Friday, 8 August 2008
Maybe next time, I'll read the circuit diagram.
My kiln kept popping the breaker. a 50 amp breaker, and it was supposed to only be a 25 amp kiln. This puzzled me for a long time, since the mechanical timers worked fine, and never popped the fuse. So I started to poke around and noticed the resistance in my setup. It was 3 ohms. That means 240V /3 Ohms = nearly 80 amps! I then remembered I could get the original circuit diagram from Cress, and looking at that, I noticed the coils were wired as 2 series resistors in parallel (4 coils total). After rewiring and checking resistance... 10 Ohms. Ah, much better, 240/10 = 24 amps.
I have no idea why my SSR didn't melt down or asplode(other than the active fan on it), or my circuit breaker didn't pop immediately. I'm thankful it didn't cost me another SSR. at $35 each, they are sorta pricey.
Moral of the story: check your wiring diagrams kids.
In other news, the kiln is working! The software needs a tad more automation to be useful. That'll be the next step.
