Brew Magic to electric

[P-J]

Justin,

You are almost there. I bought a bottle of a great vintage wine today in anticipation of your firing up the controller. I'm saving it to toast your absolute success.

I'm cheering you on and am very happy that I could be of some help to you in any way.

Cheers!!

Paul
P-J

(watching & waiting)

 

[jtkratzer]

Justin,

You are almost there. I bought a bottle of a great vintage wine today in anticipation of your firing up the controller. I'm saving it to toast your absolute success.

I'm cheering you on and am very happy that I could be of some help to you in any way.

Cheers!!

Paul
P-J

(watching & waiting)

You're mostly responsible for the entire project. You've helped me with design ideas, the wiring, parts, tips and tricks on most things along the way. I think about the only thing I haven't asked you about was how to operate a can of spray paint or use a tape measure.

I'm expecting to have the panel done before the welder is done with my kettles. I'd rather wait on him than have everything done and waiting on me.

 

[P-J]

...
I think about the only thing I haven't asked you about was how to operate a can of spray paint or use a tape measure.
...

Thank you. This old man needed the outburst of laughter that I just experienced.
Getting very old just plainly sucks.!

 

[jtkratzer]

Cat5 wire heavy enough to carry the signal from the PID to the SSR?

 

[P-J]

Cat5 wire heavy enough to carry the signal from the PID to the SSR?

Yup. More than enough. It carries a very small current. Actually just a control signal.

 

[jtkratzer]

To do:
- wire the indicator lights for when the elements are firing to the fuse block and then to the lights. I wired them up the other night forgetting I was going to fuse them so I could replace the fuse and not the indicators.

Done.

- a ground from my pump outlets to the terminal.

Done

- find a step bit to open the hole for the 50A power cord. The opening is big enough for the cord, but the clamp doesn't fit through. :facepalm:

Picked up a bit that goes up to 7/8" at Lowe's tonight with a few more feet of wire and some crimp connectors. Too bad I need one that goes to 1.025". Another trip to the hardware store at some point.

- run all the line side of the power to the switches

Done.

And all the jumpers on the terminal blocks are in place.

- solder legs to go from the RTD panel connectors to the PID as the included wiring is too short.
- wire the alarm switch back to the PIDs.

Working on the alarm now and probably going to solder tomorrow.

 

[jtkratzer]

Saw it's after 11...enough for tonight. I'll wrap this up tomorrow for the inside of the box minus mounting the power cord.

Checked all the connections and switches for continuity and everything is looking good.

 

[kpr121]

Looking good! I cant say I bought a vintage wine, but I will definitely be toasting your system with my latest homebrew (and also toasting all the other great people on this forum) when it is up and running!

 

[jtkratzer]

Only thing left is the alarm. Soldered the RTD wires, repairs one that broke at the panel mount, and put some wire wraps on the mass of wires at each corner going to the door.

Definitely going to wrap things up today minus the opening for the power cord.

 

[jtkratzer]

Done other than the opening for the power cord.

Going to look things over one more time as a sanity check and then plug it in, checking one circuit at a time, one switch at a time, working from the terminal blocks out.

 

[jtkratzer]

Rewired the neutral on my spa panel as everything over as my 120V circuit is tripping the GFCI anytime I turn any switch on.

So...

It's alive!

However, the push buttons are the right color when off, but they're not lighting up the same color. Going to check if I can swap the plastic colored lens in the switched to get them to match.

Haven't tested for voltage on the outlets, but everything seems to be working. Need to program the PIDs and the welder said he'd be done tomorrow. Water test this week, brewing the last weekend in May.

Hard to get your finger on the buttons watching through the iPhone's screen:
http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w121/jtkratzer/Brew Magic/49d9b70b.mp4

 

[P-J]

...
Hard to get your finger on the buttons watching through the iPhone's screen:
http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w121/jtkratzer/Brew Magic/49d9b70b.mp4

Having a heck of a time trying to find a program to display the MP4.
Windows Media Player 11 says it will work - but I cannot get there.

Oh well...

 

[jtkratzer]

It just shows me pushing the buttons and them going from green to blue. Trying RO figure out why the lens on the button is one color, but when lit up, it appears to be a different color.

 

[iijakii]

Simple.

The Auber pushbuttons aren't clear LEDs. You probably thought it was that colored-plastic sheet on the actuator that gave it color. It does, partially, but if you look at the base there's a colored LED in there.

 

[jtkratzer]

Having a heck of a time trying to find a program to display the MP4.
Windows Media Player 11 says it will work - but I cannot get there.

Oh well...

Try this:

 

[P-J]

Try this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qyQIu6IlL4g

A-Ok. Thanks.

