5500w SSR Heating Element Control Build

[Deerhunter]

Wanted to do a thread on my controller build. This is not my design by any means. But I did do some minor changes. Just want to pass on the info to other members on here.

Parts list: Plastic 8"x8" electrical box from Home Depot ( 6"x6" is to small ).

(1) SSVR Kyotto AC Solid State Relay. KR2040AX280v (includes 500k potentiometer, knob, and heat transfer pad).

(1) Heat sink for 10-40 amp solid state relay.

(1) Cooling Fan. 2220v fan 80mm x 80mm

(2) Cooling fan guard

(2) PG19 cord grips

(1) 220v Red LED Power indicator light

(1) Digital Volt/Amp meter 300v 50amp

(1) 30amp DPDT rocker switch

(16ft) #10/3 power cord (this contains a Black, white, green wire)

(1) packet rubber feet for bottom of plastic box

(1) Element guard kit

(1) 5500W heating element

(1) 30amp 220v Dryer Plug

(1) 30amp twist lock receptacle

(1) 30amp twist lock plug

Used crimp connectors and soldered all connections. I will upload the wiring diagram as soon as I figure out how to make the file smaller. Overall cost was somewhere around $150.00 dollars. I'm sure there are cheaper builds out there. I just liked the design and was a good experience building. Works like a charm

[Hound Dog]

Nice neat controller Deerhunter. Do you have the volt meter wired up to the input side of the SSR?

[Deerhunter]

Yes, I believe I do. Terminals 1 and 2 on the SSR. Should this be wired with the potentiomenter on terminals 3 and 4? That would explain why the meter always reads 244 volts.

[Hound Dog]

Yes. I wired it so I could read the voltage feeding the coil and soon found that this burns up these meters. They are not designed to read below 80 volts. Less and they fry. I wrote about it in a thread and Edwin gave the true explanation on why it fried. I hoped for some simple to understand fix but it was not in the stars. I just took his word for it and hook up to the input side and don't burn the meter up.

[skow69]

The takeaway from that is that those fancy power meters will give you an accurate measure of the power going out to your element even though it is connected to the input voltage. A very smart meter. There are several on ebay for under $20 that appear to fit the bill. Amazing.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/AC-110V-220V-Di ... 3cfc44a038

http://www.ebay.com/itm/AC-80-260V-LCD- ... 1e9eec0a35

[Deerhunter]

I will be leaving it on the input side. As long as I can see the amps I'm fine with that. Have super control now that I change the pot to 500k.

[Desvio]

Where did you get the element guard kit from?

[jmashspirits14]

Can someone help me out or direct me to the information I need. I have a 10,000v 50A ssr controller, 600v 50A 10/3 SOOW bendable extention cord wire, 5500w 23A ULWD ripple element and im trying to wire this thing up but im not sure what to do with the green neutral wires. Obvisously one end is wired to the plug but inside the box do I wire it directly to the keg or do I need to wire the neutral to the controller frame inside the box? Someone told me to put a 30A breaker and 30A rocker switch on it also but I don't see anyone else wiring in breakers. Theres a breaker on the hard wire to the house. I put the same 30A 10/3 plug on it that my dryer has so I can just unplug my dryer when I want to run my still. The only other appliance on that line is my stove but the stove wont be on when im running. Do I absoluately need a switch, cant I just turn the controller all the way down and plug in my still and turn the controller up? Also the controller has a heat sink, fan, and everything built right in. My main concern however is what to do with the green neutral wires inside the box because the controller only has two wires in and two wires out. The manufacture said it doesnt matter which way the black and white wires hook up to the controller. I told them what i'm wanting to run with the controller and they said it will work just fine.

[bellybuster]

Your green wire, which is ground, not neutral, needs to be a continuos connection from the house panel all the way to the keg.
It needs to touch everything metal including;
The box
The controller
The keg. Etc etc
In short, there should be nothing in the entire system that won't have continuity back to ground, this is a life saver.

I also highly recommend changing the house circuit breaker to a GFCI.

[jmashspirits14]

Here is a picture of my materials. If thats a ground and not a neutral can you please tell me if ive wired the plug correctly? I installed the 10/3 socket for the dryer and it too has only 3 wires. All the diagrams im finding has 4 wires black, green, white, and red and some have a bare copper wire in place of the green wire but mine has only white, black, and green. I really dont want to kill myself over some bourbon!

[Hound Dog]

So you have a 3 prong dryer plug with a black, white and green. So it is just like Belly says, the green is your ground and must contact everything. Well except the element. One hot to each side of the element and you are good. Yes, you can wire it without a switch and just unplug it. You can also look at Home Depot and get a 30 amp double pole light switch for under $12. Run the white to one side and the black to the other. Up to you.

[Hound Dog]

I see where you get confused. When looking in Google this comes right up. Yes, it says neutral but for what you are doing it is ground.

You are wired right.

[skow69]

Bellybuster and Hound Dog have it right. Here is why: The green (or bare) GROUNDING wire never carries any current unless something goes horribly wrong. If the electricity accidentally gets to someplace it shouldn't be (like the stainless steel of your keg), the green wire is there to carry it away to ground so that it doesn't go through your body to get to ground. That is why it has to connect to everything made of metal that you can touch, and does not connect to any of the components that are actually doing the job.

