"Remote" control for e-HERMS system

[gr8shandini]

I'm just now to starting to plan out an e-HERMS system and I was wondering if anyone has tried making a "remote" control panel for their rig. I'm thinking of having all the line voltage stuff in a box under the brew stand and run a small wire bundle to a second, smaller box containing the PID(s), switches, and indicator lights. Ideally, I'd like to use something like a Cannon plug to connect it, but it's hard to find those at a reasonable cost.

Eventually, I'd like to build a smaller 1-2 gallon "stovetop" rig for experimental batches, and this way, I figure I can move the control box from unit to unit.

Any thoughts?

 

[Bsquared]

Look into a BCS-460 or 462. You could make a housing for it with disconnects for all the inputs and outputs to moniter temps, and control SSR in separate brewing power supplies . Also you can set up the BCS to be on a wireless network then you can control the brewey wirelessly from a lap top or smart phone/tablet. Also if you wanted to you could set up a third power supply and hook the BCS to and control a refrigerator or freezer chest to control fermentation control...

http://www.brewershardware.com/BCS-Brewery-Controllers/

 

[gr8shandini]

That's interesting, and fairly reasonably priced, however I'm not necessarily looking to go full digital or wireless. I'm mainly just thinking of keeping the heat sinks and heavy gauge wiring out of the way and having a smaller, easier to mount control panel.

I'm not entirely opposed, though. Do you use the BCS? How complicated is the software setup?

 

[Bsquared]

Yes, Ive been using it for about 5 or 6 years now. It uses an HTML based interface, so all you need is a web browser. It is fairly easy to hook up and get started with, and is very versatile. There are a lot of people on this forum that use it , and ECC (the manufactuars) have a good forum and wiki too to help with setting it up and using.

 

[BadNewsBrewery]

If you look at the 'standard' panels, what you're describing soudns like taking the entire face plate of the panel off and remote mounting that, and leaving the 'box' somewhere else. In short - all the controls and low-amperage equipment is attached to the face of most of the more common panels, and all the contactors / SSRs / outlets are in the main box portion.

So, yes - it's entirely possible. HOWEVER - if your panel has multiple PIDs and switches, it's going to be a LOT of wiring running to your remote. For example - each PID has 3 wires for the RTD temperature sensor, 2 wires for the PID signal to the SSR, and 2 wires for power to the PID (hot / neutral). Theoretically you could run 1 hot and 1 neutral to the remote and piggy-back it for all your devices, but you're still going to wind up with a LOT of wires running back and forth. Never mind that if you're looking for a single plug between the remote and the main box, that you'll be running power limited (low voltage DC - for the PID signal to the SSR) and power non-limited (120vac) in the same plug, which is generally considered a bad idea.

If you had a simple enough panel design - 1 PID, maybe a few switches - you could make it work, but it would start to become impractical pretty quickly. Take a look at some of the wiring diagrams around, or draw out your own, and start to visualize where all those wires would have to go and you'll see that there are a lot more than you expected.

-Kevin