Timer Question

[johnnyboy5]

Hi all. Four months with my Mini VII (and Baratza Vario) and still loving it. I have become the official coffee god on my street (not much competition though!)

I have been thinking about getting a timer for the machine. I looked at the La Spaz timer, but its awfully expensive for what it is and does. I'll likely get one of those if there aren't any other options, but I wanted to ask if anyone has successfully used any other type of (less expensive) timer on the machine? Many thx for your input.

[cruiten]

This is a good topic to look at: viewtopic.php?f=57&t=261&p=13863&hilit=timer#p1863; it provides several timer alternatives to the pricey La Spaziale timer.

I must admit that these are not ideal solutions for me, so I have been thinking of building my own timer, based on a cost-effective Arduino board, that would connect to the Vivaldi just like the La Spaziale timer, but I do not know the protocol that is used. I do know that the Vivaldi timer "plug" has three active leads: pin 1 is Ground, pin 2 is Tx-Rx, pin 3 is open, and pin 4 is +15V.

I wonder if anyone with a Vivaldi timer in the Southern California area would be willing to work with me on cracking this problem... Version one of the solution would be to just mimic the La Spaziale timer functionality, but I ultimately envision being able to wirelessly administer the timer via your home computer or an iPhone or Android smart phone...

Anyhow, you can read the other topic to see if one of those solutions will work for you.

Cheers,

[johnnyboy5]

Thx Cruiten. Being very mechanically challenged though, I was hoping for a much simpler solution. I guess i'll keep looking.

[clumeng]

I'm about to buy a VII and am would like a timer I think to save on some energy costs. Question for those with timers...does it turn on both the group and steamer boilers together or can you use it to control only the group boiler (I suspect that it's both based on the documentation)? How easy or hard it is to override it (e.g. keep only the group on the entire weekend with the timer and turn on and off the steamer as needed).

I'm learning alot from the site...thanks to the community in advance. Part of the selling point of getting a VII I think...

[slo]

FWIW. I leave the VII on at all time.

I also was concern with energy consumption but is not that bad really. Have a look at this:

s1v1/S1Power.php

Chas did all the work!! All together now; Thanks Chas!

If you rely on the timer, then the machine is on at certain specific time. I am not that predictable and have espressos at odd time. I also use the hot water a lot for many different applications throughout the day.

All this to say that, I would advise that you did not get the timer and try it out first. If anything the group boiler is ready to make an espresso in 10 minutes or so!!! This is not that long.

[JohnB]

You can turn the steam boiler on & off with a simple push of a button. I found that properly insulating the steam boiler reduced the heating cycles by 42% on my S1V2 so you might want to consider that modification if you want to save energy.

[slo]

Hey John

I read that on HB as well, and was very impressed. The "KO wool" doesn't seem to be readily available. Can I ask where did you get it from? Is it easy to install? Did you take pictures (and kept them)?

Maybe JmanEspresso can take a picture from the top?

[JohnB]

Photos are here: viewtopic.php?f=57&t=860&sid=f22724b2f6 ... 50a#p12484

KO Wool is just another name for foil backed ceramic wool which is used to insulate boilers, furnaces, stoves, ect. A friend that runs the maintenance dept at a local college gave me a piece but any good plumbing/heating supply house should carry it.

[slo]

Thanks John!

I'll try to find the material and do it as well.

[Endo]

I toyed with different routines and even bought the kill-a-watt to measure energy cost a well.

I found if you turn on only the small brew boiler, it costs only pennies a day to operate. The timer still seems convenient for morning wakeups, but I`ll never pay $200 for something that should cost $20.

In the end, I`m now just turning it on when needed (about an hour a day) and off when not in use. My reason here is to reduce the scale buildup in the boilers. A minor benefit is very long life on rubber parts (like seals and gaskets). Warmup is faster than any machine I`ve owned, so the 15 min wait is usually no problem. It`s also the most eco-friendly solution of all.

[JohnB]

I'm running the Speedster 24/7 sucking the northeastern electrical grid dry!!! Actually despite the size of the boilers it does seem to be a very efficient machine. Puts off much less heat then the S1 did which is really surprising. No quick warm ups with this baby. I consider it up to temp when the 1/2" thick alloy side covers are warm to the touch. Approximately 3-4 hours in its current location!!

[clumeng]

Thanks for the information and advice. My VII arrives today and I'm stoked. I passed on the timer and the drain kit for now so we'll see how this fits into our routine. Off to make sure that I have good beans to use today...recently pulling alot of Epic Espresso from 49th Parallel on my Silvia and been happy.

I was thinking about posting unboxing photos since I don't see these anywhere on the S1 boards. Think people would be interested?

[JohnB]

I was thinking about posting unboxing photos since I don't see these anywhere on the S1 boards. Think people would be interested?

Why not?? Start a Pride Page thread & post some pics from "in the box" to "up & running".

[Endo]

I was thinking about posting unboxing photos since I don't see these anywhere on the S1 boards. Think people would be interested?

Great idea! I never saw a unboxing video of the Vivaldi. It would be a great addition.

Make sure you you get shots of all those crazy stickers they plaster all over it these days.