Brew panel cooling fans

[Outbred]

Anyone running cooling fans in their brew panels?

I see a lot of people putting heat sinks on the SSR's but not a whole lot of builds with fans to push air over the heat sinks.

I was thinking of putting a computer fan in my build to draw air across the SSRs.

You can get pwm fans so I figured I could put a temp probe in the panel box and have the BCS 460 modulate fan speed based on the temperature inside the box.

Curious what other people have done, especially with wiring up a 12vdc fan.

Thanks in advance.

 

[augiedoggy]

Anyone running cooling fans in their brew panels?

I see a lot of people putting heat sinks on the SSR's but not a whole lot of builds with fans to push air over the heat sinks.

I was thinking of putting a computer fan in my build to draw air across the SSRs.

You can get pwm fans so I figured I could put a temp probe in the panel box and have the BCS 460 modulate fan speed based on the temperature inside the box.

Curious what other people have done, especially with wiring up a 12vdc fan.

Thanks in advance.

I use a simple 12v fan thats always blowing through my heat sink fans... no need to over engineer it.

 

[BigFloppy]

I added extra [email protected] (30W) din rail mounted power supply to my build and have a fan per ssr in by box out of a butchered dell SC1425 1U server

 

[augiedoggy]

I use 12v and 24v pumps and relay coils so I already had the supply in the panel....it just made sense.

 

[processhead]

My panel has two SSRs. 1 controlling a 5500w BK/HLT element, and another for a 1100w RIMS element.

Both SSR's are mounted on a 12" x 14" x 1/8" steel plate which serves as heat-sink, and sub panel for the rest of the components in the cabinet.

I am not using a fan. I monitored the temperature of the sub-panel and SSRs while both SSRs were operating at full capacity. Both were warm to the touch, but definitely not hot. This was with the cabinet door closed, and no external vents in the cabinet.

The panel has been running this way for about 14 months now.

This has me wondering about all the calls for fans and fancy finned heat sinks for the average control panel?

 

[Outbred]

Thanks for the replies.

This is the latest version of my wiring diagram including the cooling fan and DC switch.

I didn't want to have heat sinks protruding from the panel box so figured having a to move some air inside would be the next best option.

Any additional input is, of course, welcome.

 

[GotPushrods]

I would recommend making your hot wire black in the drawing. Depending on the viewing angle to my monitor, it is close enough to ground color that it's a bit hard to follow.

 

[Outbred]

Done

 

[augiedoggy]

My panel has two SSRs. 1 controlling a 5500w BK/HLT element, and another for a 1100w RIMS element.

Both SSR's are mounted on a 12" x 14" x 1/8" steel plate which serves as heat-sink, and sub panel for the rest of the components in the cabinet.

I am not using a fan. I monitored the temperature of the sub-panel and SSRs while both SSRs were operating at full capacity. Both were warm to the touch, but definitely not hot. This was with the cabinet door closed, and no external vents in the cabinet.

The panel has been running this way for about 14 months now.

This has me wondering about all the calls for fans and fancy finned heat sinks for the average control panel?

That depends on the brand and size of the ssr's.. I used the cheap $3 ssr heatsinks from ebay and mounted them inside my plastic enclosure... I currently use one of these http://www.ebay.com/itm/321595660389?_trksid=p2059210.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT To control my HLT and rims heat. and a cheap fotek 25a ssr for my BK... with the fan they get warm but not hot. and the air is noticably warm coming off the fan.

Now If I had a nickel for everytime I saw someone here mentioned the ssr failed only to find out they used no thermal paste or a heatsink.... well I could buy a an oz of hops with those nickels...