You have the lenses mixed up with the switch bases. The LEDs actually display in color. With the wrong lense in place it will show what you are seeing.

Hope this helps.

P-J

 

[jtkratzer]

A-Ok. Thanks.

You have the lenses mixed up with the switch bases. The LEDs actually display in color. With the wrong lense in place it will show what you are seeing.

Hope this helps.

P-J

It does. I changed the lenses prior to seeing your post and went out and checked it. All is well. Just need to swap two of the push button mechs and leave the bases where they are and how they're wired.

I'm sure it's been discussed and beaten to death about having 120V on the elements all the time. Everything good to go there?

Any reason to not wire both hots through SSRs to positively control the flow?

 

[P-J]

...
I'm sure it's been discussed and beaten to death about having 120V on the elements all the time. Everything good to go there?

Any reason to not wire both hots through SSRs to positively control the flow?

You are already A-Ok with that. You have contactors in place that disconnects both of the 240V lines when they are switched off. Adding a second set of SSRs gets you nothing except additional cost.

BTW - I just updated the wiring diagram to show the alarm wiring change.
Page 23 - Post 221

Hope it helps.

 

[jtkratzer]

Pictures of the completed BK and HLT to come tonight.

 

[jtkratzer]

As promised. Kegs need some more TLC from the previous owner's neglect. Inside of the ferrules were welded and then ground smooth to match the radius of the curve inside.

And he cut and rewelded my pickup tubes to keep them out of the way of the elements and got them closer to the bottom for less dead space.

Two ferrules for elements, two RTD nuts from the weld less kits, HERMS ports, and an extra port in the HLT for circulating the water.

 

[jtkratzer]

Amazing what a red scotch brite pad will do to stainless.

 

[jtkratzer]

Two down...one to go. I'm sweating my a** off doing this.

 

[jtkratzer]

And finally number 3. Enough of that.

Fittings go on tomorrow and hopefully I have time for a water test for leaks and a run of hot PBW through everything.

 

[jtkratzer]

Getting close...

 

[jtkratzer]

After reading this article P-J posted (http://www.howtobrew.com/appendices/appendixB.html), can I just clean everything with PBW from the get go or do I need to do the vinegar/acetic acid for the first cleaning and then stick with a percarbonate cleaner afterward?

I'm planning on cleaning all the brass with white vinegar and hydrogen peroxide before use.

Also, about the PBW...is OxyClean Free a good enough substitute to clean out the residual sugars and crud post boil/mash/etc? Is there any reason to mess with mixing TSP/90 (TSP Subsitute, or whatever they're calling it now)? I want to run something through all the vessels, hoses, and pumps after brewing without worrying about pitting the stainless, damaging the pump head materials, or melting my skin with chemical burns...and I don't want to pay a fortune for a cleaner. I'm optimistic that 5-10 gallons of water and cleaning powder/liquid is sufficient to clean everything.

 

[jtkratzer]

It is very evident after my first attempt to use the panel with water in the kegs that I need to spend some time with the manual for the PIDs.

 

[P-J]

It is very evident after my first attempt to use the panel with water in the kegs that I need to spend some time with the manual for the PIDs.

First step is to make sure that the PID is properly set up for the temp probes that you are using. This is a MAJOR killer of all the PID functions if it not set correctly.

Need Help? Call the owner of Auber Instruments:

Suyi Liu
Auber Instruments
www.auberins.com
770-569-8420

He WILL be happy to help you.

P-J

 

[jtkratzer]

Somethings not right somewhere around my SSRs. I have voltage at the PID on the SSR output, and I have the same voltage across the contacts at the SSR, but they're not switching at all and I'm only getting 120V at my element outlet as the leg that's switched by the SSR is not closing that leg. The LED is not lighting up on the SSR. I'm running cat5 wire from the PID to the SSR, but something isn't working.

Any ideas?

 

[jtkratzer]

First step is to make sure that the PID is properly set up for the temp probes that you are using. This is a MAJOR killer of all the PID functions if it not set correctly.

Need Help? Call the owner of Auber Instruments:

Suyi Liu
Auber Instruments
www.auberins.com
770-569-8420

He WILL be happy to help you.

P-J

I was looking in the manual, and I saw Sn settings for 3-wire RTDs as 20 or 21, but the PID gave me accurate temps set on 0...

 

[P-J]

Somethings not right somewhere around my SSRs. I have voltage at the PID on the SSR output, and I have the same voltage across the contacts at the SSR, but they're not switching at all and I'm only getting 120V at my element outlet as the leg that's switched by the SSR is not closing that leg. The LED is not lighting up on the SSR. I'm running cat5 wire from the PID to the SSR, but something isn't working.

Any ideas?

Very Important. Do you have the element connected? If not - all bets are off...