinions or other suggestions?

http://www.auberins.com/index.php?m..._id=44&zenid=54da37c6b8078b616050e37869d0e3ac

Well... it will work for sure, but is a fairly expensive solution.

You could build your own similar device for a half of that price and some elbow grease.

But, if you're not a DIY kind of person, then... yeah... that thing will do it.
 
Walker, would love to build one. I haven't found any plans for building a simple unit like this.. If someone has some I would love to see a copy.

Thanks
 
Walker, would love to build one. I haven't found any plans for building a simple unit like this.. If someone has some I would love to see a copy.

Thanks

It's the same principle that people use for controlling HERMS and RIMS systems. no different, really.

Now... if you want to keep it SIMPLE, you'll find that a lot of the HERMS and RIMS build threads on here are a bit over the top.

A simple design would have a PID, a temp probe, and a single SSR (two SSRs if you want some redundency), and a power switch to give you manual control over turning the element off when you are damn sure you want it off.

This stuff gets put into some sort of enclosure with some power cords and a receptacle to plug your element into and you're done.



Warning: < you should prepare yourself now for an avalanche of design help from a lot of different people, each with their own approach to the design. they will all be good designs, make no mistake, but they will all be a little different. >
 
I just use a Johnson Controls A419 to turn on and off my heating element, very cheap and I just mounted it to my HLT.
 
HDIR0n, Thanks for the response. That is what I will be using.. I misread the spec's and didn't think it would handle a possible 15 amp load..
 
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