Element On detection

[doug293cz]

I have a couple ideas of what might have gone wrong. If you accidentally wired the indicator light to terminal 1 (power input) of the SSR as shown in Doug's schematic instead of terminal 2 (power output), the indicator would be on when the SSR is switched off, and possibly the load of the element dims the indicator, making it appear to be off. A more likely scenario is that the indicator is wired between terminals 1 and 2. In this case, the indicator would light when the element is plugged in and the SSR is off, and then the indicator shuts off when the SSR fires because the voltage difference between terminals 1 and 2 would be zero. An easy way to check this is to see if the indicator turns off when the SSR is off and the element is unplugged. Seems like a simple fix to me.

If the indicator light was wired between SSR terminal 1 and the black hot line, the light would be on whenever the element power enable switch (Leviton 3032) was on. To get Mike's behavior, you have to wire the indicator between terminals 1 and 2 of the SSR.

Brew on

 

[craigmw]

If the indicator light was wired between SSR terminal 1 and the black hot line, the light would be on whenever the element power enable switch (Leviton 3032) was on. To get Mike's behavior, you have to wire the indicator between terminals 1 and 2 of the SSR.

Brew on

Agreed. It should be a pretty simple fix to move the indicator lead from terminal 1 on the SSR to the opposite line power lead and get the appropriate function from the indicator.

 

[mike neff]

I added a light that shows when the element power switch is on and that works fine. Not sure if that would effect firing light as it wasn't in original plan. U guys have me curious I’m gonna have to open it up and check this weekend. Thanks for the replies

 

[craigmw]

This is the drawing I went off of. I added a light that shows when the element power switch is on and that works fine. Not sure if that would effect firing light as it wasn't in original plan. U guys have me curious I’m gonna have to open it up and check this weekend. Thanks for the repliesView attachment 676822

I'm not sure if the indicator attached through a neutral would do this. More likely is that the line feeding the element firing lamp runs to the switch contact that is connected to terminal 1 of the SSR. I can see how that could easily be miswired and result in that indicator behavior.

 

[doug293cz]

The added "Element Power Enable" indicator lamp will not affect the other indicator lamp. The new lamp was added correctly (if wired as drawn.)

Brew on

 

[Islandboy85]

I fully agree. I didn’t however want to ‘break into’ the Brew Commander box or the element connector to run the wires to a lamp. It’s another set of wires to clutter the brew-table and being 240V - albeit at negligible current - the wire will be thick. A separate circuit inline from the outlet (which I need to break into anyway to convert the outlet from a NEMA 14-50 to a 14-30 and add a mechanical ‘emergency stop’ contactor, is a cleaner and safer solution.

Paul

Wire gauge is dependent on the circuit current not voltage. You could use an inline fuse and 22 AWG wire if you wanted to.