Experience with Omega CN9000 PID Controllers?

[Namako]

Geek Alert!!

I'm in the final phases of building a brewing structure. I have as much money invested in this monster as I would have spent on a B3 1550, but alas, I'm with the Army over in Germany, and I can't get the damned thing shipped over for anything less than a fortune.

So, I went with the venerable 2x4 design that's detailed on breweryconstructionguide dot com. I modified the plans slightly to make it fit my 15-gallon Polarware kettles, and then I dropped the second tier by adding a couple of March pumps - 3 of them altogether. Oh yeah, and a ton of stainless steel 1/2" NPT piping to move water/wort/beer from any kettle, to any kettle.

Now I'm playing with my PIDs... no, not THAT PID!!

I've acquired 3 Omega CN9000 series temperature controllers (different models), and 1 Omega pH controller (to monitor my sparge as it exits the mash tun).

What I'm wondering is, does anyone on here have any experience in hooking one of these damned Omega things up? I have a 3-wire thermistor inserted into a 1/2" NPT Tee just as the wort comes out of the heat exchanger (HERMS style) on its way back into the tun. I can see where that gets hooked up on the back of the PID. I can also see where the 110V power comes in. That covers the input signal and the juice. Now, what about the "control" part?

The controller will control the power to a 2,000W 110V hot water heater element sitting inside of the heat exchanger (a 5-qt stainless steel asparagus steamer) by way of a 25-amp solid state relay sitting under a heat sink. The wort flows through 25 feet of 1/4" ID copper tubing coiled and stuffed into the heat exchanger.

I can't find anything on the web that really details what gauge wires to use, how to hook 'em all up, or how to incorporate a GFI so I that don't fry MYSELF while trying to brew and drink homebrew at the same time, or a fast-blow fuse to protect all of the electronics. The site that I mentioned above does has some info, but I'm not convinced that I can use it to really wire up the control panel.

Any thoughts or cautions before I just wing it, and probably smoke this puppy? After that, all I have to worry about is whether my two Hurricane burners are going to burn this sculpture ot the ground!

BTW, I'm planning on doing the same thing with my sparge water, recirculating that in the HLT to maintain and fine tune my strike/sparge temps as water flows into the mash tun, so this process will be repeated.

Thanks in advance!!
Namako

[baltobrewer]

I have an Omega CN 9000A on my system. The voltage it sends to the SSR is minimal, so the gauge of wire doesn't really matter. You're not shunting current thru the PID, only control impulses.

Here's a few pics. On the 3rd one you can sort of see the gauge of wire I used to go into the PID. The red ones are for the SSR drive.







If you can trace the wiires in that third pic you win 5 bucks.

Heres you can see the 2 wires coming from the PID into the SSR. Make SURE that the SSR has an input voltage of 3-32 VDC. I learned the hard way. The second pic is my FIRST SSR. it was 90-280V. No can talky to PID.





I use a 30A GFI at the breaker. Not sure what you'd do if you have to go inline....sorry.

[Push Eject]

There are only 2 posts in this thread and I already have a boner.

Push E.

[baltobrewer]

There are only 2 posts in this thread and I already have a boner.

Push E.

[Namako]

BaltoBrewer - Yeah, that 3rd pic is what I'm afraid of. I'm sure that as you connected all the wires up, it made perfect sense, but when you're all done, and look back at it, it looks like a huge plate of spaghetti. A lot like the back of my entertainment center.

What did you use as a control box - it looks huge! Maybe I'm just missing the scale...

[baltobrewer]

BaltoBrewer - Yeah, that 3rd pic is what I'm afraid of. I'm sure that as you connected all the wires up, it made perfect sense, but when you're all done, and look back at it, it looks like a huge plate of spaghetti. A lot like the back of my entertainment center.

What did you use as a control box - it looks huge! Maybe I'm just missing the scale...

Yeah, it's definitely not pretty, but all the electrons go where they're supposed to. The box was a NEMA-6 enclosure I got from eBay for like $30. Here's the raw box before install:



And here's the after pic. This should give you an idea of scale. ALWAYS buy a bigger box than you think you'll need. You'll need it. Or something like that.



So as not to reinvent the wheel here, go to Push's kick ass web page at Wort-O-Matic if you want more info on details for my build:

http://www.wortomatic.com/articles/Baltobrewer's-Electric-Stand

[Namako]

That big of a box for that tiny little controller?!! [SMILE] I know, the finned heat sinks are huge! But I'm gonna need space for 4 controllers (3 temp, 1 pH), and then switches for each of 3 pumps and 4 more for 2 water heater elements (one to bypass each of the controllers should one go tits-up during a brew session, and the other to then operate each of the heaters elements manually)!!! Yikes! I better start thinking about converting an old refrigerator...

Either that, or go back to stove-top extract brewing...

Thanks for the link - I've been there before, but I don't recall how long ago. I must have been looking for something else at the time.

On-On!
Namako

[baltobrewer]

Best of luck!

Brew on.....