Yet another power comtroller

[ant]

Back in the land of the bright eyed and bushy tailed after my winter hibernation.

Waiting for paint to dry on this one. Literally.

Used an old cast iron fuse box off the wall of the mill as a housing.

Stripped out the guts and wire brushed the old paint and rust off.

Just repainted it after drilling for the pot mount and cutting out a hole for the wattmeter in the lid using an air powered die cutter.

Don't know why they are called that. Basicly a three inch bladed angle grinder. Very useful.

I'll try to post a pic shortly.

[ant]

Progress pics:

On the mill wall.

The innards.

Gutted and stripped.

[ant]

Painted up with wattmeter and big red control knob off an old valve.

Bottom end where power goes in and comes out c

32A plug and socket.

[ant]

Top end with external heatsink

Little brass bit to adapt a round peg to a tapered square hole.

Bit of a mock up as there is still some fettling and wiring to do yet. Nearly there though.

That bit of brass was ridiculously time consuming to shape on the belt sander after cutting it out of an old bit of mortice deadlock. Two long sessions with very hot fingers and many stops to blow on the bit of brass.

[ant]

The box is mostly empty space now. I may add other features as well as power control to the same box as they come up.

[chill]

I think we all need to chip in and buy poor Ant some shop boots!

[Easydrinker]

I think we all need to chip in and buy poor Ant some shop boots!

LOL

Maybe it was very warm that day?

Robert.

[Icefever]

I think we all need to chip in and buy poor Ant some shop boots!

With steel toe caps....

[ant]

Well, my lovely feet have survived this build.

No more mock ups. All done now.

Adapter plug drilled and tapped to clamp pot shaft

End plate cut out with die cutter and drilled to mount heat sink.

Controller screwed into the also drilled and tapped heatsink with thermal paste between them.

[ant]

All wired up.

Bit of silicone to keep the handle on the adaptor. Square profile takes the turning load such as it is.

The whole thing. Heavy despite being almost empty.

I need to wire up a supply and load to test it with now.

So not quite finished although the build itself should be over now.

Toes crossed

[ant]

Bah! Had it working perfectly well, controlling the watts to a kettle then wondered if it would still work on the output instead of the input. Snaps, crackles and pops heralded the release of the magic electronic smoke that these things run on. Without that essential fluid vitea it no longer works. Have to get another one. At least they are a quid cheaper now.

So this particular meter really does like to run on unchopped mains. As you are only removing bits of the voltage waveform it is hard to see why it would kill it but it did. I thought it might not work, as it is using the mains for power, but imagined switching it back again would be enough to restore it if need be. No such luck. Ho hum.

Also found out not a good idea to try and lift several kilos of cast iron by a handle secured by a thin film of silicone. Easy free fix though.

I did have time to experience the annoying non linearity of the control that has been much discussed.

Have to move back to the SPP project while I wait for a replacement.

[Easydrinker]

I'm sorry that "the magic electronic smoke" all leaked out,but your description of it cracked me up.

Robert.

[Mash]

Cracked me up too.

Seen magic electronic smoke myself

[ant]

Ah well. If it brought a little laughter into your lives that's a bonus on top of the hard won experimental data which also has some value; £7.60 or thereabouts. The price of knowing.

[Mr Four Square]

I had the same experience Ant. Using a similar digital watt meter through a controller. It did a couple of runs dialled back to round 1000 watts and then the dreaded smoke and sparks,

I tried EDs suggestion of running it through a plug in power monitor to measure watts and no problems since. (I think those devices only work on loads under 2200 watts ? )

Has anyone found a digital meter that can handle higher loads through a phase angle controller?