Wiring an amp/volt/watt display to my SCR? Trying to be more accurate…

[BrewinBrian44]

Hey guys.

In some other threads, I’ve talked about my success running a CM plate setup and I’m now jumping into neutral.

I’ve searched on here and I’m quickly getting overwhelmed by electrical jargon. I know NOTHING about making an elaborate controller box. Wiring up my current setup was very easy, but also low tech.

Currently. I’m running a keg boiler with a single 5500W element and a simple 10000W SCR with a fan to control the power into the keg. It’s about as low tech as possible, but I’ve gotten a feel for it. I run it on my homes dryer circuit. There is not even a sticker readout on the knob to tell me how much power I’m supplying, other than some dots I made with a sharpie that indicate where the dial is all the way on, or all the way off, with one more dot showing the 50% mid-point. The thing doesn’t even have an on/off switch. I just plug it into the element on the keg, then the wall and I’m up and running.

Up to this point, I’ve been running the power/coolant simply by feel, which has actually worked well once I got a hang of it. Even easier for pot stilling. Now that I’m getting into making neutral with a new VM setup, I’m longing for a bit more accuracy for my note taking. Do you guys have any guidance for wiring in some kind of display with my current controller? I’ve seen some on Amazon, but have no idea how to wire them in. Basically, I’d just like to know how many watts I’m throwing to the boiler. Even if all I knew were how many amps I’m supplying, at least I have a reference point of a number for my note taking and subsequent runs.