Potenially Awesome Brew Llight

[scoots]

I just got my hands on an Allen Bradley 855T-B10TL stack light. It has green, red and blue 120V LED lights. Problem is I have no idea how to wire it, and the instruction manual I found online does not give me much help.

I was hoping one of the gurus here may be able to help me. As long as I know if it is safe to use with regular 120V service, I should be able to play with it enough to make it function the way I hope.

I have 30A service coming into my control panel and would like the green light to show power on. The red and the blue would show the elements working and I was hoping to wire the light after the ssr like you would a normal LED indicator.

Anyone ever worked with something like this? The links to the product page and catalog page are below.

http://www.ab.com/signaling/towerlights/855t.html

http://www.ab.com/en/epub/catalogs/12768/229240/229246/2531107/229856/


Thanks for the help,
Scott

 

[IrregularPulse]

Took a quick look through the manual. It doesn't look like you can use it with an AB Device Net Scanner attached to a PLC. Not so much, supply 120 to pin 1 for red, pin 2 for blue etc...I don't get to work with this stuff nearly as much I'd like but do have an electronics background with a little automation experience over the past 5 years.

 

[ScubaSteve]

I was looking at those same ones myself. Not a bad idea......the flashing might get annoying though. You should use it as an alarm light where all 3 light up when your PID's signal an alarm.

 

[scoots]

That sounds awesome! Do you think I need any circuit breaker protection just for the light, or can I run straight from the ssr to the pin?

Thanks,
Scott

 

[bbognerks]

They aren't really that bright. Our print shop at work has these on their big table printers. The shop is adequately lit, so that may make a difference. If your lighting is not that great, then yeah I could see the blinking getting annoying.

 

[LakewoodBrew]

It looks like the P/N you spec'd is for steady on LED 120V, so blinking shouldn't be an issue.

 

[scoots]

They will be wired to only turn on when the BCS calls for heat. I will wire them lights after the SSR like others have done, so they will blink.

Thanks,
Scott

 

[SOB]

According to AB's site that part number isnt exactly right. But the "855T-B10T" portion is good and the "T" means that it's a steady LED, not flashing.

Anyways...not sure if this is the manual you found but it does have a small wiring diagram at the bottom of page 1 which confirms what IP was saying.

http://literature.rockwellautomation.com/idc/groups/literature/documents/in/855t-in005_-mu-e.pdf

 

[ScubaSteve]

They will be wired to only turn on when the BCS calls for heat. I will wire them lights after the SSR like others have done, so they will blink.

Thanks,
Scott

Yes, this is correct....your SSR's will cycle very quickly so the unit will blink kinda like a hard drive light. The output of the PID alarm shouldn't have much current, but I'd double check. If the signal light and wire guage are rated for the PID's output current, you should be GTG.

 

[IrregularPulse]

People telling him he's good to go and that this will work - Did you open the manual and looked through it and/or do you have personal experience with these? I'd hate to have to say, "I told you so", but I would

 

[ScubaSteve]

Yes, this is correct....your SSR's will cycle very quickly so the unit will blink kinda like a hard drive light. The output of the PID alarm shouldn't have much current, but I'd double check. If the signal light and wire guage are rated for the PID's output current, you should be GTG.

See above disclaimer If in doubt, always check the manual.

 

[scoots]

Problem is I do not have a good idea what the manual is saying with the whole Device Net setup. From what I could gather it seemed like it could be used like a regular light, but that is why I come here to ask people with way more experience than I have with this sort of stuff.

I do not mind the blinking, and if I do I could always change it to a regular LED light that I ordered before I found this gem.

Thanks again,
Scott

 

[LakewoodBrew]

My 2cents on the wiring proposal - A process indicator light is supposed to tell you when the device is powered, not when some sub-component (the heater element or whatever) is being activated by the control system. The light gives you an indication that at any moment the heater (or motor or furnace or whatever) could turn on and that you should remain clear of the equipment. That said feel free to wire it how you see fit, but if you want it to represent what you would see in an OSHA compliant factory...

 

[SOB]

Lakewood, these light stacks are used for many different applications. At work we use them for indicating various levels of system alarms so personnel can see how the system is running at a glance from across the plant floor. They are not always used as "an indication that at any moment the heater (or motor or furnace or whatever) could turn on and that you should remain clear of the equipment."

Also, our personal breweries are not OSHA compliant factories and we can use them however we want. Lets just make sure we are all safe meaning proper wiring and grounding techniques...

I hope this post didnt come off as a bash to your post...that wasnt the intention at all.

 

[LakewoodBrew]

It's safe to say that I fully support the "whatever floats your boat" philoisophy when it comes to your personal brewing rig. I just thought I'd offer a different perspective on the intention of process indicators, kanban and poke-yoke signals.

