Will this cheap 3500 watt induction burner work?

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ImageUploadedByHome Brew1397947254.850155.jpg

Slowly converting over the basement utility room into my brewery!


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Nice setup there, Carl. Clean and purposeful - all it needs is some horizontal space and an easy chair to hang out in waiting on the boil.

:mug:
 
So, others have asked about scorching ... Everyone says no worry... Did my first full brew on unit today and see pic. This was an extract braggot but i stirred during addition. Bottom is also warped and tweaked all over. Almost like it has been deformed. Still worked fine but just my experience. I loved how this worked overall.

ImageUploadedByHome Brew1397962978.019358.jpg


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^ That looks like extract was immediately scorched to the bottom. That is the 5" center ring it seems. Did you turn the burner off when you added the extract? Even if you did, I think the pot retains some heat and that looks a lot like extract scorching. I could be wrong of course. I have not done extract on the induction.
 
That bottom gets extremely hot from the induction current. And it takes time to dissipate that heat into the wort. Definitely looks like a bad scorch mark from extract. How did the wort taste?

On another note, is there any hard evidence there is actually a larger coil in the IC3500? I have the feeling that 6" coil is all there is.

Reason is, I did some testing with all sorts of wide bottom pans and pots and none ever showed a larger heating area than that ring.
I'll be brewing with that burner today...
 
Looking back to this post:

tbelczak said:
I don't know enough about electronics to answer your question about controlling external power, but I've included a photo of the insides that may tell you something. Seems like everything associated with the external power is a screw terminal and easily accessible.

172002d1389654586-will-cheap-3500-watt-induction-burner-work-inside.jpg
Click to expand...

Source: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f170/w...on-burner-work-301722/index9.html#post5820183

And using some assumptions and rough measuring.

Unit Width: 637 pixels
Manuf Spec Width: 12"

Based on above, the Pixels Per Inch: 53

Width of Coil in Pixels: 472

Estimated Coil Width in Inches: 8.9"

EDIT: My assumption is that the left edge of the unit is just off screen in the picture. If it is significantly off screen then my calcs are off.
 
Yeah... Next time i turn the burner off i will wait 10 mins before extract addition if I'm doing such. The wort had no off flavors as i stirred during addition but we shall see final product.

Bottomm of pot is warped and wavy. Dont think pan was made for that level of whatever. The heat should be find as local brew store uses that pot propane burners All the time. Until it shows signs of failure i will keep at it.


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geoffm33 said:
Looking back to this post:

Source: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f170/w...on-burner-work-301722/index9.html#post5820183

And using some assumptions and rough measuring.

Unit Width: 637 pixels
Manuf Spec Width: 12"

Based on above, the Pixels Per Inch: 53

Width of Coil in Pixels: 472

Estimated Coil Width in Inches: 8.9"

EDIT: My assumption is that the left edge of the unit is just off screen in the picture. If it is significantly off screen then my calcs are off.
Click to expand...

Ah, thanks, I did see that picture a while ago, but it never registered as such.

I measured the size of the cord's (black) strain relief/grommet with calipers and mine is a hair over 1" diameter. It measures 0.7" on my screen, and the coil 5.5". So that makes the coil's diameter 5.5*1.02/0.7 is 8.0" inches, roughly. Since there are only 2 wires coming from the coil, going into the power supply, there's no reason to believe there's a center tap. I think we can safely deduce then it's that single 8" coil that creates all the induction energy.

[ADDED] OK, a little more precise. Measured the distance between the outer rivets on the back panel, 9.45". Coil diameter is 9.45*5.5/6=8.66"

Still makes me wonder why it only exhibits a 5-6" heating area and not closer to 8-8.5" with the wider bottom pots. I'll measure that heating circle a bit more accurately.
 
Webrestaurant is shipping me out a new Avantco unit! :ban:

They were great on communication, provided the RMA info and label with no problems and did it all over a holiday weekend. If anyone has an issue with their plate and it's under warrenty (which I hope they don't) Webrestaurant will take care of you.

Hope it gets here before Friday, dang it I want to BREW! :mug:
 
New unit's here, brew day is on for Fri! :mug:

Really have good things to say about Webstaurant's customer service. They were attentive and shipped out the replacement in no time flat. Buy from them with confidence!

