T500 Power Controller

[vino-tinto]

For someone with a T500 who wants a power controller, but lacks know how to build, here is the simple answer.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/ROUTER-SPEED- ... 4897.l4275

[Icefever]

Cheers VT..as I've a 500 arriving today, now I've read about turning the power down when your running a spirit run...but not on a strip is that correct.
2nd Q...why do we do it?...I thought these stills were designed to work..just plug in and away we go..so as I'm now serving my apprenticeship on a 500.

[YHB]

It is not necessary for the T500 that comes out of the box.

Learn to use the still first, eventually you may want to fine tune the heating, at which stage it could be useful.

If you at some stage in the future add a Pot Head it will be invaluable.

It is a good find and looks value for money, I could not buy the bits to make it for that price. It is limited to 2kW but the advert says that they are bringing out a 4kW version which will appeal to a lot of people.

[John51]

I've never used a power controller on my T500 as it's easy enough to slow down by increasing the water flow.

Good find though, worth keeping an eye on as the 4Kw version will be ideal for those doing diy as many boilers are 3Kw.

[andymac]

That looks like a neat solution vino-tinto. Have you actually tried it with a T500?

I've a lighting technician pal who has recommended to go for a 5kw controller for a 2kw heating element (don't ask me why, if I knew anything about it I'd be building one haha), so I'd be interested to know if it overheats or anything.

They don't seem to have the 4kw version that John51 spotted out yet, so it would be great if I could get away with the 2kw.

Cheers!

[John51]

Who keeps a 2Kw router running continually for 4 hours or more? People with that level of workload invest in an industrial shaper. I can't see the 2Kw version lasting long on a T500.

As YHB said earlier, absolutely no need for it unless you're using the T500 as a pot still. I slow my T500 runs down to between 9 to 11 hours just on water flow.

[andymac]

I'm with you John. I don't think I'd bother if I was using the reflex column - water control does it for me - but I have the alembic head and would like to do some really slow pot distillations.

I'll just have to wait until the 4kw version appears.

[andymac]

I found this on ebay:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/271542028276? ... 1427.l2649

Four times the price mind you - but I imagine it would do the job nicely

[Fil]

i have sat a boka LM reflux column on my t500 boiler, and using a simple resistance controlled ssr and a ebay china amp/volt meter, circa £25 total cost


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the SSR sticky-back 0-100 dial face and suitable potentiometer and knob all came in a kit via ebay for about £15 i had a ssr heatsink and box and the volt/amp meter was about a tenner with pnp from ebay china.

works a treat full 8.5A power to warm up and drop back to 2-3A for reflux and later a steady draw off of product. the flow slows when the tails are running..

[JOHN DOE]

Hi eveyone,
i started looking into this and contacting the makers to check if its possible. the first item the 2kw dial for restricting routers is not suitable for a 2kw boiler, they didn't say why. i also contacted some other companies and to cut the story short it seems trying to limit the current is the expensive and not best way to get the result. i think the cheap and simple way is how most boilers with a dial work already, you just need a thermostat control. Most tea boilers have them to auto turn power on off as required. i don't know why this is not already part of a t500 they need to upgrade the kit. The parts i gather are cheap, even option of buying a kettle from wilko and removing its temp control and fitting it yourself, a new kettle then dismantled parts can be less then £10. i seen others mention this idea.

[Anavrin]

Hi John Doe

The reason we don't use thermostats is we want to maintain a constant simmer or rolling boil, and with a liquid that has a rising boiling temperature as the amount of alcohol in the wash decreases.

If you simply fitted a thermostat, the wash would reach a certain temperature, enough to activate the thermostat and the boiler would switch off, it would take time for the wash to cool down again, maybe 10mins or longer before te boiler started up again, a thermostat would not be practical.

And like many have said a T500 can be controlled by adjusting the rate of the cooling water.

[Easydrinker]

I may be talking absolute rubbish here,but a thermostatically controlled heat element will just keep cycling on and off,usually over quite a wide temperature range.
Most on here seem to opt for an ssr controller to control power to the boiler.
The link below should take you to details of one that YHB originally posted,and live links to a current supplier.
Not sure if the heat sink appears there,but not difficut to source.

Not sure what butchering a cheap kettle accomplishes,as they don't have variable temp control?

I have temporarily re-connected the thermostat on my urn based boiler in the past,to use it as a mash tun,not very succesfully,it's switching range was far too wide,about 10 to 15°C I seem to recall.
HTH.
Robert.
While I tapped this I see that Anavrin has replied to you,I think this compliments his post,so will post as well.Although he knows far more about power control than me!



viewtopic.php?f=15&t=2692&p=16165&hilit=my+power+controller#p16165

[Anavrin]

Like Robert said 10-15° between on/off will be about as good as it gets with a thermostat, they may control an electrical element but they operate mechanically, a peice of metal heats to the point it buckles, and when it buckles it breaks the electrical contact to remove the power from the heater, it then takes a while for the temp to cool down and the metal to takes its original shape again.

Just like when your oven tray buckles in the oven, you take it out and it can take a while before it snaps back.

[JOHN DOE]

Hi Anavrin,
I was thinking about the alembic pot head as it needs to have a lower start as far as i have seen, as it can omit some vapour if your not careful. its great to hear your views, i want to get a better way to control the pot still and the water flow doesn't seem to affect this setup. it does work fine when i have the column lid, and the flow controls that very well, but has no effect to control for the alembic lid, when it starts the coolant can't really cool it enough and the output of still is hot and fast. i was looking from point of view i do need a dial control to somehow manage it better, but it needs less power at start and as it rises you can turn it up. i will look into the ssr controller i know little about electrics i thought that turning on off would be fine as thats the way i manage it now just for first bit of stripping. but i do need to upgrade my control.

[billmcc]

All gone on the bay but you can buy direct
Cheers Vino
http://www.mcbri.com/revlo/revlo_electr ... oller.html