MYPIN PID Temperature Controller - Building and Wiring the Controller
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 8 ก.พ. 2025
- MYPIN PID Temperature Controller for Bullet Casting - Building and Wiring the Controller. Using the TA4-SSR PID Controller on my Lee Pro 4 20lb Lead Casting Furnace. These instructions should work equally well for the TA4-SNR and many other Mypin controllers.
This setup is not exclusive to lead furnaces. It should work great for smokers, home brewers, sous-vide cooking, or any other application that requires a PID temperature controller. Your thermocouple requirements will likely be different and you might want different size fuses, but the setup should otherwise be universal.
Wiring diagrams: drive.google.c...
PID Controller: amzn.to/2cLJWzv
SSR: amzn.to/2cCc9ph
Thermocouple: amzn.to/2ds4r7a
Project Box: amzn.to/2cLJCRc
Terminal Strips: amzn.to/2dufk81
Cable Clamps: amzn.to/2ds4zna
10A Fuses: amzn.to/2dueybf
1A Fuses: amzn.to/2dAr0lZ
Switch: amzn.to/2dApDDS
Extension Cord: amzn.to/2dApJve
Thermocouple Plugs: amzn.to/2cLJ3XG
Thermocouple Jack: amzn.to/2daqgWL
Fuse Holder (buy 2): amzn.to/2ds5wvM
Machine Screws: amzn.to/2dArrNh
Heat Sink Compound: amzn.to/2dskL3i
Rubber Feet: amzn.to/2cCcS9W
Terminal Kit: amzn.to/2dAr2dQ
Strippers/Crimpers: amzn.to/2ds5bt3
Step Bits: amzn.to/2cCcVSV
Heat Shrink: amzn.to/2cLK0PW
20ga Hookup Wire: amzn.to/2cCdwEn
Nibbling Tool: amzn.to/2mTwOxI
So I finally got everything in the mail and started my build. Looked at your diagrams and went to wiring. Got it all built and no power. Cr@p! Look around and found a loose ground wire. Fixed annnnd no power. What the heck! Thought about it for a bit and realized my dumb@ss didn’t put the fuses in. Bam!!!
Thanks Johnny👍🏻
I built mine in may 2020 using your video. And all I can say is THANK YOU!!! It works great!!! I just used a bigger box.
what 10A fuses did you use ??? his link is not working
@@CamaroZ28Nut3 thanks ....I really did not think anyone would answer............THANK YOU!!!
Thank you for another excellent video. One of these will definitely be on the bench in the garage someday. What has worked for me with getting heatshrink over braided jacket is to tightly wrap the frayed end with scotch tape, then remove it once the tube is past.
Oct 2017:Thanks Johnny’s Reloading Bench for a steady wealth of information and for the PID vid. I finished my PID unit this afternoon. The A note to others making one of these units; if you do not use the same PID as Johnny, then you will need to wire the PID according to the instructions that come with your specific PID. I’ve never successfully wired a light fixture. Now this, and it is successful. You are a good teacher Johnny! Ken
Thanks, Ken! I'm glad to hear about your success.
Thanks so much for this outstanding series! Including links in the parts list and adding the wiring diagrams is beyond expectations. I discovered an easy way to determine which of the two thermocouple wires is positive and which is negative. If you hold the bare wire (not with a terminal on it, just the wire) to a magnet, the NEGATIVE wire is MORE magnetic than the positive wire. It's easy to judge. With my wire, the negative wire was the only one that reacted to the magnet. The positive didn't seem to be affected by the magnet at all. Thanks again for such an outstanding channel!
Solid tip! Thanks! Glad my videos helped you.
I just built mine last night, the part's list & the wiring diagram was a tremendous help. While the video is long it is necessary to be this long. So I just want to say thank you very much for your help, And God-bless.
Johnny's Reloading Bench,
Great series! Thank you for your help with this. Like you I cut one of my holes too big. I hope you didn't throw that box away because I figured out how to tighten it up. Cut out the right size hole on another piece of metal and rivet it on. Put the new piece of metal on the inside and rivets on the outside. It doesn't look bad at all and you can save the box. Thought I'd pass it along. Thanks again!!
Why do I keep watching theses videos? I’ve allrdy built 2 of these for couple of my buddies. Sizing 5.56 and watch Johnny build a PID . Lol Awesome videos Johnny glad I found you’re channel
Thanks Johnny! First time I've ever tried to assemble any type of electronic device. With your excellent guidance I was able to successfully build one of these and it actually worked :-). I also used an 8 x 6 x 3.5 inch box to give myself some extra work room and the extra space made all the difference. Now to take my new PID and new lead pot and try casting my first boolits!
