# Gene Dimmer mod - got 50% done, but then..



## Voocash (Jan 16, 2020)

Hi there, I would like to ask you guys to check if my wiring looks alright before I continue wiring it to the roaster. (I know I used the 'earth' cable which was in this thick 4core cable but as long as I mark it or tape it shouldn't be a problem). All pictures are attached. together with simple wiring diagram. I mainly relied on the tips and tricks I found in:



Spoiler



http://coffeetimex.wikidot.com/gene-cafe-dimmer-control-mod-stage-1

https://coffeeforums.co.uk/topic/37836-gene-cafe-cbr-101-dimmer-mod-mediumroaststeam-take-on-it/?tab=comments#comment-532177



But since my machine construction is a bit different to the one at WikiDot, I need your help. I don't know where connect my wires to on the Gene's PCB and heating element. Can some of you Wizzards, mark it on the picture please?

@MediumRoastSteam You've been very helpful so far and because I followed your approach could you please check if anything raises your concerns (apart from earthing cable ofc . I already swapped DC display to AC as you recommended.

Input from other experts such as @DavecUK @eusty @eddie57 is highly appreciated 

Many thanks!


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## DavecUK (Aug 6, 2013)

I may be wrong but that SCR controller you have looks like it wants both AC wires connected to in and both load wires connected to "out". Might be worth checking your wiring instruction that was supplied with the device.

Bit like this one:


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## MediumRoastSteam (Jul 7, 2015)

@Stanic is the new master on Gene mod 🙂


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## MediumRoastSteam (Jul 7, 2015)

View attachment 20786


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## Stanic (Dec 12, 2015)

@MediumRoastSteam anyone who can draw such nice schemes as @Voocash must be much more experienced than I will ever be


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## Voocash (Jan 16, 2020)

DavecUK said:


> I may be wrong but that SCR controller you have looks like it wants both AC wires connected to in and both load wires connected to "out". Might be worth checking your wiring instruction that was supplied with the device.
> 
> Bit like this one:


 I used this wiring from @MediumRoastSteam he just mentioned 2 posts below yours. So I'm confused now.. a little bit.


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## MediumRoastSteam (Jul 7, 2015)

@Voocash - it looks ok to me.


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## MediumRoastSteam (Jul 7, 2015)

if you look at the bottom of that SRC PCB, the ones at the edge are just linked, without going through anything.


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## Voocash (Jan 16, 2020)

Thanks chaps, but how to wire it here ?!
<img alt="1.jpg" data-ratio="178.15" width="421" data-fileid="42823" data-src="<fileStore.core_Attachment>/monthly_2020_07/1.thumb.jpg.adf6318e1f9e3d33004842f2682d344b.jpg" src="https://www.coffeeforums.co.uk/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png">


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## MediumRoastSteam (Jul 7, 2015)

Voocash said:


> Thanks chaps, but how to wire it here ?!


 Sorry, I don't understand. Isn't the diagram clear? Are you saying you don't know which wire goes where? Sorry, it's not clear to me what you need to solve.


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## MediumRoastSteam (Jul 7, 2015)

PS: I can see you haven't disconnected the wires from the PCB. Is that what you are on about?


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## Voocash (Jan 16, 2020)

@MediumRoastSteam

I'm not sure where I should connect my cables:









Also in your pictures I see you didn't unplug the fuse, You just detached it from enclosure and left it there. Can you confirm?


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## MediumRoastSteam (Jul 7, 2015)

Fuse: Confirmed. Leave in there.

Cables: Isn't the diagram clear? (Obviously not, but I don't know what else to say, unless you want me to write it down in prose form what's in the diagram 🙂 )

View attachment 20786


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## Voocash (Jan 16, 2020)

thanks ok. In your diagram there is "TER4" going to Gene Heater and Gene PCB. But There is only one TER4 slot. The others are respectively TER1, TER2, TER3. This is my confusion. I'm not sure which cable should be actually connected to TER4.









Next thing is: I've got 4 wires and 4 male pins on the PCB. If I connect all of my wires to those pins, heater will be disconnected?


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## DavecUK (Aug 6, 2013)




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## MediumRoastSteam (Jul 7, 2015)

I don't know why you disconnected the AC-IN wires...

*Ter4 is your neutral wire.*

The only purpose of Ter4 is to light up that display. It goes into the display IN, and comes out into the display OUT, going back to the heating element. So, plug that MALE connector coming out of your display into the FEMALE socket that was previously connected to Ter4. Needless to say you connect the FEMALE socket coming out of your display INPUT port into the MALE pin labelled ter4.

*Ter3 (Heater) is your live wire.*

Same sort of thing as ter4. Just that the return wire goes from the switch (middle left in the diagram). Connect that MALE connector into the FEMALE socket that was previously connected to Ter3. Same for the male pin in the PCB, similar to above.

