BS Tuning Stage1

Osibisa · July 02, 2005, 09:57:28 PM

Hi. Just thought you might to see what I have been up to. Please do not do any mods if you do not know what you are doing. The following modification cost less than £50.00
Thermocouple is plug in and located in the back wall of the BS. Preliminary tests are good. Temperature remains within 2 degrees of that set. Many parameters are adjustable including differential and alarms etc.
http://82.133.94.191/~peter/mod1.jpg
http://82.133.94.191/~peter/mod2.jpg
http://82.133.94.191/~peter/mod3.jpg

Oldman · July 03, 2005, 01:43:28 AM

To bad you live in the UK~~! I bet you could sell a bunch of them here! The only suggestion (now it is too late) would have been to mount it somewhere else. This comes from personal problems I've had with the generator. I've have had to replace the generator on two of the BS I've purchased.

Nevertheless, it is a cotton pickin' nice job~~! First class!

Olds

3rensho · July 03, 2005, 10:04:54 AM

Wow, that is a beautiful mod. Really looks superb. I'd like to try it on my BS. Can you please give me some specific details on the controller and thermocouple and maybe some pix of the inside of the smoke generator where the controller is mounted and a detail of the thermocouple mount? I've been looking for some sort of 220V controller but have had no luck so far here in Switzerland.

Tom

Smokin' in Switzerland

Habanero Smoker · July 03, 2005, 10:51:27 AM

Very impressive, and compact too.

Osibisa · July 03, 2005, 11:50:35 AM

Many thanks for the remarks guys.

I am a little reluctant to publish an article because I do not know what the manufactures might say, or indeed if showing you how to do the mod would make me responsible if anything went wrong. It might even be that this thread will be pulled by the Gods...

I suppose an article with a disclaimer would be ok?

I do have some more mods to do yet. Perhaps even a series!!
May I suggest that you do not do any of the mods whilst your BS is under Warranty for obvious reasons!

Peter (Osibisa)

Oldman · July 03, 2005, 02:19:00 PM

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">I am a little reluctant to publish an article because I do not know what the manufactures might say, or indeed if showing you how to do the mod would make me responsible if anything went wrong. It might even be that this thread will be pulled by the Gods...

I suppose an article with a disclaimer would be ok?
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">Peter there are several postings on this site about addons for the unit. However, if you are worried about someone taking you to court because they burned up their Bradley then I suggest you DO NOT post the information.

Then again "after-market" items have been around as long as things have been manufactured.

EDIT: If you like you can E-mail to me your plans/ series and I will post them on the recipe site. While the information on that site belongs to the members, I own the site. I have no worries about adding your information.

In fact when I get off of my lazy butt I'm going to set up a catagory titled "How To Do Things." Or something close to that.

This way you can share your information and have no worries. As far as giving credit I would simply say that this information was supplied to me by a bradley member.

Olds

Arcs_n_Sparks · July 03, 2005, 05:38:40 PM

Osibisa,

Looks great! Are you driving a relay (on/off) control or using a triac (proportional) control scheme on the heater?

Osibisa · July 03, 2005, 07:57:10 PM

The relay is built into the controller. The controller can be programmed to "Pulse" the output from 1-99 seconds if required the "Derivative Time" can also be adjusted to prevent ripples by predicting output change, thus improving stability. There are 10 different variables that can be programmed into controller allowing an impressive amount of adjustments to be made. It also has intelligent PID, auto-tuning optimization. Basically put, it's quite a clever bit of kit.

Temperature range is -199~999 and the thermouple can be used in the range 0~1300 deg C.

Osibisa · July 03, 2005, 08:03:19 PM

Here's is the link for the controllers... Get them while you can. They come complete with thermocouple.
[:(!]wish I was on commission!!!

http://stores.ebay.com/ColdfusionX-Electronics_W0QQssPageNameZl2QQtZkm

Peter.

car54 · July 04, 2005, 12:25:29 AM

Nice looking!!! I have had my Bradley for over a year and have not regretted it. I have also thought what the next generation should be like and the electronic controller should be an option.

Osibisa, as ask before where and how did you mount the thermocoupler?
Also you said that this is stage 1, what is in the future?

Brad

Oldman · July 04, 2005, 01:24:30 AM

I'm not real smart about this but I'm a fast study. It say it has: 1m K type Sensor wire is included You said it had a thermocouple included.

This surely cannot be the thermocouple. If it is I can see that little hole there gumming up real fast with smoke oils. This there a "probe/ cover" that screws on to it?

As far as pricing that unit is dirt cheap compaired to what I've found so far. One of my supplier is Grander and the cheapest one they got is $159.00!