I want so badly to watch this but I can’t sit through how to stop a wire -- I’ll try later grateful you took the time thanks for putting this out there
I just finished my controller yesterday it works great. The only thing that I did differently was to run the probe that I bought off e-bay directly under the pot . I did use a #10 terminal under the spout ret. nut and the probe I got was small enough in diameter to slip in the end of the terminal. Also the SSR that came with the PID did not come with a heat sink I did buy some heat transfer compound and screwed it to the aluminum box . I also eliminated the thermostat figuring that I wouldn't be needing it . All in all it was a fairly straight forward project thanks to your detailed video and wiring diagrams. Great job and a fun project
I am here because of what you did for Elvis and FC. You are great!!!
Need
One thing I would like to add. If I was a Investigator over a electrical fire and it was traced to a component box, The first thing I would look at was the quality of Job the electrician did on wiring the component. If it was a rats nest of wing nuts and splice wire with electrical tape and shot cuts all packed into a Box that was too small, I would blame the electrician instead of a component Like a faulty breaker or circuit insulation. Just looking at the quality of Job you did without getting crazy earned my trust in what you have done, a quality job. Dave
I'm going to build one now that I've seen how you do it. Thanks again!!
Great job! As you mentioned very thorough. I'm Building several boxs for green house fans, maple syrup run off & so on. Just had a few thoughts. Having an electronics background I know the importance of having enough room to work on equipment after its installed. Might want to consider adding several inches of wire between components. Example if you needed to work on the pid. You could pop the clips & slide the whole thing out the front. A couple small snug zip ties or oversized (unheated) shrink tube work well. That way you can put cables together & allow components to be lifted out while everything else stays manageable. I also added enough box to have a small fan and a couple extra switches. All with led lights. In my case I have several components plug directly into sockets built into the box. Just some thoughts. Keep up the great work!
Great idea, thinking ahead in the event that repairs are needed to the components. I was also thinking about installing a cooling fan to assist with airflow.
Idek what he's making here, I just woke up and this was playing, last thing I was watching was a stuck shell extractor, but I'll watch this anyway, Johnny is pretty entertaining
Самое подробное и понятное видео о сборке,да еще со всеми ссылками на используемые материалы-видео просто супер,спасибо большое.
Thanks!
This is a wonderful video series. Thanks so much for sharing, it came at just the right time for me as I'm building a heat treat oven for knives. I have watched countless videos and read countless blog/forum posts and this is by far the most clear explanation of the wiring of a PID control box I've seen. There are a few things that are different over here in the UK, such as terminal blocks, we can buy the ones you used on ebay but I just need to make sure they're suitable for our 240 v AC. Other than different colour wires I can pretty much use your layout. Thanks again, Matt
Johnny, you may want to consider replacing the existing thermostat on the melting pot with the PID controller and let the PID controller do all the work and then you will have all the reserved heat you require. Just a thought. Your idea is great and thanks for sharing. Best regards.
Thanks for all the info. And parts list, got mine together and it works. Thanks again.
hi Johnny, what a thorough and easy to follow instruction, thank you very much. Re. the thermocouple wiring I should like to add that the controller measures the temperature difference by means of the voltage difference between the wires, ie the temp diff between the thermocouple's bead (tip) and the cold junction at the end of the sensor wires (at the plug). As there probably is not much of a temp difference between the internal sensor in the controller and the connector in your cases front panel, it should be ok to wire the internal connection inside the case from the k-type socket to the controller rear connector using normal copper wire. It might even be better, because I wouldn't trust these connectors too much. Higher end (=expensive) connectors have some internal electronics to measure cold junction temp in the plug and feed this back to the controller (but that's not the point here for the lead pot)
Awesome video. Your a great teacher! Many thanks for putting this together for us. It’s been a great help and incredible resource
What a great video just ordered all the parts and cannot wait to begin The Project really looking forward to it thank you my friend
Joe Johnson how did your PID turn out? I’m building mine now.
Great Job...just built mine here in Australia using your great instructions...the only issue Im having is that 1Amp fuse for the controller. My fuse burns out after around 5-10 mins of operation. Thinking about beefing up the 1 amp fuse a bit...the instructions I got with my Mypin TA4 indicates up to 5 VA consumption. I'll let you know once I get it sorted. Thanks for putting all this great info up.