Sometimes it's easier if you know why.

+1 the GFCI. Code requires it for a wet location, like an illegal keg full of booze. Just because you're an outlaw is no excuse for violating the electrical code.

Hound Dog, that's a way old obsolete socket from back in the days before the NEC required equipment safety grounding. Scary shit for our application. It's got the neutral in it because it was used for 125/250 volts, like a range. That would be a 4 wire socket now. You probably knew that, but others might not.

[jmashspirits14]

Does that mean I shouldnt be using that plug and socket because that is the exact socket I have and corresponding plug you see above in my hand? Also does that mean GFCI breakers should be used for hot water tanks also? This house was built in 1920 and most of the wiring was installed in the 40's and 50's! Some of it was updated about 20 years ago.

[Hound Dog]

Seems like it should work. Just as Skow69 pointed out, green is a neutral in the old days to get 120 off one leg. Modern wiring will run four wires so you have an isolated ground.

Skow69, can you utilize this for 120 and still have it groung? Wouldn't it make the keg 120v?

[jmashspirits14]

Just so I have everything straight before hooking it all up, is it ok to connect both green grounds right here at the same frame screw on the scr/ssr controller or should I connect the ground coming from the plug to one side of the frame and the other ground that goes to the element on the opposite side of the controller frame? Im going to connect the ground at the keg on the npt fitting for the element with a hose clamp.

[bellybuster]

That will work. Best practice is to pigtail your grounds with a marrette connector by using a short piece of wire off each item requiring grounding.
You will need one to the controller, one to the box itself that the controller is housed in and one to carry on to the keg. That little screw could get busy.

[Hound Dog]

Just so I have everything straight before hooking it all up, is it ok to connect both green grounds right here at the same frame screw on the scr/ssr controller or should I connect the ground coming from the plug to one side of the frame and the other ground that goes to the element on the opposite side of the controller frame? Im going to connect the ground at the keg on the npt fitting for the element with a hose clamp.

You can ground the frame anywhere. One point of ground on it is all you need. As for the keg, I guess a hose clamp would work. You old older a tab on somewhere or just drill a small hole in the bottom skirt and run a screw in it. Just make sure it's a good contact.

[Deerhunter]

You can also consider a 30 amp DP GFI circuit breaker as an extra precaution.

[skow69]

Does that mean I shouldnt be using that plug and socket because that is the exact socket I have and corresponding plug you see above in my hand? Also does that mean GFCI breakers should be used for hot water tanks also? This house was built in 1920 and most of the wiring was installed in the 40's and 50's! Some of it was updated about 20 years ago.

That plug and socket is just fine for your application, 2 hots and a ground supplying 240 volts. You cannot take 120 volts off of it. That would require the 4 wire plug.

Water heaters do not require GFCI. I thinks that is because it's unlikely for anyone to be connected to water and electricity at the same time there. In our case it is entirely possible to have one hand in a sink or tank of cooling water or be standing in a puddle and touch a controller or the keg which could be live from a fault.

[MichiganCornhusker]

That plug and socket is just fine for your application, 2 hots and a ground supplying 240 volts. You cannot take 120 volts off of it. That would require the 4 wire plug.

That is an excellent point, especially for anyone that might want 120v inside the box for something like a cooling fan...

[bearriver]

That plug and socket is just fine for your application, 2 hots and a ground supplying 240 volts. You cannot take 120 volts off of it. That would require the 4 wire plug.

That is an excellent point, especially for anyone that might want 120v inside the box for something like a cooling fan...

That's why I have one 6/4 in and two 10/3 out. Great advice Skow.

[jmashspirits14]

I dont think there's any sense in grounding to the box also because its plastic. My ssr controller already has a fan built in so I dont think I would need 120v. I would like to install a 30A illuminated rocker switch but I cant find them for sale anywhere. I know they exist. What are these digital PID controllers, I don't need that for my set up do I?

[bellybuster]

No, you don't need a PID

Grounding the box is not necessary if plastic

[Hound Dog]

In other words, you got the right stuff, put it together and get to stillin'!

[jmashspirits14]

Thanks to all and if the original poster is upset with my posting here I can delete the posts if need be. I asked here because this thread was directly related to the construction of SSR Controllers. As I build this thing ill take pictures and make a new thread to help others with building a controller from the bare necessities.

[jmashspirits14]

This SSR controller has a built in fan and being that im only going ro be using a little over half of its max capacity and 2000w less than its continuous capacity and 27A less than its 50A max I dont think it will get hot but should I still drill some air holes in the plastic junction box? And no I still dont have it finished yet! Lol

[skow69]

Yes. Let it breathe, even if you're not taxing it.

[jmashspirits14]

Here's what I did. The holes are on the side closest to the fan however the fan will not blow air directly through the holes. I thought about attaching a fan to the housing but I would have to run it via an external 110v cord because I dont know electronics well enough to know what is needed to reduce 220v down to 12v.

[skow69]

Just monitor the temperature through your first run. If it doesn't get much over 100f for too long, your probably ok. If you can't touch it you need a fan. If it glows red it's too late.