Fox Den Brewing - Electric Control Panel Build

[mofox1]

It's finished! :super:

Well, nearly...

After about 7 months of planning and acquiring the various bits and pieces I started building my electric brewery control panel over the Christmas / new years break.

The build is a close clone of the control panel found at theelectricbrewery.com, with some changes that I found either more useful, simple, or aesthetically pleasing.

The current features are:
* PID temperature display/control for two 5500w elements (HLT - acting as a HERMS, and Boil Kettle)
* Sestos Temperature display for Mash
* Timer
* Independant control of two pumps (wort & water)
* Voltage & current indicator
* Switching logic to ensure only one element can be selected at a time
* Key switch on, with safe start interlock.
* Built in RCD / 32A breaker
* Indicators for power, pump & element selection, element firing, including one light to indicate power present to the panel.
* Buzzer alarm that can be activiated by timer, PIDs or incorrect switch settings.
* RTD probes with XLR disconnects
* Twist lock power connectors

The panel design also includes the layout and capacity for control of a third element (separate HX unit) without requiring additional panel cutouts or rearranging any of the existing external or internal components.


Prototyping:

After I had more or less worked out what features I wanted, and purchased components accordingly, I set about mocking up the panel with laminated print outs & paper templates.

After a bit more mucking about, I transferred the template to the panel and worked out the layout of the internal components.

The components above are:
3 x 80A DPST mechanical relays (240VAC coils)
1 x 8 pin relay (used for safe start interlock)
1 x 32A RCD/breaker
+ some screw down terminals + fuses for the power busses. I decided to fuse the majority of the wiring at 5A, with the PIDs, timers, lights etc on a 250mA fuse. If I was doing this again I probably wouldn't bother with the 250mA, and the 5A is really only there for the pumps.

Note the space next to the RCD has been reserved for an additional relay for the HX element.

Now I just needed to wait until I had some time off work to put the plans into action...

 

[mofox1]

Build:

Build work commenced with the heatsink panel, followed up by the front panel and bottom plate of the enclosure:

It took quite a collection of tools to get the job done! There was the jigsaw for the rectangular holes, the step drill for the 16mm holes, a 22mm punch for the 22mm holes, and some hole-saws for the pump/element power connections. Plus a broken pilot bit or two.

Note to self: Punches work fantastic and only take about 10 seconds when kept suitably lubricated. They work like complete crap if the threads are dry.

Liberal amounts of JB Cold Weld permanently joins heat sink panel to the body of the enclosure:

Primed and painted with a charcoal hammered metal spray finish:

 

[mofox1]

Assembly:

It's at about this time I start grinning like a moron while looking at the barebones enclosure, and just imagining the whole thing in brew boiling beauty.... but now it's time to mount some of the components. Those that didn't come with rubber gaskets get a bit of silicone to keep the enclosure mostly dust & water proof (I'm not going to be testing this scenario :unsure.

The back panel is now installed and wiring has commenced. A tap set was used to make the screw holes in the back panel and made mounting the components a breeze. The power receptacles needed to be wired up prior to mounting otherwise some of the screw terminals would not have been accessible.

And now the finished wiring is all is glory. Back panel:

Back panel - base view:

Inside front panel:

Other than the fat 4mm2 wire for the power in & elements, I used 1.5mm2 wire almost everywhere else. This was complete overkill (but readily available) and resulted in some swearing trying to get connections right. If I was doing it again I'd use 0.5mm2 or 0.75mm2 instead for everything (except the pump & bus wiring which I'd keep at 1.5).

 

[mofox1]

Complete:

And with no little amount of smugness...

Eaton laser (www.eatonlaser.com.au) did a super job on the labels and the custom logo, and I must give a plug for the great service. Thanks Chris!

The base has connections for three temp probes (XLR), two pumps, two elements and one power input (plus a light to indicate power connected). The blank plate on the base is for an additional socket for a HX unit.

There are also (currently unwired/non-functional) lights and a switch on the front panel for the HX too.

