Sentry Industries Sentry Xpress 4.0 User Manual

Time Display

	Single-Speed / Ramp-Hold Version
	Sentry Xpress
	Digital Temperature Controller
	°F				Indicator
					Lights
	°C			Program	Light is
					on during pro-
				Review	gramming.
	°C Display Dot	Hr./Min.		Run	Light is
		When Lit		°F When Off
					on during pro-
	Temperature Display
				°C When Lit	gram review.
	Temperature				Light
		START/	HIGHER	LOWER
	display is in °F.
		STOP	Skip Seg.	Delay	blinks during firing.
	Tem-
		Enter	Add Hold	Review
	perature display is in °C.	Program	Change Temp.
			T/C Offset
	See page 13 for instructions on		Alarm
		SENTRYXpress4.0 TM
	selecting °F or °C.
		M I C R O P R O C E S S O R
			The Sentry Xpress 4.0 micro processor is manufactured by the
			Orton Ceramic Foundation and displays the CE mark.

: Separates hours from minutes. Example: Display shown above is 1 hour and 30 minutes.

START/STOP Key

Starts and stops a firing.

Press after each programming step. It works like the Enter key on a computer.

Up Arrow Key

press. Press From to select Single-Speed or

Ramp-Hold. Pages 6, 8

	During a
Ramp-Hold firing, press the
.	will appear. Press

	. The current segment ramp
or hold	number will appear. To
skip, press			again. Page 8
			During a
Ramp-Hold firing, press
repeatedly until				appears.
Press		. Each time you press
the		, the hold time for the

current segment will increase by 5
minutes. Then press	.
Page 8

	During a Ramp-Hold firing,
press	repeatedly until
	appears. Press	. Use

the arrow keys to change the target
temperature for the current seg-
ment. Then press	. Page 9

During a firing, press repeatedly until

appears. Press . Use the arrow keys to change the alarm temperature. Press . To silence the alarm, press any key. Page 9

At the		display, press
.	will	appear. Use ar-

row keys to adjust the controller to
fire hotter or cooler. Press
to return to	. Page 12

Down Arrow Key

From press

. The program you have selected will appear one step at a time. When appears, press . Page 4

			From
		press		.
Enter	delay		time. Press
		twice. Page 4

During firing, press . The program you entered will appear one step at a time. Page 4

IM-221/2-06

*These features are new with the Sentry Xpress 4.0. If your controller does not have these features, it is an earlier controller.

1

Introduction

The easiest way to learn to operate your controller is to read this manual while you are sitting in front of your kiln. Press the keys as you read the instructions.

Do not worry if you hear a clicking noise during operation. Mechanical relays click as they turn the heating elements on and off. This is normal.

When you first connect the power, the

controller will display a software code and

then

.

If your controller shows

instead of a

software code before

appears, then

the controller includes

only Skip Seg-

ment from "Advanced Features" on pages

8 - 9. If your controller shows a software

code before

appears, then the con-

troller has all the features in this manual.

Please read the manual. Damage caused by failure to follow instructions is not covered by warranty.

Once you learn the basic features of the Sentry Xpress, you will be able to control every stage of firing. This offers learning opportunities and convenience difficult to imagine with a manual-controlled kiln.

©2004, by Paragon Industries, L.P. IM-221/2-06

Contents

General Guidelines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Time and Temperature Display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Operation Begins from the IdLE Display. . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Thermocouple Inspection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 A Rapid Way to Scroll Numbers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Program Review & Repeat Firing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Delay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Power Failures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 CPLt Message: Firing Completed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Thunder Storms and Power Surges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Canceling a New Program. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Theory of Operation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Rate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Hold . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Two Firing Modes: Single-Speed and Ramp-Hold . . . . 5 Temperature Over-Shoot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Single-Speed Programming Instructions . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Ramp-Hold Mode. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Programming a Cooling Segment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Ramp-Hold Programming Instructions. . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Advanced Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Skip Segment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Add Hold Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Editing the Target Temperature During Firing . . . . . . . 9 The Alarm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Lost Wax Burnout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Overview. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Burnout Instructions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Display Messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Error Messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

bAdP / Bad Programming . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 EtH / Electronics Too Hot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 FAIL / Thermocouple Failure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 FE Error Messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 FtL / Fired Too Long . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 HTdE / High Temperature Deviation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 PF 1 / Power Failure. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 PF 2 / Power Failure. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 PF 3 / Power Failure. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 tC / Thermocouple Failure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 tCL / Thermocouple Lag . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 tCr / Thermocouple Reversed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Thermocouple Offset . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Selecting °F or °C Display . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Trouble Shooter. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Controller display is blank. No heat in kiln.. . . . . . . . . 13 Controller display turns on. No heat in kiln. . . . . . . . . 14 Kiln switch box ½ amp fuses keep blowing.. . . . . . . . 15

