PIDs not by Auber??

Looking at PIDs on eBay and finding some for like $15-20........any good or just get the Auber??

I believe most will be lacking the manual control option but hopefully someone here will back me up on that

I considered getting a ebay PID but I wonder what kind of product support you get from them. You may never have trouble with an ebay PID but what if you do?
I got the PID from Auber for peace of mind.

The most common problem with cheap eBay PIDs is that they do not support SSRs, only mechanical relays. If a PID only supports mechanical relays, it's cycle time will be much too long to be useful for home brewing applications, since we are dealing with relatively small liquid volumes.

Go auber

I went auber. I don't mind paying more for quality and customer support. I just got my PID and I got the RTD with deluxe cable option. For $9 extra you get the cable encased in SS braid and also get the panel socket. The panel socket was missing two of the ball bearings that lock it in place, one 30 second call and they are sending me a replacement... No questions asked. Hard to beat customer service that good.

I emailed Auber with a question and had a response 30 minutes later. Also most people on this board use them so it is easier to get info on them.

Auber is used to dealing with us brew guys so they have an answer for every problem you might have. I love that they are only about 100 miles from me. I can stuff from them in 1-2 days.

Perfect!! Going with Auber!! any recommended model? anyone using the PID with built in timer or is it redundant?

The JLD612/TET612/N2006P-612 all support SSR output, read in Fahrenheit, and accept numerous temperature sensors. I would argue that they probably come out of the same Chinese plant as the Auber model. However, they do lack the manual control function. I'm not saying not to go with Auber, I just want to get the word out that the above models work perfectly well and can be had for under $30 with some eBay savvy. Steer clear of the REX-C100 units though, I am currently using two of those as paper weights on my work bench with some vague notion of maybe building a fermentation chamber with them. (They refuse to read in degrees Fahrenheit no matter what you set them at and most of them are relay output... Of course, they are like only $8 shipped once you open a dispute with the vendor, but yeah.)

Auber is great. They deal a lot with brewers and those of us who smoke meat. Ive used their products to keep my smoker temps locked in and their C/S has been great. I will be using them when I build my e-keggle this summer.

tjpfeister said:

The JLD612/TET612/N2006P-612 all support SSR output, read in Fahrenheit, and accept numerous temperature sensors. I would argue that they probably come out of the same Chinese plant as the Auber model. However, they do lack the manual control function.

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The JLD612 does indeed have a manual function.(at least mine do) I'm not in front of mine but I believe you press and hold the up arrow to select it.

brew-n-que said:

The JLD612 does indeed have a manual function.(at least mine do) I'm not in front of mine but I believe you press and hold the up arrow to select it.

Click to expand...

Good luck on that one. The manual for the JLD612 PID does not show a manual mode function for controlling the percent of power.

Auber Instruments! Nuff said!

The manual does state manual control is possible, but does not detail how to do it.

Through some trial and error "monkey punching" I found you press and hold the SET button. The AT light comes on and the numbers on the display is the percentage running time for the output.

Sure enough, holding the set key displays a character that might be interpreted as an "M." It looks like a lower case "n" with a line over the top. Both my JLD612 and N2006P models will go into this mode, but I don't seem able to increment the value at all. I do not currently have temp probes hooked up, but that shouldn't matter to manual mode (I wouldn't think). I assume that you just hit the usual > ^ and V buttons, to set it to, say, 0065 for 65%, right Brew?

tjpfeister said:

...
I do not currently have temp probes hooked up, but that shouldn't matter to manual mode (I wouldn't think).

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I have no idea on this PID - but - the Auberins PID will not function without a temp probe connected. That's even if the probe is not being used.

Just hook it up and see how it behaves. No?

Box is all assembled at the moment (Hardwired type of build). I'm plumbing right now and will answer the question when I finish wiring afterwards. In the end, I (personally) wired 2 pwm in parallel with the SSR-out circuit, so I'm not dying to know just yet. I'll have the answer in the next week or so. But I was thinking about that, if the thing simply locks up in EEEE mode, perhaps it would not allow a manual value to be set.

tjpfeister said:

Sure enough, holding the set key displays a character that might be interpreted as an "M." It looks like a lower case "n" with a line over the top. Both my JLD612 and N2006P models will go into this mode, but I don't seem able to increment the value at all. I do not currently have temp probes hooked up, but that shouldn't matter to manual mode (I wouldn't think). I assume that you just hit the usual > ^ and V buttons, to set it to, say, 0065 for 65%, right Brew?

Click to expand...

correct, the 0065 would represent 65%. I have not tried to operate the PID without a probe connected, but the up and down arrow buttons do adjust the percentage in this mode.

I just want to confirm that both my controllers (JLD-612 and N2006P) do indeed have a manual control by holding the SET button. I just throttled both of my elements on my rig by doing so.

I read enough to be convinced. Ordered my auber PID today. The ramp and soak model was awfully tempting for step mashing but went with standard model for manual control during boil.
Thanks y'all

BrewHaas said:

I read enough to be convinced. Ordered my auber PID today. The ramp and soak model was awfully tempting for step mashing but went with standard model for manual control during boil.
Thanks y'all

Click to expand...

You did the right thing and you will never regret it at all in any way.

Let me know if I can help you with a diagram for your set up.

P-J

I've seen so many I can't say if I've seen yours or not. That said, please point me to it and thanks. I'm trying to be minimalist on parts. I have 2 SSRs but am considering just one per element.