Past the point of no return

I have done it. I have gone all in. Bet it all on black. Past the point of no return. No looking back now.

I have completely gutted my espresso machine of wiring with the exception of 3. 1 Supplies power to both boilers, and then the other 2 are each boilers heating elements output to complete circuit. The thick white "wire" isn't really a wire at all but a thermocouple input to a PID controller (read on).

I have a picture so you can see what I am talking about.















Originally, it was a complete rats nest of wiring from the factory. It was seriously horrific. I like to think I am pretty competent about electronics, especially appliances and cars which are fairly simple creatures. But this wire job was unimaginably complicated and confusing. I would stare at it for hours and only be more confused after wards.

So I decided to go for it and completely rewire it the way I wanted to. Which brings me to a new challenge: Make the dang thing work! I may have bitten off more than I could chew by doing this. I took precautions before doing this like taking photos of the wiring before gutting it. However, the wiring was so bad, I doubt I really could ever get it back together. Rachel warned me not to do it (standard wife protocol), but she is secretly hoping I don't get it to work so we can get a new super-wamadine machine.

There was a couple things that led me down this route. 1. Stock components are starting to wear out. Like the brew boiler thermostat starting to heat too long, therefore turning itself into a second steam boiler. By the way, in case you were wondering, steam makes horrible coffee. 2. I wanted to have a digital PID temperature controller instead of a thermostat, but the PID does not play well with the contactor (not pictured, already removed). The machine's boilers would trip a standard 15A circuit breaker if they were both energized simultaneously, so a contactor/relay was wired in to essentially be a electro-mechanical power saver by switching power between boilers so they both can get hot but prevent overloading the circuit. The PID causes the contactor to cycle excessively and only the brew boiler gets hot because the contactor gets confused by the pulsing of the PID.

I believe, since the PID is a smarter way to go as far as energy usage goes that I could power both boilers without a switching device such as a contactor (since a PID is a switching device in a sense). This will simplify the overall wiring without the contactor. Then use the pre-existing switches to energize the pump and solenoid valves (orange thing and black box things respectively in the picture) as the factory originally intended. Read more about PID's here: link.

If I fail, then I am an idiot for ever attempting this hair brained scheme. But if I am sucessful, then I am a FRICKIN GENIUS!

At work I have a nickname that has to do with all my insane behavior, "Dr. Scientist". Mostly because of what I do at work, but it is a personality I have developed over the years. Sort of a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde split personality complex. Mild-mannered "me" transforms into obsessive-compulsive "Dr. Scientist" when it comes to my hobbies.