Pump and Heater Control

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brewmastershake
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Pump and Heater Control

Post by brewmastershake »

Could someone please post pix or explain how they've hooked up the BCS outputs to control a pump and or a heating element? It appears you'd need an SSR, and I've seen suggestions for models elsewhere in the forum. What is still a black box to me is how to go from the SSR to the pump or heat stick power plug. Is there a wiring example available? I assume for refrigeration control that people aren't splicing into the plug, so how do I go the last mile to my controlled devices (all plug-in)?

Cheers,
Shake
np0x
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Re: Pump and Heater Control

Post by np0x »

You wire a low voltage wire to the bcs black box to to the low voltage side of the ssr, then you put the hot side of the high voltage circuit across the high voltage side of the ssr and wire up a plug. At that point the bcs can control any high voltage AC circuit.
Image

I wire each plug with a switch to force the circuit on, i might add an another switch to force them off as well.
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I made a big board with and the bcs mounted to it temporarily, going forward I am going to build a metal enclosure to provide a bit of active cooling in the form of a fan of some sort as well as protect the bcs and it's connections from any wild brewing I might engage on(there is always that damn alcohol involved when I brew, making my judgement not always the best :).

Image
Check out the Brew Buddy for iphone controlling your bcs-460.
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ECC
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Re: Pump and Heater Control

Post by ECC »

As you can see in np0x's pics above, cat5 (Ethernet) cable makes an excellent wire for the low voltage DC control lines to the SSRs. cat5 has 4 twisted pairs, so you can wire up 4 relays very easily, or more if you share grounds.
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mpilchuk
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Re: Pump and Heater Control

Post by mpilchuk »

Shake,

I picked up a few of the Crydom D2425 solid state relay (SSR) off ebay. I got new ones. Three for 35 dollars with shipping. Here is what they look like:

http://parts.digikey.com/1/parts/758024 ... 25-10.html

The ones I got are 2.25 inch long and 1.75 inches wide.

There are four contact points on it. The upper ones are larger, they are for the 120 or 230 volt line and lower two are smaller and for the control line that goes to your BCS.

When the BCS sends 5 Volts DC to the bottom contacts, the upper two contacts at 120/230 are connected.

I am working on an electric Hot Liquor Tank. I have two 1500 watt heat elements which I will use to heat the water. I welded two 1 inch couplers to a keg so I could stick the heat elements into the keg. I wired up each heat element with a heavy duty wire with a regular plug on each. I am putting together a box which has two SSRs in it one for each heat element circuit. I will then plug the two plugs into this box I am putting together which has two separate duplex receptacles on it. Each SSR's 120 volt line will be connected to the hot side of the Duplex and the lower ones I'll run the same 5v control voltage to. When the heat probe connected to the BCS senses the water temp isn't where I want it, it turns on the 5V going to BOTH SSRs and they turn on TWO different 20 amp lines to provide the heat elements with power.

The same would apply for anything else you want to supply power for. In my example I used two SSRs because of the power I need to run two heat elements. You wouldn't need to do this for a pump, you could run two pumps or two anything on one SSR as long as the electrical needs don't exceed the limit of the electrical line and the SSR.

Hope this makes sense.

Mitch
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mpilchuk
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Re: Pump and Heater Control

Post by mpilchuk »

Looks like Noah and Adam beat me to the punch.

:)
np0x
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Re: Pump and Heater Control

Post by np0x »

it turns on the 5V going to BOTH SSRs and they turn on TWO different 20 amp lines
You bring up an interesting aspect of the ssr's though, you can connect multiple ssr's to a single control wire as long as you stay below the maximum rating of 20mA on the line, I recollect that a ssr takes approximately 3mA to control, so hooking 4 or 5 up to a single out is within the range of possibility.

The wiki is still growing, but it does reference this limit value of 20mA per out line.
Check out the Brew Buddy for iphone controlling your bcs-460.
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brewmastershake
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Re: Pump and Heater Control

Post by brewmastershake »

Thank you all very much, that explains it nicely. Can't wait until mine arrives!
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Jay
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Re: Pump and Heater Control

Post by Jay »

noah - I was hoping that was the case!

Hmm... the possibilities!
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bsfixit
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Re: Pump and Heater Control

Post by bsfixit »

I have a question... if I want to switch the SSR's manually do I use the dins or use the BCS 6v out terminal run that through a manual 12 v switch, mounted outside the panel housing, then to the SSR?. If I use illuminated switches does that pull too much current from the BCS? or should I use a transformer to supply voltage to these 12v auto illuminated switches? and if I had to do that would it harm the BCS to back feed power into the dins because they would both be connected to the SSR's at the same time.
This would be for a time when you want manually run something like the pump(s) without having to access the BCS via the interface..
I am nearly finished with a panel and this is the last question I have about using manual switches. I dont want to run full sized 120V light switches along each output plug. this would take up too much room. sorry if this is one rambling sentence.. too much caffeine !
Brett
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bsfixit
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Re: Pump and Heater Control

Post by bsfixit »

After re reading the documentation again .. let me see if this is right.. I set up the dins or descrete inputs in the BSC interface then with switches wired to those dins
the BCS activates the SSR when the switch is activated for manual control any time during the process whether in manual mode or process mode...
does that make sense?
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