Wiring Sestos PID

[Leann ull]

HB and Shanna were asking me for a wiring diagram for a Sestos PID for months now
***DO NOT ATTEMPT THIS IS YOU ARE NOT 100% CERTAIN ABOUT WHAT YOU ARE DOING, ELECTRICITY KILLS***

First lets think about what a PID actually does

We set our temp at 68 and as it gets closer it sees the rate of climb and slows down the rate of energy applied to the point like landing a plane it throttles back as we approach our setpoint.


In the pictures see below for the model most common amongst Homebrewers as you look direct at the back there are terminals positions either side.
As in the wiring diagram the connectors on the left are for your temperature probe only.



1. Take a live Brown Feed from a mains lead and using a strip connector connect one feed to point 10 on Sestos.
From same connector take second feed to terminal 1 on SSR, this is your power "in" on SSR
2. Take the Neutral Blue Feed from the mains supply lead and using a strip connector connect one wire to Terminal 9 on Sestos to complete the power for the PID.
Take a second blue wire and run it to neutral side of your appliance or wall socket.
3. From Terminal 2 on SSR run a wire to the live side of your appliance or in my case a 13 Amp wall socket( this is your power out and when SSR closes this wire will receive current.)
Only 2 more to go
4. Take a Blue wire and connect it to "- Terminal 4" on your SSR connect the other end to Terminal 6 on your PID
5. Take a Brown wire and connect it to "+ Terminal 3" on your SSR connect the other end to the last remaining  Terminal 8 on your PID
6. Take the mains earth supply and connect it to your appliance or wall socket earth terminal.
If using a metal housing for your PID its critical you also earth that.

In my case I have a few of these now and the first one I have I bought an expensive plastic box, in the pics for my most recent one accurate to 0.1 of a Degree I used one of those useful boxes with clip lids



What the PID does in practice is pulse a small current to close the circuit and allow full 240V flow across on the other side of the SSR, the SSR normally has a flashing red light when in operation.
The SSR generates heat as it opens and closes the switches and you will need an aluminium heat sink. Some mount them on the outside of the box and thats appropriate if you were switching on and off big loads.
I opted for a bigger one inside the box siliconed to the floor to stop it and mounted SSR moving around and temp measured never goes above 40.

If you are considering buying a pid buy the more accurate one capable of 0.1C, as in my case after the first 10 mins of running herms once I set it at 67.7 it stays there for the entire mash.

***DO NOT ATTEMPT THIS IS YOU ARE NOT 100% CERTAIN ABOUT WHAT YOU ARE DOING, ELECTRICITY KILLS***

[Shanna]

Thanks CH a picture paints a 1000 words, the wiring for the SSR was my main issue here & your post clarified that for me. No excuse now now to get cracking on this as soon as possible.

Shanna

[Leann ull]

no worries any questions ask first before electrocution

[Shanna]

no worries any questions ask first before electrocution

Sparks/Brother will be getting a photo of wiring before plugging it in the first time. I had a balls of a job getting the temperature probe wired up properly but eventually got it. Have all the parts including a completely oversized electrical junction box so no excuse now. You also answered my one other concern as to whether heat from the SSR would be a problem & I am hearing not.

Decoction mashes here we come

Shanna

[molc]

Can you do a decoction mash by just heating the whole thing? Surely you only want to do 1/3 so as not to kill the enzymes, as well as carmelusation against the element rather than just recirculating the wort through the coil...

[Shanna]

Can you do a decoction mash by just heating the whole thing? Surely you only want to do 1/3 so as not to kill the enzymes, as well as carmelusation against the element rather than just recirculating the wort through the coil...

I miswrote decoction I should have wrote temperature mash. Won't get the carmelisation that you would get from the decoction. However one of the reasons to decoct is to raise the mash temperature through the different temperature ranges.
http://beersmith.com/blog/2008/11/28/infusion-mashing-and-decoction-for-brewing-beer/

Shanna

[molc]

Ah right. Yeah I did that stout with a multi step temperature rest just by infusion. Worked out pretty easily in the end with the calculator in beersmith.