@ 35:00, don't bother crimping wires, if you want a solid, permanent, consistent, electrical connection, always solder them into the connector. Solder makes the wire and connector one with each other.
Hi Just like to say that I built one and tried it out on .457 hard cast bullets for 45-70. The difference in weight variation is now 1.2 grain MAX. Before with my lee pot I would get 12 grain variation between bullets. I'm expecting great things at the range!
Hello I just want to say thank you for showing me how to build a pid I have a lee pot and for the past 8 weeks I have been on youtube trying to find a step by step on how to build on and what parts to order I am placing my order know and I saved you videos so I can watch it as I am building it will let you know how I make out Thanks again mike
Thanks, Mike! I'm glad you found them helpful!
Great job very clear as to what goes where best I have seen!!!!!
Hay Johnny on the little blue thing on the turmoil i had 1 to come off I put heat squires on all the wire and it worked pretty good
Thanks for the great vid. Finally built mine and works great. Keep them coming man
So far I am able to regulate temp with a lead thermometer. But the p.i.d. looks slick.
On your shorting bars for your bus bars, if you bent them down rather than up, you could still connect wiring to them on the same screws as the shorting bars.
Awesome video series!!! I've been wanting to build one for some time now. Your video series is just what I needed!!! I will probably go with a slightly larger Project box.
I'm also considering installing a cooling fan for additional airflow. Your thoughts on this would be helpful, also not being a electronics kind of guy, would I wire the fan to the power supply, so that it's on when the unit is powered up? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks again for the outstanding video series for this project!!!
The thermocouple is good for 800F. That means the inner braid and the stainless steel outer braid is probably tolerable for temps close to that as well. It should certainly handle the 200F-300F required for the shrink tube.
Its a huge amount thermal paste! The purpose of thermal paste is to fill the valleys in the Material of the heatsink and the SSR. You can scrape the thermal paste from both pieces and that whats left is plenty enough. The high spots (peaks) of the material doesnt need thermal paste.
Holy thorough Batman! Nice video. Thank you!!!
Johnny you should take a look at the Channellock brand wire crimper, I've wired quite a bit of stuff (audio, lighting, switches, etc) in cars and those are absolutely my favorite crimpers, you can grab onto them things like a gorilla and not worry about bending them, I also really like my Klein automatic wire strippers, they save a lot of time and frustration and sore hands
I Build projects in boxes like this for my job.
You could have saved yourself some heartache over the finish of your square holes by scribing your lines lightly with some calipers. Then cutting or drilling inside the final lines 1/8 of an inch. Then used a file to bring the hole out to final dimensions. Then buff with scochbright to hide any scrib lines left over
thanks for your video cant wait to build my own
Wow....really tell me more......i have 4 months off..... amazing
Just wanted to throw in my 2cents.. you said you didn't want to introduce copper wire or other metals in between your thermocouple and PID, however you are with your bulkhead connections.
You would of been better off just to delete the communications all together and wire it in straight to the PID. Right? And with a grommet on the face of the box. Nice and clean w/no other connection or other metal to throw things off or cause problems.
When you were having thermocouple issue it may have been that you had the wrong thermocouple wire connecting to K thermocouple. K wire would be Yellow (pos) and Red ( Neg ). If it had a blue wire it would have been T thermocouple wire.
outstanding job, getting ready to purchase the materials. One quick question what are the demisions of your project box? excellent series. Thanks
7"x5"x3" is the size I went with
Thank You, great video. I am building one for myself. This was the last thing that I need to order. Really like your channel.
Hi, Johnny! Thanks so much for the incredibly detailed instruction. Just a couple of questions for you: 1.) The thermocoupler I purchased already comes with the male connector attached. Is it absolutely necessary to still cut the wire apart to connect it to the PID
Or can a different wire be used for it this connection? 2.) Since this video series is three years old, some of the items are no longer available. The terminal strips need to be 25A or can a different one be used? Many I see on Amazon now are 15A. 3.) is there any danger using an 18 gauge extension cord? You recommend 14 g. I apologize for the questions, but I’m not a knowledgeable electrician and don’t want to do anything to burn the house down or electrocute myself. Any insight would be greatly appreciated! Thanks again for the great instruction!
Finished mine, finally. Wow, those Thermocouple wires gave me a headache. I found out that I don't have anything that will cut the braided sheath and I cannot actually see the thermocouple wires without my reading glasses.