:rockin:
 
sumbrewindude said:
New unit's here, brew day is on for Fri! :mug:



Really have good things to say about Webstaurant's customer service. They were attentive and shipped out the replacement in no time flat. Buy from them with confidence!



:rockin:
Click to expand...


Excellent! I'll be brewing tonight as well :ban:

Just had to retrofit my reflectix wrap over the new ball valve and sight glass I installed. Ready to go.
 
I finally did my first brew on the IC3500 last night. A Deschutes Black Butte Porter clone. I was able to easily sustain a full boil with 6-6.5 gallons of wort in the 8 gallon kettle, without lid or any insulation. Heating is quick with the lid on!

Everything worked fine and as expected. If anything, the boil pattern is a bit irregular, with lots of surges that violently break to the surface, right in the very center of the kettle, splattering a bit of wort around, particularly after stirring. Now mind, I only have about 2-3 inches of headspace left in that kettle. Once it boiled, I was able to reduce the power to 3100W, and only went back to 3500W temporarily when adding each of the 2 additions of dark grain steeping wort. Next time I'll try the temperature mode see if I can get a smoother boil, with some fine tuning.

From what I read, all of the 3500W of power is delivered, either full time at max, or part time at reduced settings. The amount of power is not reduced; the on-time interval is adjusted when dialing a lower output or temp. So the boil surges may persist. Remember only a small (center) area (5-6" diameter) gets directly heated, and the boil pattern reflects that, large steam bubbles rising to the surface from that center circle. At least my kettle is 14" wide, so most of the boil splashes returned to the wort, only spitting occasionally on the counter and floor. Not too bad, really, propane does that too.
 
Hello said:
IslandLizard,
Do you note fairly small amounts of boil off?
Click to expand...

I estimate boiling off at least 1 gallon during the 75' boil. That's maybe 25% less than I'm used to on the stove, not a lot.

The recipe was scaled for 6 gallons, aiming for 5.25-5.5 in fermentor and .5-.75 in equipment losses and trub.

I have a bit over 5.5 gallons in the bucket, and 3/4 gal left in equipment and trub, so that's 6.25+.
Started out with 7-7.5 gallons, 6.25-6.5 from mash and a little less than 1 gallon from hot steeping and sparging the pound of dark grains.
 
Wow. A year after moving into an apt., still haven't brewed and have been sobbing all day looking at Electric Brewery prices... Will most definitely trade my keggle for a Bayou pot and my propane burner to an induction burner. Subscribed! :tank:
 
Thought I'd chime in here with my setup and experience with it, particularly since I think I can ease anyone's concerns regarding the scale-ability/capability of this system since I just did a 14g BIAB batch on it.

I have the same 3500w induction cooker in this thread, I'm using a 20g MegaPot 1.2 from Northern Brewer. Really only planned on 15g, but when I ordered that was out of stock so I went with this.

Did most of the same things as folks in this tread, ended up wrapping it in reflectix, etc. I'm brewing in my garage currently, laundry room is on the other side of the wall so I just cut the line to the drier, put in a workbox and ran an extra line to the garage wall for this cooker. Can't / Won't run the drier and it at the same time and haven't had any problems.

This past weekend I did a 10G batch of the Big Brew Day imperial stout recipe. I messed up the process (somewhat new to the all-grain thing as well as this system) which turned out to be 14 gallon batch and ever so slightly off on the gravity 1.094 vs the intended 1.1. But I got 4 extra gallons so, I'm not complaining. Probably be 9.5% in the end, so certainly a decent Imperial Stout.

Anyway, onto the point. This was 48lbs of grain and 14 gallons of water at one point. I've done nothing to reinforce the cooktop or spread out the weight. Didn't seem to bother it a bit.

I've had no issues with overheating at all. Due to the size of the bottom of my kettle I do tend to need the cover on to get up to a boil more quickly and completely uncovered I don't get what I'd consider a 'rolling' boil with this kettle.

That said what I've worked out is to prop the lid up and let steam vent out the side. With it covered that way a rolling boil for the 14g of water wasn't a problem, I've even found once it's there I have to reduce power or risk boil overs in some batches.

Thus far even though the lid is partly on I've had no problems with DMS in the beer, I vent enough steam I think to easily get rid of any off flavors. Though it's too soon to tell probably on the batch that is most likely to have the issue (Belgian Tripel from a couple of weeks back) since it's my understanding that Pilsner malt is more prone to it and that was the base malt there. If that one comes out successful I'm sure I have nothing to worry about. Going to do a gravity check on that this weekend so we'll see if I can taste anything wrong with it.

