Robobrew V3 1000W element died—suggestions?

Before you go there, I can't get warranty service. The Robobrew was an anonymous gift—don't know who sent it, no receipt. Came from MoreBeer, but... yeah.

Yesterday I was midway through a 90-minute boil on a pilsner and the element just cut out. Light went off on the switch and the temp dropped to about 199F, which was the best the 500W element could do on its own. I finished the beer by transferring it to two stovetop pots. Blrgh.

Anyone had similar issues with their 1000W element? Any hope of an easy fix?

 

I did. They only service in Australia directly. They suggested I contact the vendor, and, well... see first post.

 

I'm just telling you what they (Kegland.com.au) told me. Warranty claims go through the seller in the US. Since it was an anonymous gift, I don't have a receipt, and thus no proof of purchase. I doubt MoreBeer would give me the time of day.

(I also no longer have the warranty card, if there was one, or anything that came with the unit, since the packaging all got ditched in a move.)

 

Morebeer shipped it to your address, so I can't see why they wouldn't be able to look up the order based on the shipping address. Morebeer provides awesome service. Reach out to them and at least try first. Btw, there is no warranty card in the Robobrew box, least I didn't have one.


Rev.

 

I'll give it a try, I guess!

 

You have no receipt and paid nothing for it, so what are you out? Buy a new one.

 

Yeah, I know. I'd still like to fix this one rather than buying a new one, if possible.

 

I did see one post someone made elsewhere (Reddit, maybe), saying that their 1000W element also died in a similar fashion. They simply hooked up the 500W element's wiring to the 1000W element and it started working again, and surmised that the 1000W element wiring just burned out. (Probably cheaping out on the wire to keep costs down.) I'm going to crack mine and see if I can get similar results.

 

I sent MoreBeer an email, so we'll see what happens.

 

https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/gv5ddm/warranty-void-if-removed-stickers-are-illegal

 

But yes, last resort for sure.

 

I would check the connections as you suggested. It could be as simple as a bad connection. It's a pretty simple setup. Here is a visual:

https://www.robobrew.com.au/inside-the-robobrew/

 

Yeah, I need to find a multimeter for proper testing. However, I heard back from MoreBeer and they weren't particularly helpful. Not that I blame them, I'm just some rando who doesn't have an order number or other proof of purchase.

They suggested I poll my friends/family to find out who bought it for me and come up with a receipt. I did so and no one came forward. I have a lingering suspicion they just sent it to me by mistake and don't want to fess up to it.

 

Too bad it doesn't use standard water heater elements; you could use a 3500W or 4500W element designed for 240V and run it at 120V to give 875 or 1125W, respectively. (I don't know if there's a 4000W element; that would be a direct replacement)

 

I would open it up and take some pics. We can look at it.

Everyone inevitably needs to open it up to service the pump so no worries about opening the bottom and snapping some pics.

 

So I did open it up.

Following the lead of a guy on Reddit who had the same issue, I swapped the wires leading from the switches to the board (swapped them at the point where they connect to the board) and the 1000W element fired up just fine. The 500W element was, unsurprisingly, quite dead.

I tried boiling a few gallons with just that element and it managed to get up to 203F for a very light rolling boil (I'm at 3500ft). If I closed the lid I could get it up to 206F. With both elements I was consistently hitting 208F with the lid sitting half on the kettle.

From this I can conclude that the element itself is fine and it's probably something in the board that went bad.

I found a Canadian shop selling boards for $42 shipped, so that's one possible way to go.

 

Think I found one in the US, Kentucky to be specific.

May want to give them a call to confirm.

http://www.brewerdude.com/replacement-main-circuit-board-for-robobrew-gen-3.html

 

Sweet! Thank you.

 

I have a RoboBrew and I am going to take the heat off the board through a contactor. I have already had 1 RoboBrew replaced due to the fact that the board got fried. The vendor was quick to send me a new one, but it has the same board, so I am pretty sure that 5 brews in I would be in the same place with a fried board. They just can not handle the heat that is put out by the wires. If you go to the RoboBrew facebook USA page you will see all kinds of problems that people are having with the boards.

 

This is sad. I was thinking about purchasing a robobrew. Now I'm not so sure. Seems things like this should worked out by version 3.

 

The problem the OP experienced is why I'm not purchasing a robobrew or grainfather or anything else where the elements and other components can't be easily replaced.
Instead of buying a new one, buy something else that can be repaired.

 

I think I'm going to try to rig a fan or something in the base, and also elevate it off the ground while brewing.

 

Taking the high load off a circuit board is a common mod for cheap 3d printers. Their heated print beds are high amp for the cheap printed boards they typically come with.

It looks like there's enough space there in the base of the robobrew the fit an SSR and heatsink... You could use that power connection as an SSR signal instead. Install an SSR and remove a ton of the load from the printed board to up it's life. Would probably be a $20 mod if you have the wire handy.

 

Have to admit this is like sanskrit to me. Googling tells me a SSR is a solid state relay, but I have no idea how to go about wiring such a thing.

 

Heat is the biggest issue with many of these enclosed devices. We are facing the same problems with the Brewie device and have rigged up small computer fans to cool the element connections.

This board should really be shielded from the elements. A muffin type fan would help things I suspect.

I'm going to open up my base and explore.

 

Opened up my bottom. Glad I did, my pump was completely off its mounting bracket. The nuts were just clanking around. Fixed it all back up.

There is quite a bit of room in there. You could easily wire in a computer fan to blow in cool air or blow hot air out.

Some pics:

 

If I bought one of these things, I'd embed an RPi running CraftBeerPi and put a better pump on the outside.

That element looks a lot like an element from a radiant stove top. It would be easy to replace it with a 240V model.

If someone burns theirs out, I'll buy it. PM me.

 

The power from the plug to the relays, but I am using a double pole contactor instead of a solid state relay. There is not enough room for a heatsink in the bottom.

 

To circle back on this, I ended up completely removing the board, and yeah, it dead:



I bought a replacement board from Brewer Dude (who orders them from MoreBeer). They sent me a V3.1 board, which isn't compatible with the V3.0 display I have. (Different pins on the ribbon cable.)

Nathan at Brewer Dude went above and beyond and ordered me a V3.1 display on his own dime, which should arrive today. I'll install it and let y'all know how it goes.