*Honestly, please please please look at the diagram. If you can't follow that or make any sense of it, I suggest you do not follow through with this mod. It's VERY IMPORTANT you understand what you are doing, otherwise you might hear a pop and blue smoke.*

*Check your wiring with a multimeter to make sure things are wired properly. *


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## Voocash (Jan 16, 2020)

@MediumRoastSteam Thanks for clarifying, makes more sense now. This is my current wiring. I added actual pictures to the wiring diagram. It doesn't actually say where is in or out on my display. I lined up all ports and wires as they are actually connected. Unfortunately I don't have a multimeter... I barely know how to use a battery and light switch, hence my poor knowledge about electrics and electric circuits.

(colours are irrelevant, I used colours as actually have them in my setup, they don't mean anything)


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## MediumRoastSteam (Jul 7, 2015)

I will say again: *Please* look at my diagram. Look where those wires are going. For example, in my diagram, the Heater "ter3" is going to the input of the meter (in the middle). In your diagram, it's going to the output (load) in the edge.

*Please* follow the lines of my diagram and copy it like for like.


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## Voocash (Jan 16, 2020)

MediumRoastSteam said:


> I will say again: *Please* look at my diagram. Look where those wires are going. For example, in my diagram, the Heater "ter3" is going to the input of the meter (in the middle). In your diagram, it's going to the output (load) in the edge.
> 
> *Please* follow the lines of my diagram and copy it like for like.


 Thanks. Sorry I'm not English native speaker therefore I may need to read things twice sometime  
Where it says ter3 on your diagram? I only see ter4... Do you mean 'PCB Heater slot wire' is your Heater Ter3?


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## MediumRoastSteam (Jul 7, 2015)

My gene didn't have a "ter3". So I called it "Heater wire".

Sorry if it wasn't clear, but I did refer to:



> *Ter3 (Heater) is your live wire.*


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## Voocash (Jan 16, 2020)

I think I see the confusion here... first of all, I just found out your machine had different labelling so perhaps identifying each element is a good starting point. Which one is which on your diagram? I annotated as a,b,c,d.








The confusing bit is the power display on your diagram and what you wrote above, you marked red dots (live wires) and yellow (neutral) in pairs but in my case they are as below (perhaps I was the dumbo all the time not being sure how to connect the display):


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## MediumRoastSteam (Jul 7, 2015)

I'm struggling. Really. 😂

your display is the same as mine. Why have you wired it different?


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## Voocash (Jan 16, 2020)

MediumRoastSteam said:


> I'm struggling. Really. 😂
> 
> your display is the same as mine. Why have you wired it different?


 It is wired as per pictures/diagram of mine above. I completely understand your explanation here:



> *Ter4 is your neutral wire.*
> 
> The only purpose of Ter4 is to light up that display. It goes into the display IN, and comes out into the display OUT, going back to the heating element. So, plug that MALE connector coming out of your display into the FEMALE socket that was previously connected to Ter4. Needless to say you connect the FEMALE socket coming out of your display INPUT port into the MALE pin labelled ter4.
> 
> ...


 But once I follow your diagram it doesn't make sense because wires going from PCB are going into display and back to PCB. Not actually doing anything  . I recorded a video, perhaps this will put give more understanding


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## Voocash (Jan 16, 2020)

Here's the vid:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/SBUf8JLAdinwqjvd9


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## MediumRoastSteam (Jul 7, 2015)

Voocash said:


> It is wired as per pictures/diagram of mine above. I completely understand your explanation here:
> 
> But once I follow your diagram it doesn't make sense because wires going from PCB are going into display and back to PCB. Not actually doing anything  . I recorded a video, perhaps this will put give more understanding


 In the display, the slots in the middle are INPUTS. The ones in the edge are OUTPUTS. the correspondent INPUT and OUTPUT are right next to each other. In your drawing, you ,for whichever reason are thinking that the slots in the middle are input/output of the wire. THIS IS WHERE YOU ARE GOING WRONG. Look in my schematics: the slots in the middle are coming from the PCB: From ter3 and ter4. On your drawing, for whichever reason, you are drawing that the slots in the middle are INPUT and OUTPUT of TER4. It will never work. In fact, don't turn this on!

I don't want to be rude, but you are not copying my schematics. all the components are the same. You are simply ignoring it. In my diagram, the colours matter: Brown is always the "heater wide", which is ter3 on your case. The blue wire is always the "ter4" wire.

Follow my schematics. The display I had is the same you have. It's even drawn on the back of the display itself.

Until your schematic matches mine, it's no point going on about it. I don't know what else to say, honestly!

That's it from me. Upload a new schematics which follows mine. Pay attention to where the wires go. Forget the Gene for the moment. Concentrate on schematics. Until then, I'm not saying anything else because there's nothing to be said.


