My Power Controller

[YHB]

I have read much about power controllers on various forums, probably too much, frightening me in the process and making me delay the construction. Now that I have made one, I do not know why I was so concerned. It was very straightforward.

I chose to go, what I thought, was the easiest route. For this method I needed two pieces of kit.

1)A solid state relay (SSR) of the correct type, I chose this one



Click here for Details

2) A Potentiometer. I chose this one.



Click here for Details

AS the controller is being used for large power heating elements the SSR will get hot and cease to work.. Cooling the SSR appears to be a bit of trial and error and the methods range from clamping the SSR to something big and cold or using cooling fans.

Not wanting the aggro of trying one method to see if it worked, I opted for a belt and braces approach, bolting the SSR to a heat sink with heat transfer paste and then blasting it with a couple of computer cooling fans. It works. I have boiled a kettle for an hour or so without it getting overly warm.

Click here for Details of Heat Sink

I put the bits in a box with a couple of outlets – and just to make it look better, added a couple of meters and that’s it.


Click the picture for a larger view

It took about five minutes before the novelty of watching the meters wore off. After that, it was a case of just winding the knob on the potentiometer to “about there”. Adding the bigger dial and longer pointer takes the guesswork out of what the setting was the last time and makes the process a lot more repeatable.

If anyone is interested in the inside of the box and the wiring let me know.

[Capt-Cudellez]

Very nice Brian - you'll be distilling in no time.........hopefully.....soon....sometime....for the love of God get on with it man

CC

[metalmickey]

does the dial go up to 11?

MM

[Almanac]

Really nice job Brian and yes I'd love to see the inside and wiring diagram for Dummies (me ).

Paddy's Bank holiday weekend is nearly over so I'd better get on with sorting out my controller and element!!!

AM

[Still Not There Yet]

Good work Brian, you've taken a lot of work out of mine (and many others) projects there.
Wiring diagrams would be really useful, I agree.
+1 on the dial going to 11, all dials should go that far, how else can people give 110%?

[YHB]

Here is a typical wiring diagram similar to the one I have installed, this one uses a 240v Fan and therefore does not need a transformer - as you can see it is very straightforward, but please make sure that you get a qualified eletrician to install the connections.


If anyone needs any more detailed information please send me a PM.

[Normski]

Hi Brian
Im about to buy the parts and make a power controller as per this post.
How is yours working. Is there anything you would change.

Ta Norm

[Almanac]

Hi Normski,

Brian is away at the moment but I built my controller based on Brian's parts recommendations. The main difference with mine is less bells and whistles and looks like this inside...
and like this outside...
click on for larger image.

Brian has two meters on his and I know from talking to him that his seems to work fine. He did modify the controller dial recently to more accurately reflect the power being applied.

AM

[Normski]

Hi Aidan

Many thanks for the info.
I'll get the parts ordered and start the build.

Norm

[Jolly John]

Available with heatsink from here:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Single-Phase- ... 0912853944

Not a bad price, and a lot less hassle.

[YHB]

It may well be but I don't understand ?

Why less hassle ?

[Jolly John]

Only in that it is complete with heatsink, the one in the link above is just the controller.

I use the light dimmer and triac combination, works fine, but this looks a better job, I might just order one.

[YHB]

Just looked, my links no longer work and the prices are a couple of years out of date, so it's nice to have new ones.

Thanks

[ant]

This link to a range of controller still works. EBay is easier though.

http://www.uxcell.com/search.php?catego ... ctSearch=1

[ant]

Also, I don't think that ebay link is quite the right controller. Note that although it claims single phase it also says 24-380v. Not possible from 240v single phase with this type of controller.

The three links below are all current offerings of different wattages from the same seller.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Voltage-Resis ... 2c6ed2015a
25A £7.50

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Voltage-Resis ... 43bbc1d426
40A £9

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Voltage-Resis ... 2c6ec09da1
100A £10.50


Prices rounded up a bit to something even.

I realise the larger sizes seem overkill but they are not very different in price and will be more robust and long lasting with the smaller loads being well within their capacity. Brunel rules.