We talk about today’s controllers, selecting the proper element for your, whatever your process may be. Whether you're doing a brew kettle, steel, a Bakelite oven, plastic infusion, we all know that most of those processes, precise temperature control are very important. We have precise control. And the one that I work with most often, there's two actually, there's the P ID, the proportional integral derivative controller. I liken that to cruise control in your car or your truck. It really a fantastic piece of equipment.
I'm going to put it together. It's going to take me a couple of hours, but it's well worth it. Now we're going to build a p ID and the person that wants those p ID wants it to, if they want to be 120 volts, so we're going to select everything for 120 volts. We're going to run off with a 20 amp circuit. Now the 120 volts 20 amp circuit, they're going to use a 2000 watt heater element, which is pretty standard. So we're going to build this to now additionally, they want to have a switch so that they can plug in a water pump or radio or fan or whatever the case may be. They want to work that separately from the element switch. So they want the P ID to operate the element but they also want to have an accessory plug to plug into and they want to turn that on, turn that off. I'll discuss that it's really simple once you get down to it.
The selection of parts is one that is very critical. I can't get the solid-state relay light to come on. Chances are in almost nine out of 10 cases. The problem is actually the incorrect p ID. And I've gone through this before I'm gonna go through it again. Because you really need to understand this and this works for all p IDs. P IDs are made by my favorites are my pen and ink bird. RX makes one that's a Chinese knockoff model but it's only in Celsius. So you can't adjust it and let it read out in Fahrenheit.
On all tonics, there are many makers, but they all have the industry standard of the models that they make. The ink bird and also like my pin there are both equal products. Here's what's so specific about that you can get tripped up because my 10 also provides this one, which looks exactly the same as a TA for both of them are to fours, and you'll see that it says a Model T a four, this is a Model T a four but there's a difference. This is an rNr. This is an SNR.
The critical link is only going to run you about 24 bucks. So you're going to save eight to 10 bucks. We're going to use a solid-state relay because of the amperage, the power that's going to be running across pins one and two. So this will take 24 to 380 volts of AC and it's got three to 32 volts of DC input. There's your little red light that comes on when it's activated. It connects those two pins. So we're gonna be using a solid-state relay, it says output relay, and that'll trip you up because this is not a solid-state relay. This is an internal relay. It's only rated at about point five amps or five. I think now it's not even five amps, it's point five amps at its rating value. If you try to use this as the internal relay on the P ID, you'll burn it. This is for a small operation and you're going to use the internal relay in the P ID.
The TA for SNR you can always tell about this because it says output SSR solid state relay. That means the output pins from the P ID are going to control this solid state relay on pins three and four to activate it so that pins one and two are connected and we'll get to that. Too many people have purchased the rNr, just to find out that after all that work and effort, they've got to either return this or chuck it stored somewhere, and just by the SSR model, ink bir aper does, there's just a little bit differently. What I've done is circled the one because you can tell by the model number the model numbers, the ITC 106 v H. It's 100 volts to 240 volts input, then it says quantity one piece, it's got one.
The instructions come in handy I know sometimes the instructions can be really confusing, it'll say the ITC 106 v H. That's the model number. It's a solid-state relay output SSR. The supply voltage is 100 to 240 volts that's what we want because we're going to be using 120 volts. I've had folks that have called in and we found out that they have actually got the Rh model. It'll handle the input voltage of 100 and 100 to 240 volts, but it's a relay output just like the TA for my pin. It doesn't operate a solid-state relay.
The solid-state relays and mobile bait made by fototec. Some of them are made by inkbird. Make some a couple of different companies make these this one says solid-state relay dash 25 da. So that's a 25 amp relay. We're going to be operating 120 volts with 2000 watts if we did the math, it would be about 16.6 amps. So it would be sufficient. Now if we're going to run 240 volts we're going to be running a larger heater element, I probably use the 40 amp solid state relay. Now they both look exactly alike with the exception of 25 or 40 and the 40 amp is a little bit beefier, so you'll be able to tell the difference if you put them side by side, 40 amp looks a bit larger.
It'll handle more amperage going across pins one and two. You always come within most cases it will come with this heat dissipator it just goes inside and it is where your solid state relay sets on so that the heat can transfer through this and these fans and keep it cool because they do heat up In order to aid in the heating of these p IDs, I use a small this is a 50 by 50 millimeter by 10 millimeter deep. It's a 12-volt fan and it runs about three bucks. Now you can get a 120-volt fan, they're going to run you anywhere from 30 to 60 bucks. It all depends where you get them but it’s kind of like dirt cheap, they're actually computer pieces of computer parts.
