CONIFER SOLAR CONSULTING
Jon Klima, Owner
360 Trout Lane, PO Box 23, Guffey, CO 80820
Phone: 719 479-2281, Email: jon.klima@gmail.com
Click on any of the links below for more information. Controller retail repair costs Used/rebuilt controllers for sale Jon's solar controls equipment junk yard Index to selected controller articles from past CoSEIA newsletters Index to selected controller tech & installation/application manuals Controller question? Maybe I can help, send me an email. I wrote The Solar Controls Book© back in 1981 for the solar controls classes I was teaching at Red Rocks Community College in Golden, CO. I've updated this book and, at over 200 pages, it reflects the changes that have taken place since its original publication. Click here to see the Table of Contents of this three section book. |
The goal of this web site is to provide those solar pioneers who installed solar heating systems back in the 1980s and 90s, and those who inherited these systems, a means to keep their systems running. Bad controllers often are the cause of such systems being shut down. Look through this site to see if what's here can help you get your solar heating system back up and operating. Conifer Solar Consulting supports the solar industry by designing and repairing active solar thermal system controllers and providing controls-associated consulting. Conifer Solar Consulting (Jon Klima, Owner) is a life time member of the For more general consumer information go to the CoSEIA web site, www.coseia.org/newsite/index.php?id=81. Also www.coseia.org/newsite/index.php?id=95 has a very extensive list of solar electric and solar thermal web site resources. |
A Solar Domestic Hot Water Troubleshooting Program ---
I've put together a solar domestic hot water system troubleshooting program, called SDHW-PROB©, to help novices and homeowners troubleshoot their SDHW systems. This is available to use online at no charge. If this is of interest to you, just click here to get started. The first two pages tell you about the program and how to use it.
A Few Controller Maintenance Hints
Every service technician should carry a can of TV tuner cleaner such as that found at Radio Shack. Often a controller problem can be fixed by simply spraying a bit of the TV tuner cleaner into the ON-AUTO-OFF switch (or other additional switches).
Check for tightness of all sensor and controller terminal board wire terminations before assuming the controller is bad.
Make sure the controller is not mounted under any pipes such that, if a leak were to occur, the controller would be exposed to the dripping fluid.
Make sure the controller is not mounted on any surface that is exposed to high heat or vibration, such as pump motor housings or the side of an air handler unit. Such a mounting will often lead to cracked solder joints on the printed circuit board.
Although many sensors are installed using ordinary thermostat wire between the sensors and the controller, the better installations will use twisted shielded wire, such as Beldon 8762 (or equivalent), for the interconnecting wire. When using shielded wire, terminate the shield on the ground screw at the controller only. Do not terminate the shield at the sensor end, let it float.
Carry a tooth brush with you. It comes in handy to clean corrosion off of a controller printed circuit (PC) board. If the corrosion hasn't eaten away a trace, sometimes just cleaning the corrosion (which is conductive) off of the board will solve the problem.
Did you know the Heliotrope DTT-80 (and other non-display models) can be used with 10 K ohm sensors rather than 3 K ohm sensors? However, to do this, either the high limit (gray wires) sensor wires must not be used (not connected) OR a simple modification to the controller circuitry must be made. If you need a 10 K ohm controller and want me to make this modification to a DTT-80, I still have several DTT-80s and will make the modification at no added cost.
Testing sensors: For this test, it's best to use a digital meter - just a little easier since you shouldn't need to do any meter calibrating. You will be measuring the resistance of each sensor. If you need a 3 K ohm or 10 K ohm temperature vs. resistance chart, click here and download these charts. This will give you the resistance values for the sensors at various sensor temperatures.
First, you will need to estimate the temperature of the storage sensor which should be located near the bottom of your storage tank. Remember, the water at the bottom of the tank will be cooler than the water at the top. If you can reach in and touch the tank where the sensor is mounted, that will also give you an idea as to what the temperature is. Now place the meter on the resistance/ohms setting. Disconnect the two storage sensor wires at the controller. Place one of the meter's probes on one of the sensor wires and the other probe on the second sensor wire. Make sure that you don't touch the metal part of both probes at the same time. Doing so will interfere with the resistance reading. Write down the resistance reading. Compare the resistance reading on the temperature vs. resistance chart and find the sensor's temperature. If it's close to your estimated tank temperature, then the sensor is probably OK. If it's OK, reconnect the sensor to the controller. If it's not OK, check to make sure the sensor wire is good between the controller and the sensor. If the wire is OK, then you need to replace the sensor.
The collector sensor resistance measurement is best taken when the sun has not been on the panels for at least an hour or so. It's just hard to estimate the panel's temperature when the sun is shining on them. So, do this either when it's very cloudy or first thing in the morning when the sensor temperature should be close to the ambient air temperature. Disconnect the collector sensor at the controller. Now follow the same steps for measuring the collector sensor as you did above for measuring the storage sensor. As above, compare the resistance reading on the temperature vs. resistance chart and find the sensor's temperature. If it's close to your estimated collector temperature, then the sensor is probably OK. If it's OK, reconnect the sensor to the controller. If it's not OK, check to make sure the sensor wire is good between the controller and the sensor. If the wire is OK, then you need to replace the sensor.
Links: I've had several people ask what new solar heating controllers are presently available. Here are several links to check out.
GoldLine GL-30 Differential Temperature Controller, uses 10 K ohm temperature sensors, both controller and sensors available at ENERGY SUPERMARKET, http://shop.solardirect.com/index.php?cPath=69_71_84_72_85
Heliotrope Delta-T controllers, DTT-84 and DTT-94, uses 10 K ohm temperature sensors. http://www.heliotropethermal.com/
Steca GmbH, Controller models TR 201, TR 301, TR 502, TR 603, TR 704, Sundra, and Santana http://www.steca-solar.com
Tekmar line of controllers including a proportional model, use 10 K ohm temperature sensors, http://www.tekmarcontrols.com/
IMC Instruments, Inc., Eagle line of controllers that use 10 K ohm temperature sensors, http:// www.solar.imcinstruments.com
Resol GmbH, click on the English version, then click on solar controllers, http://www.resol.com
This page was last changed on 4-30-2009