Sight Glass Monitoring

[CJKogut]

http://www.stedham.com/sightglass.htm

After seeing the above link for a bracket that mounts on a sight glass tube and holds a proximity sensor that can detect water, I called the company and inquired about an appropriate sensor. They referred me to a 3 wire sensor and said that 2 wires are for power - which I told them was 5 VDC- and the third for signal. I was unable to fully discuss this at the time, and basically agreed to check with ECC to see what you recommend.

Any help here? I don't know how I'd connect that. Do they not operate like a simple switch? Would I have to provide +5VDC to 2 points on the sensor and the 3rd wire would be the switch leg back to the DIN?

I have a 4' sight tube (soon to be 5ft) and would love an adjustable point monitoring switch for several steps.

[JonW]

The two power connections are for positive and negative. The device has to be powered at all times to function. The signal will be either a switched ground or a switched 5V output to signal when the level has been reached.

The power requirements may not be 5V. The device could have a higher power requirement like 12V, so you might have to run it from a power supply, but the switched output is really all that matters at that point to tie back into the BCS.

Can you provide a link for their wiring documentation?

[CJKogut]

Jon,

I came to the same conclusion that you mentioned in your post. I did see a wiring diagram to that effect also. I ordered a 5VDC sensor that should run at that voltage and provide a signal at that voltage. I ordered the C2A18AP1-P/5V and the bracket that they make.

http://www.stedham.com/C2A18.htm

I plan to slide the sensor up and down on my sight glass as needed in various processes. I can auto fill my tank this way, and dole out measured mash and sparge water as needed. Should work for me as I fill my main kettle with both mash and sparge water then either batch sparge or fill a holding tank for fly sparging.

Thanks for the input.

[ECC]

The PNP version is probably the one that you want, although the NPN can be made to work as well. Make sure to let us know how these work for you, I'm very interested in these sensors.



BRN = +5VDC
BLU = GND (bcs GND pin)
BLK = DIN of your choice.

[CJKogut]

OK, I have installed the sight glass bracket and a 5VDC sensor. It is a nice sensor with 2 LED's to indicate power and the "sensing" state. It has a screw to adjust the sensitivity. It came with a screwdriver, but I don't think it had the allen wrench for the bracket screws. I can fill my kettle to a pre-determined level by sliding the bracket that holds the sensor along my sight glass tube before starting the process. During another process I can dole out a measured amount of water to the mash. During another process I can set a low level to stop the whirlpool, etc., etc. Your programming and imagination sets your limits. I only have 1 installed. I keep the bracket adjusted to a gentle tension on my sight glass in order to be able to slide it as desired. Its 3 wires are for constant 5 Volt power (5VDC output on the BCS and ground) and the trigger wire which goes to the DIN of your choice. Just bolt it on, wire it up and program away.

I will note that when you physically touch the sensor, it triggers. I have not explored this at great depth so far since it is not a big deal for me. I opted for the M8 style connector and bought some cable on ebay for a few bucks.

The model I purchased is the C2A18AP1-P/5V from Stedham Electronics. Normally Open/PNP/Unshielded Capacitive Proximity Sensor. It takes the a week or so to put one together. I think my bill with the bracket, sensor, and shipping was $120.00 This will work better for me than a bunch of float valves and all of the associated brackets and wiring.

[JonW]

Sounds like you made great progress. Can you post of pic of how you have it setup?

[CJKogut]

Well I THINK I have attached a photo. I'm not very good at that sort of thing.

Sight Glass Sensor2.jpg (185.36 KiB) Viewed 7936 times