A 12-volt fan 12 volts direct current at point seven watts, which is a really low drawing fan. Now we have 120 volts going in, we don't want to use 120 volts to operate this fan. What we want to do is drop down to 12 volts. The integrated circuit transformer and the IR M dash 10 dashes 12. That dash 12 means it's a 12 volt. I'll do is don't see the pins on the back, I'll just solder my connections on the back and I use anywhere from 18 to 22 gauge wire because it's a very, very low amperage draw. It draws in 120 volts, and you have a neutral. It's AC in an ACL, that's the load and the neutral, so the black and the white. And then on the output, you have positive and negative and that is polarity specific for the fan. So I'll use a couple of jumper wires don't jump from any hundred and 20-volt circuit that I have inside the P ID, either from the P ID from where it comes in the box.
Now use a little bit of super glue and glue that to the bottom of the box so it just stays firm. I'll connect the fan when turns on. The next piece is I have a couple of options. A light switch. It is a top-rated 20 amps, a light switch for 120 volts or 240 volts at 10 amps. I've got the unlighted switch, but it's a light switch, just like this one is a ground. So you'd put your hot and ground and then when you turn the switch on, the light would come on the switch. The one's a lot, not a nonlighted switch, but it also has the ground.
If it comes with only two. It's all it is a switch just like you would use in your household. You'll have a hot wire going in and hot are going out and then the switch connects the two. So that's the next piece, another connection that we make is for the thermocouple and that is the Temperature Sensor. It's a K type temperature sensor. You'll always the thermal couples, you'll know that it's a K type directly when you see only two leads are red and the blue reds positive blues negative. What we'll do is we'll put this plug inside the box, I'll show you where that goes. Polarity specific and they're more positive and negative. You just put the wires then we have the plug itself. Unscrew that inside you'll have a positive and a negative, where the positive and the negative connect your thermocouple. Being polarity specific can only plug in one way you can plug it in backward, which makes it really neat. It only goes in one way and when you plug it in, it makes the connection. You can actually skip that and just wire it directly to the P ID.
I did it last time I went with GE right, it was just a method for getting the wire from outside to inside the box. Your wire goes in. The collar that goes outside and holds it. I'm gonna use 14 gauge wire and I just picked up the roll. Eight nine bucks for power their power cords for power tools. I've got small square plugs and small square plugs they're just receptacles. Cut the one-inch hole, the square hole for it to fit in, and then when it slides in Eclipse, it'll hold fast inside your box. Then the knife blades on the back are where your wires are connected to. You've got a ground, a hot and a neutral, and once you put that On, it comes with the back piece that slides right on it. When you close that it only goes on one way. It'll snap in place and seal and hold the wires in place and therefore you've got to plug.
This is a 20 amp 125-volt rail that was 100 a 20 amp 125 rated receptacle. It has your brass side for your hot wire and it's the silver side is the neutral wire. If you'd like to real simple, you can replace the lighted switch with a straight switch that you would use in the house. Because all you do is a hot wire that goes at hotwire. Every time you flip the switch it connects two pins and it provides power whatever it is you're trying to control.
Now we're getting down to the nitty-gritty because this is really great. If you use your plates, you can put the two side by side. You can also wire the switch it operates the bottom of the P ID controls the top or vice versa. You can turn on the entire process of the entire system. It's totally up to you. The other thing that we do have is the box. It's four inches deep, six inches wide, and it is about eight inches long. Most of the stuff comes in sizes and millimeters and just convert millimeters to inches inches to millimeters but it all depends on where you get a piece from.
The one is Ray milled, but that's that are the American measurements or the industrial measurements as four by six by eight and that's plenty of room you can actually go smaller, but that's plenty of room. Have a little bit of what we call thermal grease, it goes on top of the heatsink. I'll put a line of thermal grease and I'll place the solid-state relay, screw it down real tight, and just makes a solid connection between this solid state relay in the heat sink so that he does transfer evenly and equally.
I've covered just about everything that you're going to need in the pieces, the parts, and why the selection of the parts is pretty direct and straightforward. The box is just large enough to fit everything where I can draw ventilation holes so that the fan does his job and it just keeps it cool. I'm going to select the 25 amp solid state relay because I'm at max use with a 2000 watt element, I'm only going to draw 16.6 amps. So it will be plenty. If I was doing something larger, I'd use the 40 amp. So we'll set that aside. I am actually going to insert my pin for SSR. But it's the model numbers for SNR plus k plus k means the K type coupler that we discussed earlier.
I'm gonna use this for my coupler, it is a plug that goes in and I'm going to add two of my small square receptacles. One of them will be operated by a switch. I'm going to use the other switch to turn on the entire system so that the P ID lights up, and it's ready to go. Now, that's why I've selected the pieces, that will serve you well in the very near future or in the distant future. I'm going to put together this is going to run it depends on where you get it from.
So you can do it for less than probably I use an average of about 100 bucks. But the freedom and the precise control you have your process is priceless. You preset the parameters and then use the autotune function after you get it running to fine-tune those parameters.