Brandms1
New Member
Yes, mine chucked it in and I replaced it with a Gen 3.1.1 Brewzilla as a short term solution - the brewing must go on.
However I like the simplicity of the Robobrew - it runs with my age, so I wasn’t going to give up on it
I won’t go into all of the symptoms but eventually after a lot of unreliability, inaccurate temp readings, blank screens etc it stopped working all together, nothing, no one home.
I decided the core problems was the board and the loading on the element switching circuits. I did the sums on the 1900w (actually 1800w according to the markings on it) and the 500w elements. These pull just over 10amps together so the 10amp cord supplied is marginal. Here’s the fix:
1. I removed the circuit board and re-soldered all the terminal pins associated with the elements and the power supply to the board then checked that it worked - it did so I moved on to a permanent fix.
2. From RS Components I ordered 2 x 121-8073 240v AC switched 30amp relays which I fitted side by side directly below the circuit board and 1 x 909-2200 C19 15amp power cord and 1 x 776-9135 panel mount 20amp socket. I cut out around the existing power cord entry hole to fit the panel mount socket.
3. I wired the load side of the new relays with heavier wiring using the existing relays in the circuit board to switch the new relays thus removing the element load from the circuit board relays.
4. I re-wired the elements back to the new relays, again with a heavier gauge wire then insulated the bottom of the boiler directly under the elements with 1” fibreglass rope insulation which was easy to coil in (Gen 3.1.1 has insulation under the elements).
My Robobrew has worked faultlessly for 12 months with absolutely no issues at all.
Heating to mash temp and to boiling is quicker than it used to be.
All in all, the issues with the Robobrew and Brewzilla circuit boards are all design shortcomings that are quick and easy to address with a bit of know how.
I will be doing the same to the Gen 3.1.1 before I start using it continuously
However I like the simplicity of the Robobrew - it runs with my age, so I wasn’t going to give up on it
I won’t go into all of the symptoms but eventually after a lot of unreliability, inaccurate temp readings, blank screens etc it stopped working all together, nothing, no one home.
I decided the core problems was the board and the loading on the element switching circuits. I did the sums on the 1900w (actually 1800w according to the markings on it) and the 500w elements. These pull just over 10amps together so the 10amp cord supplied is marginal. Here’s the fix:
1. I removed the circuit board and re-soldered all the terminal pins associated with the elements and the power supply to the board then checked that it worked - it did so I moved on to a permanent fix.
2. From RS Components I ordered 2 x 121-8073 240v AC switched 30amp relays which I fitted side by side directly below the circuit board and 1 x 909-2200 C19 15amp power cord and 1 x 776-9135 panel mount 20amp socket. I cut out around the existing power cord entry hole to fit the panel mount socket.
3. I wired the load side of the new relays with heavier wiring using the existing relays in the circuit board to switch the new relays thus removing the element load from the circuit board relays.
4. I re-wired the elements back to the new relays, again with a heavier gauge wire then insulated the bottom of the boiler directly under the elements with 1” fibreglass rope insulation which was easy to coil in (Gen 3.1.1 has insulation under the elements).
My Robobrew has worked faultlessly for 12 months with absolutely no issues at all.
Heating to mash temp and to boiling is quicker than it used to be.
All in all, the issues with the Robobrew and Brewzilla circuit boards are all design shortcomings that are quick and easy to address with a bit of know how.
I will be doing the same to the Gen 3.1.1 before I start using it continuously
