Re: silvia PID
Greg, Ive just read your post about the PID dimming your lights!
Is your house still standing? Something very wrong with your wiring, which could be disastrous.
Get it checked for safetys sake.
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Re: silvia PID
My SD3C w/steam control arrived early last week and I installed it over a couple of nights. (I dont have much spare time at night and I didnt rush it.)
Installation is basically simple and straightforward but fiddly, as there is not that much spare space inside Silvia where you have to work, nor inside the new PID case.
Jims instructions are very good on the whole although I tend to agree with Kasas comments about some reordering and reformatting to help with clarity. You really dont need an electrical or electronics background, provided you follow Jims instructions carefully, as you are only really sliding connectors on etc. I should admit here that I am a qualified electronics tech, even though I dont work in that area. I bought Jims kit simply because I dont have the time to put into sourcing the bits and developing my own system, and I was getting a tried and tested system that would work properly from the start.
I reckon my shots taste sweeter and the steaming is awesome.
Lots more play time ahead!
Cheers,
Alan
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Re: silvia PID
I also have just purchased one of Jims Kits with stream and am very happy with it.
The espressos I was making with the Silvia were bitter even with temp surfing but no more, straight after the installation they noticeably better.
I think the the stream control is worth it to because the steam used to inconsistant but now is much better.
Overall I think the kits are very good if you are going to install yourself you need to give yourself time to fit it and dont rush.
But I agree with above that some electronics experience helps.
Marc
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Re: silvia PID
Ok I just installed Jims PID Kit with steam control, its good....
Instructions were good.... some reordering and formatting of the instructions might help the readibility....
Its definately not for the light hearted... if you havent played with electronics before I would suggest getting someone else to do it for you.
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Re: silvia PID
Yep mines got the steam control. The trouble with the standard thermostats is their wide dead range. Since a PID installation leaves the original thermostats in place, you can hear them click in and out, and its interesting watching the temps this happens. The brewing thermostat switches off at about 112C, and doesnt come back on until the temp drops to nearly 80C! The steam thermostat switches off at 145C and doesnt come back on until about 120C.
During steaming, this means the majority of the time the element will be off, making no attempt to recharge the boiler until youve almost finished. One way around this is to try to guess when the thermostats going to cut out and start steaming just before then so it stays on.
If you dont have the steam control, you do exactly the same as above except the temperature readout on the PID controller allows you to see what the boiler temperature is doing so it makes it a lot less hit and miss. With steam control, since the steam circuit is being controlled by the PID controller and not the stock thermostat, the heater switches back on as soon as the temperature drops below 147C and tries to recharge the boiler with steam while youre steaming, rather than waiting for the boiler to get down to 120C before it starts doing this. So its not critical to bleed the wand and start steaming at exactly the right time during the heating cycle. The heater cant keep up either way and the temperature still drops even with power applied, but it would certainly make the temperature and pressure drop slower than with a stock thermostat, which has a theoretical benefit for steaming performance.
Is it worth it? Only you can decide unfortunately which is why I put all the facts there. The benefit certainly isnt as much of a step up as the PID control over the boiler temperature, but it just removes almost the last remaining bit of temperature surfing (or perhaps we should call it thermostat surfing) from the system and allows you to steam with as much power as possible when youre ready rather than when the thermostats ready. If that convenience is worth an extra $50 or whatever it is then go for it; otherwise steaming will still be easier than it is at the moment just by having an accurate readout of the boiler temp so you know when to start. I dont regret all but eliminating the steam surfing though.
Greg
P.S. I should add that the PID intelligent controller is only controlling the boiler; the steam control utilises an alarm output which overrides the PID until the alarm threshold is reached and acts purely like a dumb on/off switch rather than an intelligent PID curve controller. The reason I make this point is that sometimes people think PID steam control is a waste of time because they think the steam is being controlled in this ever so fancy way which is important for brewing when 1 degree can make a difference, but would be totally unnecessary in steaming when temp swings of 10 degrees dont have that much effect. Its not the case; the steam control is a programmable PID override.
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Re: silvia PID
oh oki,
anyone have a steam option PID (from Jims)? is it worth the extra $$$ ?
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Re: silvia PID
Who knows how our meter box is wired up! Its certainly nothing like when an A/C (or lathe!) starts up, its very very faint but when its strobing once a second you can notice it.
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Re: silvia PID
agreed...
there was someone else, some time ago, who reported PID-caused pulsating lights, in the loo... cant remember who it was :-/
L
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Re: silvia PID
Yep, that will make quite a difference as your lights are on the same (relatively low current / high impedance ) circuit as your Bott....Originally posted by Lizzi link=1208986294/0#13 date=1209088259then again, we are juiced up through a 15A extension cord
L
But in the case of Gregs and my house..... they are on seperate runs back to the meter where they are joined - but onto a 90+A run from the street = very low impedance...... and a 4/5 A sudden increase shouldnt cause a significant voltage drop on a line of that capacity.
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Re: silvia PID
the Botts PID makes for a lovely light show on the 240V component of the bus system...the rangehood is the only 240V light in the system and it pulses in sync with the PID.
then again, we are juiced up through a 15A extension cord
L
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Re: silvia PID
Yep, that worried me also! I have a 4KW load (the twin group) switching quite frequently.... and on the dodgy power in WA..... and it makes no difference.......Originally posted by Kasa link=1208986294/0#11 date=1209087113Greg - it affects your lights in your house?!?!?!??!
There is something a little strange in the house wiring if a 1KW resistive load is causing light dimming :-[
The only thing which makes the slightest difference here is the inrush of current on one of our large air conditioners at compressor start up.... and even that is barely noticeable. And the PID control on the HT (up in the shed some distance from the power board....) also makes no difference.
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Re: silvia PID
Greg - it affects your lights in your house?!?!?!??!
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Re: silvia PID
I love the adjustability on mine and the support you get. I found the lights in my house dimming every second as the heater came on and off so a quick email to Jim directed me to the appropriate parameter in the PID and now Ive wound it out to a 20 second timebase. Obviously it takes slightly longer to stabilise its setpoint but the PID algorithm obviously takes the timebase into account and does an excellent job at supplying just the right power to hold it at setpoint. The lights in the house now only dim once every 20 or 40 seconds and then for a couple of seconds at a time rather than 0.1 of a second each and every second which was annoying.
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Re: silvia PID
Just order a S3DC brew/steam kit from Jim for my 3 month old Silvia. Cant wait to give it a try.
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Re: silvia PID
Heya,
My silvia used to do the steam spitting thing from the portafilter; im not sure if that means there is a problem though. I asked Ofra and Renzo at DiBartoli (where i bought her) and they said it was normal for a Silvia and Chris (2mcm) said i had a hot silvia!!
Hope that helps
-Sanch
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