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[jhawkinsvalrico]

My son has built a powder coating oven and purchased controller parts from Auber and based upon a recommendation from someone in a forum, he purchased a Novus N1050 pid. I have no experience programming pids, I am an IT guy by profession, but have gotten the pid working - well basically working but everything is manual - set temp and then turn it off manually. I fully expect that the N1050 has plenty of features that I have not thought of, but basically, I would love to find some tutorials (N1050 related or not) that describe the basics. I would like to configure a ramp up profile. Actually learn how to regulate the heat up process. I suspect that one of the variables that controls pulse cycle frequency might do what I want, but not certain. Also, an overview programming a pid for coating. target temp, cook/soak time, and shutdown. I think that I have some ideas of how to do this, but a pid programming for dummies is what I am looking for as a primer that might speed up the learning process and would be a big help. Any suggested sources will be appreciated. From the searching that I have done, it seems like there is not much available specific to the N1050 or event to Novus. Thanks.

[Kkane]

N1050 is one of the latest and powerful PID controller on the market, and the discussion for this product is limited at this time. By my experience, it could be easier to program its ramp soak steps via the software on the computer (quicktunes). You can find the manual for this software below:

https://www.novusautomation.com/downloads/Arquivos/manual_quicktune_v10x_en.pdf

Here is the tutorial video for quicktunes, it also shows how to use ramp soak functions.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=96hgT2363GA&t=305s

[jhawkinsvalrico]

Kkane, Thank you for your reply. We have a coating that we are testing that soaks at 500f but needs to ramp up slowly. I think one solution that I will first use is to configure five ramp and soak programs and link those together. I did submit a ticket with Novus asking if a tuning parameter can be adjusted and used to adjust ramp speed. Since we are driving from OUT1 and it is pulse, thinking that maybe some parameter can be used for that purpose. Since my son purchased the higher end n1050 with the Auber RS485 usb adapter, I think that I will eventually switch from using the micro-usb connection and simply dedicate a laptop that will remain connected to the pid via 485. Then we can develop any number of programs that can be easily loaded into the pid depending on profile required by coatings. Since I submitted this post I have read and re-read the manual at least a dozen times taking notes each time and then watched as many n1050 youtube videos I could find. This is finally beginning to sink in and this little device certainly is a nice one. At first I thought my son bought a pid that was overkill for what he needs. Now I see how much potential it has for his business. Thanks again.

[Kkane]

Typically, one PID can only use one group of PID settings (Pb, ir, dt) at one time. For ramp and soak programs, it is recommended to run auto-tune at the most important temperature during the whole ramp soak profile. For example, if 500F temperature is the most important temperature in your whole profile, you can run auto-tune at 500F.

The ramp speed depends on your ramp soak programs. But whether your actual reading temperature can reach your current set temperature in your ramp soak program depends on your PID settings (Pb, ir, dt).

Yes, for long time monitoring purposes, using the RS-485 port is highly recommended compared to the micro USB port on the controller.