PID controller hook up help please

  • Some of the links on this forum allow SMF, at no cost to you, to earn a small commission when you click through and make a purchase. Let me know if you have any questions about this.
SMF is reader-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.
Hey nice work. It displays 69*! Now was there a calibration I needed to do??
 
So it was still set for a K type thermocouple. 

I would go a head and do a ice water bath test and boiling water test to see how it reads then.  There is still an offset that can be entered but it should be pretty much dead on.

Also when it's finished and hooked up in the smoker, don't forget to make sure and connect those ground wires properly for safety. 

Then you just need to run an auto tune cycle and let the PID detect how the heating element performs in your actual smoker (push and hold the "AT" button for more than 3 seconds to start the process.  The "AT" light should come on and it will go off once the process is complete - it may take a while).  It will need to be in the finished smoker under actual working conditions for the auto tune to work properly.

Glad it's working now.  I was really concerned you had a bad unit, but it looks like it was just the initial wiring and changing that internal setting.

Also if you did not get that MYPIN TA4 manual downloaded (the better link I posted at a FTP server), send me a PM with your email. Apparently that FTP server is no longer public but I do have a saved copy of the manual I can email you.  It's much better than the factory manual IMO.
 
So it was still set for a K type thermocouple. 

I would go a head and do a ice water bath test and boiling water test to see how it reads then.  There is still an offset that can be entered but it should be pretty much dead on.

Also when it's finished and hooked up in the smoker, don't forget to make sure and connect those ground wires properly for safety. 

Then you just need to run an auto tune cycle and let the PID detect how the heating element performs in your actual smoker (push and hold the "AT" button for more than 3 seconds to start the process.  The "AT" light should come on and it will go off once the process is complete - it may take a while).  It will need to be in the finished smoker under actual working conditions for the auto tune to work properly.

Glad it's working now.  I was really concerned you had a bad unit, but it looks like it was just the initial wiring and changing that internal setting.

Also if you did not get that MYPIN TA4 manual downloaded (the better link I posted at a FTP server), send me a PM with your email. Apparently that FTP server is no longer public but I do have a saved copy of the manual I can email you.  It's much better than the factory manual IMO.
yea it was set to the other type of thermocouple.

Which wires should be grounded to the smoker?
 
Oh also how should the heat sink be placed? Out side my project box or bolted to the inside? I was thinking to the outside by mayb I'm wrong
 
The green ground wire in the extension cord should be grounded to the smoker and the control box your parts go in if it's metal. 

If you keep the female pigtail, it needs to be grounded also (you can bond them all together with a wire nut and run a new wire from that bundle to a screw on the metal cabinet and/or parts box).   I would eliminate the female cord pigtail in the final build and just hard wire the heating element to the SSR (which is why I showed a terminal strip in one set of diagrams, that is what most people use to distribute power).  I would also put in two breakers/fuses to protect the PID and the element (PID needs low amperage protection of around 2 amps and the heating element would need a 15 or 20 amp protection depending on wire gauge you used).

Let us know how the ice water and boiling water temp tests come out.
 
The green ground wire in the extension cord should be grounded to the smoker and the control box your parts go in if it's metal. 

If you keep the female pigtail, it needs to be grounded also (you can bond them all together with a wire nut and run a new wire from that bundle to a screw on the metal cabinet and/or parts box).   I would eliminate the female cord pigtail in the final build and just hard wire the heating element to the SSR (which is why I showed a terminal strip in one set of diagrams, that is what most people use to distribute power).  I would also put in two breakers/fuses to protect the PID and the element (PID needs low amperage protection of around 2 amps and the heating element would need a 15 or 20 amp protection depending on wire gauge you used).

Let us know how the ice water and boiling water temp tests come out.
how bout the heat sink question in the above post
 
Oh also how should the heat sink be placed? Out side my project box or bolted to the inside? I was thinking to the outside by maybe I'm wrong
They do make heat sinks where the fins extend outside the housing, but your SSR is pretty much the same size as the top of your heat sink so there is no way to mount like that.  Looking at the photos of your SSR on the heat sink, you sink is designed to be mounted inside a box.  The box will need to have vents and probably should also have a fan to blow fresh cooler air across the heat sink.

