Help finishing oven plz! labelled pictures inside/ will paypal $ for answer

[dxc]

Hi everyone. I bought some other guys unfinished oven project a while ago (it was built but not wired) and have recently tried to start to work on it. I have been lurking around these boards for a while, and looking at other people's wiring diagrams, but I get lost since people have more elements/fans/timers and other bells and whistles. my oven is pretty barebones.

I have the following stuff from mcmaster (from previous guy that put oven together):

XMTD-3011 Controller
NCK3-40/2 - contactor ( i looked this up and it said 240v ... is this the correct one to have for my 110v oven??)
a fin style heating element

My basic general understanding (please correct me where ever I am wrong) is that:

-power goes from the "Main power switch" to the controller
-wire goes from controller to the contactor (and the controller uses the temp sensor to know when to turn on/off the power sent to the controller)
-1 side of heating element is connected to contactor
-1 side of heating element is connected to controller

I am wondering if someone could just help me out by looking at the below picture ... I just want to get it done so I can start working, and am even willing to paypal someone $10 dollars for the (correct) answers.

I labeled all the connections with numbers/letters. If you could just tell me what to connect to what, I can get up and running!!




I figured this information would be pretty beneficial to all other n00bs. I know everyone says to search the forum and the answer will be there, but I sifted through a few posts and couldn't find anything specific enough for my application.

[dxc]

front picture of the xmtd-3011 controller:




picture of heating element:

[ed_denu]

A little additional information would be helpful.

What is the size of the oven. At 120 vac you will be severely limited in heating any oven. On a 20 amp circuit you would be limited to about 1900 watts. What is the voltage and wattage of the heating element?

As far as your questions:

-power goes from the "Main power switch" to the controller - Correct, but you need to know which terminals to use. What is the wording under the K & L terminals?

-wire goes from controller to the contactor (and the controller uses the temp sensor to know when to turn on/off the power sent to the controller) - yes and no. Controller connects to contactor to turn power on and off to the element. The controller does not power on and off.

-1 side of heating element is connected to contactor. Correct, if using a 120 vac element, switch the line or hot wire.

-1 side of heating element is connected to controller. In some cases possibly, but not usually. Other side of element is normally connected direct to the source. With a 120 vac element, connect to the neutral feed.

Normally you would not use a 240 vac contactor to switch a 120 vac element. This looks to be a 2 pole contactor and could require 120vac, 240vac or 24vdc input power. Is it marked?

The xmtd-3011 controller is rather old I believe. It appears from the small schematic on the back of the pid that the D, E & F terminals are used for an alarm setup(not needed) and terminals G, H & I work as a double pole switch(probably to control the SSR or contactor). If you are confident of your electrical skills you could use a multimeter to try to determine how these contacts are working. Without a manual it may be difficult to determine how to hook this up unless you find someone who has one up and running. You might also try a 'kiln board' as I think a lot of these were used as kiln controllers.

Unless your finances are limited you might be better off purchasing a new pid and SSR from somewhere like Auber Instruments.

[dxc]

hi ed_denu, thanks for the reply.

the size of the oven is about 24" wide x 24" long x 36" high - is the single element/voltage enough for this size? i thought it was a relatively small oven size.

the lettering under L and K terminals says 120vac/60hz.

the small paper manual that came with the xmtd-3011 doesnt provide much useful info.

... what new controller and SSR do u recommend? how much do they cost? i will look into them for future oven build .. but i want to somehow just get this oven up and running. the contactor is not really marked other than what is currently seen.

is it possible to get the oven running on the current components pictured? any leads to any kiln forums?

thanks a lot for your help!!

[ed_denu]

Is the element wattage marked? This would determine if it is sufficient to heat the oven. But again you will be limited to around 1900 watts using 120vac. Also the contactor is limited to 20amps.

The L & K terminals will be the input power connections. Unless it is marked for polarity, it 'should' be able to be connected either way(+ -). Check the manual to see if it specifies. You state that the manual has little useful information, but anything it specifies might be useful if you could note it.

If the contactor is not marked for input voltage I'm not sure how you would know. I searched and found that these devices can have 3 different input voltages as I previously noted. Again, if you have a multimeter and are confident in your electrical skills you could try some measurements. If not I would try to find a competent electrician to help you. As for the relay side of the contactor, the L1 connections pass thru to the T1 connections, etc.

As for selecting a new pid, ssr, etc. it would depend entirely on the size oven you are looking to build. All components need to be matched together. If in doubt, buy a larger capacity SSR as it can always handle smaller loads.

I don't watch any specific kiln forum, so I would just do a search and see what you could find.

[dxc]

ah now i see where the guy who started my oven build got these components ... a mix of mcmasterr car ... and this ebay guy

http://cgi.ebay.com/Kiln-Temperature...QQcmdZViewItem

no one else is using this controller?? i thought it was a popular one. i see the other thread where modeltruckshop mentioned it, but it looks like he is in the same boat as me. hopefully this info can help us both!

[dxc]

good question about the wattage of the heating element ... i see multiple wattage elements for my heating element, but im not sure. i assume it would be 1900 ... is 1900 relatively small? here is a link to the page on mcmaster-carr

http://www.mcmaster.com/mcm/204.asp?...=Heat+Elements


i think i can do the basics of eletrical work ... i am just trying to do my homework as much as possible right now

[ed_denu]

I would think the element would have some markings on it as to the wattage. Sometimes very small stampings, could be most anywhere. From the McMaster site it looks like 1900 watt is the largest 120vac strip element they offer. If so I think it would work for this size oven.

For the pid you still need to figure out a couple of things. First is how output terminals G, H & I work. From the diagram I would assume that the G & H terminals would be normally closed and the H & I used for normally open. Again if you are ok doing electrical testing you can verify this with a multimeter. If this checks out then I would try hooking a hot feed to terminal H. Then connect terminal I to one of the input lugs on the contactor(5 or 6, not sure if they are polarity sensitive). The other contactor lug would then get a neutral feed. The hot feed for the element is switched thru L1(1) and T1(9) as mentioned before.

The ebay listing states that he can supply contactors with either 120vac or 240vac coils. Assuming the original buyer purchased the 120vac then you will be ok. If not, then the coil will not close and the element will not be provided power.

I'm not sure this pid is popular or not. To me it looks like a rather old and somewhat simple design. Many of the newer types such as those sold by Auber have auto tuning and the ability to set various parameters, etc. I did find this thread discussing the controller and contactor(dated 2003) http://www.diybanter.com/showthread.php?t=11600

[dxc]

ed_denu, thanks for all the helpful input! i just got home from work now, so im going to eat dinner then run into the garage to test the terminals! i will post back with my findings.

[nuttyman]

I have the same controller set-up. email me & i'll send ya the schematic I wrote.