Starting an Electric Brew control panel for AG brewing

[sjp770]

OK its up to 3-5 bubbles per second today so it seems to be nice and active

 

[sjp770]

BTW, I installed the amp meter with a new lm317 and the 240-12vac transformer and it blew the same as the other one. I give up, I think I might slap a name plate over the two holes, the brew goes fine without them but the holes are there so I need to cover them up.

 

[zappa]

BTW, I installed the amp meter with a new lm317 and the 240-12vac transformer and it blew the same as the other one. I give up, I think I might slap a name plate over the two holes, the brew goes fine without them but the holes are there so I need to cover them up.

I could be missing something here, but why would you be using a transformer with your ammeter? To measure current, your load just needs to travel through it. There's no active+neutral. Just active/line/hot (whatever you want to call it).

 

[seamad]

Why do you even want an ammeter ?

 

[seehuusen]

x2 on wiring of your amp meter, sounds like there is a fault there?

You want an amp meter only if you're so inclined to find out the draw of your system. That way you can calculate the real cost of brewing, not just count it as "Free"
E.g. I run gas, and I use about 2.5Kg for a brew, at say $1.50 it probably doesn't make a massive impact, but if I get swap and go, it's instantly about 6 or 7 bux that I've got to add to the total cost of brew.

 

[mofox1]

It's the ammeter power supply.

But yeah - the electric brewery seriously overcomplicated that one. I got one as per barney in this post (cheers barney - belated post "like" for you!).

No transformers. No DC rectifiers. No shunt resistors. And both voltage and amps on the same panel.

 

[mofox1]

Why do you even want an ammeter ?

Bling.

Big, badass, control panel bling.

 

[zappa]

Ah I see. I reckon an analog ammeter would look far more industrial ;-) Simple addition too.

 

[sjp770]

My issue now is the holes I cut for these meters. There is something fineky about the meters. Both are 5v supply and I supply that OK bit when I connect the metering side it seems to arc across??? Weird stuff. So I think they are referred to a 3&1/2 din or something. I'd love some analog ones though.

 

[seamad]

You could always glue a backing bit in and then glue the cutout ( if you still have it) or something of similar thickness then bog it and repaint.

 

[rockeye84]

Get em goin bro, seriously ain't as hard as u think, here's a few pics of how I wired mine, 240v to 5v transformer thru the isolation module then to the amp & volt meters, the voltage reading comes straight from my hot bus, amp reading straight from the shunt, they never miss a beat, but with out the little black thing I blew my amp meter straight up as well. Plus they let you know that your elements are running properly, I've had an element go mid brew, having the amp meter there I picked it up straight away and they look cool lol. [ attachment=75417:ImageUploadedByAussie Home Brewer1412769933.895799.jpg]

 

[rockeye84]

Accidentally forgot this pix

 

[sjp770]

Isolation module? This might be the bit I'm missing. I don't think its hard at all but that may just be the bit of info I was missing. Do you run both from the same 5v supply? Also can you link your meters? Black surrounds are much nicer than the gray and green of the only ones I could find.

 

[rockeye84]

Yeh mate, 1 psu 2 meters, that little black thing splits the power so the meters don't see a common earth, that's what cause's them to self destruct.

I painted the faces of my meters with the black tinted lacquer ya use to darken tail lights on cars. They look better black I recon.

If you whack two of these (eBay # 251525262146 ) one each inline between your psu & meters, assuming your power supply & meters are 12v.

It's hard to see in the pic but there are two isolators soldered together.

Mine are 5v not sure why I went for a 5volt system but anyway.

I scratched up a shitty diagram for you, this is how mine are wired.

Hope u get it sorted mate.

 

[sjp770]

Thanks! I'll order two now and a replacement ammeter. Good idea with the tail light paint.

 

[sjp770]

Meters are 5v so I found a 10-16v in 5v out but they only had one available. There was a discussion on the electric brewery site about why the need for two power supplies and the isolation was raised but they never gave a shit about stopping it. Always thought it was stupid using two power supplies when they take the same voltage.

 

[mofox1]

Get em goin bro, seriously ain't as hard as u think, here's a few pics of how I wired mine, 240v to 5v transformer thru the isolation module then to the amp & volt meters, the voltage reading comes straight from my hot bus, amp reading straight from the shunt, they never miss a beat, but with out the little black thing I blew my amp meter straight up as well. Plus they let you know that your elements are running properly, I've had an element go mid brew, having the amp meter there I picked it up straight away and they look cool lol. [

ImageUploadedByAussie Home Brewer1412770081.384344.jpgattachment=75417:ImageUploadedByAussie Home Brewer1412769933.895799.jpg]

ImageUploadedByAussie Home Brewer1412769967.377870.jpg

Uhng. That is a fantastic piece of brewgasm right there rockeye.

Like the use of the separate alarm for timer and pids. Consider the idea shamelessly appropriated.

 

[rockeye84]

Thanks mofo. I like it too. Lol. It's a pleasure to brew with. Bout 40 batches so far with no hiccups.

 

[rockeye84]

Meters are 5v so I found a 10-16v in 5v out but they only had one available. There was a discussion on the electric brewery site about why the need for two power supplies and the isolation was raised but they never gave a shit about stopping it. Always thought it was stupid using two power supplies when they take the same voltage.

So you have a 12v psu but your meters are 5v?

 

[sjp770]

240ac-12ac into a LM317 which takes 10-36v either ac or DC and pumps out variable DC only. Set this to 5v and you have your DC, but you can drop the volts a bit with a pot on the LM317 to dim the readout. Won't be able to to that with your isolator.