Grainfather Pro fermenter 3-pin power cord failure

[G2sat2576]

Hello fellow brewers. Has anyone ever had any issues with plugging in the 3-pin power cord to either the Grainfather Pro fermenter or Glycol chiller? At the end of my first brewing session with the GF, i found out that one end of the 3 pin power cord would not plug into either the fermenter or chiller. The other end of the cord fit fine into both. Needless to say the pins broke off eventually and i lost an entire brew day SO very close to the end cause of this failure. I contacted GF and they are sending a replacement power cord from overseas because they were out in the US. Does anyone know where i can purchase a similar cord so that i can have one for backup? Ive looked everywhere and cannot find anywhere. Any help is appreciated.

 

[Golddiggie]

I don't see anything on their site that says what the connector actually IS for the power cord. If you had a picture, that would help. If it's 100% proprietary, that's beyond bad. I do my best to NOT get things that use unique/proprietary power cords/connections. The only exception are laptops, but even those use rather common connectors from the outlet to the power brick.

I would tell them to send at least a second one as a 'spare' since the first one failed on the first use. IMO, that screams of either poor design, or very defective hardware (happens for everything, what matters is how they take care of it). Or get the actual connector spec so you can source out additional cables to keep in reserve. Although needing to do that would get me to sell/return that thing fast.

I just checked the connection for my ebrewing panel (on order). I can get the same cable they ship it with via Amazon (already see a 10 foot version compared with the 6 foot it ships with). So IF I ever have a failure, I know I can get a replacement without issue. Even if eBrewSupply goes out of business in XX years.

 

[G2sat2576]

I don't see anything on their site that says what the connector actually IS for the power cord. If you had a picture, that would help. If it's 100% proprietary, that's beyond bad. I do my best to NOT get things that use unique/proprietary power cords/connections. The only exception are laptops, but even those use rather common connectors from the outlet to the power brick.

I would tell them to send at least a second one as a 'spare' since the first one failed on the first use. IMO, that screams of either poor design, or very defective hardware (happens for everything, what matters is how they take care of it). Or get the actual connector spec so you can source out additional cables to keep in reserve. Although needing to do that would get me to sell/return that thing fast.

I just checked the connection for my ebrewing panel (on order). I can get the same cable they ship it with via Amazon (already see a 10 foot version compared with the 6 foot it ships with). So IF I ever have a failure, I know I can get a replacement without issue. Even if eBrewSupply goes out of business in XX years.

Thank you for your reply. The cord that attaches the the fermenter to the glycol chiller is a 6.5 ft m12 3-pin (males on both ends of the cord). They are currently sending me a spare from overseas due to not having any stock in the US. I asked to purchase a second as a backup but they said they can only replace and not sell. Decent customer service but they do not sell on their website either, in lieu of them selling about every other spare part. I’m going to continue to look for a replacement elsewhere until i receive the one they are sending. The picture attached shows where the pins broke off while trying to connect it.

 

[IslandLizard]

That doesn't look like a power cord, more like a sensor/controller connection.

 

[Golddiggie]

Yeah, looks like a RTD threaded connection cable.

I'm glad nothing I have uses power cords that could be confused for something like that. The power cord to my glycol chiller is a 'computer' connection at the chiller end. Everything (for power) to/from the control panel is a standard power connection type.

I'm sure I'm not the only person that just pushed that product out of any kind of contention after finding this out. Not that I was even thinking about going that direction.

 

[G2sat2576]

So from further research it looks like this is called an M12 power lead. Grainfather has been responsive but now I’m weeks out from them even shipping it. I did find replacements but they are from brew shops in the UK and Australia. With air shipping, it winds up being about $60 US. It would get here sooner than Grainfather shipping it. Just shocked it not sold as a replacement part or by any brew shop in the US.

 

[kenmunkholm]

McMaster-Carr has some M12 power cables. Might not hurt to look there.

 

[RufusBrewer]

Looked it up. M12 connectors are common in automation and food service industry.

Call/email Grainfather, they should confirm that those are M12 style connectors AND you need to confirm the connection pin out. Most likely they are pin for pin. But do not assume that.

If you Google M12 connector, you get a bunch of results. Some companies make cables. Belden makes cables, ITT makes cables, McMaster has them.

Newark stocks M12 connectors, so you can fabricate your own cable. A guy on eBay has M12 connectors. You are going to need a few feet of cable, confirm what kind of cable fits the connectors. My guess is microphone cables or STP= shielded twisted pair

This looks like a connector that the home robot crowd might use. Check out some electronic hobby sites. They would be set up for low quantity sales. They would also have appropriate cable by they foot.