Hey all,
I have a Still Dragon large DIY controller kit that I am trying to put together with a couple of modifications that someone had posted (and for the life of me, can not remember where I got the diagram from). It is the standard controller with a SSR & pot. I have added a double pole 240V 30Amp switch, 240V LED indicator light, a 240V fan, and a Voltage/ Amp meter. I have attached the diagram that was posted and have wired it identical to the way it is drawn except for the terminal block for the connections. I have used a Buchanan connector to connect all of the "black and white" wires together respectively. So now that I have it all assembled accordingly, I plug it in and then turn on the switch on and the indicator light comes on and the voltage/ amp meter displays 240V on the voltage display and flashes 20 amps then goes to 0 on the Amp meter display. There is nothing going to the element at all. I have tried swapping the wires on the pot to the SSR terminals. I haven't tried swapping to another terminal on the pot.
Would someone more knowledgeable than I with electronics, please look over the diagram and see if there is something wrong.
I'm hoping to finish this up by the weekend end so I can run my cleaning and sacrificial run over the weekend. Thank you for your help.
Attachments
Controller-final.png (11.12 KiB) Viewed 3546 times
Hoping you didn't do a dry-fire on your element and roast it, and energizing it with it connected to nothing, does nothing. What are you doing to test it out???
Last edited by Desvio on Thu Jul 13, 2017 7:41 am, edited 1 time in total.
People say that I'm a bad influence. I say the world's already f#cked -- I'm just adding to it.
how I set up mine (240VAC Australia)
in Australia we'd call the red Active and the black Neutral
the black wire bypassed the two pole switch
the donut thing went around the red wire after the switch and before the SSVR
the black wire went from the meter to the element
mine doesnt have a fan or LED indicators (see pic from link in my signature)
--
50L Beer keg boiler, 2200W element Modular 2" Pot Still
opinions are free and everybody has them, experience costs you time
Have you measured the resistance across the potentiometer terminals you chose to wire up, to ensure it goes from extremely high to extremely low resistance as you rotate it through its position?
Does your fan spin up when you flip your power switch as well?
What does your volt/amp meter display when you plug in your controller with the element unplugged? Does it do that same flashing at 20 amp thing?
Did you try seeing if you could power your element with the SSR+Pot before adding any extras?
I recently put together the same kit, with the same mods save for the LED. Its also kinda hard seeing how the pot was wired up with that picture size and yellow wire color. Double check against the still dragon wire guide: https://www.stilldragon.org/uploads/man ... 131020.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow
Desvio,
I had 5 gallons of water in my keg to test the element. I had my hand held Amp meter connected to check the ampere as I was playing with the pot to make sure I was getting the correct reading on the digital Amp meter on my controller.
Thank you
Pipinchaz
Last edited by Pipinchaz on Thu Jul 13, 2017 10:14 am, edited 2 times in total.
At your SSRV, your schematic showd that you have wires at 1 and 2, but no wires at 3 and 4, which are the wire to run the pot.. without these wires connected, you will get no power going to the element..
Mars
" I know quite certainly that I myself have no special talent. Curiosity, Obsession and dogged endurance, combined with self-criticism, have brought me to my knowledge and understanding "
StillerBoy wrote:At your SSRV, your schematic showd that you have wires at 1 and 2, but no wires at 3 and 4, which are the wire to run the pot.. without these wires connected, you will get no power going to the element..
Everything seems to be in order, only thing that would lead me to is testing the individual components in your build. Right out of the gate my mushroom switch fried after 20 seconds running, you can pretty much guarantee most of it is made in China.
People say that I'm a bad influence. I say the world's already f#cked -- I'm just adding to it.
BDF wrote:Have you measured the resistance across the potentiometer terminals you chose to wire up, to ensure it goes from extremely high to extremely low resistance as you rotate it through its position?
Does your fan spin up when you flip your power switch as well?
What does your volt/amp meter display when you plug in your controller with the element unplugged? Does it do that same flashing at 20 amp thing?
Did you try seeing if you could power your element with the SSR+Pot before adding any extras?
I recently put together the same kit, with the same mods save for the LED. Its also kinda hard seeing how the pot was wired up with that picture size and yellow wire color. Double check against the still dragon wire guide: https://www.stilldragon.org/uploads/man ... 131020.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow
BDF,
Yes I have checked the resistance across the pot, it is a 500K ohm pot and it checked 500.1K and 500K between the ends and then it will increase and decrease with the wiper and one of the ends so it is working like it should. I plan on trying another combination on the pot tonight. We'll see if that works or not. I might have the combination wrong on wiring the pot.
I did not try take the element out and see what happens, I will try that also.
As soon as I turn on the switch the fan and LED both come on.
I did not wire it up like the original SD diagram because I was pretty sure of myself (proved that wrong LOL).
I'm going to try a few things tonight and see if it will work.
Thank you
Flashing 20 0 seems to indicate you have fried a component, otherwise where did the 20 come from ?
[Edit oh wait a minute - that ammeter only measures it's input from an inductance - so it could flash 20 0 each time yoou switch on as the voltage surge occurs maybe charging a capacitor in whatever that "SSVR" is - some sort of "black box" with all the real "gubbins" in I expect ]
The silicon is always the best place to start looking, if you ve checked the ohms each way on your heating element. You say you have a "SCR", but everything seems to get called "SCR" here. To me SCR means Silicon Controlled Rectifier - Which means that the current only flows one way and would reduce your voltage and amperage massively.
I expect what you actually have there is a triac - which is effectively two thyristors (SCR's) connected back to back. You would need to unsolder this to check it and they are not the easiest things to test, or if it has a number on it, look up the number and replace it with a similar one. Is your "240 volt led" really that, I was amazed that a led could cope with 240 volts without considerable buffering. We used to use Neons as fitted to cookers etc. If your LED is not on, check that first as it is easiest. [Edit2 - if it is blown, get rid or swap it for a neon, although on it's own I don't think it would stop the ball-game. ]
Houston, We have a working controller!!!
Thank you everyone for your advise and suggestions. It ended up being the wiring configuration for the pot. I had the wires on the wrong terminals, so it just took a little more experimenting to get the right set up. I now will be able to do my cleaning run and sacrificial run this weekend. Yahooooo
Thank you again!
PC
Well I was going to add a picture of the controller but it is to big and I don't know how to reduce the pixels to get it attached.
Pipinchaz wrote:
......Well I was going to add a picture of the controller but it is to big and I don't know how to reduce the pixels to get it attached.
Thank you for your help.
