lextasy23
Well-Known Member
So, I decided to make an electric brew panel. We're buying a house this year, and instead of having to wait, I figured I'd slowly hoard the stuff now, build my panel, and hit the ground running.
For around a year, I have been collecting parts and this past weekend I finally put the panel together.
I bought the enclosure for $40 on Craigslist. It came with a cover, but I wanted to have it waterjet cut, and I was quoted between $150-$200. Then, I'd be ordering plastic tags to use as labels - those were another $50. Completely by accident, I found a company online (bigbluesaw.com) who laser cuts and engraves, and I decided to have the entire panel cut out of acrylic. Not exactly up to code - arc flash is and will always be a concern - but I am confident with my design and wiring.
Anyways, I wish I had started a build thread, but it's never too late.
Here's where I'm at now:
The schematic:
The backplate and components:
The signal tower:
(going to be green when nothing is on or amber when pumps and/or elements are on, and flashing red when a PID/timer alarm is triggered)
Cover design:
Finished product:
As soon as I saw the guy at bigbluesaw could make it out of acrylic, I KNEW i wanted LED side lighting. The LED strips were short money on eBay out of China. I even found ones that were 3mm wide - just about exactly the same as my .177 acrylic.
Here's a pic I took lighting it up with just my phone:
SO, I still have to...
For around a year, I have been collecting parts and this past weekend I finally put the panel together.
I bought the enclosure for $40 on Craigslist. It came with a cover, but I wanted to have it waterjet cut, and I was quoted between $150-$200. Then, I'd be ordering plastic tags to use as labels - those were another $50. Completely by accident, I found a company online (bigbluesaw.com) who laser cuts and engraves, and I decided to have the entire panel cut out of acrylic. Not exactly up to code - arc flash is and will always be a concern - but I am confident with my design and wiring.
Anyways, I wish I had started a build thread, but it's never too late.
Here's where I'm at now:
![20526_10155224423830078_2605468193656732375_n.jpg](https://proxy.imagearchive.com/798/79850df2fcd7ec71af6ccf734935892c.jpg)
The schematic:
![Brew-Panel-v7---WIRING.jpg](https://proxy.imagearchive.com/ec7/ec762a552a6e61d7daa508cf1cec533a.jpg)
The backplate and components:
![10978670_10155210895105078_743293265841403348_n.jpg](https://proxy.imagearchive.com/e2e/e2e8abb8c592b4deef9bc2d7a4fcd0c2.jpg)
The signal tower:
(going to be green when nothing is on or amber when pumps and/or elements are on, and flashing red when a PID/timer alarm is triggered)
![10492184_10155186514235078_4401306210061284048_n.jpg](https://proxy.imagearchive.com/290/290c825249e9cc514fd9fb162e83c974.jpg)
Cover design:
![1509688_10155185305160078_781727761089726234_n.jpg](https://proxy.imagearchive.com/fe0/fe0b989de010882b6ecf8c4a879c5280.jpg)
Finished product:
![10958067_10155225100770078_8171160707761706451_n.jpg](https://proxy.imagearchive.com/027/027b3acd59ea948e00f1e8beaffd9433.jpg)
As soon as I saw the guy at bigbluesaw could make it out of acrylic, I KNEW i wanted LED side lighting. The LED strips were short money on eBay out of China. I even found ones that were 3mm wide - just about exactly the same as my .177 acrylic.
Here's a pic I took lighting it up with just my phone:
![10968570_10155225100690078_5057976104944000664_n.jpg](https://proxy.imagearchive.com/a52/a520350e5a85c32dff7fbebfec88eccb.jpg)
SO, I still have to...
- Add the safe-start circuit
- Build the frame/border (to hide the LED strip)
- hardware into the house (when we get a house lol)
- configure the PIDs (anyone with Auber experience?)