The Brauduino (Matho’s Controller) Build/Advice/Question Thread

[ken_gilchrist]

Good to hear you have made some changes and now i'm on a computer and not a phone I can elaborate on my ramblings I posted before.

Now you have changed the boil set point to 99 I would do a "dry run" with your full boil volume for 3 reasons:

1. Check what temperature your water boils at, in Canberra at ~700m above sea level mine boils at 97.5c. If i had it set to 98 or 99 the controller would throw full power at it, however once water is boiling it wont increase in temperature therefore the timer will never start.
You can find this in manual mode by bumping the temperature up a few degrees at a time until it is boiling and the temp sits stable but under your set point. This is your boil set point.
A low setpoint will start the timer but you will only have a gentle simmer, too high and your timer wont start.

2. When you have it at boil you can adjust the PWM% to set how vigorous the boil will be. More % more boil, less % less boil and potentially it will slip under your set point. For a 5500w element i am using 75%

3. With the full boil volume run a 60 minute boil at your temperature setpoint and PWM% and record your boil off. If you stick with a PWM% your boil off will be stable from batch to batch. I boil off 5.5l per hour regardless of it is 10l or 30l.

Thanks heaps MitchD, coincidentally I am now in Canberra too so that might explain why my water started to boil at 98 also. I'll do a wet run and check it out as you described, but where is the PWM% setting?

I'm also running my controller on my Grainfather, I have the mash/boil switch on boil constantly with the idea the controller will regulate the power to the element as required. It has a 2400KW I believe.

 

[SBOB]

Thanks heaps MitchD, coincidentally I am now in Canberra too so that might explain why my water started to boil at 98 also. I'll do a wet run and check it out as you described, but where is the PWM% setting?

I'm also running my controller on my Grainfather, I have the mash/boil switch on boil constantly with the idea the controller will regulate the power to the element as required. It has a 2400KW I believe.

with a 10a/2400kw element I would just leave the boil power at 100%

 

[MitchD]

Thanks heaps MitchD, coincidentally I am now in Canberra too so that might explain why my water started to boil at 98 also. I'll do a wet run and check it out as you described, but where is the PWM% setting?

I'm also running my controller on my Grainfather, I have the mash/boil switch on boil constantly with the idea the controller will regulate the power to the element as required. It has a 2400KW I believe.

Well that explains a lot, your location is set as Darwin. Are you a Canberra brewers club member? Our march meeting is this Thursday at the German club. There are quite a few Grain father users there and i think i'm the only one using Mathos controller (Not on a gf)

The PWM setting is in the configuration menu as PWM.

 

[ken_gilchrist]

Well that explains a lot, your location is set as Darwin. Are you a Canberra brewers club member? Our march meeting is this Thursday at the German club. There are quite a few Grain father users there and i think i'm the only one using Mathos controller (Not on a gf)

The PWM setting is in the configuration menu as PWM.

Not yet. I am going back to Darwin on Thursday so I will miss that meeting unfortunately. But intend on getting to the next one.

 

[ken_gilchrist]

with a 10a/2400kw element I would just leave the boil power at 100%

Cheers

 

[barneey]

A quick question to you code junky people please.
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/96o6i39o50llama/AADjGS0nvq5eLQZZN98URR3la/Manuals/2.8.x?dl=0

Mash-Out 75°-80°C 1-140min Sixth step completely configurable. 167°-176°F Mash out is mandatory step.

There is somewhat of an annoying Mash Out step in the software which is mandatory, is there anyway it can be coded to skip this step or program to a lower temperature than 75c. Any help appreciated.

 

[barneey]

//Setting 8 Stages
float p_C[] ={ 75.00, 20.00, 0.25, 55.00, 25.00, 0.25, 50.00, 35.00, 0.25, 60.00, 45.00, 0.25, 70.00, 50.00, 0.25, 76.00, 60.00, 0.25, 76.00, 60.00, 0.25, 80.00, 75.00, 0.25 };
float p_F[] ={ 167.00, 68.00, 0.25, 131.00, 77.00, 0.25, 122.00, 95.00, 0.25, 140.00, 113.00, 0.25, 158.00, 122.00, 0.25, 168.75, 140.00, 0.25, 176.00, 167.00, 0.25, 176.00, 167.00, 0.25 };

Ok I think I have worked it out and have just changed the last 2 values (The last values on the end for C 80, 75, 0.25 to say 67,72,0.25)

Everything seems to be working fine, but if anyone know of reason not to please let me know.

Thanks

 

[bigmacthepunker]

Hi Bigmac,

I plan on using the controller with my grainfather also. How are the temperature ramps, and temperature stability with the controller and your grainfather?

Would you mind sharing your controller settings?

Would really appreciate it.

Thanks.

Sorry Nfragol for the delay.
My GF settings. Still needs a little tweaking.
95
100
5
3500
5000
100%
1.00
I haven't had time to sort a few issues. I have issue get to the boil timer stage. My boil temp is set at 110 deg when the GF comes to boil I use the down button to drop it to 100 deg to start the timer. But I have made some great beer already this way. I need to look at the timer as I want to setup the night before but my timer has a max of 2.4 hours. I played with the code. So I don't know if that has changed other things. Just the joys of brewin. Hope of this helps. Overshoots by 0.5 deg only sometimes.

