BetterSense
Well-Known Member
Note: I had all these parts for free. I understand this would not make sense for most people, so please don't post just to say that.
I've been having a string of bad regulator trouble. I've had them creep and over-carb my beer, leak, and otherwise just suck. Every time I looked in my kegerator, the pressure would be different. Plus, I bought a rebuild kit for my Norgren regulator and the rebuild kit was DOA! Faced with spending $70 on another annoying regulator that with my luck will probably also break, I built a digital one out of spare parts.
I supply 150PSI CO2 with one of my old paintball regulators. The keg pressure is monitored by an industrial pressure sensor and a SSR turns on a 110V solenoid valve to let CO2 in when the pressure drops below the setpoint.
I would have used a microcontroller, but I don't have any right now so I just set up a comparator circuit. It works perfect so far.
Now that this one works, of course I want to design a better one. If I designed one from scratch, I would use a microcontroller, I would use DC solenoids so that it could be battery-powered, and I would use 2 solenoids (or a 4-way) so it could bleed pressure off in case of temperature rise or a leaking main solenoid. I'm not sure where to get cheap pressure transducers, though. I have been told that Chrysler oil pressure gage sending units are 8-80ohm, 0-60psi and only cost $10 or so, but I haven't confirmed that.
I've been having a string of bad regulator trouble. I've had them creep and over-carb my beer, leak, and otherwise just suck. Every time I looked in my kegerator, the pressure would be different. Plus, I bought a rebuild kit for my Norgren regulator and the rebuild kit was DOA! Faced with spending $70 on another annoying regulator that with my luck will probably also break, I built a digital one out of spare parts.
I supply 150PSI CO2 with one of my old paintball regulators. The keg pressure is monitored by an industrial pressure sensor and a SSR turns on a 110V solenoid valve to let CO2 in when the pressure drops below the setpoint.
I would have used a microcontroller, but I don't have any right now so I just set up a comparator circuit. It works perfect so far.
Now that this one works, of course I want to design a better one. If I designed one from scratch, I would use a microcontroller, I would use DC solenoids so that it could be battery-powered, and I would use 2 solenoids (or a 4-way) so it could bleed pressure off in case of temperature rise or a leaking main solenoid. I'm not sure where to get cheap pressure transducers, though. I have been told that Chrysler oil pressure gage sending units are 8-80ohm, 0-60psi and only cost $10 or so, but I haven't confirmed that.