How to get a controller

[GuyFawkes]

From someone who knows precious little about electronics, how hard would it be to learn enough to build one?

Or, can I buy one? How much would it be?

[MitchyBourbon]

Mulekicker is the one you need to talk to. I bought mine from hillbilly stills and I love it but I think I would have loved one from Mulekicker for a lot less $. I consider myself pretty handy and smart enough to learn some electronics but when it comes down to safety in this hobby I tend to err on the side of caution. You didn't say what kind of power you need, but I would buy from them that know how especially if you are dealing something like a 30 amp 220 controller.

[GuyFawkes]

Yeah, I tend to agree. I would rather have something that will last me a while, won't blow my house's electricity to hell or burn the whole thing down, and will be relatively easy to use. I can't imagine anything I would build would suffice but one of those criteria unless it's super simple (which nothing ever is)

I'll message him for a quote

[Anemephistus]

You have made a good choice. I messed with this Idea. I've gotta fair grip on electronics, mostly computer hardware. I've built several solid state devices for a number of things and have a workspace ready for anything new that comes up. It includes a wide veriety of parts. Truth be told I've got more solder meant for circuts than stills. I'm no great wizard with this stuff but I do heavily dabble with it.

I researched this again when I saw yer post. I wouldn't try it. I know you have said you made your choice but I know this post will be seen in the future in other's searches so I'm still gonna explain.

Phase angle controlers are made of multiple SRC's (A type of integrated circut) working in tandem. Basically as I understand it a current hits a certain point, the SRC lets it pass. Depending on the number of SRC's active at any one point and what voltage they let by and at what point they activate in the power modulation , the through-put current is controled. AC current does not alternate instantly on/off it is expressed in waves of low points and high. The SCR has a pre-determined point on the wave it will open and one it will close. When one or more of these SRC's pulse on and off at pre-determined intervals they provide a known value of current.

There are several other methods involving either electromagnetics or coils or both.

The math problems here are massive. They balance ratios of coil size, voltage, heat, heat co-efficient and dissipation, modulation timing, and on and on. Some of it works with electromagnetic field manipulation and litterally changing the angle of the phase which is expressed in symbols I'm not even going to post. It is also important to note that these devices take into account deterioration of things like heating elements and are purpose built to overcome the effects of aging.

Some of the folks on this site can surely do it, there are some great minds here (look at the calcs they have made). I'm not dull but without fully understanding the properties of what is being worked with here I'd be afraid of killing myself or destroying my shop. I had difficulty finding some of this information and no luck at all finding good plans for building these items. There are some folks here that have modified some pre-built models by upgrading the cooling copacity of the original unit and they have posted results that seem promising.

I guess the bottom line here is this:

If you have extensive electronics experience and you already know how to put this type of device together go for it, otherwise you're gonna need a second hobby that revolves around building complicated high-voltage electronics to get what you want to do done.

-Anemephistus

[YHB]

Despite the above posts, building a controller is straight forward and relatively inexpensive, The above post seems to confuse designing and building a Solid State Relay, with buying one off the shelf for under £10.00

Guy - you say that you live in York - 240v

I built this one for around £30

There is a breakdown of parts here http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopi ... =2&t=28364

and this is streamlined wiring diagram using a 240v Fan and doing away with the Ammeter, it would still work with the parts listed in my build.

There are approximatly 10 connections and that is it, definatly no "massive maths problems, no electro magnets,no coils, no need to take into account the aging of heating elements or any of the other issues that "Anemephistus" chose to bring into the thread.

I do not dabble heavily in electronics as "Anemephistus" does, but with my very limited experience was able to complete the wiring for the controller in a couple of hours.

[rad14701]

Anemephistus, don't make building a controller out to be more complicated than it needs to be... If a person can paint by numbers they can build a Triac based (we don't use SCR's) phase angle controller... The math has already been done so it's just a matter of soldering a few of the right parts together... We already know what parts work so that complexity has been dealt with... I've built and tested a half dozen or so different designs and haven't had any major disasters yet... But, then again, I've dabbled in electronics for about 44 years now, since I was 8 years old...

[stillbuilder]

Look, This isnt rocket science. You can search for eons and eons and hope you have the best, easiest one to use. Or. You can build or buy one of Mulekicker's mk5500's. Either way youll end up in the same place. Hands down the easiest to build and easiest to use. I built one from the parts list he provided here on HD and did it just like the pictures he posted. He even sells them if you want. You'll be glad you did.
Be safe, Stay thirsty my friend.

[Anemephistus]

I stand corrected. I had looked and looked for the simplified info you all have provided here. This was a failure on my part. Once I get onto a subject and cannot find an easier answer I look into the science behind it and work from there.

Since I have failed so completely here, I appologize. The physics that manage how these things work is apparently far more complicated than building one and I was wrong about the difficulty.

Sorry all, I over thought this one.

-Anemephistus

[GuyFawkes]

Well I thank you all for the answers, I think I am just going to go with a system from Mulekicker.

When you're dealing with something as flammable as gas, your margin of error decreases. I would rather not begin my journey into electronics into something of this nature, something that could kill me or burn my house down if I mess up as beginners tend to do.