My Inkbird went south

ChicoBrewer

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Silly me I started worrying that my pale ale I brewed on Saturday wasn't taking off. I finally noticed that the sides of the fermenter seemed awfully chilly so I went and got my long stick thermometer and discovered that the actual temperature inside the thermowell was 46 degrees. The inkbird was set at 68 and was reading about 68,4.

I ordered another but I'm wondering if anyone else ever had that happen? It seems like the relays would go before the temp probe.
 
Which one do you have Chico? If it's a ITC-1000 like mine, swap your new probe with the old one before tossing the old one....it might not be a complete loss and you just need a new probe.
 
It's a 308. Who knows maybe its the circuit board and not the probe. Seems like it would be a simple and cheap design addition to make the probe plug in with a jack :(
 
When I orderd my 308 I ordered an extra probe with it.
Chico is your probe hardwired to the controller?
Maybe it is an older version...
 
Yes it's hardwired. I ordered a new one that is not. It's two years old so I guess it had a good run
 
Yes it's hardwired. I ordered a new one that is not. It's two years old so I guess it had a good run
You could always open it up and take a look at internals - nothing is ever "hardwired" a soldering Iron and a set of needle nose pliers will remove it from the circuit board if that is your issue.:) just solder in another probe suited for this inkbird temp controller and you should be apples.
That's why I usually try and make most of my brew equipment from scratch it helps with fault finding and narrowing down to a problem in the brewery always helps if you know how it all works.
 
You could always open it up and take a look at internals - nothing is ever "hardwired" a soldering Iron and a set of needle nose pliers will remove it from the circuit board if that is your issue.:) just solder in another probe suited for this inkbird temp controller and you should be apples.
That's why I usually try and make most of my brew equipment from scratch it helps with fault finding and narrowing down to a problem in the brewery always helps if you know how it all works.

Absolutely...not like you'll blow the warranty or anything...maybe a fuse but hey, turn turn....snip snip.... for science!
 
Maybe I'll open her up for science!

It's a $35 experiment!

Not like I'm taking my Rolex apart, or my Rolleiflex, or my Leica. No no no I love them all!

Hahahaha

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So I took it apart. The power input an outputs are on the back of the board so they can be accessed. The probe is on the front of the board and is not accessible without breaking it out. It is held onto the face by four corner pins that are expanded by heat to hold it in. No screws.

I threw it in the trash. Not worth my time to try to fix it and find a compatible probe. I suppose I could cut the external cable and add a jack but again for $35 not worth my time.

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Ok I'm doing this for you Chico because I think it's worth it and your a good bloke. Here I've taken my brand new once used Inkbird unit apart my one isn't glued down like yours you sure it is/was. On in picture below I circled what you need to in solder . On my board it says ( 5v NTC) that's your probe type you've got a white lead and a black one white is most likely + there is a ground but not used. I recon order that probe grab your soldering iron needle nose pliers trap your probe wires on back of board gently heat the solder connection draw back on pliers and it should come free of the board. Reverse process for soldering new probe in remember take a photo of how old one is wired in so you get it right when soldering new one back in. Good luck let me know how ya go. Remember it's all learning nothing can go wrong you can only gain from this;)!
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Hahaha. Your talking to a guy who once made a diy 220 watt led light for a 150 gallon Reef aquarium. Three 80 watt 20000 Kelvin led lights. They make a lot of heat so I had to glue them to heat synchs and put computer fans on them. Then make an enclosure to house the power supplies and arduino I programmed to send a pwm signal to the power supplies to make a sunrise to sunset ramp up and down effect. The coral and fish thought they were in Australia in a glass box. Hint - never look directly at an 80 watt led.

Maybe I'll give it a go. I ha e t had the soldering iron out in a while and I really didn't try that hard at getting the board out.

Thanks buddy!
 
Hahaha. Your talking to a guy who once made a diy 220 watt led light for a 150 gallon Reef aquarium. Three 80 watt 20000 Kelvin led lights. They make a lot of heat so I had to glue them to heat synchs and put computer fans on them. Then make an enclosure to house the power supplies and arduino I programmed to send a pwm signal to the power supplies to make a sunrise to sunset ramp up and down effect. The coral and fish thought they were in Australia in a glass box. Hint - never look directly at an 80 watt led.

Maybe I'll give it a go. I ha e t had the soldering iron out in a while and I really didn't try that hard at getting the board out.

Thanks buddy!
Well this'll be a walk in the park for ya!;)
 
Hey folks... did anyone else besides me get a private message from an intern claiming to be with the Inkbird company wanted to know more about your usage of their products?

I smells a robot!
 
Hey folks... did anyone else besides me get a private message from an intern claiming to be with the Inkbird company wanted to know more about your usage of their products?

I smells a robot!
Yep.
 
the nice people from inkbird patrol the beer forums to get feedback and help with defective products, they are active on HBT so no it's not a robot
 
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I got a message and inquired as to the nature of his contact. He replied with a very plain and simple explanation. Like Ozark says, they monitor forums where folks are likely to be using their products to solicit feedback. Reasonable marketing and probably leads to better service. One could always ignore the message or delete the private conversation, I suppose. I'm happy to get help with a problem that I'm having with one of my Inkbirds.
 

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