Thanks

Olds

EDIT: I found this warning and thought it was great~~! It is for installing a PID temperature controller on a home espresso machine to improve temperature control.
<hr noshade size="1">
**WARNING** The modifications described on this page reflect the author's own experience and are not intended to serve as a guide or instructions for others. These modifications involve tampering with high-wattage electrical circuits in a wet environment, which could result in electric shock, burns, other serious personal injury or death, as well as fire, explosion and other property damage. The author is not an electrician and the fact that his modifications were successful was purely a matter of luck. The author is not responsible for injury or damage to or caused by anyone foolish enough to follow his example. Before you tinker with an espresso machine or any home appliance, make sure you know what you are doing or get help from someone who does. Modifying Silvia voids any warranty provided by the manufacturer and/or retailer.<hr noshade size="1">

Now that is the best CYA I've seen in a long time.

Oldman · July 04, 2005, 02:02:16 AM

For those of us.... especially if you are like me, that have never seen a PID controller before this posting I will share with you this definition I found:

'PID' is an acronym for 'Proportional, Derivative, Integral.'
*Ok Olds scratchs head* ~~LOL!<hr noshade size="1">
Here's an analogy that explains how the PID works and why it is a good thing. Imagine you are driving your car down the street at 60 mph. Ahead is an intersection controlled by a stop sign. If you continue to travel at 60 mph until you reach the intersection, then slam on the brakes, your car is going to shoot through past the stop sign before coming to rest. If, on the other hand, you gradually apply the brakes well in advance of the stop sign, you can come to a controlled stop right at the intersection. (This analogy is paraphrased from an explanation in the Fuji PXV3 manual).

A stock thermostat is like the driver who slams on the brakes at the stop sign. The stock thermostat supplies full power to the heating element until it reaches a certain temperature, then cuts the power off completely. When the power is cut, the heating element continues to heat for some seconds until the heating element cools off; this is like the car skidding through the intersection.

Once the appliance is at the desired temperature, the PID cycles the heating element on and off at intervals calculated to hold the appliance very close to that temperature. <hr noshade size="1">Well that sure put the mustard on the sandwich for me... Now I understand. A little anyway. [:D]

Now I just have to figure out how to contact this company directly as I refuse to have my Credit Card Number Stored in anyone's data base. eBay requires that.

EDIT: I found this addy: [email protected] [:p]
Olds

Arcs_n_Sparks · July 04, 2005, 06:19:09 AM

Actually, that could be a thermocouple. Two pieces of special wire welded together and there you have it. That is what makes thermocouples so popular; cheap and reliable. The challenge is to compensate for their non-linear response, which is easy today with microcontrollers......

arcs-n-sparks

Osibisa · July 04, 2005, 07:59:43 AM

Hi Oldman.
The thermocouple is just like a "Stubby" probe. It does not have a hole in the end..[:)]

Oldman · July 04, 2005, 02:52:05 PM

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Hi Oldman.
The thermocouple is just like a "Stubby" probe. It does not have a hole in the end...[:)]<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">Good then it is just a speck in the photo~~! [^] That makes me feel a whole lot better.

Next, that coldfusion addy is correct. I have recieved back an E-mail from Marco with his phone number. [^]

The biggest question in my mind is the low price of this unit. I spent another 2 hours last night, after my last posting here, searching the net and nowhere did I find a unit anywhere near that price. Which brings up the question of quality.

The reason this flag comes up is in my industry, 22-25 years ago I started coming up with innovative ideas that at the time were laugh off by the industry's manufactures. Today everything I've ever came up with is standard on every machine. Little things like how to reduce the "then" required BTUs from 400,000 to 120,000 and yet being able to recieve just about the same end results. So close it did not matter. However, I learned real quick that this took quality parts. The the cheap ones just did not hold up. As I said, I'm a fast study, and if I get lost I know a lot of smart folks to help put me back on track.

I have a battle plan concerning what Osibisa did. While I really like the look of how Osibisa did his, I've have had just one to many generators replaced to go that route. I'm going to create a stand-alone-controller.

FYI I'm also working on a plan for a low yield fan for the inside of the box that will not require cutting holes in the box for installation. If plan A does not work then it will require drilling one small quarter inch hole in the box. The rest of the install is a few simple screws. It will blow at a slight upwards angle its low yield air directly at the heating element. If you were to untilize Osibisa controller with its thermocouple mounted a foot above that it certainly would be a win-win situation for all.

Once I do this I will bring it to the members, and of course with much photos!

Again, thank you Osibisa for sharing this controller with us!

Olds