My biggest issues at this point with the system overall is I need to add a pump I think to re-circulate water and even out temperatures during the mash and I've had some failures of the thermometers I was using to measure mash temperatures (bad probes). Plus I'm still getting used it and understanding what my boil off rates/etc are.

Couple of photos are attached, one with the full hoisted bag is the 48lbs of wet grain from the Imperial Stout last weekend, to get an idea of size the bucket in that photo is 5-gallons.

IMG_2236.jpg


IMG_2461.jpg
 
Wow, I just read through all 42 pages :D

Siberian and other BIAB brewers, do you have much difficulty maintaining mash temperature with this unit? Can you elaborate on your mashing technique with the induction burner?

In earlier threads, some of the BIAB brewers mentioned their mash temps continued to rise with the unit on the lowest setting. I am guessing people reach mash temperature and ocassionally add heat as needed during the mash. Is that everyone's experience?
 
My BIAB mash temps seem to hold for about 45 min then drop a couple degrees by 60 min so I just let it go and don't worry about adding heat. This is without any kettle insulation wrap.
 
Pie_Man said:
Siberian and other BIAB brewers, do you have much difficulty maintaining mash temperature with this unit? Can you elaborate on your mashing technique with the induction burner?

In earlier threads, some of the BIAB brewers mentioned their mash temps continued to rise with the unit on the lowest setting. I am guessing people reach mash temperature and ocassionally add heat as needed during the mash. Is that everyone's experience?
Click to expand...

I've done about 5 batches on this setup and I'm still working out some kinks.

First few I had some problems only with actually reading the temperature accurately, I seemed to have a lot of hotspotting occuring in the kettle due to the large volume vs very narrow area of the kettle that was being heated. I'm sure this isn't really a problem for folks with somewhat smaller kettles. What I was experiencing was that it was quite hard to accurately measure the mash temperature. It would seem okay then suddenly shoot up 10 degrees if I moved the thermometer to another area, was a huge headache at times and really messed up one batch.

I've solved this by adding a small pump (see attached image) for recirculating the wort while mashing. With that running and pulling wort from the bottom and then sort of whirlpooling it back into the kettle during the mash the temperature is much more stable. Planning to drill a hole and setup a proper whirlpool port and shorten up the hoses in the future, but the photo was a test run last weekend.

I do lose temp while mashing, probably 1-2 degrees every 20 minutes. Probably exaggerated by my choice to use such an oversized kettle.

I have found that yes, if you set it to the lowest setting by temperature which according to the display is '140 degrees' it will keep creeping up very slowly when the wort is at even 150 degrees.

So, it takes some babysitting. I have an alarm on my thermometer for low temps and high temps. So, if I'm trying to hit 150 degrees for a mash. I'll set it's low to say 148 and the high to 150. Once I get it up to temp when it hits 148 it'll sound. I'll go out put the burner back on the lowest setting for maybe 5 minutes, so it climbs back to 148.5 or so then turn it off. I found that longer then that or trying to heat up to 150 fully will cause me to overshoot, there is about a degree or so of rise that will show up even after I've cut the heat. Usually it'll climb up then to 150 or barely 151 and then start back down at that point.

Not too bad, would probably be less of an issue if I hadn't been so aggressive with my kettle size. You could probably automate it with a fancy controller but for now I'm happy to be that hands on.

photo.jpg
 
I just got the 3500w induction burner last week & tried it out with my Bayou Classic 11 gal. kettle. With 7-1/2 gallons of wort in it @ 140 degrees F. I had a rolling boil in 35 minutes! This unit kicks ass! By the way I have a 5 gallon Polarware el-cheapo economy kettle that a magnet does NOT stick to @ I got a rolling boil with 3 gallons of water starting @ 66 degrees F. in 25 minutes.
:rockin:
Try your kettle before replacing! CHEERS!
 
Getting ready to go all electric and still debating on this (easy) or the element. Just wondering since many of you will have had your burners for a while now how they are holding up. If everyone's still happy definitely go this route. Thanks


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Zibe said:
Getting ready to go all electric and still debating on this (easy) or the element. Just wondering since many of you will have had your burners for a while now how they are holding up. If everyone's still happy definitely go this route. Thanks


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew
Click to expand...

