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In this Discussion
- CothermanDistilling September 2018
- DonMateo September 2016
- FloridaCracker September 2016
- frodo April 2016
- fusiondust August 2016
- GD50 January 2017
- grim September 2018
- HadlerDistillations September 2018
- jacksonbrown June 2016
- jbierling March 2016
- Kill_Devil_Spirit_Co August 2016
- meatheadinc April 2016
- Mickiboi February 2016
- mtnspirits June 2016
- punkin February 2016
- richard February 2016
- Sandman February 2016
- SoCalBrewing August 2016
- stainlessbrewer March 2016
- Unsensibel August 2016
Comments
YIKES!
So many options. I had almost decided to add a fan to the box anyway since I have one in my smaller box that I can steal. The box will be mounted on the West side of the building where the wall gets pretty warm in the summertime and there isn't much airflow there. I really like the idea of pre-cut controller holes although I will only have one controller so I'm not sure what I would do with the other cutout. Ideas?
On the other hand, the larger box has the bigger heatsink pre-drilled for 3 SSRs. Seems kinda large for my simple setup but what do I know. Either one should have more than enough room for what I need.
How about this?
You can always find something to fill a bigger box ;-)
Ideas would be: temperature displays, power meters, PC/RC PID's, pumps, switches...
Bigger IS better.
You can order the 10x8x6 box with precut hole and order up the 10x6 heat sink for 3 SSRs separate. You'd just have to cut/drill holes to mount heat sink and SSRs through the top panel. Could even go with the precut 12x10x8 box with two cutouts and put the $7 cover over one of the holes.
they have a blanking panel, but the PID for automatic reflux temp control is what I will use it for...
You can totally find a use for another controller.
They are like puppies, there is always room for one more.
Agreed. It is a LOT better to have too much room than not enough. I'm sure I'll have that panel lit up like a Christmas tree before it is over.
Grim, do you still have a temp sensor you want to part with?
Hey Cracker. I hope your OK with the Hurricane mate.
Shit yes, 6.5" probe length.
Rtd not thermocouple.
Thanks Don. Our neighborhood on the West coast looks like a war zone. Our neighbor's shed ended up in our front yard some 70 odd feet away from where it started. It had 2' deep screw in anchors that didn't hold it. 99% of the houses built on the ground were flooded in our area. We were part of the 1% that didn't. Spent most of the day yesterday cleaning up the water and crap in our neighbor's house. He's in Texas at a wedding and totally freaking out that he isn't here. Since our house was OK we helped him out. Around here, 90 degree weather coupled with 75% humidity and saltwater in the house spells mold very quickly if not dealt with. He would do the same for us if the tables were turned. Actually, most of our neighbors would.
Oh, there were also was a telephone pole up against our garage. No idea where it came from.
Trees down everywhere. Haven't had a hurricane hit the state in 12 years. We were long overdue.
My twin brother used to live up in the Northwest of Western Australia, at a place called Dampier, where they regularly get cyclones of category 4 and 5. He was in the top apartment when a category 5 cyclone crossed right over the town. Now all the houses are built like bomb bunkers and have steel grills on all of the windows. Anyway the Hurricane crossed and no damage to most of the houses. Not a pleasant experience so i was told. Glad you are safe mate.
my rental house had water come 2-3" over the sea wall a day after I took this(so about 10-12" higher) the renter had put a wall of dirt in front of all the doors except the front... sandbags without the bags ;-) it worked, no water in the house...
@Grim I am I the process of going over to RTD probes instead of thermocouples. Nice probe a few posts ago. Where does it come from ? Also looking for temp displays but can't find anything that tickles my fancy for a reasonable price on eBay. The cheap PID controllers look most economical - any suggestions.
Pretty easy to find sanitary RTD probes on eBay here in the states. Pyromation is pretty common.
Nothing comes up on ebay but plenty in the states. You get what you pay for but a bit out of my price range.
Thanks anyway. Will do it with standard probes and double ferrule compression fittings welded onto a cap or welded straight in. Just gotta change my 3mm fittings to 5 or 6 mm ones for the RTD sizes most common.
I use long 24" RTD probes threaded into caps on the mash tun and still. Works fine, and it would be nearly impossible to find that as an integrated unit.
i got these for mine, worked great...
RTD Pt100 Temperature Sensor Thermocouple 2M Cable 10CM Probe 3 Wires -50~400°C @ eBay
I use 1/4" tube fittings and thermowells from brewers hardware and these probes fit nice inside of them: Straight-Wall Thermowells @ Brewers Hardware
I dont want to use thermowells if i can get away with it . The trouble is that for some strange reason i cant find 5mm double ferrule compression fittings as they are all 6. Will have to look further and yes those are the probes i was considering.
What about a temp display - found an economical meter. There are 12vdc car units available but a shortage of 240 v ac ones. The car ones will be ok ( as long as they have a decimal place ) as just need to set up a power supply.
Having written that i went back into ebay and found exactly the bits i wanted - two meters and 4 probes for $100 and two of the probes come with compression fittings.
Question for an old thread. I have finally got my controller wired up using a DSPR400 and would like some advice regarding when to set the end of the accelerated stage. If for example you have a10% wash, the temperature it should boil at is ~92degC, what temp would best to start the reduced power stage. Many thanks.
Are you going to have it measure vapor or boil? Just remember, if you use boil and set it for 10% wash, when you put 40% wash in, it will still be going at full power when distillation starts.
Either set it for 75 or below for liquid, or set it even lower if probe is measuring vapor.
Another solution is to have a manual override for full power, so you have the DSPR switch to low power early while you are tinkering around, and if you are directly in front of it you can give it a boost while watching for foam.
Thanks Cotherman.
It will read temp from the liquid, as I'm sure that is the intention. Im happy with my understanding that the liquid temp can be used for some basic paramaters, but within those you need to use power regulation.
I was planning on setting the end of the accelerated phase for each run, based on the calculated boiling temp for that particular EtOH %.
I will have a think about an override switch, but don't have much room left in my control box. My hope when buying this controller was that I could use the accelerate function so I didn't need to fiddle too much during each run. I will be monitoring the runs at all times so I guess it doesn't matter too much.
Cheers
Dspr sounds interesting for something like a neutral gin run where the run parameters are nearly identical every single run.
Seems useless for a still every you are running products with wide variability.
Well, if you put it on the vapor, and set it at 50C(122F) or so, it will kick to lower power if you have pure water, pure alcohol, or anything in-between... just like the old guys that would attach a tin can to the lyne arm with candle wax...
Tthe DSPR400 is a great tool for someone on a budget that does not want to have to get involved with PLC or arduino programming. You can buy the unit, the box, the ssr, and contactor for the boost all from one place at a reasonable price... It is a great tool for a stripping still if you set it below the lowest liquid boil point you will encounter...
Yeah I really want to use it in a gin rig.
They told me they wouldn’t do a 4-20ma version. I said I’d pay a premium. Blah.
I said I would pay a premium for a BCS with 4-20mA, same response... switching to BruControl, but short on time..
My old man says he can build the exact same thing with a ramp/soak PID and a limit controller, says there is no magic in the DSPR unit.
get someone to put a arduino and tft display on a 45mm/45mm enclosure... endless possibilities
something like this... Hardware @ osPID