Also you should have some thermally conductive grease.  You need to put a thin film of this between the SSR and the heat sink.  It helps the heat transfer to the sink better.
 
They do make heat sinks where the fins extend outside the housing, but your SSR is pretty much the same size as the top of your heat sink so there is no way to mount like that.  Looking at the photos of your SSR on the heat sink, you sink is designed to be mounted inside a box.  The box will need to have vents and probably should also have a fan to blow fresh cooler air across the heat sink.

Also you should have some thermally conductive grease.  You need to put a thin film of this between the SSR and the heat sink.  It helps the heat transfer to the sink better.
ill just leave the cover open some for now and order a small computer fan to put in.
Now can you tell me or show me how and what the breaker look like? R they like the ones in your house or is there something different I should use. Thanks for all the help I wouldn't have got this together with out u
 
I did a water test on it and I get right at about 32.2-32.5* and in boiling water I get about 206.5* about 5 1/2* lower than what water boils at
 
Did not ask this before, but where are you located (and specifically what is your altitude)?   Water will boil at a lower temp the higher the altitude due to Boyle's law (OMG, a HS Physics flashback moment over here).  So if you are in Denver, CO the temp of boiling water is 202* F.  The 212*F figure is for sea level and go down as you increase in altitude. So it is very possible that your reading of "boiling" water is correct depending on where you are (and since the ice water was spot on, this is why I ask about your location).

So first find out your altitude and then you know if what you are reading is right or if it needs to be adjusted in the PID.

and if it does need to be adjusted we can do that in the configuration menu also.
 
Last edited:
Here is a chart of the temperature of boiling water at various altitudes.  If your reading of 206.5 was correct, you are at around 3,000 feet elevation...
 [size=-1]TABLE[/size]  [size=-1] 1[/size]
 [size=-2]Changes in Standard Temperature and Pressure (in Hg) as a Function of Altitude[/size]
 ​
[size=-1]  (Ref. 1)[/size]
[size=-1]Altitude (ft.)[/size]​
[size=-1]Pressure[/size]​
[size=-1](in. Hg)[/size]​
[size=-1]Boiling pt.[/size]​
[size=-1](° F)[/size]​
[size=-1]-500[/size]​
[size=-1]30.466[/size]​
[size=-1]212.9[/size]​
[size=-1]0[/size]​
[size=-1]29.921[/size]​
[size=-1]212.0[/size]​
[size=-1]500[/size]​
[size=-1]29.384[/size]​
[size=-1]211.1[/size]​
[size=-1]1000[/size]​
[size=-1]28.855[/size]​
[size=-1]210.2[/size]​
[size=-1]2000[/size]​
[size=-1]27.821[/size]​
[size=-1]208.4[/size]​
[size=-1]2500[/size]​
[size=-1]27.315[/size]​
[size=-1]207.5[/size]​
[size=-1]3000[/size]​
[size=-1]26.817[/size]​
[size=-1]206.6[/size]​
[size=-1]3500[/size]​
[size=-1]26.326[/size]​
[size=-1]205.7[/size]​
[size=-1]4000[/size]​
[size=-1]25.842[/size]​
[size=-1]204.8[/size]​
[size=-1]4500[/size]​
[size=-1]25.365[/size]​
[size=-1]203.9[/size]​
[size=-1]5000[/size]​
[size=-1]24.896[/size]​
[size=-1]203.0[/size]​
[size=-1]5500[/size]​
[size=-1]24.434[/size]​
[size=-1]202.0[/size]​
[size=-1]6000[/size]​
[size=-1]23.978[/size]​
[size=-1]201.1[/size]​
[size=-1]6500[/size]​
[size=-1]23.530[/size]​
[size=-1]200.2[/size]​
[size=-1]7000[/size]​
[size=-1]23.088[/size]​
[size=-1]199.3[/size]​
[size=-1]7500[/size]​
[size=-1]22.653[/size]​
[size=-1]198.3[/size]​
[size=-1]8000[/size]​
[size=-1]22.225[/size]​
[size=-1]197.4[/size]​
[size=-1]8500[/size]​
[size=-1]21.803[/size]​
[size=-1]196.4[/size]​
[size=-1]9000[/size]​
[size=-1]21.388[/size]​
[size=-1]195.5[/size]​
[size=-1]9500[/size]​
[size=-1]20.979[/size]​
[size=-1]194.6[/size]​
[size=-1]10000[/size]​
[size=-1]20.577[/size]​
[size=-1]193.6[/size]​
 
