Home Distiller

Hey there folks,
So I ordered a a couple these from the bay, but Im have some trouble getting them to work right. Was hoping someone who has/is using them would have some detialed instructions and pics on how to get to work properly. Yes, I know there are methods of voltage/watt regluation but this is what im going with.

What exactly doesn't work? How did you do wiring?

http://www.ebay.ca/itm/10000W-220v-Adju ... 671wt_1180

is it this one?
should be simple input one side output the other

There are a couple threads about them somewhere around here. Not many on this board have used them. If I'm not mistaken they are 220v and should have two sets one input and one output. Should be pretty straight forward. Hook the element to the output and supply voltage to the input.

I bought the same ones, got two incase I let the smoke out of one. I will hook it up this weekend, hope it works.

I was also going to remove the variable resister off the board so I can mount it on the front of my box and have the heat sink stick out the back.

Did you connect both hot wires to the input? I wonder if only one leg should be controlled, and the other directly connected.

I wonder about this unit also. Did you get it to work? Can you take a pic of how you have it connected? Thanks!

Hi all,

Just tested out the 10000w 220v SCR, I'm happy to report it works GREAT! Measured the output voltage connected to my 5500watt element, very smooth and linear from full left, 0 volts to full right line voltage. I'm so impressed I'm gonna use a panel mount volt meter to in stead of measureing AMPs. no shunt needed and as everyone's still is different, I'm gonna learn power requirements by input voltage.

I got the 6500w controller from the net( looks very similar to yours) and it works great also. Haven't measured the out put yet but seems to go up and down well.

I did my cleaning run last night. Very happy with the controller, ran It hard and it worked flawless.



I unsolidered the rheostat and relocated it on my panel. You can see the heat sink sticking out the top, I drilled holes in the bottom so the unit will convention cool.

Looks good, Did the heat sink get hot? Looks like it's very close to your boiler. It may have a cooling problem on a long run. You can always stick a 12v DC fan in the box.

I don't leave it on the boiler when running, I have a table I roll next to I hang it on.
I ran it hard and the heat sink got pretty warm, I could touch it. The heat flowed out. I ran wide open 5500 watts for almost two hours and it never got any hotter.

Nice box

I may be a little late to the dance here, but if you are running off 240v, then you have 2 hot leads and a neutral. I ordered the same controller, but it looks like the one input is connected directly to the output terminal, which would suggest that the voltage can only be regulated between 240 to 120. Am I out to lunch here?

Bill wrote:I may be a little late to the dance here, but if you are running off 240v, then you have 2 hot leads and a neutral. I ordered the same controller, but it looks like the one input is connected directly to the output terminal, which would suggest that the voltage can only be regulated between 240 to 120. Am I out to lunch here?

Use the google search for "jimbo's electric conversion". Good thread with schematics. He's an electrical engineer. I'm not qualified to answer your question directly but it seems to me the scr is just using the voltage differential... You need both hots to vary from 0 to 240.

So I'm a little confused. I have the same controller and there is only one hot leg going through this controller and the other goes directly to the element.......so if I'm only controlling one leg does this mean my element would be running on 110v when controller is shut off or at zero?.....so shut off my 5500 watt element would be running 2750 watt?

charlie2K wrote:So I'm a little confused. I have the same controller and there is only one hot leg going through this controller and the other goes directly to the element.......so if I'm only controlling one leg does this mean my element would be running on 110v when controller is shut off or at zero?.....so shut off my 5500 watt element would be running 2750 watt?

Assuming you're using two phases of hot wires coming form your panel to power your element, you only need to control on one of them. Once the circuit is completed by plugging it in while connected to your element then you have only one continuous current path: from one hot -> through the SCR -> through the element -> to the other hot wire. It's all one wire at that point so it doesn't matter that you only have it on one leg. The SCR just controls the current through the circuit.

Looked at another way, instead of the SCR what if you just put a switch in there? Would you agree that if you flipped the switch off you would not be running current through the element? It's true that the element would still be "seeing" 110V compared to ground/neutral on the non-switched leg, but no current will flow and it will not be generating any power unless you have a separate path to ground or neutral (which would be very bad).

MtRainier wrote:

charlie2K wrote:So I'm a little confused. I have the same controller and there is only one hot leg going through this controller and the other goes directly to the element.......so if I'm only controlling one leg does this mean my element would be running on 110v when controller is shut off or at zero?.....so shut off my 5500 watt element would be running 2750 watt?

Assuming you're using two phases of hot wires coming form your panel to power your element, you only need to control on one of them. Once the circuit is completed by plugging it in while connected to your element then you have only one continuous current path: from one hot -> through the SCR -> through the element -> to the other hot wire. It's all one wire at that point so it doesn't matter that you only have it on one leg. The SCR just controls the current through the circuit.

Looked at another way, instead of the SCR what if you just put a switch in there? Would you agree that if you flipped the switch off you would not be running current through the element? It's true that the element would still be "seeing" 110V compared to ground/neutral on the non-switched leg, but no current will flow and it will not be generating any power unless you have a separate path to ground or neutral (which would be very bad).

Ok thanks I understand.....i don't have a volt or amp meter is there a way of testing the scr with multimeter while plugged in to see if it's working?

charlie2K wrote:.....i don't have a volt or amp meter is there a way of testing the scr with multimeter while plugged in to see if it's working?

Gotta’ 240 volt light bulb? Wire it in place of the heater element and turn the SCR on. The bulb should light (and dim) as you adjust the controller. The SCR needs a load on it to function properly, hence the light bulb.

Otherwise, get a digital volt meter. Measure the resistance through your heater element (disconnected, of course). Then when connected, power up the SCR and measure the voltage across the element. The current is equal to the voltage divided by the resistance measurement (remember, the resistance is considered to be a constant in the element).

Just a couple of ideas. There are others.
ss

still_stirrin wrote:

charlie2K wrote:.....i don't have a volt or amp meter is there a way of testing the scr with multimeter while plugged in to see if it's working?

Gotta’ 240 volt light bulb? Wire it in place of the heater element and turn the SCR on. The bulb should light (and dim) as you adjust the controller. The SCR needs a load on it to function properly, hence the light bulb.

Or you can take two identical 120V incandescent light bulb and connect them in series. This way you can apply 240 volt to them without burning.
Voltmeter will show a correct data only if you have some load connected. Without a load it will always show mains voltage.