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Hi Everyone,

I have built a digital SSR controller with a friend of mine with no success because during operation we faced purging and could not fix it due to the on and off times were 12.5 seconds, so instead of this I decided to purchase an Auber DSPR1 instead with a SSR
to control my 4500 Watt element, do you think this is a good selection and I can change the power instantly ?

Yes it will change the power instantly! Use thier SSR! The only issue I've seen with this controller is people trying to use the wrong SSR. I have this controller running multiple SSR's. It can control up to six elements.

I've been running with a DSPR1 from Auber on 4500w elements for two years now and this thing is spot on, and even at full power the heat sink (suggested) doesn't seem to even get too hot.

Thanks guys,

I want to know which mode are you using as far as I can see there are two modes.

1) Time proportional firing
2) Burst firing

Which one are you using that gives the best results. ?

artooks wrote:Thanks guys,

I want to know which mode are you using as far as I can see there are two modes.

1) Time proportional firing
2) Burst firing

Which one are you using that gives the best results. ?

Use the Burst firing mode. The Time Proportional mode is similar to the one that your mate cooked up. Burst mode will eliminate the surging that you are currently seeing. You can even use the same SSR that he is driving, just replace his controller with the DSPR1 and you are good to go.

Thank you very much RedwoodHillBilly.

I want to ask another question about DSPR1 lets say I have a 4000Watt heating element, and I have a 8 Gallon boiler, under normal conditions a 2000 Watt heating element will be enough, so when using the DSPR1 with a 4000W element, if I turn the rotary knob to %50 percent does this mean the element will be working like a 2000Watt element is my understanding correct ?

artooks wrote:I want to ask another question about DSPR1 lets say I have a 4000Watt heating element, and I have a 8 Gallon boiler, under normal conditions a 2000 Watt heating element will be enough, so when using the DSPR1 with a 4000W element, if I turn the rotary knob to %50 percent does this mean the element will be working like a 2000Watt element is my understanding correct ?

I may be way off here, but this was my understanding:

Yes and No, it'll be working like a 4000w element 50% of the time. You don't control the power going to the element, you control the time the element gets power.

Actually, I may be mixed up thinking about pwm. Jimbo, you know much more about electric than I, care to chime in here?

artooks wrote:I want to ask another question about DSPR1 lets say I have a 4000Watt heating element, and I have a 8 Gallon boiler, under normal conditions a 2000 Watt heating element will be enough, so when using the DSPR1 with a 4000W element, if I turn the rotary knob to %50 percent does this mean the element will be working like a 2000Watt element is my understanding correct ?

The percentage output for me isn't exact, but close, think it might actually be on a curve. Hopefully one of the electrical guru's can chime in on that exact comparison.

I would still suggest you get a feel for how it works. I crank mine up pretty hard in the beginning (80-100%) and gradually step it down as it heats up, keeping in mind full-out you risk scorching if you have a lot of solids, and end up doing the run between 20-30% when comes up to temp.

artooks wrote:I want to ask another question about DSPR1 lets say I have a 4000Watt heating element, and I have a 8 Gallon boiler, under normal conditions a 2000 Watt heating element will be enough, so when using the DSPR1 with a 4000W element, if I turn the rotary knob to %50 percent does this mean the element will be working like a 2000Watt element is my understanding correct ?

Yes it will. But don't get too hung up on the numbers while you learn to run it. Find the power that gives you the output rate that you want. You can remember this number for later to get you into the ballpark, but different %abv mashes will have different power requirements.

I agree with the above statements. The DSPR1 is basically a PWM Controller when used in burst mode. I find that this works quite well for controlling your boiler, as long as the cycle rate is high enough. You don't want it cycling on/off for 12 seconds like you had before. I have a homemade PWM controller and the power is not linear, but it is repeatable.

Ultimately, like RWH said, the numbers don't matter because it'll be different for each batch. But they will give you a starting point which can be fine tuned from there.

Edit to add: yes, Antler24, you are correct about PWM. A PWM controller at 50% basically cycles on full power for 1s/off 1s, 75% equals 3s on/off 1s. This is not linear though and also depends on the cycle rate, which looks to be 50-60hz for this module.

SR