Dangers of cheap components

[imark]

Wanted to make you guys aware of an incident I had with my PID controlled HERMS setup that nearly caught fire. I am sharing this in the hope that it will inform others with similar gear to be careful so that they avoid a serious accident.

I think the fault was due to the SSR that came with the PID kit I bought from AliExpress. This was supposed to be a Fotek brand rated for 40A. It was driving a 3kW element in my herms pot so should have been well capable of handling that current. In addition I had an external heat sink attached with thermal grease between it and the SSR.

The picture below shows the results. These components are marked as being rated for 40A but I really doubt that they are. I'd avoid any cheap components on power circuits.

[dcalnan]

Yeah I don't trust fotek branded ones, there are a lot of fake fotek ssrs being sold on eBay/AliExpress. I've since bought my ssrs from a company in Dublin

[molc]

My Herms SSR's came from BrewPi and are on a stainless steel table in plain view (in a box ofc) but my fermentation fridge ones are hidden away. Going to make sure they are much more visible after seeing this!

[darren996]

Same here, won't use fotek, a lot of knock of jobs going around

I had trouble with them and I have replaced mine with these, they got good reviews and I am very happy with them.


24-480V AC DC to 3-32VDC Output Single Phase SSR Solid State Relay 40A https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00E1LC1VK/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apip_1FgQjbmJUR7lB

[darren996]

Same here, won't use fotek, a lot of knock of jobs going around

I had trouble with them and I have replaced mine with these, they got good reviews and I am very happy with them.


24-480V AC DC to 3-32VDC Output Single Phase SSR Solid State Relay 40A https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00E1LC1VK/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apip_1FgQjbmJUR7lB

The brewpi ones are probably a safer bet, Elco stocks top quality components

[Shanna]

This is well worth a read especially for anybody who has these fotek SSRs including myself.

http://www.instructables.com/id/The-inner-workings-of-Counterfeit-FOTEK-SSRs/

I have one of these myself and have a 2.75KW heating element connected to a PID. I have my SSR mounted on an SSR with thermal grease between them.  I also have the SSR mounted on a block of wood that is screwed on to a large electrical project box. I might be lucky in that I got mine from Ebay rather than Ali Express.

I wonder is it worth asking AliExpress to check and confirm the source of the components.

Shanna