Thank you for all the effort.
Master class on PID controls box,,, you are the Man!! thanks so so much!!!! one only thing,, why are you linking the T-couple + Which is red, in the negative side of the plug?
There are some kits on Ebay now, saves all the hassle.
same question
Best way I found was to pull the shield to one side twist up and a pigtail and tape it down or put some heat sink over it.
Sometimes I watch your videos but then half way threw my left hand cigarette I realize it's not me making the video. I'm pretty sure if you went threw a day as me you still be you lol.
I built one followed instructions you gave exactly and I can’t get mine to shut off it just keeps raising the temperature past my setpoint. Something else I noticed is it heats the pot up A lot slower than when I plug it straight in the wall. I hope I get a reply, I really wish people would answer their comments section a lot do not. Thanks for the videos.
All this PID setup does is turn the power on/off to the pot (based on the temperature it reads from the probe). If it is full on (and the wiring is ok), the solid state relay is probably shorted. If it is slower than the pot by itself then the SSR would have to get very hot, or it could be conducting half cycle and not conducting the other half. In either case the SSR is likely the problem. Some of the cheap SSR's are bad out of the box.
cool video can this work on a toaster oven for tempering knives thanks very much
???
Just for clarifications sake, the thermocouple wire is cut and used to wire in the thermocouple jack to PID. The extension cord is cut and used to wire everything else except for the neutral to PID & SSR input to PID, correct? Those three connections would be the 20g wire you linked to on Amazon, correct?
Correct, I think. The large gauge wire from the extension cord only goes to places that can accept the large connectors easily (terminal blocks, enclosure chassis, SSR, etc). The 20ga wire is used for all connections at the back of the PID except the thermocouple connection, which uses a segment of the thermocouple wire. Those 20ga connections at the PID would be power, neutral, and the + and - control wires to the SSR.
Thanks. I got a notification that the last of the parts I needed arrived yesterday and I suddenly realized I'd figured out pretty much everything but the actual wiring. I'm hoping to have a chance the next time I'm home to sit down, put it together, and get it auto-tuned.
Good stuff, thank you.
Johnny are you going to need a fan on the het scenes to help cool things
ordered half the stuff to make one . got 8×6×3 1/2 box so not so crowded . the other ones u made the other side up . did u just make wires longer to connect top to bottom ?
why are you using solid state relays wouldn't a magnetic definite contact be better last longer and not really get hot they are a little bit bigger but. just curious how the ssr will hold up. the dpr i guess isn't really made to cycle on and off a lot maybe thats why the snr is better
If you tinned the wire ends and put a loop in them... Could you then save space and worry less about clearances?
Can you use a 40 amp SSR?
Great Video; I have a query on your wiring diagrams. The HOT side is wired to the BLACK block connector and the common is wired to the RED block connector, is this an error ?
Hey Johnny - adding up all the parts got pretty expensive. Plus, some are no longer available from Amazon. I’m thinking about just buying the complete unit from Ballistic Recreations. It includes a different but similar PID Controller. Have you looked at the one they sell?Thoughts?
Thanks!!
I'm wondering why the fuses are needed?
Can I use regular wire on the thermocouple jack to the pid controller or does it have to be the thin thermocouple wire?
The wires used for the thermocouple are made of specific metals, so the safe bet is to use true thermocouple wire. In reality, you can probably get away with a small segment of regular wire. Just test it with freezing and boiling water to make sure the regular wire isn't throwing off your readings.
@@JohnnysReloadingBenchI went ahead and ordered and extra thermocouple just for the wire, if I'm using a plastic box I shouldn't have to ground it out like you did would i?
That's correct. No sense in grounding a plastic box. Good luck!
@@JohnnysReloadingBench it should come together pretty good, it's about an inch or so bigger on each side than the metal one you used
A pair of cheap scissors cut the braided cable no problem at all. Just unravel a little bit helps.
Johnny
Just followed all direction like you showed in the video. Only difference is my box was a speaker box (wood). So grounds were capped off. Everything worked perfectly on on the signal side. However the female out plug that leaves the unit that plugs into my furnish shows “hot/lead reversed” on my tester. It’s dead no power to it. Can seem to find the cause no matter what I switch around. Any suggestions so I can start my casting? Thank you Charles.
a little off topic for this video, but have you considered testing different powders for 300 blackout (subsonic) in regards to testing which powder has the quietest dB results, yet will function in a ar platform.
