Voltage Controller - will this work?

[Airborneguy]

I’m clueless. Let’s get that out of the way. But I have built 2 functioning heat sticks that I use regularly without killing myself. I am slowly planning my step up to a 240v, kettle mounted heating element.

Will this simple controller meet my needs to control a single element that will only be used to heat sparge water and conduct the boil?

10000W SCR Digital Voltage Regulator Module Board Speed Control Dimmer Thermostat AC 220V 80A 10000W SCR Digital Voltage Regulator Module Board Speed Control Dimmer Thermostat AC 220V 80A: Amazon.com: Tools & Home Improvement

 

[day_trippr]

Sure, up to your wiring "ampacity" (for both Line and Load) it should work as advertised...

Cheers!

 

[Bobby_M]

I'm not sure how long it will live with the relatively small heatsink. Since you'd want to contain it in a box for safety, I think a small fan would be in order.

 

[Airborneguy]

I'm not sure how long it will live with the relatively small heatsink. Since you'd want to contain it in a box for safety, I think a small fan would be in order.

The reviews I’ve found all seem to go that direction.

I already have a Nema 14-50 outlet for my car. I want to work off of that but it looks like this input side of this regulator is for a 30amp wire?

 

[Bobby_M]

Nothing wrong with plugging in a 30 amp load to a 50amp circuit. It's not exactly the same, but we often plug a 500mA phone charger into a 15 amp circuit and don't think twice about it. If you want to be extra safe that you can't possibly pull more than 32amps on your cable, you can put this into your little control box (the 2 pole 32A one, found on Auberins.com). It's a breaker but you can also use it as an on/off switch.

Another dress up item that's nice to have is the combo volt/amp meter. Since the power control of the item you linked to is non-linear, the amp meter would give you pretty good repeatability on power output.

 

[Airborneguy]

Thanks. A little extra built-in safety never hurts.

I’d prefer not to add another outlet and breaker to my panel. The fact that I can use the one I have makes this much more likely to happen.

I’m going to run all this by my step-father, my electrical go-to. I don’t like presenting my wacky projects to him before I have at least a general understanding of the concept.

 

[Malticulous]

I made a simple box with this. One seller suggest 5000w max continuous duty. I'll see how it does. The heat sink is open air and gets a bit hot. I'll build a real box someday.

 

[Malticulous]

I've been using this for quite a few brews now. No problems with it.

I have another homemade SSVR-pot based boil control. This gets a tic more power to the element and has more precise control.

A knob is nice. This is slow too get to zero. I always have it at zero before I shut it off.