 

[nfragol]

Hi Big Mac, thanks for the reply.

Looks like a good starting point.

Thanks again.

 

[ken_gilchrist]

OK...so did my second brew today and after making the changes to the controller I cannot get the boil temp over 96.5deg. Now surprisingly my water get a gentle boil at 95, I just cant seem to get it to hit 100 and start the timer. The issue is that when I lower the boil temp in the settings it does not maintain a boil as the SSR keeps flicking on and off. I played with a few setting during a "wet" run today but it made no difference to the boil and temp ( I have checked the calibration with another tool and it is spot on).

Any help will be appreciated.

 

[SBOB]

do you have the power % during boil set to 100%? if you do, I dont see why the SSR would be cycling during the boil stage

 

[MitchD]

Your water boil will not reach 100c in canberra, you have to change your boil setpoint to reflect that 96.5?. Then leave your power at 100%

 

[ken_gilchrist]

Your water boil will not reach 100c in canberra, you have to change your boil setpoint to reflect that 96.5?. Then leave your power at 100%

Yep sorted it out thanks heaps. Brew day yesterday went off without a hitch.

 

[MastersBrewery]

Guys I have to admit mine is still in the cupboard unfinished, I have no specific need to have it done as I have one of the originals running my clone, however last brew day as I finished mash out I notice both my element SSRs were melted and quite badly. After shutting down the power I quickly stripped the HV box and removed the offending SSRs replacing them with the ones from the kit. Brew day disaster averted, and it also reminded me I need to get this thing built at some point.
For those wondering I have a new heat sink and some fans on a slow boat to sort the issue permanently.And I didn't have to tip 40L of amber.

 

[lespaul]

Hi all,

Got this project cracking along (with the little spare time ive got!!!!) but its about 50% there... why does SS take so long to drill!!!!

Anyway, the unit is wired up and my sparky mate and I did some initial tests on it and it seems the pump is active with and without the pump turned on.

Everything else seemed to be running well and the buttons, screen and everything else seems to be working fine.

Wiring is checked and is wired up as per diagrams on initial pages.

Any initial thoughts?

Thanks

 

[zwitter]

Hi lespaul

Ok, this has been asked and answered before.

I need to know your level of experience with 240v
The test equipment available,
Spares available,

If you are in sydney and not too far from Parramatta then a visit may be possible and can sort it..

First thing is to get the LEDs both working. Pump and heat.
Does the p and H appear on the LCD when buttons pressed?

You NEED to do the setup. Some functions just do not work unless the setup is correct. I would suggest printing the ArdBir manual and scribble your setup in there as you go. Some , including mine, were defaulted to gas heat so needed to change to electric.

For this testing I strongly advise someone who knows how not to get electrocuted does this bit. I advise disconnecting the 240v from the relay(can just unplug the green connector). Disconnect the 240v from the SSRs.
The only place 240 should go is to the power supply, nothing else.

Possible problems with the LEDs
LED is plugged in backwards.
You can swap red and green in testing.
If either work then you can test the next bit
Pump, does the relay click on and off?
Heat does the LED on the SSR switch on and off?

One big question is are you switching the active wire?

If the led lights up but relay does not then it is possible the transistor is shot. It would require soldering iron and a spare if that is the case.

Anyway see how you get on and then answer the questions and can make further suggestions

James
Zwitter



Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

 

[marc280]

If you follow James' advice you can't go wrong. I had what sounds like the same issue where I was getting voltage on the pump output all the time.

I posted about this a few pages back and it turned out that there is only a tiny current getting through to the output and as soon as you connect up the pump it's not enough to run the pump. I think it is a snubber in the circuit that let's a small current through to the output (enough to show volts) but was designed this way. Check the earlier post as I think James explained this there.

 

[lespaul]

Thanks again. Ive read a lot of this thread and tried to do a search but didnt yield anything... sorry for the double up.

Im not near the setup right now but from memory:
The lights were working with the buttons fine.
Pressing the button you could hear the ssr click.
No change in voltage for off and on.

I will go through the above steps and report back.

Thanks again for the response

 

[zwitter]

Hi LesPaul
As Marc380 says there is a small leakage through the snubber cct. So if no load you may not see a change in voltage. Try putting a load on the output. A simple lightglobe would be enough.

Oh and the SSRs do not click. The relay makes an audible click when it switches on and off but the SSRs are silent that is why they have the LED on them to show they are activated.

If the relay clicks on and off then as long as no solder bridging the pins then it should work fine. Try wiring up and putting a load on.

James
Zwitter


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

 

[Smokomark]

Hi all,

I've assembled my controller but I can't get the pump to run.
The P lights up on the screen but the LED doesn't light up. I've swapped the LEDs and both do work but only light up when in the heat LED socket.

Any ideas?