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## Voocash (Jan 16, 2020)

MediumRoastSteam said:


> In the display, the slots in the middle are INPUTS. The ones in the edge are OUTPUTS. the correspondent INPUT and OUTPUT are right next to each other. In your drawing, you ,for whichever reason are thinking that the slots in the middle are input/output of the wire. THIS IS WHERE YOU ARE GOING WRONG. Look in my schematics: the slots in the middle are coming from the PCB: From ter3 and ter4. On your drawing, for whichever reason, you are drawing that the slots in the middle are INPUT and OUTPUT of TER4. It will never work. In fact, don't turn this on!
> 
> I don't want to be rude, but you are not copying my schematics. all the components are the same. You are simply ignoring it. In my diagram, the colours matter: Brown is always the "heater wide", which is ter3 on your case. The blue wire is always the "ter4" wire.
> 
> ...


 Thanks. Sorry I didn't want to annoy anybody. I just simply don't understand electrics  . But luckily together we've managed to find out that I didn't know how the display works  True, there is a picture on the back of the display but it looks like nothing to me, I can only recognize the Minus and Plus which in my language is addition and subtraction  Still not quite sure if (+) is live or neutral 😕 I will try to google it.
Nevertheless, everything is coming together now. Hence why I created this topic, to ask people who are better and more experienced than I. And surely I won't be switching anything ON and even assembling anything before I will be 101% sure everything is fine!

I will comeback with an update tomorrow. Thanks for the patience and understanding


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## MediumRoastSteam (Jul 7, 2015)

+ is positive

- is negative

It's not LIVE (phase) or Neutral. AC is not DC.

Let me say this to you again: Unless you fully understand and are confident on what you are doing (you don't even have a multimeter!) *please please don't plug that Gene in.* Anyway, I can't emphasise enough. *Do so at your own risk. *

Over and out


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## Rob1 (Apr 9, 2015)

Voocash said:


> Thanks. Sorry I didn't want to annoy anybody. I just simply don't understand electrics  . But luckily together we've managed to find out that I didn't know how the display works  True, there is a picture on the back of the display but it looks like nothing to me, I can only recognize the Minus and Plus which in my language is addition and subtraction  Still not quite sure if (+) is live or neutral 😕 I will try to google it.
> Nevertheless, everything is coming together now. Hence why I created this topic, to ask people who are better and more experienced than I. And surely I won't be switching anything ON and even assembling anything before I will be 101% sure everything is fine!
> 
> I will comeback with an update tomorrow. Thanks for the patience and understanding


 I thought it was AC? Current flows from + in DC. In AC +/- changes hence alternating current. Put live to +.

Edit:

Hang on get a multimeter. Are you mad?


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## Voocash (Jan 16, 2020)

There we go! Now it looks better. I will now get multimeter and do "some" checks, not sure yet what I will be checking but I'll try to figure this out


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## Rob1 (Apr 9, 2015)

You'll be checking you aren't going to kill yourself if you touch the cases and anything in reach. And to make sure you've connected the wires properly and you don't have shorts. Check your crimps are properly connected to the wires etc.


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## Voocash (Jan 16, 2020)

Voilà I checked the continuity between all connections as well as from start to end of the circuit. All good. Wired as per diagram, both diagrams @MediumRoastSteam and mine are the same. I'd say I'm good to go. The only place where I couldn't measure the continuity was between point A(in) and B(out) on regulator. 






and


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## MediumRoastSteam (Jul 7, 2015)

Voocash said:


> Voilà I checked the continuity between all connections as well as from start to end of the circuit. All good. Wired as per diagram, both diagrams @MediumRoastSteam and mine are the same. I'd say I'm good to go. The only place where I couldn't measure the continuity was between point A(in) and B(out) on regulator.
> View attachment 42920
> and
> 
> ...


 You can't measure continuity between A and B because there resistance in the middle. Check resistence and you'll see. Or adjust the potentiometer to be fully open, it might offer no resistence and you'd see continuity instead.


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## Voocash (Jan 16, 2020)

Thanks! @MediumRoastSteam. I assembled the roaster and switched ON and.... it worked! All looks fine, machine is heating up, display is working everything looks good. Now I need to do a bit of digging on the forum how to use it properly.

Thanks everyone for contribution. I hope this topic will help future generations in modifying their roasters.


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## MediumRoastSteam (Jul 7, 2015)

Voocash said:


> Thanks! @MediumRoastSteam. I assembled the roaster and switched ON and.... it worked! All looks fine, machine is heating up, display is working everything looks good. Now I need to do a bit of digging on the forum how to use it properly.
> 
> Thanks everyone for contribution. I hope this topic will help future generations in modifying their roasters.


Good stuff.

Your next homework is the Today's Roast" thread.

Huge, full of info. I read it a few times from start to finish. Good luck and report back!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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