
- #Horizon eclipse pellet stove control panel how to
- #Horizon eclipse pellet stove control panel software
It's a lot of detail but it's necessary, in my opinion, for you to design your system. I hope you see where I am going with this. Is the control based on the demand for heat - that might be indicated by room temperature? Is there a minimum flue temperature (to prevent any buildup on the chimney)? Is there a maximum flue temp?įor the auger control - would you expect the auger to simply run or not run - or would the auger speed rate be variable? What kind of power does the auger need. If the things you might control are the auger and possibly a damper then you need to describe what inputs or information is needed. Is it an auger only? What about dampers - inlet or outlet - to control air? You might first sketch out the pellet stove - what goes in - what goes out - and what you might control.
#Horizon eclipse pellet stove control panel software
I'd start with a large piece of paper or a software equivalent so that you can make a block diagram of your system. It sounds like your goal is to design your own control board. One stove in particular used just a stoker timer to run the stove, snaps for saftey, high and low limits etc. Buiding a stoker control is very doable for someone that understands the timers and relays used. It is not the correct component for the application. I used an ac422 timer on one machine as an experiment and it worked fine, but are expensive and have no duty cycle on the relay side. On low with a 1rpm auger the timer runs about 3.5 seconds on and off, on high the one time is longer and the combustion fan comes up a bit, that's it and mostly they run fine. There are no controls that automatically adjust auger speed when burning. These machines are not hi tech but all have high, low limit snaps for safety. All augers in these stoves run off a simple constant speed timing circuit and most have trim controls for fine tuning for different mfg fuels. I have retrofited several of these stoves with other boards, still keeping all saftey snaps in place and even adding some that should have been stock. Perhaps you can hook up with a local pellet stove dealer and their serviceman for some guidance. You can set yourself up for costly failures. I would suggest that you go at this VERY METHODICALLY and WITH CAUTION. Flue temps also should be considered for long term reliability and fire safety. If you don't get burn temps in their proper ranges, you end up with inefficiency, poor combustion and "klinkers", and possibly too high temps that can damage stove internals depending upon the quality of metals/castings used. An even better circuit would also feature a sensor to monitor temps in the room to adjust the fan motor accordingly. Since pellets burn at varying rates depending upon their composition, % moisture, and size, a timer circuit on the auger motor could have the ashpot either overflowing with pellets or underfilled. A monitoring circuit with a small range for temperature adjustability (manually via a pot) is best. Simply having a timer circuit to control the motor won't keep the stove's temp stable. Ideally, the auger motor should be controlled by a temperature monitoring circuit. Possibly someone on this forum knows about timers relays etc and their application and can point me in the right direction?
#Horizon eclipse pellet stove control panel how to
Where do I go from here? First I need to learn how to identify all the components on the boards, timers, relays etc? I know some basics, but a lot of this stuff looks foreign to me. I guess there is something to be said about simplicity in design? Why 2 timers, maybe to shorten the firing time, I don’t know? Another board sitting here appears also to have two timers if those are actually timers I am looking at? The working board with the 556 timer is simply constructed and controls more functions than the other board ( which is toasted) and looks like someone's combination pizza. One board sitting on my desk in front of me uses a 556 dual timer ( two 555 timers in one enclosure). This would require a timer, the correct relays with a duty cycle that would hold up to firing every few seconds and learning how the timers are plumbed. What my ambitions are at this point is to build a simple board just consisting of a stoker control that would run the auger. Most of these boards can be repaired, but some need changing to allow modification of design flaws of the original applications or voltage changes etc. If the boards were made in China, they would be 5 bucks, but run anywhere from 160-350 without the harness which is another 60 bucks. They usually work fine, but involves considerable expense as the manufactures are proud of their electronics. I dink around with out of production pellet stoves a bit and have adapted boards from manufactures still in production to stoves that are not. This post is probably premature also, as I need to open some more books, but someone here might give me some direction? What I know about electronics I could put in a thimble but have decided to learn enough to get me by.