Testing:

Power connected to control panel:

This light will be active whenever power is present to the device - intended to be a reminder to turn it off at the wall.

:excl: First power on test:

It works! :beerbang: (well of course it did!)

And that's about as much as I could do with it at that point, as I still needed to wire up pumps, elements, and probes. (Still working on that)...

 

[booargy]

A few more may need tissues

 

[Crusty]

An exceptional job mate, well done.

 

[Fat Bastard]

Bloody lovely!

 

[Cervantes]

That's truly a thing of beauty.

 

[JB]

Magnificent job Mick, well done you should be feeling smug!

 

[Mardoo]

Awesome work Mofox1! Must have been a pleasure to work on. Where's you get the element enclosures shown in your build photo album? Those look great.

 

[droid]

damn! If you ever feel like a working holiday in the lakes district of East gippsland shoot me a pm, awesome stuff!

 

[droid]

can you control the gate valves for the pumps via the electronics or is that a manual thing?

 

[mofox1]

Awesome work Mofox1! Must have been a pleasure to work on. Where's you get the element enclosures shown in your build photo album? Those look great.

Cheers, it certainly was - the hardest part was waiting for the time to do it. I had pretty much everything sitting in the shed by the end of November just saying "build me.... build me..."

The enclosures came from Jaycar, they're the die-cast "economy" aluminium enclosures 111x60x54 (linky). Don't get the "premium" ones - they have a seal, but the walls are too thick to leave enough of the element thread on the kettle side.

 

[mofox1]

can you control the gate valves for the pumps via the electronics or is that a manual thing?

Pump control is on/off at the switches. Nothing too fancy in the box - the PIDs are about as fancy as you get.

 

[droid]

cheers

 

[Camo6]

Very neat work Mick. Can't wait to see the rest of the build.

 

[Yob]

and you can drop that off to me at noon.

 

[mofox1]

Pumps:

I'm using magnetic drive Kaixin pumps from Keg King. They're nice budget pumps and providing you don't break the head by over-tightening the fittings, they work great.

The only problem is that they come with the standard 1.5m length appliance lead. I'd much rather have a single lead going back to the control panel than playing with extension leads, so the pumps get a bit of a makeover. I replaced the existing lead with a 3m cable, using just some butt crimps inside the rear pump enclosure to connect everything up.

The cable gets some braided sleeving for looks and added protection, and the l used the same style NEMA twist lock plugs as elsewhere in the build.

Elements:

Two 5500w Camco ULWD elements are used in the build. Because they draw ~23A, it would be difficult to have the lead disconnect from the kettle in a way that's safe and not massively chunky, so the leads are permanently connected to the element housing.

I'm using a couple of 111x60x54 metal enclosures from Jaycar to house the element terminals. It's possible I could have squeezed them into a smaller enclosure, but I was happy with the way they looked with my current 3500w elements.

Here's the enclosure build in progress - the bare leads will get some ring crimps to securely connect them to the element terminals.

I used a 1-1/4" punch to make the hole in the lid for the element which is then siliconed in place using some seleys 401. The cable (once again with braided sleeving and a NEMA twist lock plug) is secured in place with a water proof metal cable gland.

:excl: A note on the orientation of the housing: because the metal enclosure tapers, I have the larger "lid" end next to the kettle. This means that the box needs to be sealed up prior to installing in the kettle (the screws are on the kettle side), and the element needs to held in place while tightening the 1" lock nut. Failure to hold the element in place may result in the silicone seal being broken, and ending up with wort in the element housing!

 

[mofox1]

and you can drop that off to me at noon.

HA!

Now do I work on the RTD probes tonight... or keg that RyeIPA? Should also give my Cascade a bit of a squeeze and see how she's going...

 

[mofox1]

Very little progress at the moment...

Replaced the "white" indicators with ones that actually are white (damn you chinabay!) and purchased a chunky extensible TV arm to hang the control panel off.

Still dicking around with temp probes cables... will get around to them soon. Also need to make up a mount for the pumps.

Why is it that when you think you're almost finished, you're not?!