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4xRotor wrote:The adjustable potentiometer. Is it wired pins one and three or two and three?

From left to right, I use 1 and 3, leaving 2 and 4 empty.

Jimbo wrote:Nope, if youre using one of these controllers like I did you need 220 in and out. Check wiring diagram here... http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopi ... 0#p7131036

Ah, so you have one leg going in 1 and out 3, and the other going in 2 and out 4?

I would check with an ohmmeter to see if the resistance of your potentiometer is changing when you move the dial

raketemensch wrote:

Jimbo wrote:Nope, if youre using one of these controllers like I did you need 220 in and out. Check wiring diagram here... http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopi ... 0#p7131036

Ah, so you have one leg going in 1 and out 3, and the other going in 2 and out 4?

Well, that definitely didn't work, I just let the smoke out of my SCR.

<sigh> Not been a fun weekend.

I assumed you meant this one



The breaker didn't throw, but I got a nice loud pop and a stink from my control box.

I don't know whos drawing that is but its wired just like my drawing. You must have a crossed wire somewhere double check all your wiring good thing those things are cheap I hope you bought a spare

Jimbo wrote:I don't know whos drawing that is but its wired just like my drawing. You must have a crossed wire somewhere double check all your wiring good thing those things are cheap I hope you bought a spare

Well, all I have is red, black and ground, so I kinda can't cross them, right?

If you have an scr with four terminals. You need to have both hot wires going in, and both hot wires going out.

Forgive me for being on the thick as a brick side but I don't see a potentiometer in the diagram above so wouldn't that be full power all the time?

Getting ready to take the plunge thus my comment/question.

raketemensch wrote:

4xRotor wrote:The adjustable potentiometer. Is it wired pins one and three or two and three?

From left to right, I use 1 and 3, leaving 2 and 4 empty.

Potentiometers only have three legs. I think you may be getting terms confused. Are you able to post a picture of what you have? That would help a lot.

FreeMountainHermit wrote:Forgive me for being on the thick as a brick side but I don't see a potentiometer in the diagram above so wouldn't that be full power all the time?

Getting ready to take the plunge thus my comment/question.

An scr is a complete unit that has a potentiometer built into it. An ssr is a seperate thing and needs to have a pot wired to it.

Bowing at the waist here, Sir.

Grasshopper sez thank you !!!!

Monkeyman88 wrote:

raketemensch wrote:

4xRotor wrote:The adjustable potentiometer. Is it wired pins one and three or two and three?

From left to right, I use 1 and 3, leaving 2 and 4 empty.

Potentiometers only have three legs. I think you may be getting terms confused. Are you able to post a picture of what you have? That would help a lot.

This is what I'm using.
If I attach both power leads in, and both out, I get a pop as soon as I plug it in. I tried switching the leads into it, and got the same pop. Didn't think it was even possible to get a pop twice, you learn something new every day.

Sorry I thought you were using a separate potential to run the thing

Now I'm really mixed up.

No knob for power input adjustment

http://www.ebay.com/bhp/silicon-controlled-rectifier" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

The best way to tell where the wires go it to take a multimeter, turn the pot to full on, and the measure the continuity between the terminals.

FreeMountainHermit wrote:Now I'm really mixed up.

No knob for power input adjustment

http://www.ebay.com/bhp/silicon-controlled-rectifier" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

Hmm. I have no idea what that is. Lol. But it's not the one you want.

Please disregard my post mm88.

I went to the beginning of Jimbo's thread as I should have from the start.

A thousand pardons, Sir and to the rest of you good folks.

Blowing retreat with my bugle !!!!

Peace, FMH.

Haha. No probs. All the different names and abbreviations can get confusing when just starting out. Haha

4xRotor wrote:Sorry I thought you were using a separate potential to run the thing

A separate pot is for if your using a SSR.

I'm aborting the run for today, fortunately I have a few gallons of backset stashed in a freezer so I can start the 25-gallon UJSSM (moving up from a 5 gallon).

I'm still not sure what I've done wrong, everything appears to be correct. But POW.

Thanks for the assistance, everyone, I'll regroup tonight when the frustration level is back down. I appreciate the help.

I know this may be a silly question. But how do you have the wires? 1 and 2 are the input and 3 and 4 are out.

Monkeyman88 wrote:I know this may be a silly question. But how do you have the wires? 1 and 2 are the input and 3 and 4 are out.

Yup, 1 and 2 are input, 3 and 4 are out to the element.

I just noticed that the wiring diagram has a neutral going to the keg, which seems odd to me.

I'm using a 3-prong dryer cord, with the two hot legs being standard and I'm using what would normally be the 3rd neutral wire as the ground. It's hooked up to the ground bar in the sub-panel, but then again so are lots of neutral wires. Maybe that's my issue?

Ah yes. The keg must be grounded. That's a safety issue.

I'm going to guess that the 'pop' that you heard twice. Is probably some kind of safety measure to make sure that you can't turn it on if it's not wired correctly.

input wires black / red in on the right, output wires black red out on the left? thats the way that drawing shows, but it maynot be how the controller you have is wired...for example it may be black in/out on the right, red in/out on the left...

you measured 120vac black to ground, and 120vac red to ground...and 240vac red to black on the supply side?

you measured the element for good? i think 5500w are around 20 ohms? (with nothing but the meter connected)

the pop/smoke makes me think you have one hot (black) on the input side and the other (red) on the output side of the same phase...when power is supplied the weak part starts sizzling.

damn, if a guy could only read chinese....is there no other diagrams or lables on that thing anywhere? no supporting docs to tell which pin does what?

Monkeyman88 wrote:Ah yes. The keg must be grounded. That's a safety issue.

Well, I believe it is. There's no neutral, so what would normally be the neutral wire is a ground wire.

I have it going to the ground bar in the sub-panel, and wired to the keg.

But the ground bar also has neutral wires on it, I'm not sure how that works.

Have you got the ground going to the scr as well? That also needs to be grounded.

and you should be using box ground on the keg, not neutral.

HDNB wrote:input wires black / red in on the right, output wires black red out on the left? thats the way that drawing shows, but it maynot be how the controller you have is wired...for example it may be black in/out on the right, red in/out on the left...

It appears to want red/black in on the left, red/black out on the right:

you measured 120vac black to ground, and 120vac red to ground...and 240vac red to black on the supply side?

All of that checks out, at the SCR and again at the keg.

you measured the element for good? i think 5500w are around 20 ohms? (with nothing but the meter connected)

I need to find my multimeter, my wife did some cleaning....

the pop/smoke makes me think you have one hot (black) on the input side and the other (red) on the output side of the same phase...when power is supplied the weak part starts sizzling.

Maybe I just shouldn't trust the label on this thing, or maybe they mean that it alternates, and I'm just reading it wrong, and they mean that they alternate.

Once you find your multi meter. Make sure it's not supposed to be red/black in then black/red out.
You could even try taking out both blacks and twisting them together. Then just have red in on one and out on three. If nothing then try out on four.