PID controller hook up help please

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I smoked a apricot glazed ham tonight with the new pid set up and it turned out excellent. thanks for all the help
82001f19_ham.jpg
 
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I have my mypin ta4 controller hooked up and supplied wit120vac, but am only getting 50vac out of the output. ? thoughts?

Ive tried changing the cntrl setting from relay to ssr and back, but no luck. I have the pid setting to off so it should be either off or on
 
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Well somehow my pid took a crap so I have a new one and would like to hook up a couple push button circuit breakers. Can anyone explain how to wire those in? I was thinking a 5amp and 15 amp for the heating element.
 
 
I have my mypin ta4 controller hooked up and supplied wit120vac, but am only getting 50vac out of the output. ? thoughts?

Ive tried changing the cntrl setting from relay to ssr and back, but no luck. I have the pid setting to off so it should be either off or on
Sounds like there is a diode somewhere.

1/2 110VAC is 55 VAC.

dcarch
 
I missed the post the other day and have been working and not online. Remind me what wattage heating element you have? 

As to the PID breaker, 5 amps is a little large.  For the PID I would recommend a fast blow 1 amp fuse because they trip much faster than a thermal breaker would. 

As to the heating element there are two schools of thought.  Need it or don't?

You probably don't need one.  Reason is the wire to the element (which is usually in the neighborhood of 1,500 watts) is generally rated for the same amp capacity as the home wire to the smoker.  The purpose of a breaker or fuse is to protect the device, in this case a heating element, but in other cases the "device" can also be a wire that is of a smaller gauge or amperage capacity than the household wire to the outlet.  Since in your case they will be roughly the same capacity, the breaker that protects the wire in the house would be properly rated to protect the element and the larger wiring in the smoker (usually 14 to 12 gauge).  If your outlet the smoker is plugged in to is on a 15 amp breaker in your main panel, then adding a 2nd 15 amp push button breaker at the smoker for the element and/or main power, does not add any protection at all. It will not hurt, but it probably will not help either.

However 99% of the builds use a smaller gauge wire branching off to provide power to the PID inside the smoker electronics box, as the PID is a very low amp draw device.  Also the PID is much more sensitive internally to a electrical problem than the element is, so it has different protection needs.  Hence the recommendation of a 1 amp "fast blow" fuse (not a breaker) to protect the power line going from the terminal strip to the PID only. A push button breaker is usually a thermal device.  It will trip before the wire is damaged if it is sized correctly (depends on your wire gauge as the the value here), but the PID is much more sensitive to damage than the wire so the 1 amp fast blow recommendation is to protect the PID not the wire (and being lower than the wire rating would also protect the wire with a huge margin of safety - fuses & breakers should be sized for the lowest amp rated part of the branch which in this case is the PID). You can still damage a PID's electronics even if it's fused properly.  The fuse is just the best bet on providing some level of protection. Remember the fuse is protecting the components from catastrophic disaster which would usually start a fire or make a metal component of the smoker cabinet electrified and deadly if touched. It "may" keep the sensitive electronics inside the PID from frying.  Some brands/models are more sensitive to quick damage than others due to the internal construction.

You can put the fuse in either of the two wires providing power to the PID, but the "by the book" method would be to the side that is electrically connected back to the black wire from the household wiring.  Same is true for the 15 amp breaker if you decide to use it.

Connections for the smaller fuse/breaker would either be via a solder terminal or a spade lug but I have seen fuse holders with screw terminals.  I would go with solder myself, but there is nothing wrong with a properly applied spade (flat bladed crimp on type female connector that friction fits on a male flat terminal on the fuse body).  A 15 amp unit will usually have screw terminals.

Does this help?
 
 
I have my mypin ta4 controller hooked up and supplied wit120vac, but am only getting 50vac out of the output. ? thoughts?

Ive tried changing the cntrl setting from relay to ssr and back, but no luck. I have the pid setting to off so it should be either off or on
I apologize for missing this a while back (getting old I guess).

How is your PID configured?

Generally a PID will provide a low voltage and low amperage output which is used to trigger a SSR which controls a larger load acting as a electronic switch/relay.  There are other configurations though.

Can you post a photo of the specs and wiring sticker on the side of the PID?  That will give us the info needed to see what we are actually dealing with here.

I'm pretty sure MYPIN's are factory set to either SSR/RELAY and it's not field switchable.   The "CTL" setting does show up in the settings menu, but I think they all use the same firmware chip and are physically wired different depending on the output type (which is part of the model number info on the sticker). I don't think you can change it, but the sticker will tell the tale of what you actually have. 

Also MYPIN units bought on eBay are notorious for being non-functional when received.  It is possible that is what you are dealing with. 

This chart should tell you from the full model number what MYPIN you actually have and what the output type "should be".

 
Be careful with those FOTEK 25A SSR's. There are fakes being sold. I bought one on Amazon back in April this year. Turned out to be a fake. Only just got around to building my PID controller for my MES 30 smoker last weekend. As soon as the MyPin controller activated the SSR (LED turned on), white smoke emerged from it. After prizing off the front cover, I found a couple of resistors all burnt up inside it (on the AC switching side, near both terminals 1 and 2). Double checked my wiring - all OK. Found out about the fakes on other web sites - people experiencing similar issues.

Purchased an NTE Electronics 40A SSR today from Fry's Electronics. Will be trying it this weekend. Hopefully no more smoke (from the controller at least!)

Here is a link to help spot the fake FOTEK's:

http://canada.ul.com/safetyalerts/u...nterfeit-ul-recognition-mark-release-13pn-52/

Although I suspect there may be other variants that are fake as well.

Les.
 
Hey guys I have a question concerning this same topic.  I have the exact same setup described in this thread.  I have wired it exactly as was discussed here.  Everything works fine, but the ssr will not turn off my heating element.  The output light on the PID goes off when the temperature is reached and the light on the ssr goes off, but the power stays on to my heating element.  Could the ssr be stuck closed?  
 
Hey guys I have a question concerning this same topic.  I have the exact same setup described in this thread.  I have wired it exactly as was discussed here.  Everything works fine, but the ssr will not turn off my heating element.  The output light on the PID goes off when the temperature is reached and the light on the ssr goes off, but the power stays on to my heating element.  Could the ssr be stuck closed?  

Test it with an ohm meter? Power in Power out....I suspect your suspicions are correct? What is the brand of SSR?

I'm on #3-->4, 2 Futek and 2 Lymphccom 9 with heat sink.
 
I don't have an ohm meter handy. But I did happen to have another ssr on hand. The sat that I am using is a fotek ssr-25 da. I changed the ssr out and it is doing the same thing. Weird thing is if my set value temp is below the actual temp and I turn it on, it will keep my element off. When the temp drops down below the set value it will turn on. Then When it heats back up it will not turn off. I don't know. It's got me bumfuzzled.
 
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