Is my PID dead?

[mr_rogers]

So I've been electric brewing for a while now but in the past 6 months I've gone ahead and built myself an EZ Boil PID control box.
During the first brew day with the controller there was clearly something very wrong with the temp probe because the PID was going from an error message to a variety of erratic numbers. This first attempt I assumed there was something wrong with my probe wiring but I went back and double checked it for continuity and sure enough all of the wires were in the right spot.

I thought maybe it was a bad probe so I got on one of the electric brewery supply websites and bought some prebuilt cables as well as a new temp probe. unfortunately I got the same issue even after swapping some of the connection on the PID in case they soldered it wrong in their shop.

At this point I feel fairly certain the problem does not lie with the wiring or with the probe. But I would love to get more sets of eyes on my wiring to see if anyone has any suggestions.

 

[Deadalus]

Did you use the correct setting for the type of probe you are using in the PID settings?


Also, what about the fitting that the probe sits in? Is this a new arrangement?

 

[mr_rogers]

hmm.. In the instruction manual for the DSPR 120 (EZBoil) it says that it's only compatible with PT100 RTD sensors so I don't think there are any settings to switch?

The fitting the probe fits in is a pull through and soldered fitting from brew hardware.

Are you thinking something to do with ground? The kettle is grounded through the element back to the controller to the main panel of my house. So I don't think that is it but I'm not sure how to double check the ground on the pot.

 

[doug293cz]

hmm.. In the instruction manual for the DSPR 120 (EZBoil) it says that it's only compatible with PT100 RTD sensors so I don't think there are any settings to switch?

The fitting the probe fits in is a pull through and soldered fitting from brew hardware.

Are you thinking something to do with ground? The kettle is grounded through the element back to the controller to the main panel of my house. So I don't think that is it but I'm not sure how to double check the ground on the pot.

The probe temp sensing element itself should be isolated from ground, but the casing will be grounded by contact with the kettle. If you have a multimeter, you can check the resistance of the probe. White wire to either red wire should be ~100 ohms, red to red should be ~0. All three wires to ground should be open.

Are you sure the wire to pin assignments are the same for the male and female XLR connectors?

Brew on

 

[Bobby_M]

Just keep swapping the fork terminals of the temp probe on the contacts of the DSPR until it's happy. You may just have the wires crossed on the XLR or at some point in the end to end connectivity. I don't think there's a standard so it's best to try every combination until it's happy. Note that the display will read OrAL when it's not sensing the correct probe connectivity. If it's jumping around on any other display, it's probably a correct wiring with a bad connection.

 

[Deadalus]

hmm.. In the instruction manual for the DSPR 120 (EZBoil) it says that it's only compatible with PT100 RTD sensors so I don't think there are any settings to switch?

The fitting the probe fits in is a pull through and soldered fitting from brew hardware.

Are you thinking something to do with ground? The kettle is grounded through the element back to the controller to the main panel of my house. So I don't think that is it but I'm not sure how to double check the ground on the pot.

If you can't change it and you have the correct one then that's not it! There's a setting on my Inkbird PID that needs to be set properly for the probe type. I was trying to think of anything that was the same but could still be off after having switched your probes. Yours is not one of the couple of issues I've experienced with mine sorry I can't help any!

 

[mr_rogers]

Just keep swapping the fork terminals of the temp probe on the contacts of the DSPR until it's happy. You may just have the wires crossed on the XLR or at some point in the end to end connectivity. I don't think there's a standard so it's best to try every combination until it's happy. Note that the display will read OrAL when it's not sensing the correct probe connectivity. If it's jumping around on any other display, it's probably a correct wiring with a bad connection.

i need to check with a multimeter tomorrow but right now what happens is that it goes from the random numbers to OrAL and back again. I’ll check the continuity of the probe and the cable and see if there is any more info…

i did try swapping the connections on the PID but it immediately went to error mode when Iput the white wire anywhere the red wires were.

I’m still scratching my head with this but feeling like most likely there may be something wrong with the wire?

John

 

[k-daddy]

Just keep swapping the fork terminals of the temp probe on the contacts of the DSPR until it's happy. You may just have the wires crossed on the XLR or at some point in the end to end connectivity. I don't think there's a standard so it's best to try every combination until it's happy. Note that the display will read OrAL when it's not sensing the correct probe connectivity. If it's jumping around on any other display, it's probably a correct wiring with a bad connection.

I had a similar issue... temperature readouts were jumping around, especially if I wiggled the DSPR around from the front. I loosened and re-tightened all of the temperature probe connections and to my surprise, that seemed to fix it. Good luck.

 

[Bobby_M]

Bad connection could be anywhere in the chain including the internals of the dspr.

 

[day_trippr]

"It's pining for the fiords".

 

[sibelman]

"It's pining for the fiords".

But nailed to the perch.

 

[Dland]

Good to check the above. But I had temps jumping around and going to OrAL and after much trouble shooting and continuity checking, it did turn out to be the EZ boil unit itself.

It was something internal in the unit, as I could sometimes get it to read correctly if I gave it a light whack, but after a while that did not work either. Good news is you can order one from Auber for around $50.

 

[BrunDog]

Put a 100 ohm resistor across the input (probably need a jumper between the wire legs if 3-wire config). If it reports right near 0 degs C and is stable, then its not the unit itself.

 

[k-daddy]

Couple of videos that may be helpful….

 

[mr_rogers]

Yes! It's Alive! Thank you all for your suggestions! After a ton of poking around with my multimeter I finally found out that my female XLR port on the control panel wasn't connecting to the cable very well. if the cable was held at an angle it would have a stable temp reading.
After six months of having this unit fully built It's finally working properly!

I did a test waster run on it and it works perfectly!

My only question, (and this may be a little redundant) but do you all calibrate the EZboil by bringing the kettle up to boiling and then setting it to your altitudes boiling point? I'm at 4,700 feet so water boils here at 203.

I think the few beers I have made on this system were mashed too hot because the EZboil wasn't calibrated right.

 

[doug293cz]

Congrats on finding, and fixing the problem.

Yes, boiling plain water is a good way to calibrate a temp sensor. You can also calibrate at other temps, if you have a precision thermometer, known to be accurate.

Brew on