 

[ScubaSteve]

Yeah....that's why I was thinking it'd be good for use with the PID's alarm output. It's telling you to DO something (I think that's kan-ban, right?). So you know when it's lit the time has come to move to the next step in your process. But if you wanted to individually wire the lights (see manual) to signal a different process, you could do that too....red could be the alarm, green could be system power on, and blue could be for when your pump is running. Just ideas. YMMV, IMHO, RDWHAHB, all that jazz.

 

[Huff360]

Scott,

Do you have the Device Net base on it, or not?

If you have a straight wire base, then it should be fairly easy for us to figure out how to do what you want with it. If you have a Device Net base on it, then you are going to have to be very creative to make it work. Either way, we can get you there.

How to tell if you have a Device Net base or not -

If you have a Device Net base, it will have some switches on it to allow you to address the base. See page 1-3 of this pdf http://literature.rockwellautomation.com/idc/groups/literature/documents/um/855t-um001_-en-p.pdf for what the switches will look like. The switches are located on the circuit board on top of the base.

Answer this, and we can move to the next step.

 

[scoots]

Looks like I have the straight wiring base not the Device Net. when I first saw the instruction online, I came across the Device Net instructions and it threw me off. When I look at my base it has 6 screw down wire terminals numbered 1-5 and one with a big black dot. I think I just wire straight to the terminals correct?

Thanks,
Scott

 

[LakewoodBrew]

Yeah....that's why I was thinking it'd be good for use with the PID's alarm output. It's telling you to DO something (I think that's kan-ban, right?). So you know when it's lit the time has come to move to the next step in your process. But if you wanted to individually wire the lights (see manual) to signal a different process, you could do that too....red could be the alarm, green could be system power on, and blue could be for when your pump is running. Just ideas. YMMV, IMHO, RDWHAHB, all that jazz.

That sounds like a pretty value added configuration to me. And you are correct a light that tells you it's time to move to the next step would be a kan-ban signal. A light that tells you that you have put the part in correctly or attached the cable properly or similar type of "you did it right" signal would be a poke-yoke signal. Equipment Process signals (not process measurement) indicate the machine is energized. Each has a purpose, and the purpose can take different forms but generally

kan-ban - keeps the pace and rhythm of the factory
poke-yoke - error proofs the process to eliminate waste or scrap (protects parts)
Process Signal - indicates potential hazard and protects operators and equipment.

probably way more info than anyone cares.. but what the heck right? Time to get a beer.

 

[scoots]

I appreciate the added info. This is good stuff. It possibly means a slight shift in the make up of my set up, but I am not concerned with that. I have always liked the idea of having a light when the elements are firing, but lights to proceed to the next step are an interesting alternative. Of course that is going to require more relays I think.

Thanks,
Scott

 

[ScubaSteve]

Good thing is, those relays are pretty cheap, and they're not driving any high current!

 

[Huff360]

Looks like I have the straight wiring base not the Device Net. when I first saw the instruction online, I came across the Device Net instructions and it threw me off. When I look at my base it has 6 screw down wire terminals numbered 1-5 and one with a big black dot. I think I just wire straight to the terminals correct?

Thanks,
Scott

Eazy Peazy on this one. Neutral to the black dot, and hot to whatever number light you want to turn on. 120VAC is fine assuming the bulbs have not been changed. #1 on bottom, #2 next, etc.

 

[Huff360]

I appreciate the added info. This is good stuff. It possibly means a slight shift in the make up of my set up, but I am not concerned with that. I have always liked the idea of having a light when the elements are firing, but lights to proceed to the next step are an interesting alternative. Of course that is going to require more relays I think.

Thanks,
Scott

There are lights all over ebay for $20+. You could add two more functions (lights or light and horn). Then you could have process indicators and element indicators.

Or, with some creative wiring, you could have individual element indicator lights and then turn the entire stack on for a process step indicator.

I say do exactly what you want with it and don't worry at all what we think. If you have a scheme in mind, and can't figure out how to implement it, let us know what you want and we will figure out how to make it happen.

 

[ClaudiusB]

I just got my hands on an Allen Bradley 855T-B10TL stack light. It has green, red and blue 120V LED lights. Problem is I have no idea how to wire it, and the instruction manual I found online does not give me much help.

Anyone ever worked with something like this? The links to the product page and catalog page are below.

Thanks for the help,
Scott

As you can see in the picture I use the same stack light series 855T.
My model number is BP-M25 with incandescent lamps, non flashing.
I do flash the lights as needed through my PLC program.

The reason I decided on the A-B incandescent version was the brightness for outdoor door use.
My Cuttler-Hammer LED version I use on the inside only.

Your model # B10TL B= Black, 10= 120V AC, TL= steady LED

A-B stack light for an outdoor brewing project I am working on.

PM me if you run into any problems.


Cheers,
ClaudiusB

 

[ScubaSteve]

Claudius; as always, great pics! It's kind of funny, but there's something about the incandescents I like (don't get me wrong, I LOVE LEDS)....they're kind of old school industrial. This thread is turning into quite a tutorial!