Cheap PID controllers

[Wolfy]

Wolfy - those seem to be sold with a K-type sensor

Yes they do, but can accept other types of sensors.
Use a PT100 type sensor, because - as keith1664 mentioned - they are more accurate at the temperatures of interest to us.
In addition, you can get PT100 sensors with different temperature ranges - working on the assumption that the one(s) with the smallest range should be more accurate - I got one that has a much smaller range than the Ebay auction-one you've linked.

[Fil]

+1 for sestos pid controllers, there are a few flavours so make sure you get the ssr model, The ebay bundles are still a bargain even when you add a couple of quid for a pt100 probe.
mine arrived fairly quickly (2-3 weeks) from the seller mixtea,

[Johnnyboy]

Thanks for all the advice to my original question.

Following this I have ordered the Sestos D1S-VR-220 and 25A SSR as recommended from Ebay seller mixtea.

Thanks again,
John.

[Johnnyboy]

Two days after ordering, I have received item so must have been located in UK. Could anyone shed light on how to wire this up now?

From instructions I have received I can see that 6 and 8 are output to the SSR, 9 and 10 are power input but which is positive and which negative? 3, 4 and 5 are for the pt100 but which wire goes to which if I get a two or three wire probe? And how do i wire alarm into 1, 11 and 12 if I wanted to?

Any help much appreciated.

Thanks,
John.

[Wolfy]

Assuming that yours looks like mine did:


The SSR outputs are marked as + and - on the unit.
Again the unit shows which way to wire up the probe (3,4,5) - 3 and 4 have the resistor-icon/picture/thing between them - indicating that is where the temperature/load is measured.
My PT100 (as shown in the picture above) has 1 red terminal and 2 blue terminals, so the red goes into 3 and then the blue ones on 4 and 5.

While the pin-outs on the back are different, I'd suggest using the Auber instructions for most all functions, including alarm stuff.
(From memory, 12 is the common/earth and then either 1 or 11 for NO (Normally Open) or NC (Normally Closed) depending on how/what you want the alarm stuff to do)

[Johnnyboy]

Cheers for that Wolfy.

One final question before I vanish for the moment is does it matter which way the positive and negative incoming power is wired into the unit as there is no info, so presume not???

John.

[gregorach]

If it's AC (and I presume it is), then no, it doesn't matter - the polarity flips 50 times a second anyway.

[Johnnyboy]

Thanks very much for that.

John.

[Wolfy]

I suggest reading the Auber instructions linked above, they outline the suggested way to wire the PID, including talking about how the heating element remains live when the PID is switched off, and that a double pole switch is recommended (which in turn will likely have an impact on which way you wire the unit).

[Johnnyboy]

Cheers Wolfy,

I have already printed off the Auber information sheet and am trying to get my head around all the settings and info contained.

John.

[Fil]

Cheers Wolfy,

I have already printed off the Auber information sheet and am trying to get my head around all the settings and info contained.

John.

its a hell of a lot to get sussed just to heat up water aint it?

and you can get involved as deeply as you want, matho has gone as far as rejigging the algorithm library in his arduino solution.. me, i set the temp and go..

you might want to wet run your expected mash steps in auto tune mode to determine the ideal P I and D vars to use for each step, but i found the default values work as well as any derived for my hlt and herms tests... perhaps if huge volumes were being heated the differences would be more obvious?

[Wolfy]

you might want to wet run your expected mash steps in auto tune mode to determine the ideal P I and D vars to use for each step, but i found the default values work as well as any derived for my hlt and herms tests... perhaps if huge volumes were being heated the differences would be more obvious?

Only yesterday did I take my own advice and read/follow the Auber instructions to get my unit to run the auto-tune process (the Sestos instructions for this were horrible/impossible for me to follow) - but now it seems to be behaving much better than before - a few more batches and I will know for sure.

[Johnnyboy]

[[/quote]

its a hell of a lot to get sussed just to heat up water aint it?

and you can get involved as deeply as you want, matho has gone as far as rejigging the algorithm library in his arduino solution.. me, i set the temp and go..

you might want to wet run your expected mash steps in auto tune mode to determine the ideal P I and D vars to use for each step, but i found the default values work as well as any derived for my hlt and herms tests... perhaps if huge volumes were being heated the differences would be more obvious?[/quote]

Hi Fil,

I appreciate that I am making it a little too complicated as it is just heating water up to 85c and holding it there. This is my first step into using PID controllers and so will be used on the HLT. Once I compentant with using them with their basic settings, I maybe will start and use them elsewhere with maybe a RIMS/ HERMS setup or to control my boils. As much as I take great pleasure from being able to make lovely beers, I take more from tinkering and planning and adding to my brewery bit by bit.

Cheers,
John.

[Fil]

hehe john 12 months ago PID ment bugger all to me,, im now embroiled in an arduino build to apply pid logic to hlt and herms. im using 2 of the sestos units as backups. not that im expecting system failure but i spent a long time working on safety critical systems and having redundant backups is second nature, and a brewday is too valuable to waste. i did consider a shadow controller but accepted that was overkill. so i have a little understanding on how complicated you can make this aspect of a brewery build.. all good fun tho..

[vazolee]

Hi,
I have a problem with my temperature controller, if anybody can, please help me.

I bought from china a Set Dual Digital PID Temperature Controller (SESTOS D1S-VR-220) with K-type sensor.

Now I tried to set up this controller, but I have a problem with it. The value of the temperature doesn't change when I warm the K sensor. It shows always 19,9 Celsius. I tried a lot of different settings, but it doesn't operating good. I have got the operator's manual and I think everything is clear for me. I use the factory settings, I just changed the run mode to automatic. I think the most important that I choose value of the input sensor SN=0 (K-type sensor). I use the 3. and 4. connection points for the K-type input sensor. The signal of the output is good, the relay is operating too, but it is not able to control the heating, because it detects the fix 19,9 Celsius. Please anybody can inform me why don't detects the temperature changing? Why don't change the value of the temperature on the display?

Thanks for your help.