[Shanna]

no worries any questions ask first before electrocution

Wired everything up yesterday & ran a test this afternoon but no joy. Double, triple checked all of the wiring, connections & after an hour gave up as it was wrecking my head. Left it for half hour & then double checked once more against the description & diagram & photos provided. Then it came to the bloody SSR I was sent are ac in ac out. The PID is dc power out to the SSR. Basically I was sent the wrong SSR

Shanna

[Will_D]

Shanna, Can you take a photo of the label on the SSR please?

[Shanna]

Shanna, Can you take a photo of the label on the SSR please?

Sure Will, image attached.


Shanna

[Will_D]

On the original picture of the pid from john there is also a relay that can be used to switch mains to the SS.

Terminals 1, 11 and 12 are the relay connections.

So connect a wire from the live feed (pin 10 on Johns original instructions) to pin 12 (common)

Wire from pin 11 to the SSR In Left hand terminal (marked 4).

SSR In right hand terminal (marked 3) goes to Neutral Feed (Pin 9)

So all should be OK

[Shanna]

On the original picture of the pid from john there is also a relay that can be used to switch mains to the SS.

Terminals 1, 11 and 12 are the relay connections.

So connect a wire from the live feed (pin 10 on Johns original instructions) to pin 12 (common)

Wire from pin 11 to the SSR In Left hand terminal (marked 4).

SSR In right hand terminal (marked 3) goes to Neutral Feed (Pin 9)

So all should be OK

Thanks for the response Will.

Not to sound like a complete numpty but is the connection to pin 12 via a new wire that connects to pin 10 e.g live or is it disconnect live currently in pin 10 and switch it to pin 12.

Also I have effectively switched live and neutral around in the SSR as live is now 4 SSR to pin 11 & neutral is 3 SSR to pin 9.

Finally should I have disconnected & removed the original neutral from pin 9 that is currently in place or are there supposed to be two connections here?

Shanna

[Will_D]

You don't disconnect any existing wires!

Pins 9 and 10 are the live feed to the PID (no power here then no LED displays!)

So its a new wire from 10 to 12

On SSR pins 3 & 4 it doesn't matter which you designate live or neutral (as its AC)

Its just that one must go to  pin 11 and the other to pin 9

You will have no wires connected to Pid pins 6 & 8

You will wire the load side of the SSR and your load as john explains above.

If the above is still not clear then I suggest you get hold of someone who can wire it for you

[Shanna]

You don't disconnect any existing wires!

Pins 9 and 10 are the live feed to the PID (no power here then no LED displays!)

So its a new wire from 10 to 12

On SSR pins 3 & 4 it doesn't matter which you designate live or neutral (as its AC)

Its just that one must go to  pin 11 and the other to pin 9

You will have no wires connected to Pid pins 6 & 8

You will wire the load side of the SSR and your load as john explains above.

If the above is still not clear then I suggest you get hold of someone who can wire it for you

Hi Will,

Thanks for the clarification, alas gut.

Shanna

[Shanna]

Just wanted to follow up on this. I had built this a good while ago but continued to have troubling behaviour with what I thought was dodgy PT100 temperature probes. I replaced the original probe twice with two different probes but alas no look. Lots of googling later I found the following post describing a similar problem

http://www.home-barista.com/levers/pid-controller-rtd-sensor-measurements-fluctuating-like-crazy-t23189-10.html

It describes a problem with grounding. Now having had a problem with wiring today with an SSR for a raspberry pi I decided to double check the earth wiring. Lo and behold the first connection I checked bingo the wire secured by a crimping connector fell apart. I had used too much pressure when crimping the wire basically shearing the wire off. I restripped the wire & recrimped it. I double checked all of the other connections to see if there was a similar problem & while they were okay I also found a second earth wire unsecured as it was not fully pushed in to cable junction I had used. Quick unscrew & rescrew & all good. Checked the temperature probe by swinging it around and moving the project box. So far so good. Real test will be to see if I can do a water recirculating test without any fluctuations in temperature. Thank god I was never an electrician

Shanna