Probably not. I don't have the proper test equipment to do that. By my unscientific ear tests, I don't hear much difference between powders.
Awesome Video...
very entertaining video
Hey on the lead pot the increments 1-9 are they supposed to me degrees in Fahrenheit I.e. 1 = 100'f
Put some insulting tape on the opposite side of the lid and call it a day. From a regulatory standpoint you need 6mm clearance but given it's DIY just send it ;-)
what green knife is that? thanks
Hey man. I'm building one of these and I'm making up CAD drawings that can be printed out and taped/glued to the project box so you know where to cut out. Do you have a blog or something where they can be uploaded? If not I can crosspost everything to thingiverse and give you credit.
What is the reason for using the yellow connection to the temperature probe? why not just straight into the PID controller?
So you can use diffrent probes in diffrent applications. Avoiding criss contamination. Dont want to use your lead pot probes to try and measure an chemical distillation.
Just curious if anybody made this using the same box right side up and mounting everthing on the sides? Once I get all the parts, I will lay it out to see what it looks like mounted sideways.
It would be nice to see if someone else had the same idea?
Nice job!
Has anyone encountered any problems of this unit over-heating since there is no air moment through the unit ?
I'm using a mypin ta4 snr, it should be the exact same on working shouldn't it?
I see that your setup has what appears to be a 110v input and output cables.... can this be used for a 220v as well? I am working on building a powder coat oven and wondering how this could be used for 220v and connected to the heating element.
Thank you
Why would my thermocouple temp go down instead of up after wiring it to my ta4-snr
For some reason, the wiring diagram link isn't working. I was looking at it yesterday but now it's down or something =/
Here is a new link. Not sure what happened.
drive.google.com/drive/folders/0BxMxNQO4vYQdNC15SE9Ybk9XUnc?usp=sharing&pageId=102062266835336610137
Thanks, appreciate it!
I'm using this to regulate temperature in a small kiln, but I keep blowing the 10 amp fuse every time I turn it on; not sure what to do to fix this.
Hi I need to build a temperature controller for my smoker what I need is for the blower to kick on when my temperature go below what it's set for I need help I need help with the wiring and I need to know witch PID to get
I built one and mine gets very hot ?
I solved the problem.. I up my wire gauge from the power fuse to the power switch Fixed... Runs nice cool now...
Hi johnny, i would love one of your PID's, ive seen elvis ammo and fortune cookie use them and they look fab. Could i buy one from you??
how is controller held in place?
I built mine the exact same way you did, and it doesn’t work. Temperature controller lights up and out1 light is on. Light on ssr is not lite up also. I have power to and from fuses and at #2 of the ssr. I have no power to the outlet side of the box. Thoughts???
I had a bad temperature controller... works GREAT!!
Does a RTD Thermocouple work for this PID?
Do you sell your PDI?
does anyone make these completed for sale
wiring diagram link broken on iphone.
It's working ok on my computer, android phone, and ipad. Try it again...maybe it was something weird going on for a bit? If you can't get it working let me know and I will email them to you, or something like that. Here's the link again: drive.google.com/open?id=0BxMxNQO4vYQdNC15SE9Ybk9XUnc
Try scissors next time on cutting 'insulation wire mesh'
Wiring diagrams link is broken
Fixed now! Sorry about that.
oops just saw it...I did not get those with controller
I would NOT recommend folks modify their melting pot. Leave the pot's control knob circuit in place as a safety device. Turn it up enough that it doesn't cycle at your normal temperature. If for some reason the PID setup locks on and delivers continuous power the lead pot will regulate itself by the knob and not head for 1300 degrees or whatever it is capable of. A number of accidents can be avoided this way. As long as the pot's control is high enough to avoid cycling during your use it isn't hurting anything. You might turn it up full during the initial melt and lower it later, especially if you are going to step away for a couple of minutes, just as a limiter. The quality of these low cost SSR's (solid state relay) is not perfect, and the fuse won't help if the SSR just sticks ON. Then the only limit will be the pot's own control. If you remove it there will be no limit. Be safe.
TL:DW put in watch later
It's a large meal that might require small bites.
Had you bought American the thermocouple leads would of been red and yellow or green and white and of those the negative is red or white respectively. These foreign thermocouples go by national color coding and everywhere else in the world the red is positive. More specifically the British standard has red and blue wiring with a red positive. Go figure.
Why is my 220 mypin pid not stopping at my set temp?