Re: PID'ing the Oscar

What I did was hook up the wires first, outside the box and then put it in.
Normally the controller is supposed to slide in from the front which would
make this difficult (though not impossible if you were to do the PID hookups
first and then hook up the machine end after) but my project box was just
deep enough that instead of a square cutout I did a U-shaped cutout (the lid
of the box acts as the 4th side) so I can slide it in from the side with all
wires connected.

My controller only has 10 terminals of which 6 are used, so this sounds
like the simple controller you are asking for. Unused (so far) are the 3
alarm terminals (al1, al2 and common) and the terminal for a 3 wire type
temperature sensor. OTOH, it seems like it is missing some features found in
fancier controllers, though it does have the basic PID and autotune function
that you really need. I don't have any fancy measuring devices but what I've
seen so far is that pulling a shot hardly perturbs the boiler temperature -
the PID is able to keep up with whatever heat the shot is sucking out of the
boiler (which is not much to begin with) so the readout remains about as
steady as when idling. Opening the steam valve of course drops the boiler
temp significantly. The constant little "blips" of power that the PID
applies when idling or during brewing are miles ahead of what the p'stat
was able to do even when it was new and the deadband was fairly tight. It's
my understanding that the SSR and the heating element don't mind being
switched frequently - in fact they probably last longer that way.


I used a plastic Radio Shack project box - if you score the plastic with a
box cutter, it will snap along score line like glass, which gets you clean
and fast cuts. For now at least the box rests loosely on the cup tray so it
doesn't take up extra counter space. The flat black plastic box is not very
classy looking but I'd rate it as innocuous - it doesn't attract attention
to itself, especially since the eye is drawn to the bright red and green
display and not the box. As a new form of kitchen entertainment I can watch
the temperature readout cycle up and down ....125.1, 124.9, etc. My family
was not impressed - they glanced at it for about two seconds when I pointed
it out and then ignored it, not comprehending the great technical
accomplishment that lay behind those numbers (or perhaps understanding and
not caring).

The one ugly spot for now is the cable control - for now the 3 cables are
just draped over the tray to the back of the machine. I've thought about
uniting them inside some kind of jacket but I've heard that you are supposed
to keep the thermocouple leads out of parallel with A/C lines. OTOH, I've
seen pictures of Silvias where all the leads run thru a gooseneck lamp flex.
Which is correct?


"Ken Fox" <morceaudemerdeThisMerdeGoes@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:44iraeF2e3fvU1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
"Jack Denver" <nunuvyer@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:oYSdnUC_gLl0hXneRVn-pg@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Hi Jack,

The biggest challenge is obviously getting a probe and having one from
Barry simplifies matters greatly.

Hooking the wires up would take a few minutes if it wasn't hard to get the
wires securely gripped in the back of the controller, inside of a
customized enclosure with little room to maneuver, to get the screwdriver
to tighten down, then move the controller into its final position without
having the wires exit from their appointed locations. I think this is a
case where someone could design a simpler controller without all the bells
and whistles and without 18 wire input options when one uses only 6 in the
typical espresso installation.

What has taken me time is trying to do a nice job, to end up with
something that is sturdy and not bad looking, either. Customizing a
project box with a drill and a nibble tool can be time consuming. Also, I
try to be super careful not to drill up into anything important, given the
fact that I've done under chassis installations.

If it was just a matter of putting in a probe, and hooking up the 6 wires
to the controller and 4 to the SSR, this would be a very quick job.

The original installation I did on the rotary (after Jim S. had hooked up
all the wires and made a very rudimentary project box for it) took many
hours but it lasted for 2 years and looked pretty good. The downside of
that installation was the separate controller box which took up counter
space and got in the way of using the grinder. This reinstallation took
much less time, since there is obviously a learning curve to this sort of
stuff.

Custom fabricating aluminum project boxes for electronic components is not
something I ever had any training in:-) It is also something I don't
enjoy much, and hope I won't have to do any more for the foreseeable
future.

ken




.

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