ECC Forum

Hi,

I'm new to the BCS-462 system and struggling to set it up.
I have 8 fermenters to be controlled (cooling only) and the way i thought programing it is as follows:

each process will control 1 fermenter (x)
each process will have two states:

state 0: Cooling ON
Output x: control, directly control
Exit condition 0: Temp x <= 19C, goto: stage 1:cooling OFF

state 1:Cooling OFF
Output x: control, directly control, on/off
Exit condition 0: Temp x >= 20C, goto: stage 0:cooling ON

some of the processes work fine. others switch from state to state rapidly (even when temp is far from set-point)
since it is the first time I'm doing it - I guess I'm doing something wrong ): any ideas?

Thanks,
Dagan

You only want one state, Cooling ON, and use hysteresis control for the temperature.. Change you hysteresis in the system settings page. Use this for the first 6 fermenters on outputs 0-5

For outputs 6 and 7, you may have to do two processes like you have done, but there is likely some programming mistake you have made that is causing the flap. start by separating the switchover temp by more than 0 degrees

-mike

Thanks you Mike for your reply.

clearwaterbrewer wrote:You only want one state, Cooling ON, and use hysteresis control for the temperature.. Change you hysteresis in the system settings page. Use this for the first 6 fermenters on outputs 0-5

will be done for the first 6 fermenters (will do some tests and will implement when I'll have some tanks empty sometime next week).

clearwaterbrewer wrote:For outputs 6 and 7, you may have to do two processes like you have done, but there is likely some programming mistake you have made that is causing the flap. start by separating the switchover temp by more than 0 degrees

I tried expanding the gap between switchovers to 20 degrees for a test and even then it's continuously switching. It switch even when the condition says "<=0" and temp is around 20 degrees (I'm using Celsius). As for the programing - I copy same programing for all of them and still some work well and others not.

Thanks,
Dagan

I would reset the controller to defaults, and document the steps you take to program those two outputs, one per line... I bet one of us will see the error very quickly...

I realize this is a 2 year old thread, but I am trying to build a similar setup, and am having issues with processes for the 7th & 8th outputs on each controller.

I believe the issue is the relay toggling, rather than explicit on or off control states for the outputs; but maybe i just don't understand the meaning of the "control" and "directly controlled on/off" properties.

I've tried a two-state (cooling on above 20*C, cooling off below 19.5*c)
as well as a three state setup with a "holding" state that exits out to "cooling On" or "Cooling off" that both exit out to "Holding".

Both processes perform their state changes correctly with exits triggered by the correct temperature conditions.
But the relay signalling is either reversed or does not toggle output 6/7 at all.
I've tried all three check box configurations for the respective outputs, and nothing seems to work properly.

anyone able to help out?

The "control" option and "Direct On/Off" options are used together. Checking "control" means that the current state will be controlling that output and you then need to set one of the control options to be used (direct, duty cycle, hysteresis, PID).

Do you have any other processes setting output 6/7 on or off? Any higher numbered process overrides lower numbered processes, so you could have a contention issue.