Electrical Newbie

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Jif
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Electrical Newbie

Post by Jif »

Hey gang,

A few years back I started building a 15.5 gallon sankey still. I got far enough to have a much more competent buddy wire up a spa panel and have a keg with two 2" ferrules side welded, added a bottom drain, and legs to stand on. I've got my element, the element guard kit, and pretty much everything I'll need to finish this off. Save for a controller.

I ordered the Stilldragon Element control and I've been putting off putting it together for over two years now. I'm just a bit worried about playing with this level of electricity. Are there any plug and play controllers that exist now so I can sidestep this issue? Or at least something easier.
Pikey
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Re: Electrical Newbie

Post by Pikey »

What wattage is your heater and what voltage are you intending to use ?
Jes2xu
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Re: Electrical Newbie

Post by Jes2xu »

Jif wrote:Hey gang,

A few years back I started building a 15.5 gallon sankey still. I got far enough to have a much more competent buddy wire up a spa panel and have a keg with two 2" ferrules side welded, added a bottom drain, and legs to stand on. I've got my element, the element guard kit, and pretty much everything I'll need to finish this off. Save for a controller.

I ordered the Stilldragon Element control and I've been putting off putting it together for over two years now. I'm just a bit worried about playing with this level of electricity. Are there any plug and play controllers that exist now so I can sidestep this issue? Or at least something easier.

yup fair enough dude! If you dont feel comfortable with it, dont mess with it.

Props for being honest with yourself about it :)

And yes there should be. Like said above, what are you using? Im sure you will get some solid advice and a few options.
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BDF
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Re: Electrical Newbie

Post by BDF »

I had similar feelings and also got one of the stilldragon controllers, but took it one step at a time. The instructions on the stilldragon site will get you a working controller.

Only additional thing I would recommend would be a cheap cooling fan:
https://www.amazon.com/Muffin-Style-Axi ... 00IU36VDE/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

I'd recommend checking out my first and last posts in this thread I made as I was putting my controller together:
http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopi ... 85&t=65705

First post shows the bare-minimum wiring that resulted in a functional controller, but one that would overhead after ~1hr running my 5500w element, so I added a cheap fan. Last post gave my full list of stuff I used in my electric conversion. Don't be intimidated by the absolute mess of wire spaghetti and all the bells and whistles so many people put on their controllers, a lot of it isn't necessary.

I didn't come across any off-the-shelf solutions when I was looking for myself not long ago, but to even begin searching we'd need to know what you're powering, what you intend to plug into on both the wall end and keg end, ect...
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Bushman
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Re: Electrical Newbie

Post by Bushman »

The SD controller is my second controller (fried my first one as the spacing inside was too small). I don't think there is an easier controller to assemble on the market but understand your concern especially dealing with 220.
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LWTCS
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Re: Electrical Newbie

Post by LWTCS »

I bet that Larry guy over there would help you out if you asked.
Trample the injured and hurdle the dead.
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shadylane
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Re: Electrical Newbie

Post by shadylane »

I've ordered things from folk's selling controller kits.
Give them a call, and see if they can help
With enough pic's and information,
Even the simple, becomes easier :lol:
Jif
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Re: Electrical Newbie

Post by Jif »

It's a 5500w ULWD immersion heater with plans to be used on a 220v spa panel a buddy installed for me.

I just haven't worked with this much electricity and I'm not sure this is the place to start doing so. I envision burning down my house and my wife saying "I told you so."
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still_stirrin
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Re: Electrical Newbie

Post by still_stirrin »

Jif wrote:It's a 5500w ULWD immersion heater with plans to be used on a 220v spa panel a buddy installed for me.

I just haven't worked with this much electricity and I'm not sure this is the place to start doing so. I envision burning down my house and my wife saying "I told you so."
Now, that is a vision...

Why not ask "the buddy" who installed your spa panel to help you with the controller build? Without doubt, he would make "short order" of it!
ss
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Jif
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Re: Electrical Newbie

Post by Jif »

still_stirrin wrote:
Jif wrote:It's a 5500w ULWD immersion heater with plans to be used on a 220v spa panel a buddy installed for me.

I just haven't worked with this much electricity and I'm not sure this is the place to start doing so. I envision burning down my house and my wife saying "I told you so."
Now, that is a vision...

