Given that I found the manual I had no trouble connecting the 25A SSR Solid State Relay DC:Input AC:Output for PID Temperature Controller and I even used the Heatsink Heat Sink for 25A Solid State Relay (SSR) which is tapped for metric screws, available at ace. I am using the K thermocouple and I had to use the programming adjustment to square the built in display with my Taylor 9842 Commercial Waterproof Digital Thermometer which I decided to trust more than my other digital thermometer.
I inserted the PID/SSR into the black wire of an outlet strip, so that the switch on the outlet strip and the SSR can both turn off the heating elements. I stripped the white wire without cutting it and wire nutted a pigtail on which I hooked to terminal 2, then I cut the black wire and on the hot side I put on two pigtails, one to terminal 1 of the pid, the other to one side of the SSR's AC side. Then I wire nutted a pigtail on the side of the black wire closest to the outlet strip, and attached that pigtail to the other side of the SSR. I even made pigtail color match the hot/neutral black wire/white wire. I didn't touch the green wire at all, if the wall socket is grounded the outlet strip is grounded.
I used yellow/blue to attach the low voltage SSR control circuit, I read somewhere that those are colors used for things that are polarized DC when there is AC around too. Probably just junk, but I didn't want to use any of the regular 110 volt colors like black, white, green, and red (alternate hot I think).
I was sort of surprised that anyone had trouble with the SSR hookup, there are labels on two sides of the device that describe all of the outputs, the SSR output is clearly labeled, if you just attach + to + and to it works. The default setting is for SSR output and according to the manual, for the P100 thermistor, although mine came programmed for a K (maybe because I bought a K at the same time).
There was no wiring diagram in the manual, but they note that there is no polarity for 1 and 2, that there is no resistor unless you have a P100 in which case the resistor is in the thermistor, that the internal relay can take 3 amps at 220 volts. Again, just match plus on the thermocouple to plus on the PID and ditto for minus. If you just want this device to be a temperature excursion device (like to warn if a fridge gets too warm or too cold) you set outp to zero and control the alarms with ah1, al1, ah2, al2. In that case, SSR pins are not used at all, the alarms are controlled by relays J1 (normally open OR normally closed) or J2 (normally open only).
If your heating element for sous vide is small enough that you can use the internal relay you get only one alarm controlled with ah1/al1 and the alarm is reflected on J1. J2 is set with the SV front panel temp. For that mode, you set outp to 1.
Setting outp to 2, the default, gives you two alarms, ah1/al1 controls J1 which has normally open and normally closed settings, and J2 controlled by ah2/al2. SV controls the SSR outputs.
I am not sure I have any use for the alarms at all.
To access the basic settings, set, then set the "pass" to 0089, then set again.
To access the PID parameter setting mode, set, pass 0036, set again. But those parameters are set by using auto-tune.
To access the temperature mode to set target temps for the alarms and the sv setting, set, pass 0001, set.
One thing I like about this device is that it is self programming. I didn't know how to set pid parameters and really didn't want to learn, but you push right arrow until AT lights, and it takes the PID through a couple of learning cycles to learn how much and how quickly the device heats and cools and then it sets the PID parameters for that combination of device and heater. The overshoot is a couple degrees during learning. Takes about 20-30 minutes but that is dependent on overshoot and cooldown rate, and you would probably need to do this for any new combination of container and/or heating element. If you are using an immersion heater to heat water in a cooler, say, it should be way different than if you use a rice cooker's internal heater. Once the PID parameters are set it comes up to temp without overshooting. I would not want to listen to a mechanical relay with this, it flashes power very often, although I see that can be controlled at the expense of some stability.
I doubt it could hold temp within a degree without the learning cycle. I am cooking eggs for the morning (I guess that is the first thing almost everyone sous vides and after some web searching, we decided on 142 for however long but at least four hours.) I just checked it and it was at 141, trying to gently push back to 142. After about a minute of gently increasing the pulsing proportions, it managed to get it up to 142 without overshooting.
My plan is to use a small rice cooker for anything that fits into it, and something larger (bus pan and corner attachment with dangling immersion heaters, or a big stock pot with dangling immersion heaters) and I would probably want to write down the parameters for the rice cooker before switching to the stock pot. The immersion heaters are probably a bad idea, I should just get a bucket heater but the cool thing is that the scheme of putting the outlet strip on the pid allows me to plug in whatever I want, so I can switch between heating devices easily. But I could read the parameters from the pid and write them down. That would allow me to put those parameters back into the PID so that I would not have to allow the PID to go through another learning cycle. The procedure is in the manual.
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I purchased this controller to use for a sous vide water water oven along with 11-1/2" Water Heater. Instructions are lacking. After much headache trying to set up an external relay, I found it much easier to use the internal relay on the controller, even though it's only rated for 3 amps. I am very pleased with its accuracy (using a PT100 thermocouple it reads to 0.1 degree F or C accuracy) and the stability of its auto-tune feature (it's able to hold within 0.5 degrees F for at least 3 hours). If the instructions weren't so vague it would have been perfect . I'd definitely recommend this to anyone wanting to DIY a sous vide controller, but experience with electronics is a must!Best Deals on Dual Digital Display PID Temperature Controller. Great for Sous vide
It is a great PID but it would be good if you send the manual and wiring diagram with the product.Honest reviews on Dual Digital Display PID Temperature Controller. Great for Sous vide
Perhaps I'm the only one that did not know this, but the red wire/spade connector on the pt-100 probe does NOT go to the terminal on the controller marked + (terminal #9). Red is not positive in this case!The red wire on the probe goes to terminal #8 (resistor).
The other two wires go to terminals #9 and #10.
Took me several tries to figure this out. Perhaps this will save someone a little time troubleshooting the EEEEE error message the controller displays when the red wire is not connected to terminal #8.
So far the controller seems to work just fine. I'll try to update this review when I have used the Sous vide cooker I'm building for a few months.
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I purchased a JDL612 controller, Thermocouple and SSR to try my hand a Sous Vide cooking. I set up a prototype system, Programmed it to the manual (and lots of links on the internet), connected it to a water bath in my Slow Cooker, set it for 130 degree F (SV) and put it into Learn Mode. It heated up through 160 F (PV) and was still climbing. I took it offline and double checked all my program and electrical connections, everything was correct. I tried it again (With cold water) and the same thing happened. This time I noticed that the OUT light on the front of the controller was OFF but the lamp on the SSR was still ON. I tried several other programming and Set Value changes to the same result. The lamp (OUT) would respond properly but the SSR stayed ON. There was 8.1 VDC coming from the controller at ALL times. Should have been 0 or close to 0 when the OUT light was OFF.I set the perimeter (outY=0) which should have disabled the SSR output, and it was still staying ON.
I have requested a replacement from Lightobject.com through Amazon but haven't heard anything back from them yet (approx 2 days now). I think the unit is defective but with all the good reviews I'm willing to give them a second chance.
I'll keep you updated.
2/2/2013 I received a replacement controller and the new unit corrected the SSR Stuck on problem. The replacement unit is now capable of controlling the Temperature to the Set Value. I still need to work on the PID perameters a little ( The SV=100 and the PV=99 ) after Auto Tuning.
I upgraded the rating to 4.5* from 1*.
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