# Gene Cafe modifications



## joe82675 (Mar 20, 2021)

Hi all,

I have had my Gene cafe CBR-101 for about 3 months now. I was looking for a easy way to get a bean mass probe inside and to be able to connect it to something like artisan. I have been looking all over and have found loads pf solutions with older posts and links not valid. I didnt know if anyone had a quick and easy solution for this, or any solution.

Also I was looking at the dimmer mod and could not really understand why it was so important and so fear I am missing something as to why you would do it.

Also if anyone has any advice on setup or any tips feel free to let me know.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Cheers.


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## MediumRoastSteam (Jul 7, 2015)

@joe82675 - Hello!

@Rob1 has done a mass probe on this Gene. You'll need to drill into the chamber though, and use phiget or similar to connect to Artisan.

Re: Dimmer mod: The purpose of the mod is so that the element intensity varies rather than just be a full on / off solution. This way you can control temperature and profiling more easily, and it will also extend the working life of the heating element.

Hope it helps.


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## joe82675 (Mar 20, 2021)

MediumRoastSteam said:


> @joe82675 - Hello!
> 
> @Rob1 has done a mass probe on this Gene. You'll need to drill into the chamber though, and use phiget or similar to connect to Artisan.
> 
> ...


 Hi, thanks that's a great help! I will check his mod out! And that makes sense, I will look into doing that aswell... thank you


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## Rob1 (Apr 9, 2015)

The dimmer mod will do as Mediumroaststeam has said, it also has the effect of reducing/avoiding burning the beans from an element running at full power so you can get a more even roast.

I have a thread detailing a bean mass probe mod with code posted somewhere. I got it from 'roastgenie' project which should still be available on github, it's just a little difficult to dig through and for artisan integration you might have to alter code a bit. Back in the days of signatures I had a link in there but you'll just have to search for it "gene bean mass probe" should turn something up.

The main problem with it is the drum rotates and any thermocouple you put in there will rotate with it so you need a wireless connection to the thermocouple. You can achieve this is either with bluetooth or wifi arduinos and a termcouple amplifier that you stick to one of the rotating plates with sugru or something similar. It'll be battery powered. There might be some clever alternative to power it with induction.

Rather than carry out the dimmer mod you can use a proportional control SSR with artisan. You'd wire it in the same way as a dimmer and it would allow computer control of power to the heating element. It's probably worth getting a probe into the heater box if you can see a crack to slip a naked one through that'll give you a reading of heat right next to the element that you can use to reference your power alterations with.


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