Still Dragon 240v Controller Fine Tuning?

[WithOrWithoutU2]

PS. Anyone debating if you should try to tackle this, you CAN with lots of research and planning. But if you don't have a single tool to even start...you will end up paying more than if you just buy one.

Looks like you have some sort of T-track on the back of the box, to hold the heat sink, what's that row of connections in the middle? Also that fan you listed is sold out, can you recall what the ballpark price was on that?

I don't recall what I paid for the fan, but it is was not expensive. Nothing special about it. Any fan would be ok. The middle row of connection was just to make it easier to connect wires.

[The Baker]

I got my electronics man to wire mine up.
They come as a kit.
Unfortunately he charged like a red bull...
Anyway he installed a fan and I think it was a computer fan.

Geoff

[Tummydoc]

Geoff, if all he charged was a can of red bull you got a great deal

[Tom Kat]

My son wired mine up. He is an electrician. It took him 20 mins. Mine works great with my 5500 watt element. In my case, the trick is to keep it dialed back on a spirit run. I reccomend the kit to anyone reading this.

[The Baker]

Geoff, if all he charged was a can of red bull you got a great deal

Sigh.
He charged (with a long heavy duty cord) four hundred bucks.
Australian, but even so...

Geoff

[Tummydoc]

Pricey, holey moley

[LWTCS]

Pricey, holey moley

Yeah dang. That was spendy.
Did he have the instructions?
Not more then an hours worth.....
Shoot sorry man.

[shadylane]

He better have done an excellent job at that price.
My labor for local folks is $50 and I even supply the wire.

On a side note
Larry needs a pat on the head. The SSVR in his kit is durable.
When I built a tig welder from my junk pile.
One of the SSVR's survived controlling the primary side of the transformer from a Lincoln 225 welder.

[BlueSasquatch]

I don't recall what I paid for the fan, but it is was not expensive. Nothing special about it. Any fan would be ok. The middle row of connection was just to make it easier to connect wires.

6500 Watts you say? What was the brand? I've got a 5500 in the to-order-list, the 6500 that I saw had poor reviews, and a 7000 was to large at 1.5" where Im limited with a 1" threaded port.

[WithOrWithoutU2]

I don't recall what I paid for the fan, but it is was not expensive. Nothing special about it. Any fan would be ok. The middle row of connection was just to make it easier to connect wires.

6500 Watts you say? What was the brand? I've got a 5500 in the to-order-list, the 6500 that I saw had poor reviews, and a 7000 was to large at 1.5" where Im limited with a 1" threaded port.

I got it off Amazon. I don't remember the brand name. So far, no complaints. To be honest, I was going to go with the 5500. However, they were sold out of the 2" TriClamp at the time. So I just bought the 6500. If it burns out, I would just buy another. Overall they were not too expensive.

[ghg1942wla]

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Well I must say I am pretty happy to report, I think I have a working controller! Those of you that have been following this thread know, I started with little to no knowledge and even fewer tools. But with research and advise from you all, and a buddy in real life I have a functioning 240 controller. I've use it and a 6500w element tonight to heat up about 3 gallons of tap water. The 6500w element had it up to a boil in NO TIME.

The digital meter seems to be working as it displays the power and amps as I use the pots. I see the smaller increases with the small one, so I am encourage that I have it wired correctly.

Obviously, I the real test will come with a few full spirit runs to ensure the wiring does not short out or overheat.

Thanks to all for the guidance and encouragement. I have to say, this project has really given me a sense of satisfaction of "just doing it".

PS. Anyone debating if you should try to tackle this, you CAN with lots of research and planning. But if you don't have a single tool to even start...you will end up paying more than if you just buy one.

Can I ask you what information you have on the fan your using

Model number, power requirements…where to buy….

Thanks, George

[ghg1942wla]

Sorry to have typed in a question prior to properly searching..

I found several

George

[jonnys_spirit]

Of force it is

Ohm my god. The puns are getting out of hand, but watt can you do about it?

Hopefully nothing gets to shocking.

I tried to resist the temptation but ohm my it was quite hard to stay under ground.

I'm assembling an SD kit to drive a 120V 1k5W Cadec hotplate element and wanted to keep the thread uhhhh - current.

Less is more IMO so i'll just use a single POT and no meters or other fan-cy parts and hardwire it into the element with an edison plug hanging off...

Cheers!
-j

Finished fitting the SD 240V controller into the Cadco CSR-3T 120V 1k5W hotplate. I tested with the included 500k pot and will need to order/install a 250k for 120V operation. It works but only about 1/2 to 1/3 of the range on the 500k is effective.

I kept the indicator lamp in parallel with the element and it glows with more intensity as the power increases - this is my “meter” lol.

I’ll use this for running small batches.

Cheers!
-j

EDIT:
I was impatient with waiting for the new pot so started fiddling with parallel resistors and got this going with smooth full range control on the Cadco. I ended up having to parallel some resistors between the wiper and leg of the 500k. Took a little trial and error to get the values dialed in. 250k was too high a value. What ended up working was 172k between the wiper and leg of the 500k to make about 130k which was OFF. It just turns the SSR-40VA on at about 123k max so with the 172k (150k+22k series) i can pot it down to full off at 130k and pot it up to zero ohms for full power. The indicator lamp is in parallel so brightness shows power. Works for me! Also added an aluminum diffusor plate to the hotplate element to even out the heat a bit. Just what I needed for dedicated small batch and various maceration runs.

[BlueSasquatch]

I don't recall what I paid for the fan, but it is was not expensive. Nothing special about it. Any fan would be ok. The middle row of connection was just to make it easier to connect wires.

6500 Watts you say? What was the brand? I've got a 5500 in the to-order-list, the 6500 that I saw had poor reviews, and a 7000 was to large at 1.5" where Im limited with a 1" threaded port.

I got it off Amazon. I don't remember the brand name. So far, no complaints. To be honest, I was going to go with the 5500 d3. However, they were sold out of the 2" TriClamp at the time. So I just bought the 6500. If it burns out, I would just buy another. Overall they were not too expensive.

So have most of my parts in, pretty much following your set up exactly, working on drawing up my own diagram to make sure I fully understand. You initially drew the green wire for the 10/3 as a pass through wire, but in the install you went ahead and run it through the block at terminals 2 and 3? Why was that?

[WithOrWithoutU2]

I don't recall what I paid for the fan, but it is was not expensive. Nothing special about it. Any fan would be ok. The middle row of connection was just to make it easier to connect wires.

6500 Watts you say? What was the brand? I've got a 5500 in the to-order-list, the 6500 that I saw had poor reviews, and a 7000 was to large at 1.5" where Im limited with a 1" threaded port.

I got it off Amazon. I don't remember the brand name. So far, no complaints. To be honest, I was going to go with the 5500 d3. However, they were sold out of the 2" TriClamp at the time. So I just bought the 6500. If it burns out, I would just buy another. Overall they were not too expensive.

So have most of my parts in, pretty much following your set up exactly, working on drawing up my own diagram to make sure I fully understand. You initially drew the green wire for the 10/3 as a pass through wire, but in the install you went ahead and run it through the block at terminals 2 and 3? Why was that?

I am sure there is an easier / cleaner way than what I had. I took a lot of advice and tips from people here. Plus I did a little offsite research. The block terminal was supposed to make it easier to route/organize the wires. Not sure it really did.