Why not ask "the buddy" who installed your spa panel to help you with the controller build? Without doubt, he would make "short order" of it!
ss
I could, but I don't want to run up the favor quota too high. If I can, I'd rather buy something off the shelf, to the extent that it exists. If not, that looks like the direction I'll be heading.
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still_stirrin
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Re: Electrical Newbie

Post by still_stirrin »

Jif wrote:...I could, but I don't want to run up the favor quota too high...
:arrow: This could easily be compensated by a little of your "covetous" product.... :idea:
My LM/VM & Potstill: My build thread
My Cadco hotplate modification thread: Hotplate Build
My stock pot gin still: stock pot potstill
My 5-grain Bourbon recipe: Special K
Jif
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Re: Electrical Newbie

Post by Jif »

Found this thread:

http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopi ... 85&t=62655

And wiring one of these together seems a lot simpler than piecing together the SD Kit. I found this model on Amazon:

https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B01CCK56QS/ ... 99508&sr=2" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

No soldering, easy connections, and I can use the majority of what I already bought for my other project. Seems like a winner to me.
Pikey
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Re: Electrical Newbie

Post by Pikey »

Jif wrote:It's a 5500w ULWD immersion heater with plans to be used on a 220v spa panel a buddy installed for me.

I just haven't worked with this much electricity and I'm not sure this is the place to start doing so. I envision burning down my house and my wife saying "I told you so."
ok well a 5500 Watt heater needs 25 Amps at 220 Volts. So your controller should really be about 50% over-rated (IMO) for continuous use - so you need one rated 35-40 Amps or more ( That's 8-12000 Watts at the least - I only run 2500 watts but burned out a "3000 watt" one in 20 minutes - so went to 10,000 watts ) That copes without extra cooling.

Generally you "Burn houses down" by having wiring too thin (gets hot ) or cheapo plugs (Get hot) - you can feel the heat by pacing your hand on the items once in a while

- Oh and leaving coiled extension wire (any thickness still wound on the drum) (generates back eddy currents and gets hot )

Other electrical faults usually give you a shock, or "Go Bang" :)
Pikey
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Re: Electrical Newbie

Post by Pikey »

Jif wrote:Found this thread:

http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopi ... 85&t=62655

And wiring one of these together seems a lot simpler than piecing together the SD Kit. I found this model on Amazon:

https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B01CCK56QS/ ... 99508&sr=2" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

No soldering, easy connections, and I can use the majority of what I already bought for my other project. Seems like a winner to me.
That's very similar to what I ended up with - but mine was about 1/3 the price from China .
Jif
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Re: Electrical Newbie

Post by Jif »

Pikey wrote:
Jif wrote:It's a 5500w ULWD immersion heater with plans to be used on a 220v spa panel a buddy installed for me.

I just haven't worked with this much electricity and I'm not sure this is the place to start doing so. I envision burning down my house and my wife saying "I told you so."
ok well a 5500 Watt heater needs 25 Amps at 220 Volts. So your controller should really be about 50% over-rated (IMO) for continuous use - so you need one rated 35-40 Amps or more ( That's 8-12000 Watts at the least - I only run 2500 watts but burned out a "3000 watt" one in 20 minutes - so went to 10,000 watts ) That copes without extra cooling.

Generally you "Burn houses down" by having wiring too thin (gets hot ) or cheapo plugs (Get hot) - you can feel the heat by pacing your hand on the items once in a while

- Oh and leaving coiled extension wire (any thickness still wound on the drum) (generates back eddy currents and gets hot )

Other electrical faults usually give you a shock, or "Go Bang" :)

It's a 40 amp GFCI spa panel hooked up as a sub-panel to a 50 amp breaker on the main box. I think I'm good on that front!
Pikey wrote:
Jif wrote:Found this thread:

http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopi ... 85&t=62655

And wiring one of these together seems a lot simpler than piecing together the SD Kit. I found this model on Amazon:

https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B01CCK56QS/ ... 99508&sr=2" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

No soldering, easy connections, and I can use the majority of what I already bought for my other project. Seems like a winner to me.
That's very similar to what I ended up with - but mine was about 1/3 the price from China .
I saw a few cheaper versions on eBay, but they didn't appear to have the integral fan. I thought it'd be nice to have everything all in one piece to cut down on wiring.
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Re: Electrical Newbie

Post by Pikey »

Jif wrote:
......I saw a few cheaper versions on eBay, but they didn't appear to have the integral fan. I thought it'd be nice to have everything all in one piece to cut down on wiring.
Ok well mine is only controlling 2500 watts - so doesn't even get warm - without a fan, but nothing wrong with having one 8)

Hope you feel a little happier now :)

Perhaps you can sell the other on ?
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