I have both types of systems-induction and element with an electronic controller.
The electronic controller system is nice in a set it and forget way, and repeatability. The induction system is a little more hands-on as far as monitoring and tweaking the temps.

Advantages of the element approach- electronic/automated control, repairability.
Disadvantages-more money, more things to clean(element, strainer basket I use to keep bag off the element) more and bigger holes in your pot, more cords and such, potentially higher shock risk, larger batch sizes possible.

Advantages of the induction burner-Potentially lower costs, less to clean(I don't use the strainer basket with the induction burner), potentially fewer holes in the pot, I get less boil-off with the induction system, can use it for more than just brewing.
Disadvantages-More hands on/No automation(although I fully expect some smart HBT'r to figure this out), may need to buy a new pot, may be limited to smaller batches, less repairability?

That's what I come up with off the top of my head.
 
Zibe said:
Getting ready to go all electric and still debating on this (easy) or the element. Just wondering since many of you will have had your burners for a while now how they are holding up. If everyone's still happy definitely go this route. Thanks
Click to expand...

Been using mine quite a bit for brewing, and also for cooking now that summer's in full swing. It's nice to be able to cook without heating up the whole kitchen...

Over all I'm very happy with induction for small batches (3gal), I use it mostly for strike/batch water and boiling as I'm using a cooler to mash in. Clean up's a piece of cake, and with the reasonable liquid amounts I don't worry about needing valves, etc in the brew pot.

Automation with the element system would be nice, but it's overkill for my current setup. I know there's a few folks on here running induction to 10gal, but IMO once you hit that level elements make a lot more sense. Under 10gal I'd go induction with the appropriately sized plate.

The only thing I wish I had more control over in my system would be consistant mash temps, which I don't feel I'm getting with the cooler and have shown with the plate that it's not accurate for holding temps long term. Because of this I'm looking at RIMS, but it's not a requirement in my world, just another rabbit to chase down a hole when I'm bored and need to spend money on beer equipment.

Unless you already have a stainless pot that you know is induction ready (and there's a few cheap pots out there that are, like my Concord), the cost of the pot+plate+spiderbox (a 208-220VAC whatever to 20A breaker/plug) is going to put you in nearly the same ballpark as an element setup but with no DIY work/mods.

Horse a piece under 10gal, over 10gal go element IMO.

:mug:
 
Cool thanks for the feedback I'm not really stressed about automation doing my Mash in a cooler just trading the propane burner for an electric to avoid outdoor winter brewing. Just interested how durable the burners are if something breaks on the element rig I can just replace that part but the burner means a new unit but overall i feel safer with the burner ( don't much care for getting shocked). Still leaning towards the burner as long as they don't burn out after five batches


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I bought mine in March so I have about 5 batches on it. I love it. It is absolutely wonderful to be inside when it is 99F out with 80% humidity or when it is rainy, windy, etc. I've now reserved outside brewing for spring time and 10 gallon batches.
 
Hello said:
I've now reserved outside brewing for spring time and 10 gallon batches.
Click to expand...
Hung onto my gas burner thinking it'd be nice to have the option to brew outside on a nice day. Hasn't happened. If I get struck by spring fever during a brewday, I walk outside during the mash or boil, sit down and relax (don't worry have a home brew.) :p
 
Appreciate it think my mind is made up luckily the previous owner of our house had a hot tub so the electric is there just need to put on the outlet, no spa panel though.


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AnOldUR said:
Hung onto my gas burner thinking it'd be nice to have the option to brew outside on a nice day. Hasn't happened. If I get struck by spring fever during a brewday, I walk outside during the mash or boil, sit down and relax (don't worry have a home brew.) :p
Click to expand...

Yeah I get it but I like to do 10 gallons from time to time and I got this wonderful new kettle for Christmas that was set aside by mid-March. 10 gallons on this thing seems impossible. I also like sitting on my deck to brew when the weather is right.
 
AnOldUR said:
Here's almost 13 gallons coming to a boil in a 62qt Bayou pot.

206562d1403190739-induction-cooktops-induction-boil-5.jpg
Click to expand...

Damn! Well that would kill my 15 gallon kettle that is 17" diameter, far too wide for the cook top. We'll see how long it takes me to sell the kettle and get a 62 quarter for indoor brewing. I need to install a ceiling fan though.
 
