Rancilio Silvia and meCoffee PID

[FJP84]

Mecoffee seems to be back in business from what I have read on their site. Also only a new improved temperature sensor will make it more stable.

Although I am now making a move to a low budget DIY external PID solution, I definitely will get a new Mecoffee Sensor, and keep that PID as backup, for when my DIY experiment will fail.

[FJP84]

Unfortunately I decided to remove the Mecoffee. Something went wrong regarding the steam temperature. A couple of times it went over the 180c. Eventually breaking my Max thermostat. I believe it is only a temperature sensor issue, but I will not risk it again. Brewing still worked though.

Now I am looking at a external DIY PID solution. Looking at an Inkbird or XMT PID. Mainly because I also want to see direct interaction regarding the temperature instead of using a smartphone app.

While I am waiting for all the parts to arrive I am planning to reconnect the Mecoffee but only for active PID an brew temperature. It is still better than surfing the temperature wave.

[wush]

also thinking of upgrading the pid between the mecoffee and auber... maybe leaning towards the auber for the sake of $100 or so and not having to deal with iphone apps etc.. someone talk me out of it into getting the mecoffee instead?


the mecoffee sounded great at first look but sounds like a lot of people are having issues? sounds like mecoffee have been ok fixing the issues but still, hrm!

[mikesmixes]

Interesting read, I have a Rancilio that I am looking to modify.

[Dimal]

I agree Coppo...

Welcome, by the way.
The design appears to reflect more like something a "hobbyist" would produce, not a qualified and experienced engineer.

I don't believe this design would pass muster here in Oz and maybe not in the UK either, for a retail product.

Mal.

[coppo23]

Hi All

Have just purchased a mecoffee and installed it in my Silvia in the UK. I am a electronics and software consultant by trade and in spite of that (or maybe because of it) found the installation somewhat confusing but got there in the end. I would have preferred a wiring diagram rather than a confusing sequence of steps. I attempted to get clarification from mecoffee but although they take your money quickly enough, they don't reply to questions. In the end i got it installed. I have not done pressure control or timing but everything else is installed and working - sort of.

I have some big reservations about the operation and the design.

The software at both the arduino and the Android app is buggy in the extreme and barely fit for purpose. The arduino does things like forgets it has turned off the valve and won't turn it on again without a reboot. (Usually caused by the idiot user pressing the steam button too soon after the shot button.) Software should allow for the real world not always doing the right thing and mistakes as basic as that are just shoddy software design.

The temperature control for steaming is a laugh. It probably depends on how long it took the user to go from brewing to steaming. Sometimes it leaves the boiler on about 20% and heats up very slowly. Sometimes it puts it at 100% for a short time and than appears to PID it. Once the temperature reaches the 125 deg setpoint the boiler control goes into ON/OFF control. Simply not fit for purpose. This is really buggy arduino code.

There are a number of gotchas like that and they reduce the WAF factor of the Silvia to zero. Fundamentally the operation isn't reliable and repeatable - try explaining that to the wife.

The android app does similar things - you change a temperature on one screen that then accidentally sticks and applies to the next. I finished up with a brew setpoint of 125 DegC because of this. Had to quit the app and rerun it to reset the temperature. Hopeless.

I am seriously concerned about the PCB layout. The track clearances seem far too small for reliability at 240vAC mains. Everything may be fine for a while but when some contamination creeps in - wait for the bang. I can't understand how this PCB ever got through approvals and suspect it was never approved

I have tried to get in touch with mecoffee and they do not reply to emails.
My advice would be to steer clear at the current time. Yes it works - sort of. However - revisit the software and thoroughly test it, re-layout the PCB for safety and it would be a winner.

Coppo

[matust]

From the YouTube video it looks like I received the wrong cable and it's meant to be female at both ends. Cheers

[CafeLotta]

These links may be of some use........or not.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R4R1uM9N8Cg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bi73v_pNEiE

https://mecoffee.nl/mecoffee/installation/

[matust]

You should triple check your wiring. Sounds like something could could be connected wrong. I have emailed them twice, once with the above question and never got a response. I wouldn't recommend their product simply because their service is so bad.

[OzQu]

I'm quite annoyed to the MeCoffee and it's service.

Short version:
I bought my device on January, and got it installed to the point that steam control is installed, pressure control is not. Installation went just fine. MeCoffee seems to be broken. First temperature rises as it should and stays around 100c. After I start the pump and temperature drops, MeCoffee can't anymore shutdown the boiler heating, and if I wouldn't power off the machine, it would just heat and heat and heat some more. If I monitor the heat and what mecoffee tries to do from my android application, I can see that it tries to shutdown the boiler, but still temperature just rises -> actually boiler doesn't shutdown. Also the Silvias original boiler indicator light stays on at that point.

So as you can see, this is quite alarming problem. And the most annoying is that mecoffee isn't responding to my questions via email (contact@mecoffee.nl)...

[matust]

Can someone help me out with step 8 in the instructions. I am trying to set up thepressure control. The instructions say the following “Remove the sheet of metal behind the brewhead exposing the valve. Remove the white wire from the valve. This wire remains not connected.Use the long white wire from the set to connect this terminal to the NEUTRAL(left) side of the power-button.”

The kit has provided me with the cables but the cable is a male/female cable. From what I can see it should be a female/female cable. Can anyone tell me what connections the white cable that goes from the valve to the power switch is? I don’t mind changing the adapter on the cable but I’m reluctant to do it in case I’ve misunderstood the instructions. Thanks

[Smess1210]

I was thinking on buying this PID controller, but I have not read anyone mention it is reliable - yet. Drawing up conclusions from the replies I have read in this thread, meCoffee is a DIY project without any reliable QC involved. Is it because of the auto shut off of the Silvia V5 E? Or is it an auto-shutoff of meCoffee app?

I am thinking on installing my own temperature probes with a microprocessor and 6-segment LEDs and pull the shot when the temperature is right during the temperature surfing. The mod is exterior and there is no interfering with the machine's performance.

Thanks!

I've been using mecoffee (2nd generation with stable fuse) installed on my V5e Silvia for more than a year now without any problems at all.....

I don't have mecoffee setup as a timer, I use a WiFi switching plug to turn Silvia on/off after bypassing Rancilios main power switch....

[gianw4r]

I was thinking on buying this PID controller, but I have not read anyone mention it is reliable - yet. Drawing up conclusions from the replies I have read in this thread, meCoffee is a DIY project without any reliable QC involved. Is it because of the auto shut off of the Silvia V5 E? Or is it an auto-shutoff of meCoffee app?

I am thinking on installing my own temperature probes with a microprocessor and 6-segment LEDs and pull the shot when the temperature is right during the temperature surfing. The mod is exterior and there is no interfering with the machine's performance.

Thanks!

[cogli0ne]

Yeah that was the reason. I got in touch with the mecoffee guy a couple of days later and he told me about the setting.

[level3ninja]

Have just tried to install one on my brother's Silvia, but when we tried to test step 3 the temperature jumps between room temperature, 0.0, and over 100 about every second. I can't figure out what's causing it. I removed the sensor from the boiler and left it in air and it's still doing it. It seemed ok during step 2, but once I saw room temperature I didn't keep it running long.