# Mille Click Silvia modification - anyone tried it?



## urbanculturedispatj (Jun 23, 2020)

Greetings all,

I'm now starting to seriously look into Silvia modifications. Sadly it seems a lot of the instructions are either incomplete, out of date, no longer working etc etc.

The mod I most like the look of is from someone who goes by Mille Click (mille.click is the website) https://mille.click/rancilio-silvia-pid-lcd/ I love the look of this one, the external floating PID look really isn't for me. Also not fond of cutting holes into the case.

I've had a search on here to no avail so just wondering if anyone had tried this modification? And if so how they got along with it.

I'm aware that the code for this project hasn't been uploaded but I'm a fairly competent programmer so I'm quite up for the challenge of trying that myself.

Thanks in advance,

M


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## Srjwebster (Jul 4, 2020)

This looks fine, but there are already other "software PID" projects that look up to date.

Silvia-pi is a python project for the raspi that is slightly out of date but wouldn't take much to get it going.

A thermacouple, amp, and ssr is all you need to have a functioning PID. I'm getting mine setup next month when my V6 arrives. I can keep you in the loop if you like?


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## urbanculturedispatj (Jun 23, 2020)

Srjwebster said:


> This looks fine, but there are already other "software PID" projects that look up to date.
> 
> Silvia-pi is a python project for the raspi that is slightly out of date but wouldn't take much to get it going.
> 
> A thermacouple, amp, and ssr is all you need to have a functioning PID. I'm getting mine setup next month when my V6 arrives. I can keep you in the loop if you like?


 Hi Srjwebster,

Thanks for the reply. Yeah I've had a look at quite a few but didn't like how they looked tbh. I think I just need to DIY the LCD panel myself so I'm happy with the look/position.

I'll check out Silvia-pi, I have a few rPi's lying around so that would work out nicely.

And yes please, be interesting to see how you get on. Appreciate that


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## Jimbob2k (Apr 30, 2020)

Thanks for the Silvia-pi tip - looks great ....i knew there was a reason I bought that Pi-zero!


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## Srjwebster (Jul 4, 2020)

I actually did it!

PID is working quite nicely, it's weird not having to flush and flush and flush to get the temp just right. Has really sped up my workflow on 2+ coffees.

You can live track my coffee consumption on https://coffee.srjwebster.com. Blue line shows boiler output % (stuck on 100% when unit is off) then red is the current boiler temp.

In the near future I'll add another temp probe and put it on the grouphead somewhere to detect the thermal mass temperature (ring an alarm when machine is ready) and possibly PID the steamer.


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## urbanculturedispatj (Jun 23, 2020)

Srjwebster said:


> I actually did it!
> 
> PID is working quite nicely, it's weird not having to flush and flush and flush to get the temp just right. Has really sped up my workflow on 2+ coffees.
> 
> ...


 Great work man! I don't suppose you fancy sharing how you did it do you? I'm reasonably good at following instruction with electrical/tinkering stuff and have a couple of rpi's lying around too. Thanks


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## phario (May 7, 2017)

Srjwebster said:


> I actually did it!
> 
> PID is working quite nicely, it's weird not having to flush and flush and flush to get the temp just right. Has really sped up my workflow on 2+ coffees.
> 
> ...


 I am curious what you did for the temperature measurement. Some Silvia mods I've seen embed a PT100 sensor into an M3 standoff which is then screwed into the usual thermostat holes. In the case of the link in the original post, the author used this:










Which is thermal epoxy (safe to 150C?). I guess he soldered on wires to the TSIC 301 probes, then heatshrinked and thermal epoxy them? Not as clean and elegant as the mounted solution but it's nice because you can keep the usual thermostats there.

I am curious how the digital TSIC sensors compare to cheaper PT100 sensors. The main issue with the PT100 sensors though is that you need to buy separate boards to read in the readings.


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