I'm in the middle of installing a PID on my Silvia. In the directions it states to connect two of the wires to the output (high-voltage) side of each of the solid state relays. Each one has a male and female connector which connects into different parts of the Silvia's wiring or thermostats. I'm not that familiar with electrical systems, so my question is does it matter whether I connect the male or female wire from the high voltage, AC, output side of the SSR? The instructions do not indicate one way or the other, but they seem to be written by someone who's first language is not English.

I do not quite understand the question, but on my website HERE is a set of wiring diagrams of how a Silvia works.

The SSR has two pairs of connections (four terminals). Two are low voltage (or low current) triggered by the PID. The other two are the high voltage (or high current) side which are wired in series on the hot side (not the neutral lead) of the heating element. So the SSR takes the place of the brew thermostat and the two wires that WERE connected to the brew thermostat are now connected to the output side of the SSR.

But I think the wiring diagrams should cover that.

Randy G. wrote: The other two are the high voltage (or high current) side which are wired in series on the hot side (not the neutral lead) of the heating element.

Let me attempt to clarify. My question is, does it matter which side of the brew thermostat I connect to the output side of the SSR? Let's call the output side ports 1 and 2. Does it matter if I connect the female to port 1 and male to port 2, or if I reverse them? I.e. are both of the outputs the same?

If there are positive and negative notations on the SSR for the switched side then you should try to respect that. When I did mine I was able trace which side of the heating element wires led towards neutral.

I have a PID that I put on my Gaggia Classic and I play with SSRs to also run its pump and solenoid.

The SSR is an optically isolated switch... It allows you to use a microcontroller on low voltage DC to connect and disconnect an AC line using a light and sensor inside the SSR.

The DC side has + and -

The AC side does not have "outputs". It in effect connects and disconnects one line, typically a live or positive line.

So, when microcontroller activates, it puts + into SSR DC+ which flows back through SSR DC- to form circuit with the controller.
That lights a light inside SSR
A sensor inside SSR sees light
The SSR connects the two AC terminals allowing AC+ to flow from source to the device you are powering.

AC- will remain separately connected to your heater the way it was. You are only connecting and disconnecting the AC+ line.

Hey Alex -

What is potentially confusing about your post is that you are using the term "SSR relays" vice "SSR relay" .

Please post the source of your kit as there exists loads of people on this site who are familiar with Silvia PID kits.

I'm not that familiar with electrical systems, . . .

Then that is all the more reason to identify the source of this "kit" and/or post the pertinent parts of the instructions.

The output side of the SSR simply takes the place of the brew thermostat and thus you should be using wires which have male spades on one end and "forked" terminals on the other.

erics wrote: What is potentially confusing about your post is that you are using the term "SSR relays" vice "SSR relay" .

The reason I wrote relay(s) is because this kit came with two, one for brewing and one for steam.

Please post the source of your kit as there exists loads of people on this site who are familiar with Silvia PID kits.

The kit I bought is the internal PID kit for brew & steam from pidsilvia.com

The output side of the SSR simply takes the place of the brew thermostat and thus you should be using wires which have male spades on one end and "forked" terminals on the other.

The kit came with four wires. All four of them are forked on one side (heading into the output side of the SSRs). On the other end two have male connectors and two have female connectors. Looking at the instructions for the output of the brew SSR the male plug goes into the split cable that was previously on the brew thermostat and the other goes into a new thermostat which replaces the old one.

Here is a pic of the SSR itself.


There is no + and - signs on the terminals 1 and 2 so I'm guessing it does not matter.

> There is no + and - signs on the terminals 1 and 2 so I'm guessing it does not matter.

Correct.

Now, I realize this goes against the grain re the monies you have spent BUT there is absolutely no real need to have the steam temperature controlled via a PID on Miss Silvia.

So, use just one SSR mounted behind the front cover and mount the PID near the steam arm using the supplied Velcro(?). As Jon has said, the output side of the SSR is not polarity sensitive . . . it simply takes the place of the brew thermostat.

There exists several hundreds of installs as I describe and the performance is as detailed here:

Rancilio Silvia Performance with/without PID

Thanks for everyone's help. I got the PID installed and everything is running great. I changed the default PID settings because the steam temp was reaching a tad high (285F outside boiler temp recorded).

Here's a pic of the final machine!



I also added some boiler insulation as well as vibration dampening material to quiet down the pump.