Controlling a Watlow Din-a-Mite SS "Power Controller"

[biertourist]

Has anyone seen an BCS successfully control a Watlow DIN-A-MITE SSR?
Can anyone look at the specs on this and tell me whether it can be controlled by the BCS as if it were a "normal" stand-alone SSR?

http://www.watlow.com/products/controll ... roller.cfm

Full spec sheet:
http://www.watlow.com/downloads/en/spec ... ma0112.pdf


As far as I can tell the Watlow DIN-A-MITE devices are just an SSR pre-packaged in a plastic casing with an appropriately sized heat sink and with the electrical connections conveniently exposed via push connectors. These things are available incredibly cheaply on Ebay and can be DIN mounted right into a normal breaker box. To me at least initially they seem like the ideal easy solution for controlling an electric water heater element-based HLT/ Kettle. -I'm a bit concerned that all my MYRIAD searches of both these forums, HomeBrewTalk, and my favorite search engines, haven't found anyone with this configuration yet.

I don't understand what is necessary for a PID to work with a particular SSR or for BCS to work with a particular SSR so I'm nervous about trying something untested. -Is there a proper communications protocol that is used between a controller and an SSR or is it just simple on/ off signals like +24v DC = "on" -24v DC = "off"??



I apologize for any ignorant questions; I'm used to boiling with two elements and just unplugging one and my new build is requiring me to have some sort of power controls as I've moved to single 5.5kw elements.


Adam

[JonW]

Those will work just fine as long a you get the "4.5 to 32VDC input, contactor output" model.

[biertourist]

Thanks!

Adam