Index. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Shorthand Instructions . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

2 Single-Speed/Ramp-Hold

Safety

The warranty on your Sentry Xpress controller does not cover damage from overfiring, regardless of the circumstances. It is the operator’s responsibility to make sure the kiln turns off at the proper time.

When the kiln is not in use, disconnect the power.

Do not leave the kiln unattended, especially near the expected shut-off time.

Wear firing safety glasses when looking into the firing chamber of a hot kiln.

Do not touch hot sides of kiln. Keep unsupervised children away.

Install your kiln at least 12 inches from any wall or combustible surface.

Do not open lid or door until kiln has cooled and all switches are off.

Fire only in a well-ventilated, covered and protected area away from combustible materials.

Keep cordset away from hot sides of kiln or furnace.

DANGEROUS VOLTAGE! Do not touch heating elements with anything. Disconnect before servicing.

When vacuuming the kiln, keep the nozzle away from the controller. Vacuum cleaners create a static charge that can damage the controller.

General

Guidelines

Time and Temperature

Display

Center Dot: Time
A center dot appears dur-
ing time display. It separates
hours from minutes. (Exam-
ple: 1 hour, 30 minutes dis-	The center display dot indicates
plays as 01.30.) During tem-
perature display, the dot	time instead of temperature.
disappears.
Right-Hand Dot: °C	°F
When temperature
is displayed in °C, a dot
appears in the lower
right. In °F display, it	°C
disappears. You can
choose between Fahr-
enheit and Celsius dis-
play. See page 13.

Operation Begins from the IdLE Display

must appear before you can fire the kiln.

■ If

,

, or other message appears instead of

when the

kiln

is first turned on, press the

key (the key with the circular arrow).

will appear.

will ap-

■ If you press

during a firing,

pear. To get back to

, press

again.

■ If the display shows an error message such as

in-

stead of

, see page 11.

(firing completed) appears at the end of a firing.

■

To make

appear, press

.

Thermocouple Inspection

The small rod protruding into the firing chamber is the temperature sensor, or thermocouple.

CAUTION: Bumping the thermocouple can push it out of the firing chamber. This could cause an overfire! Bumping the thermocouple could also cause inaccurate readings.

■A 1/8” diameter thermocouple should extend into the firing chamber ½” - 5 8”.

■A ¼” diameter thermocouple should extend into the firing chamber ¾ - 1” or more.

■Keep shelves, posts and ware 1” - 1 ½” away from the thermocouple. 3

A Rapid Way to Scroll Numbers

During programming, hold an arrow key down several seconds, and numbers will begin to scroll rapidly. Ordinarily, you would press to raise a number and to lower it. But sometimes it is faster to press the opposite key. This is because the numbers scroll below

0000 to the highest number, and vice versa. Examples:

■To program a 99.59 hour Hold when the display shows 00.00, press the once.

■To program a FULL rate when the display shows 0000, press the once.

■To program a temperature of 200°F when the display shows 1800°F, press the . That is faster than pressing the .

Program Review & Repeat Firing

Program Review lets you check that the information programmedinto the controller is correct. Program Review shows the values for the program in active memory. Use Program Review from to repeat the last program you fired.

■					Press the
		key. The rate, temperature, hold, etc. will
	display one	after the other. Firing will continue.
■
	Press the			key. After rate, tempera-
	ture, hold, etc.,		will appear. Press		.

will appear, and the kiln will begin firing the program just reviewed.

Delay

Delay is a count-down timer. The kiln begins firing when the timer runs out of time. Use Delay to fit a firing into your schedule.

CAUTION: For safety, do not leave the kiln alone during a delay or a firing. We cannot guarantee your kiln against overfiring even though the controller is automatic.

After you have entered a program and the controller is ready to begin firing, will appear.

