Wiring the 10000W SCR for 110V

[Due51]

Humbledore, can you post a picture of the bottom of the PCB. mine is buried in my box. Curious if they are all layed out like mine, its very sloppy PCB work.

Due, if you have N running through that leg, it wont be deadly if it shorts to the box (which I hope you have grounded). And it wont blow a breaker (but it will blow a GFCI breaker). If however you have Hot through that leg, Your box will either go live and create a serious shock hazard, or, if the box is grounded, it will blow the breaker and likely blow your SCR.

Either way, you should insulate it, you dont want N or Hot touching teh box.

Edit: Humbledore has a pic below. Not hot along that edge but the traces do go up to the edge, and if shorted will cause problems. For some reason I recall them being hot, sorry, perhaps mistaken. But a problem nonetheless if shorted.

My cable is 3 wire - 2 hot and 1 ground. I have the hots attached to the SCR IN and OUT. The ground wire is grounded to the box and also on the keg. I don't really have a neutral.

[Jimbo]

Oh ok, I thought you were 110 (title of this thread). Anyway, look at H's pictured down below. you can see the pads for the pot and those traces are right up to the edge.

[35mastr]

If you look at the bottom of the SCR that terminal is soldered directly to the other one. It is a pass-thru. I was going to skip it and wire nut the two ends together but I had a brain fart and attached it, so I left it. I think either diagram will work. On Jimbo's build thread he also uses the pass thru terminal.

scr_bottom.jpg

Are those 2 prongs that stick out behind the dial going to be live when it powered up. Or do they just contact the cover to secure the pot from rotating when mounted?

[Jimbo]

If you look at the bottom of the SCR that terminal is soldered directly to the other one. It is a pass-thru. I was going to skip it and wire nut the two ends together but I had a brain fart and attached it, so I left it. I think either diagram will work. On Jimbo's build thread he also uses the pass thru terminal.

scr_bottom.jpg

Are those 2 prongs that stick out behind the dial going to be live when it powered up. Or do they just contact the cover to secure the pot from rotating when mounted?

They are not live. Their purpose is as you say, to fit in holes in the box to keep the pot from rotating should the nut come loose. not really needed.

[humbledore]

Hi all, had to actually get some work done for a change. I was looking to understand more about operating temps and the need to have a fan. Would be interested in hearing what others think, the ebay seller I bought it from has this to say:

Note:
Note that the load can not exceed the maximum power,
For the first time to pay attention to temperature, if the temperature is high (over 80 degrees) to pay attention to the heat treatment,
Otherwise it will burn modules and appliances;
Using inductive, capacitive load power to greatly reduce
More than half, or at least to leave two-thirds margin.

I take this to mean that it is safe to operate up to 80C? Sounds too hot to me at 157F. But I am going to try running it without the fan and see how hot it gets using 110V. 1375W is only 14% of the max 10kW rating. Would it be crazy to take this heat sink off, put the triac right up against the metal box (with thermal paste) and put the heatsink on the outside of the box? All screwed together of course just like the triac is screwed to the heat sink now. That would give it some add'l mass and allow a smaller box. Depends on how hot it gets I guess. If that works the whole thing could be put into a double junction box (metal kind).

[Prairiepiss]

I wouldn't mount it to the box then the heatsink. The box is what steel? Steel doesn't dissipate or transfer heat good enough. So you would get a buildup of heat in the steel.

You would be better off cutting a hole big enough the triac could fit through and still be mounted on the heatsink.

I would not mount that triac to anything but the heatsink it came with or a larger one.

The equipment I work on. Has some large heatsinks in them. To increase their efficiency the mount them to the steel frame. So that the steel frame will soak up some of the heat. But they use a large aluminium heatsink to transfer the heat away from the diodes and mosfits creating the heat. The one I worked on yesterday. The aluminum heatsink was about 3 foot by 2 foot and an inch thick. And it was mounted to a cast steel counterweight that was 3" thick by 4 foot wide and 4 foot tall ish give or take a few inches. I went through two tubs of heatsink grease. The aluminum pulls the heat from the electronics. And transfers it to the steel quick. Where the steel dissipates it slow.

Anyway I would make sure the triac was mounted to aluminium. Then you can mount the aluminium to anything you want.

Just my two nickles.

[humbledore]

OK good to know, thanks PP. I may have been getting a little too ambitious there.

[Jimbo]

Copper's a hell of a good thermal conductor, one of the best, twice as good as aluminum, if you want to get crazy with experimenting and use up some of that spare copper after building your still and leibig

[humbledore]

Well Jimbo now that you say that it's clear this needs to be a hollow cold finger chilled controller. Nothing says excitement like water and electricity in close proximity!

[Prairiepiss]

They make water cooled heatsinks for computer CPUs. A little over kill for what you got going maybe?

Copper heat pipes would be cool though. I've been thinking about making some. But its low on the priority list.

[humbledore]

Ha, yes that would be overkill. I think the first step is to measure how hot it gets without a fan before I do anything.

[123456]

Quick question:

I recall reading on other topics that since this unit is designed for 220 V, and it is being using on a 110 V grid, the adjustments will only halfway work (awkward phrasing)? Have you experienced this with this build?

[S-Cackalacky]

Quick question:

I recall reading on other topics that since this unit is designed for 220 V, and it is being using on a 110 V grid, the adjustments will only halfway work (awkward phrasing)? Have you experienced this with this build?

I use it on 110V and yes it's a little wonky, but works. I have to turn the pot knob up over half way before anything happens, but from there to full on the adjustment seems pretty much linear and works well. It's my understanding that it is because the pot is rated for use with 220V. The pot can be swapped out for one rated for 110V, but it's really not absolutely necessary.

[wv_cooker]

Wolfman an acquaintance up in Canada got his hands on a couple of these a while back. For the heat sink he swapped them out to a larger CPU heatsink with a fan on them and has never had a heating issue. As far as grounding green is the earth ground and should be connected from your breaker panel to your keg for safety. Because of moisture I actually use a GFCI breaker for more safety and to be within code if it ever becomes legal.

[ddizzle22]

I know this is super old but makes the most sense pictures wise. In the open picture of the controller i see the green grounds capped off when 1 green coming out of the cap. Is this grounded to the box then and the other end of the cable grounded to the keg as well based on the schematic? Am i understanding that properly?