Ok I have it dialed in now. Now when I calibrate it with my smoker do I need to bring the smoker up to temp and then calibrate it?
 
We are about 1476ish for elevation here. Any lower and the lake will swallow us up. We have been fighting a flood since 1994. Great politics we have here
 
Last edited:
At around 1,500 ft above sea level your temperature for boiling water should be in the 209.5* ballpark so you are only 3 degrees off in your reading on the PID.  If you want to change the offset to allow for that 3 degrees you can.  Procedure is very similar to what you did to change the probe sensor type.
  1. Press and hold the "SET" button on the PID for more than 3 seconds.  The display should change to show the setting field name in red and the value currently set in green portion of the display.
  2. Press "SET" again to move forward to the next setting field.  Do this until the red part of the display shows "PUF" (it's actually PVF but the V looks like a U).  The green part of the display should show 0.00.
  3. Press the "AT" button to change the value
  4. Then the "up arrow" or "down arrow" button to change the green displayed value until it shows "-3.00" (a negative number will increase the display off set by the amount enter, a positive number will reduce the display off set by the amount entered).
  5. Press "SET" to save the new value (should still show "-3.00").
  6. Press and hold the "SET" button for more than 3 seconds to exit the setup menu.
This is the screen you are changing:


It may read a little off in ice water after you change the off set, but 212* is much closer to the temps you will actually be working at in a smoker so I would dial it in on the boiling water temp.
 
The temp is fine tuned now. Now can you tell me or show me how and what the breaker look like? R they like the ones in your house or is there something different I should use. Oh and when I calibrate it do I bring my smoker up to temp and the calibrate it? So I can set the temp to say 150 and after it hits 150 then I can calibrate it
 
Last edited:
You can use fuses or "push to reset" type breakers.   Fuses are a pain as you have to keep spares.  In theory, it should not be tripping breakers or blowing fuses if it's wired correctly and they are safety devices designed to protect the components should something go awry.

There are various brands that look like this.  You drill a round hole and the nut holds it in place.  I would get a 2 amp breaker for the power to the PID and a 15 or 20 amp breaker for the power to the heating element (depending on wattage of the element and the gauge of the wiring).  You would want to protect them separately as the PID would fry a long time before a 15 or 20 amp breaker would even trip.  When the breaker trips, the center part (the white button with the 15 on it in this photo) will pop up about 1/2".  You push it back in to reset.

To properly wire a smoker with breakers you will need that terminal strip we talked about a while back.  Power comes in from the wall plug to the terminal strip and then goes to the different devices (the PID and the SSR/heater loop) with a breaker after the terminal strip but before the device.  You cannot use the SSR AC feed off the back of the PID in the final setup with breakers as if you do, they are still in parallel and it just won't work.


