Electric Brewing Company PID Turing on and off in Manual Mode

[Grant McKinley]

I have the element set to 70.0% but it turns on for a few seconds and back off again, repeat. How do I set this PID (EBSP200) to stay at the percent set? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks

 

[BeardedBrews]

http://ebsp200.ebrew.supply/

Finding the manual was the best I could do.

 

[Grant McKinley]

Thanks Bearded. I found that last weekend to set the temperature offset. I'll look through it again and I can't figure it out while not in panic during a brew.

 

[303Dan]

I have the element set to 70.0% but it turns on for a few seconds and back off again, repeat. How do I set this PID (EBSP200) to stay at the percent set? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks

That is actually how it is supposed to work. The only condition where the controller will send continuous current to the element (i.e. - the white element light stays on all the time) is when it’s in manual mode and the power is set to 100%, or if you’re in PID mode and it needs 100% power to get you up to your set point.

In manual mode, at anything less than 100% power, the controller will alternate the current to the element on and off to approximate that percentage of “heating power”.

Hope that makes sense.

Dan

 

[FunkedOut]

It would make sense that the unit would power the element for a 70% duty cycle if set to 70% power.
A cycle is the length of time from when it first turns on, until it turns on again. It should remain on for 70% of that time and off for 30% of that time.

 

[Grant McKinley]

So I guess you can't maintain a steady boil rate similar to propane.

 

[BeardedBrews]

Most controllers will let you change the total cycle time. On for 0.7sec and off for 0.3 instead of on for 7 sec and off for 3.

 

[303Dan]

You can definitely maintain a steady boil rate at all sorts of different levels. Actually, I would say you can dial in your boil rate more precisely than with propane.

For example, once I reach boil, I’ll dial my controller down to 70% and it holds the exact boil intensity I want with an extremely predictable boil off rate. I know if I boil at 75%, exactly how much more I’ll boil off per hour than at 70%.

It will vary from system to system depending on a number of factors, you just have to learn your specific system.

Good Luck!

 

[FunkedOut]

a handful of gallons of water/wort is more than enough thermal mass to handle a cycle of a several seconds.
the water/wort and kettle will lose heat at a much more steady rate than is being injected into it by the pulsing element.
but it's no different that maintaining any other temperature with a pid controller.
the pulsing is nothing more than a varying duty cycle calculated by the other parameters measured.
even though the element will see the on and off times/temps, the system will strive for equilibrium constantly and smooth out the input.

 

[BeardedBrews]

a handful of gallons of water/wort is more than enough thermal mass to handle a cycle of a several seconds.
the water/wort and kettle will lose heat at a much more steady rate than is being injected into it by the pulsing element.
but it's no different that maintaining any other temperature with a pid controller.
the pulsing is nothing more than a varying duty cycle calculated by the other parameters measured.
even though the element will see the on and off times/temps, the system will strive for equilibrium constantly and smooth out the input.

This is generally true, but I can say from experience that with a 5500w element if you move the cycle time up you can see the boil starting and stopping for sure. A gentle boil is almost no boil so it will easily stop bubbling when you kill power.

 

[doug293cz]

The control cycle time is determined by the Cyt1 & Cyt2 (if there is a second control output) parameters described in section 6 of the manual. You want those set as low as the PID allows in order to get the most even boil.

Brew on

 

[Grant McKinley]

The control cycle time is determined by the Cyt1 & Cyt2 (if there is a second control output) parameters described in section 6 of the manual. You want those set as low as the PID allows in order to get the most even boil.

Brew on

I'll check it when I get home tonight. So it should be set to 1? Thanks Doug.

 

[doug293cz]

I'll check it when I get home tonight. So it should be set to 1? Thanks Doug.

Some PID's have a minimum setting of 2 seconds, and some a minimum setting of 1 sec. I'm not aware of any that allow cycle times less than 1 second (except for the Auber EZBoils, which use a different power modulation scheme.) Set it to the minimum your PID allows.

Brew on

 

[Bobby_M]

I looked at the manual and CYT1 parameter can be set to either 20 seconds or 2 seconds. It's kind of lame that 2 seconds is the smallest you can get on this unit but it sounds like it might be set to 20. If it's really on 20, a setting of 50% output would be on for 10, off for 10 seconds.

 

[golfindia]

Two seconds is fine. It takes more than 2 seconds for an element to heat up completely. I can't tell the difference between 1 second and 2. 20 seconds is too much.

 

[Grant McKinley]

Yeah, I'm pretty sure it's set to 20 seconds. I'll switch it to 2. Thanks for the help. I didn't check it last night. I was to excited about the Spike CF10 showing up.