Troubleshooting Custom Brew Controller Breaker Issue - Solved

[audioa84]

Hello All,
I have been working on a custom brew controller based on a craftbeerpi and am running into an issue with my setup tripping my GFCI breaker.

Background: I have an Avantco IC3500 induction burner I'm using for the boil side and a Blichmann RIMS Rocket for the mash. The circuit shown below is the goal layout with an eventual eye towards changing to a traditional electric element down the road. I have used the circuit before just powering the induction burner on its own and running the RIMs/Pi circuit off a separate 120v GFCI circuit.

My issue as I stated above is that as soon as I plug in the circuit, the breaker trips. I've tried taking the circuit down to its very basic levels and have found that the breaker is happy if I direct wire the IC3500 alone and that the breaker will trip if I only use one leg of the 240v. For the one leg test, I wired up a 120v outlet and plugged in the pump I will be using. I've seen multiple controllers that take in 240v and have a 120v pump. What am I missing?

 

[Bobby_M]

Mosty likely it's a problem with the way your load side neutral is wired into your breaker panel. Many people mistakenly put the circuit's neutral onto the neutral buss when it needs to attach directly to the load side of the GFCI breaker (usually right near where the L1 and L2 hot lugs are).

When this mistake is made, the breaker cannot account for any current that uses the neutral. It doesn't have to be a lot. A few milliamps of current on the neutral and it will trip it. Just the current pulled by the 5V transformer is more than enough.

 

[doug293cz]

It might be what Bobby said, but I think it is more likely to be the way you wired the SSR "-" terminals to AC neutral rather than the 5V supply "-". The control current for the SSR can be enough to trigger a GFCI (trigger range 4 - 6 mA.)

Brew on

 

[audioa84]

Thank you both for your replies. I made a mistake in my diagram. Both of the grounds on the SSRs go back to the pi hat - so back to the 5v power supply. Fixed image below. Sorry about that. The GFCI breaker has the neutral wire from the circuit going into the breaker right between the two hots (red and black). The large curly neutral coming from the breaker goes directly to the neutral bus bar. The ground from the circuit also goes into the neutral bus. If I read your comment right, I think this was how you described the correct layout?

 

[Bobby_M]

In that case yes the breaker is wired correctly as far as I can see. It could be perspective, but the wires going on to the breaker look to be smaller than 10 gauge. I found out recently that it can be pretty tricky integrating 120 and 240v functions in a controller without seeing some strange results. Nothing looks off on the diagram. The best help I can offer is to disconnect everything off the terminal strips and see if it holds there and then systematically add devices back in until you get a trip.

 

[BrunDog]

Your feed says L14-30 but a 14-30 is drawn. The problem is probably that you have the neutral and ground reversed, as they are reversed on your drawing.

Not related to tripping, but your 6-20 isn't rated for 30A, but it can see it. Also the L6-30 is a 240V plug, not 120V. RIMs rocket should have a breaker too. Standards nits, but still, people get into trouble when they aren't followed. Oh, and fires.

 

[audioa84]

BrunDog, thank you! My feed is indeed a L14-30 but I couldn't draw curved lines and the L-shaped ground was backwards now that you pointed it out. No matter though because your comment helped me figure it out! The cord I'm using between the wall outlet (a 14-30 dryer outlet) and the enclosure (L14-30 recepticle) had the 14-30 dryer plug neutral and ground flipped. The L6-30 was a L5-20. I was reading off of Blichmann's website so they must have been referencing the 240v model. I will add a breaker for the RIMS circuit when I build the circuit back up. Sorry for all the typos and mistakes and many thanks to you and to the other who have tried to help!

 

[doug293cz]

Glad you found the problem.

Brew on