Added an variable powersupply for one of the pumps.
Testing heaters with PWM
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Hi there
My name is Oscar and I write from Spain.
I wonder if someone has a diagram of the control panel to control a system Herms?
I do not understand if it is something that is under development and therefore I canāt find anything
clear
Regards
Elco, can you share links/part#s for purchasing that enclosure and other misc. circuitry?
Thanks,
-F.
I notice nobody has ventilation in their control panels. Does this mean the SSRs do not give off enough heat to worry about the box heating up? Iām currently designing my control panel, and will be powering 2x 3500W elements, with a custom box made of laser cut 4mm thick acrylic sheets.
If you control coolers or heaters with few watts the ssr do not really heat up. In your case you will not only need fans but also heat sinks.
Thanks @chixxi. Thatās what I thought and was planning to do. I was just surprised not to see fans in any of these control panels. However, I guess some of them being metal and not thick acrylic would make a difference.
Hi Elco,
I like your panel. Bought the parts at Vekto.nl? (Aqcua Combi Famatel 3970/Gacia electronics) Do you have a more recent photo? I miss the main power cord and the Raspberry PI (or is the Brewpi communicating with the PI via wifi? 
) I assume that you use a dedicated Brewpi for the mashing? You switch the heating elements manually. The power that goes trough the switch can be a high as 15 amps.( I see no relay). Can you give the specs/brand of the switch you applied?
Iāam not an electrician so my knowledge on this is (very) limited.
thanks,
DH
Hi DH,
Yes, bought most of the parts there.
My panel has evolved a bit since then and we started making more advanced 3-phase panels. If I would do it again, I would not use those switched sockets, but switch the SSR control current instead.
Iād like to offer ready built panels and have found a guy who can assemble them for me. Would you be interested in that? We source all the parts, assemble and you get a complete panel.
Would you be looking for a single or 3-phase system?
Elco
Hi Elco,
Thanks for your response.Yes Iāam interested. However, part of the fun is assembling it myself. Iāam a starter. The plan is starting with 15 gallon brew pots. So far, I plan a single phase electrical system. (I live in a ānormalā home, not planning to adapt my garage into a 3 phase situation). Switching the SSR part was what I had in mind. Please send me the info. My email adres is known by you.
gr
DH
Hereās my Control Panel Build,
Iām intending to velcro a Kindle Fire Tablet to the front for control whilst in the shed and I went with 2 isolating sockets and 2 non isolating as itās nice to be able to quickly turn off/ isolate the HLT , my only worry is if an SSR fails, it normally fails in an ON state
Since itās initial shakedown brew I have realised I need an override switch to turn off/reset the pi / Brewpi ā¦
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Why do you need to reset the Brewpi? I built my panel to work on both AuberIns PIDs and BrewPi because Iām waiting for the multi-chamber software to work so I can take one of my two BrewPis and install it in my control panel. The downside is that being able to reset the BrewPi isnāt something I hadnāt considered and would have to drastically change things to make that happen on mine, but if itās a big issue I need to start fixing it now.
@y2klightning whilst on the initial mash one of the sensors was reporting 85c after I swapped from fridge constant to profile and for some reason I couldnāt correct it even though I tried removing and re instating it and even swapped it out and configured a replacement in the maintenance panel so ended up cycling the power which ā cured itā
I didnāt have an SSH client installed on the tablet to to reboot via a console session ā¦ And thatās something I wouldnāt want to do in the middle of a mash, far easier to cycle the power on the controllerā¦
Might be a possible solution for a Din Rail connection - this is what I am going to use.
Very nice builds so far. I am now planning my control panel for a 100 L HERMS and 2 fridges (with heatings) any advices?
hopefully / supposedly i will finally have my control panel up and running tomorrow afternoon - so excited to share!
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Waiting to see it
What is the size of the box you used?This is what I used.
https://www.adalet.com/elite-series-hinge-cover-and-locking-latch
18ā x 16ā x 10ā Hinge Cover
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Iāll throw my hat in the ring.
I took a slightly different approach.
My spark 3 and a raspberry pi are inside my comm closet, in conditioned space.
I ran a couple of Cat5e cables out to the garage; one for the fermentation chamber and one for the RIMS box. These cables are about 10m long. No problems on any communications there.
This box will sit on the wall next to mash tun and RIMS tube with an expansion board in it:
Still waiting on the expansion board and SSR I ordered.
I made the mistake of selecting the no tracking option.
We are over the 2 week mark now and the package still has not made its way from the Netherlands to the US.
The good news is, I got a great deal on shipping!