Hi all, new to the forums. I'm *really* interested in the IC3500 as well. I am in an apartment with one 240V circuit that powers a Samsung digital range/oven. The plug appears to be a 10-30/10-50 (and it says which one on the outlet, but I can't make out a 39 or a 50). From what I think I know, it's a 3-wire, 3-pole outlet (does that mean it's two 120V circuits ganged together to provide both 120 and 240 to the stove?), and making an adapter pigtail to a 6-20P (3-wire, 2-pole) isn't possible?

The new owner put in a new CB box and this is on a 40A circuit. The stove is new, too - I guess the "electricians" had to install the wiring harness and plug to the junction box in the back of the stove.

It's a pain in the butt to unload the kitchen cabinet and reach back to unplug the stove, complicating the matter. I would love some sort of Y adapter that could allow the stove to stay plugged in, while letting me temporarily plug the IC3500 in when I am ready to brew - but I think that may be out-of-code (but I really have no idea and have not yet talked to an electrician). This induction burner would be a godsend, since I can't run propane on my balcony - I would have to haul all my gear out to the far end of the building to brew.

Anyway, would love to know if a pigtail could exist (whether pre-made or custom) that would be safe and allow me to plug the IC3500 into it.

Before I found this thread, I did write to Avantco and they are very responsive. One comment was, "We cannot recommend using pot larger than the diameter listed on the manual for this unit. It will work but we have seen issues with pots larger than the glass surface melting the control board which will not be covered under warranty." I then asked if this were a circuit overload issue or heat issue, and would the use of an induction disc rectify the issue**. The reply was, "It is more of an issue with the pot getting hot which is why we do not recommend it. You can certainly try an induction plate and that should still work to bring to a boil. It is not something we always recommend but I don’t see why that would be an issue." (Hmmm, the pot gets hot as a result of the induction, and that might burn out the circuit?)

** While some brewers were wondering if their pots were induction-ready, I noticed nobody mentioned the use of an induction disc. An induction disc is essentially the magnetic iron disc that will heat from the induction coil instead of the pot, but the pot sitting on top will naturally heat up. It's not quite as efficient as a true induction-ready pot, but it's the next best thing, if all you have is a big aluminum pot (or something that won't attract a magnet).

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias=aps&field-keywords=induction+disc

Really enjoying the forums and this thread.. Hoping I can plunk down for the IC3500 and brew in my kitchen..

Cheers
Gary
 
^ I did not see the need for the induction disc with my setup but I suppose I could use it if I wanted to try my 17" diameter kettle.

I can't speak to your electrical questions but I will say only one thing, you need to figure out if that is a 3 or a 5 because that will make every single bit of difference. You can find a dozen Y plugs that suit your needs but if you're wrong about the number then that could be an issue.
 
Never used one, but I would speculate that an induction disc would negate a lot of the benefits of using induction. I've never tested it, but I don't think that the outside and most of the bottom of my pot ever exceeds 212 degrees by very much. All the heat is concentrated in area of the induction coil and is transfer directly into the wort. Wouldn't using a disk essentially make your induction burner into a hot plate? That entire disk must get very hot. Depending on the size of the disc in relation to your pot, it could cause a problem with melting insulation on the pot. It would also transfer more heat to the circuitry with the potential for the damage you spoke of. With normal induction, when you turn the burner off, the heat stops immediately. With the disc, there would be a slow cooling process. You'd have to remove the pot from the burner before chilling to chill effectively.

Just some random thoughts. Anyone using one?
 
Induction discs are incredibly inefficient - you're heating a disc that in turn will try to passively heat a larger object and then the fluid inside it. There's no way you'd be able to effectively boil any kind of volume, and would ultimately create an incredibly hot spot with minimal heat dissipation right over the top of your unit.

Avoid at all costs.

There are plenty of pots out there that will work - unofficially on here we've got Bayou Classic, NB's Megapots, various tri-clads, Concord, etc... There's a pot somewhere in there that will fit your requirements and budget, you just need to decide what they are. Any of them will be light years better than dealing with an induction disc.

