New Brutus Style Rig

Comment by Kerry Gray on June 23, 2013 at 1:43pm

Hey Paul,

I'm in the planning process of a Brutus Clone at the moment!
This is by far the prettiest control board I have seen!
Did you do this build yourself?
Did you source parts locally?

Cheers, Kerry

Comment by Otto on June 23, 2013 at 9:18pm

Hi Kerry,
I did the build myself and sourced almost all of the parts off eBay.
I am I the process of upgrading to the bcs system which will be better for more consistent brews and future upgrades.
Have a look at embedded concepts.
If you are in Auckland around the weekend of the 20th July you could come have a look at the set up, take photos and gets some ideas.
Regards
Paul

Comment by Kerry Gray on June 24, 2013 at 10:44am

Thanks for pointing me towards BCS - I didn't realise how 'cheap' it is to go down that path.
I will defo look at going this was as well now as it shouldn't be too hard to alter the schematics.
I would love to pop over but I am based in Wellington with no plans to be in Auckland in the near future - thank you for the offer though.
Have you ordered any of the BCS components yet?  If not I would be interested in combining shipping to reduce costs a little.
Thanks :)
Kerry

Comment by Otto on June 24, 2013 at 11:01am

The bus has already arrived. And that's the only thing that I am buying from them. Everything else is coming from china via eBay. I am using the Arguing 4 channel relays they are only $5 and I have had good results with them on previous occasions.
If you want 3 way solenoid valves, they are brass but not a major for the boiling and mashing part, I can give you a contact in China. They were $19 us each and for 10 the shipping is $100
Hope this helps?

Comment by Kerry Gray on June 24, 2013 at 12:40pm

Awesome thanks Paul.
Do you have any BCS schematics you wouldn't mind sharing?
There are plenty around for element systems but I haven't spotted any for a 3 burner Brutus style setup.
Just need to figure out the gas side - did you use ASCO or Honeywell?
I'm possibly going a bit over my head with a BCS system, but even if it is solely for temp/gas control initially it should be too difficult and keep the pumps manual until I get my head around it.

Comment by Kerry Gray on June 24, 2013 at 3:00pm

I have located the below schematics for a setup along the lines of what I am looking at doing. Obviously this is PID and I imagine the BCS setup would be similar.

Comment by Otto on June 24, 2013 at 6:08pm

I will draw a hand sketch tonight after work (10pm NZT) and put it on here for you.
I used the 110v Solenoids off ebay, similar to this http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-Brass-12V-DC-1-2-Electric-Solenoid-Valv...

The only reason I used 110v was because I had a 500w Stepdown transformer and no 12v.
They work really well. I got some smaller 1/4" ones for controlling the pilot gas..
The pumps I use are http://www.trademe.co.nz/building-renovation/plumbing-gas/other/auc...

I picked them up for about $35 new. They work really well, and there quiet.

For the Pilot ignitors I used these http://www.ebay.com/itm/BBQ-BARBECUE-UNIVERSAL-BUTTON-ELECTRONIC-IG...

They are 3 Ignitors and the battery ignitor. I bought myn from a place called Payandpack.com for about $15 but the sites seems to be down at present.
Hope this helps, I will upload the schematics tonight.

Otto

Comment by Otto on June 24, 2013 at 11:33pm

OK, please dont shoot me for the rough drawing, sketched it up on my Tab in a hurry. But you should be able to get the idea.

I have housed all the relays and BCS inside a computer case (which also Houses the computer)

I pulled the from off the COmputer box and replaced it with a piece of perspex, and installed 16mm LED Indicators and push buttons.

They control the Pilots to the burners, and the CPU/BCS. There is also an Emergency Power Kill switch, this kills power to all the relays, which would then shut all the Gas off. But maintains power to the Computer and BCS.

Comment by Otto on June 24, 2013 at 11:35pm

Comment by Kerry Gray on June 30, 2013 at 11:25am

Thank you so much for the above information, it is really appreciated and clarifies what I had in my head.
I will start ordering some parts and put a build blog on the forum.
Thanks heaps!

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