Press the key once. will appear, alternating with .

Use the arrow keys to enter delay time. (The decimal separates hours and minutes. Example: 1 hour and 10 minutes = 01.10.) Then presstwice. will appear, alternating with time left until

the firing begins.

4 Single-Speed/Ramp-Hold

Note: Press during delay to end the delay and begin the firing. The maximum delay is 99 hours and 59 minutes.

Power Failures

After a power failure, the controller will continue firing provided that:

■The kiln temperature is above 212°F / 100°C when the power comes back on.

■The temperature dropped no more than 72°F / 40°C while the power was off.

Power Failure Messages (see page 12)

The power failed during a cooling segment, and the kiln cooled past the target temperature while the power was off.

The power failed during firing and kiln temperature was below 212°F / 100°C when the power came back on.

The power failed during firing and temperature dropped more than 72°F / 40°C by the time the power came back on.

CPLt Message: Firing Completed

When the firing has successfully completed, the Sentry Xpress will shut off power to

the elements and sound an

alarm for 30 seconds. Then three messages will cycle one after the other:

(complete)

Firing time in hours and minutes

The current kiln temperature

Press to return to .

Thunder Storms and Power Surges

Unplug the kiln or disconnect the power when the kiln is not in use, especially during thunder storms and in areas with frequent power surges. If the kiln is part way through a firing when a storm begins, it is probably okay to continue the firing with close supervision. Do not leave the kiln unattended.

Canceling a New Program

If you do not touch the keys for one minute during programming, the controller will go back to the display. The controller will also discard the program you were entering and will retain the previous program in memory.

This is useful if you change your mind during programming and decide to keep the previous program. Instead of completing the new program, wait a minute and let the controller return to .

Theory of

Operation

The temperature you are firing to is called the target temperature. After the controller reaches the target temperature, it can also hold that temperature.

The controller fires at a controlled heating rate. The rate is figured in degrees per hour. If you selected a rate of 100° per hour, it would take 10 hours for the kiln to reach 1000°. Rate is similar to “miles per hour.”

In summary, the controller does three basic tasks:

1)It fires at a controlled heating rate, or speed, measured in degrees of temperature change per hour.

2)It fires to a target temperature.

3)It can hold the target temperature.

The controller fires in segments, or stages. A segment is a given heating rate to a target temperature. Shown above is a segment with a rate of 625° per hour, a target temperature of 1250°, and a hold of one hour.

Heating rate is figured in degrees per hour. The recommended heating rate for the material you are firing is usually available from your supplier. It also varies depending on the thickness of the material.

To figure how long a firing segment will take, subtract the current temperature from the target temperature and divide the resultant temperature by the heating rate. In the diagram above, the firing time is 1250° - 80° (room temperature) = 1170 ÷625 = 1.87 hours.

The controller can fire up to 8 segments per firing. One segment is often all that is needed, though.

After the controller has finished firing the last segment, it will turn off power to the elements.

Note: If you enter a rate of 0000 in segment 1, or if the target temperature in segment 1 is lower than the current temperature, will appear in the display.

Rate

Each segment must include a rate, which is degrees of temperature change per hour.

The kiln will fire at full power when the rate is 1799°F/999°C. Full power displays as .

Note: To enter full power from							, press the
		key once.

Hold

Hold is the length of time that you want the kiln to remain at the target temperature. Hold is also called soak or dwell time. Hold maintains a steady temperature for the length of time you specify. You can use Hold in both heat- ing-up and cooling-down segments.

When Hold is set to 99.59 hours, the controller will remain at that temperature indefinitely, until you press . To enter a 99.59 hour Hold, press the once from 00.00 during programming.

Note: During a Hold, the display flashes between the Hold temperature and time left in Hold.

Two Firing Modes: Single-Speed and Ramp-Hold

To give you greater flexibility, your controller has two firing modes:

Single-Speed Mode (see next page)

Often times, all you will need is Single-Speed mode, which has one segment that includes a rate (temperature change per hour), a target temperature, and (if needed) hold time.

In Single-Speed mode, you can choose one of five firing speeds. Then enter the temperature you are firing to.

Ramp-Hold Mode (see page 7)

Ramp-Hold mode offers much greater flexibility than Single-Speed mode. Use Ramp-Hold to create custom firings with up to 8 segments. The controller can store 4

5