Making a spider box (220/208VAC 40A to 20A) isn't hard at all - get a single gang breaker box (usually about 15$), a 20A breaker to snap into it, some SO cord to make some pig tails, and the plugs (male 40A and female 20A). You should be able to put everything together for around 25-30$ or so, depending on where you shop, in fact if you find someone at HD/Lowes with electrical experience they should be able to walk you through it pretty easily.
 
I have no experience with or the need for Induction Discs, but as sumbrewindude says, they remove most of the charm and benefits of (direct) induction heating, and its efficiency. Yes, avoid, get the right pot instead.

I think wingo395 tries to find a way to keep his stove plugged in while providing an extra outlet on the same circuit to service his IC3500. I'm sure he understands it is outside of "code," which mainly exists to satisfy bureaucrats and secondly, protect the stupid. ;)

Now the landlord may not like you tinkering with the electrical system... or pigtailing a 2nd tap.

Most stoves with ovens are on 40A or 50A circuits, 3-wire with ground. You so you have 4 prongs on the plug (or 3 for older installations, with a common neutral/ground)

ADDED:
Without changing the existing wiring you would need a 4-prong male (like the one on your range) going into the existing 4-prong female outlet (what you call junction box). Then a (thick) cable would go to a new junction box / breaker box assembly with a new 4-prong female outlet to plug your stove into and a NEMA 6-20 female outlet to plug your IC3500 in. The stove is directly wired through, and the NEMA 6-20 is fed through a 20A double pole breaker.

You shouldn't use the range and induction plate at the same time, although you possibly could use some parts of the range, not to exceed ~25A/6000W, while your induction plate (~15A/3500W) is being used at the same time.

Disclaimer: Totally out of code and off the record of course. You read it somewhere on the innuhnet and it didn't come from me, neither do I endorse this.
 
wingo395 said:
Hi all, new to the forums. I'm *really* interested in the IC3500 as well. I am in an apartment with one 240V circuit that powers a Samsung digital range/oven. The plug appears to be a 10-30/10-50 (and it says which one on the outlet, but I can't make out a 39 or a 50). From what I think I know, it's a 3-wire, 3-pole outlet (does that mean it's two 120V circuits ganged together to provide both 120 and 240 to the stove?), and making an adapter pigtail to a 6-20P (3-wire, 2-pole) isn't possible?
Click to expand...

It'll work fine for what you need then. The IC3500 has a 3-wire , 3 pole outlet as well. So you'd just need to get 2 work boxes, a new pig-tail that matches the one on your stove, a section of wire rated for 240v (#12 gauge at least since the IC3500 will pull 3500w), another wall plug that matches your stove (NEMA 10-30 most likely from what you've said) and one for the IC3500 (I forgot what it needed).

So you'd build basically then wire the new pigtail into the work box to the new NEMA 10-30 outlet. Then cut a section of the #12 gauge wire, wire it to the 10-30 outlet as well, run it out of the workbox to the next workbox. In that box, put the outlet for the IC3500 and wire it in.

Then you'd plug this cable into the wall in place of the stove, plug the stove into the first box, then plug the IC3500 into the 2nd work box. No big deal since both appliances are 3 prong connections rather than 4.

I'd advise against running both at the same time. But one at a time should be no problem.

A crude drawing of this is attached in case the above description is unclear.

You could skip the new plug for the stove and go straight out to a workbox for the outlet for the IC3500 if you wanted, you'd have to unplug the stove anytime you wanted to brew then, but it would work just as well.

crudecable.png
 
The main reason for the spider box from the Stove plug to the IC3500 is to drop the Amp rating to match the IC3500.

Most stoves are 40A, where as the IC3500 is 15A (if memory serves). Breakers are just there to prevent the wiring in the house from going up in smoke, not the items they're attached to - so while you can run the IC3500 on a 40A circuit, if something where to go horribly wrong, the current would take it's wrath out on the IC3500's power cord. That'd leave a molten mess of copper and plastic in short order before the 40A breaker popped.

The one nice thing about the IC3500 that you have in your favor, is that it's internally fused at the incoming power on the board, so if the UNIT takes some water/crap it'll go and and stop current draw to the unit. Cord's still hot, though, so keep that in mind.

In the end it's up to you. Just keep in mind the fuse on the IC3500 is soldered on the board, and not immediately replaceable - nor is a fuse a guarantee that the rest of the unit will be in working order if blown.

Spiderboxes are cheap enough to make, and portable in case you want to move your plate with you.

Your call.
 

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