DIY sous vide equipment

If you haven't already done so, I suggest you go to the eGullet forum and search under sous vide. THere have been many discussions of the topic and I think you will find some answers there.

Bobby, I took a quick scan on Ebay and saw at least one kit, PID controller, solid state relay, and RTD temp probe, $52 plus $23 shipping and handling. I bought my controller and solid state relay from Auber and the RTD probe from Amazon. If memory serves me all total I paid about $75 for every thing.
You don't say how much they are asking abut those three parts are tha heart of the system. It's easy enough to wire and get running and works well.If you get it and need any help on the wiring and such just let me know and I'll try to help you.

GeneK

Wow... A lot of info on egullet but I couldn't find exactly what I'm looking for. I went ahead and ordered a pid, ssr, and thermocouple for only $46 shipped. Now I'm trying to figure out what I will need to connect everything because it doesn't appear to come with wires or anything. Any info on what I will need and where to get it would be great since I'm trying to get my sous vide on as soon as possible.

Bobby, I'll be glad to help all I can. What is your back ground as far as building things, and wiring and such?
Starting with the PID, SSR and thermocouple, I added a terminal strip, a heavy duty 6 foot extension cord, handful of crimp on connectors and hook up wire. I mounted it all on an aluminum plate and started cooking SV.
Once you get a working system you can redesign into a nice package and enclosure.

GeneK

I have very little background in wiring but I am a biological engineering student and feel like I should be able to handle something like this. Wishing I had gone ahead and taken the only circuits class I have to about now. My PID, SSR, heat sink and thermocouple arrived a few days ago but I haven't really had a chance to look at it until now. I plan on picking up some hookup wire, crimp on connectors and an extension cord tomorrow. The main thing I think I will have problems with is stripping and connecting the extension cord. I'm a little confused when looking at the diagram associated with the PID. I don't understand how I'm hooking up power to terminals 9 and 10 and then 9 is also going to the heating element (or the female end of the power strip) and 10 to SSR 1.

Bobby, I have the data sheets for several pid controllers and none have power to terminals 9 and 10. Can you give us the ID of your controller where we can find the data sheet? I'm sure there are others such as myself who worked in electronics for the last 50 years who can help you decipher what needs to be done.
If I had somewhere to up load pictures, I could take photos of how I wired the controller I use on my turkey deep fryer.

GeneK

It's the Sestos D1S-VR-220. If you search "PID Temperature controller + 25A SSR + K thermocouple" on Ebay it will be the only one and you can see what I am looking at.

Bobby, I want to be careful because this is the first one that had power on 9 and 10. I used the Auber SYL-1512 for my sous vide and for a heat treating oven I rebuilt.
Having power to 9 and 10 is correct. Now to power the heating element, it needs to receive one side direct and the other through the control element, the SSR.
Think of wiring the PID to a power outlet, with a plug with pins marked A and B. A is wired to 9, and B is wired to 10. Now the heater element has a plug wired to it with A to one side of the element and the other side wired to B through the SSR. You notice that when both plugs a plugged in side A of the plug is the same as 9 and side B is the same as 10, so unplug the heater, cut off the plug and wire to 9 and 10 to save the cost of the second plug.

I hpe that's clear if not let me know.

GeneK