As to auto tuning the PID,  you just run the smoker.  It would work best with some sort of mass to at least simulate meat in the smoker.  You could put a couple of bricks in on a rack or a frying pan full of sand, or use real meat if you want.   If you mostly smoke at 225* then let it heat up to 225* and hit the AT button for about 3 seconds (until the AT light comes on).  Leave it alone and it will do it's thing.  What the PID is doing is a bunch of mathematical calculations on how the temperature is actually swinging up and down as the heating element turns on and off.  Once it learns the heat profile of your smoker it will anticipate when the heater needs to be on and hold the set temp much closer than a simple switch type thermostat.  If you tune it for a full load of 6 to 8 pork shoulders, the response curve of the pit will be different for 2 fatties.  But if you are fairly consistent with the mass of your meat from smoke to smoke you can tune it and pretty much forget about it.  If you change mass like in the fatty/shoulder example above, just re-auto tune it at the start of the smoke.

Don't get too hung up on auto tuning.  It will run just fine for a smoker with just doing it one time and forgetting about it after that.  These controllers can hold fractions of a degree in more critical applications - I mean it's not like you are opening valves to control the coolant in the core of a nuclear reactor if you follow me.
 
You can use fuses or "push to reset" type breakers.   Fuses are a pain as you have to keep spares.  In theory, it should not be tripping breakers or blowing fuses if it's wired correctly and they are safety devices designed to protect the components should something go awry.

There are various brands that look like this.  You drill a round hole and the nut holds it in place.  I would get a 2 amp breaker for the power to the PID and a 15 or 20 amp breaker for the power to the heating element (depending on wattage of the element and the gauge of the wiring).  You would want to protect them separately as the PID would fry a long time before a 15 or 20 amp breaker would even trip.  When the breaker trips, the center part (the white button with the 15 on it in this photo) will pop up about 1/2".  You push it back in to reset.

To properly wire a smoker with breakers you will need that terminal strip we talked about a while back.  Power comes in from the wall plug to the terminal strip and then goes to the different devices (the PID and the SSR/heater loop) with a breaker after the terminal strip but before the device.  You cannot use the SSR AC feed off the back of the PID in the final setup with breakers as if you do, they are still in parallel and it just won't work.



As to auto tuning the PID,  you just run the smoker.  It would work best with some sort of mass to at least simulate meat in the smoker.  You could put a couple of bricks in on a rack or a frying pan full of sand, or use real meat if you want.   If you mostly smoke at 225* then let it heat up to 225* and hit the AT button for about 3 seconds (until the AT light comes on).  Leave it alone and it will do it's thing.  What the PID is doing is a bunch of mathematical calculations on how the temperature is actually swinging up and down as the heating element turns on and off.  Once it learns the heat profile of your smoker it will anticipate when the heater needs to be on and hold the set temp much closer than a simple switch type thermostat.  If you tune it for a full load of 6 to 8 pork shoulders, the response curve of the pit will be different for 2 fatties.  But if you are fairly consistent with the mass of your meat from smoke to smoke you can tune it and pretty much forget about it.  If you change mass like in the fatty/shoulder example above, just re-auto tune it at the start of the smoke.

Don't get too hung up on auto tuning.  It will run just fine for a smoker with just doing it one time and forgetting about it after that.  These controllers can hold fractions of a degree in more critical applications - I mean it's not like you are opening valves to control the coolant in the core of a nuclear reactor if you follow me.
ok yes I follow. I think I should order that strip after all and hook it up so every angle is protected.
Thanks again for all the help. I will have to post again after I get the other parts for more hook up help
 
Looking forward to seeing the photos of the finished smoker (and the wonderful meat you will make with it!).

Glad I could help.
 
well today I hooked the pid to the smoker and plugged it in and I hit the AT button to program it and the light lit up like it should. I came back a little while later and it was off and the OUT1 was flashing so I unplugged it. is this normal?



b893e439_pid.jpg

I recalibrated it and its holding at 224.5* and the OUT1 flAshes. I assume this is normal?
 
Last edited:
I left the smoker on and I went and ate dinner and when I came back the temp was at 223.5 or something like that and the out1 was still flashing. if this is correct do I need to adjust the offset a little?
 
SmokingMeatForums.com is reader supported and as an Amazon Associate, we may earn commissions from qualifying purchases.

Latest posts

Hot Threads

Clicky