Electric Brewery Build UK Version

[Kev888]

A big connector could certainly make things easier and look neat, but my own inclination would be to persevere with the wires unless you really need one, just to avoid introducing a weak point to any subtle analogue signals over time.

You could possibly make a largish loop or coil of cables to help you properly open and position the lid comfortably/separately though. You may regret something 'too' tight even if it looks neat, and that could also stress any smaller cables.

I don't actually know how these PIDs cope with electrical noise on the probe leads, presumably the three-wire ones would help, but 'if' its a problem you may want to keep high power and signal cabling in separate looms where feasible.

EDIT: and from painful experience... by all means cut the cables to the right length but I'd get it working before you spend hours neatening and tying up any looms. I hate looms; its bl@@dy annoying if you have to change things if they're bundled up neatly like that. Looms are also less flexible when bundled and can stress smaller cables in them, so keep fiddling to a minimum after they're done. I really like the conduit you've used for that reason, and there are heat and electrical advantages in not having the cables too tightly bound up together as well

Cheers
Kev

[barneey]

I`ve cut somemore trunking for the side (still need to fix it - if used)...



EDIT was posting at the same time a Kev888.

Cheers I`m going to think over the other suggestions over night to see what is the best way forward, for an initail start I will just wire up the back & front boards.

As for the PID wires, the cable to be used is a 4 core (1 core not used) individually screened cable so would hope it wouldnt get any interference.

[Kev888]

Ha! I think we clashed on edits as well!

[barneey]

The wiring job has just started, no pics as yet but the mains power in, SRR`s, relays and 18v power supplies are wired, this leaves the sockets for the elements, and the volt / amp meters to wire on the base board, havn`t touched the door panel yet. All I can say at the moment is theres a bloody lot of wires in the build Glad I updated the trunking to the 60mm stuff for the extra room its given me.

Still along way to go + if I ever do anymore crimping on future projects I will get a pair with longer handles.

[GARYSMIFF]

Not the best time for a beer then

[themadhippy]

multipole mains rated connectors exist, buccaneer and soccapex are the 2 that come immediately to mind,but they can be expensive a bit on the large size,especially if you need something to handle more than a few milliamps,and are a pain to wire .best to stick to with tradition and spiral wrap,maybe run 3 loops,top middle and bottom.

[barneey]

Cable wrap it is, not too sure if I`ll use the other pieces of top level trunking yet, I`ll see how things go.

I took off all the small trunking and replaced everything in the 60mm stuff.

I`ve included another connection bloack terminal on the lid to ease the number of wires required between the two.

Wiring wise I`m about half way through this thing, still have to wire a few LCDs, the rest of the 12v stuff, and all the connection blocks. This part of the build is taking a bloody long time.

Progress so far.....

[Highlander]

wow, thats impresive, I can aspire to that level of build quality.

Can i ask, would it be posible to transpose both back and front with a little bit of description of what each part(or group) is.

[barneey]

Its basically exactly the same as "the electric brewery" website idea, in fact most of the wiring principle / design has been taken directly from their website.


On the Front Panel (looking from the rear, left to right) :-
Red Warning LED, Red Siren LED, Volt & Amp Meters, Power LED
(2nd Boiler LED, Switch, HLT LED),( RIMMS LED, Switch, Boiler LED, ) Key Switch
Reset switch, Timer, 4 PIDS, HLT, Boiler, RIMMs, Post Cooling (this may also be dual purpose MT)
4 Switched for the Alram on/off function on PIDS
4 Sets of LCD DC volt displays + LEDs
4 Pots for the varable DC voltage to Solar Pumps, Live + Neutral bar to save wiring to rear box, Relay safe interlock start.
4 On/Off Swiches for the Pumps

On the Box (looking in)

4 SRR`s Boiler, RIMMs, HLT + 1 spare
2x DC volt supplies for the Amp / Volt Meter. 1 x shunt
Main Switch, Live + Neutral Bars, Relays = Main Power, Boiler, HLT, RIMMs, Boiler 2
4 x DC Volt Supplies
4 x Main PCB for to take the DC to variable
1 x Main Power Socket, 4 x DC Pump Sockets, 4 x Power Sockets HLT etc, 4 x XLR Sockets for sensors.

I know that some might ask why have a PID etc for the boiler? - Two reasons, my setup is enclosed (lid on boiler) so unless I take the lid off or use the viewing panel its difficult to see it boiling.
The second reason is that I have two Element supplies for the boiler Element 1 & 2, Element 1 is PID controlled - Element 2 is direct relay controlled (on or off) (may add the variable power bit later).
This means on brew day I will set Element 1 to say 98c and just switch on the Element 2, meaning to heat the inital stage of the wort I will have two elements working, when it reaches say 98c Element 1 switches off and the boil is carried out on element 2, so automatic operation. If either element should fail I still can switch to the other.

As with most DIY stuff, if I were to set the board out again I would try and piggy back the pump DC supplies as they take up far too much room, this would allow for a larger Relay area.

I did think the box at 600mm sq was far to large, but now the wiring has started I`m begining to wonder.

Finally although I have the flow meter gear, I dont think I have room to mount it, so for the time being its in the spares box.

Cheers

[Highlander]

Cheers Barneey. That's a great build. Going to be fun trying to find that last loose wire

[barneey]

What seem like a little more progress, but I`m nearly at the stage of wiring between the front panel and the box, this is taking a long time so far.....




I still have the 4 xlr`s to mount and wire, this will add yet another spiral wrap cable, making 7 in all

Will this thing never end

[troublebrewing]

Possibly! Crimping's such fun, not!

Still looking very good, you haven't skipped anything and the job's dead neat.

[barneey]

After many days of wiring, crimping and shrink wrapping I "think" I have finally finished wiring the box.

The only thing left to do is to test the circuits, join the two halfs together and tidy a few items.

Have also now included the variable 240 voltage circuit to the 2nd boil element, so now will have complete boil control once the 1st boil element has been switched off by the PID.

One point with the wiring I bought over a 100m of wire for the build and have very little left

I`ll post somemore details of how the thing works later.

[themadhippy]

Have you access to a variac instead of wapping 240v straight up it ,or are you going to test it hippys way, plug it in, turn it on at arms length and wait for the BANG

[barneey]

I have very limited test equipment, even my Maplin multimeter (digital) is getting on to be 25 years old.

I intended to use the "hippy" way of testing the thing with a straight forward, no messing 240 test.

I was going to wire a simple temp plug on it , RCD socket etc and then wait for either a Bang , puff of smoke or a fanfair of lights.