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Projects General Guidance
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I know there are a lot of people that make these using arduinos and theres info out there. I've been googling and this is how I plan on making mine. Using an arduino uno, K thermocouple with the MAX31855, relay (SSR?), and then a water heater.

So when the thermocouple in the water reads below the desired temperature it sets the voltage to HIGH and then activates the relay giving the water heater the 120V needed to power it. Once the water temperature is above the desired temperature then the arduino will set the output pin to LOW and the relay will be switched off providing no power to the heating element. I'm sure there is more to it than this which is why I'm writing this. As well with the wiring will be more complicated too, but I'm in an arduino class at the moment and have resources at school to help me as well.

Thanks for the help!

Also, I plan on using an LCD display to show current temp and possibly some sort of fan or stirrer to keep an even water temp throughout. Any other ideas to help make a great project are welcome thanks again

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Something like this one ?
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It's not that simple. Inspecting the Adafruit code would be a good start to discover the complexity of thermal control.

Sparkfun have just recently released a MAX31855 breakout and they have the correct connector that is necessary for thermocouples. These used to be relatively difficult to obtain - they aren't available at most of the major online retailers. Newark/Element14 is the only other source I know of that will sell small quantities.

However a thermocouple isn't necessary for this project. There's a lot of other choices that will work at this temperature range. You only need a thermocouple if you're colder than a freezer or hotter than boiling oil.