# lights flashing driving me mad!!



## camperccino (Dec 4, 2020)

Any help would be great.

Duel fuel contempo. Had it 5 years and its been excellent. However..our decaf is supplied pre-ground and this batch is very very fine...(bear with me)..machine was working fine for an hour. Went to make the first decaf of the day. Noticed it was barely dripping out (to fine) so i stopped it, made another group but hardly compressed it in the group. didn't realise the "cake" from the previous had attached itself inside the head and placed it in ..so to much product in the head. Pressed the button..all lights start flashing. Realised the problem, cleaned it all out..lights still flashing. Water level fine, steam fine. So..let it all go, drained down and turned off. Re-booted, water filled, steam rose fine..soon as it was at temp and pressure...all the lights started to blink again. So vented it and drained it. Would not do anything off the buttons. Running an external pump with a flow jet before this pump, lifting from water buckets..as stated ..perfect working set up for 5 years.

Noticed that the gas burner was still firing away on full flame even though its up to temp.

suggestions?


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## BlackCatCoffee (Apr 11, 2017)

Are you running from mains power or battery?


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## camperccino (Dec 4, 2020)

battery's.3 off..130amp 400 cycle..brand new


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## camperccino (Dec 4, 2020)

Im not far from Fraccino. The'yve had it 2 days on the bench and works fine....so...would the pump or flow jet affect this as in intermittent fault?


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## camperccino (Dec 4, 2020)

its very confusing as the site glass says full..lifts water at start up and get s up to perfect steam and temp


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## camperccino (Dec 4, 2020)

batteries are fine as the grinder is working with no issues. Lights are all working in the van...etc


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## NewboyUK (Jul 14, 2018)

Define - flame on full even though its up to temp?


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## camperccino (Dec 4, 2020)

well...full burn..tall flames...when its at temp and running its usually just a low blue flame


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## camperccino (Dec 4, 2020)

you think the regulator on the bottle may be acting up?


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## NewboyUK (Jul 14, 2018)

How do you know its up to temp?


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## camperccino (Dec 4, 2020)

left hand gauge tells me its at water temp...and when i let it go to drain down its scolding hot and full of steam


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## camperccino (Dec 4, 2020)

this is showning the water temp at correct temp...and the steam pressure is rising


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## El carajillo (Mar 16, 2013)

What gas are you using ? Butane / Propane ?


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## NewboyUK (Jul 14, 2018)

camperccino said:


> left hand gauge tells me its at water temp...and when i let it go to drain down its scolding hot and full of steam


 Left hand side is group pressure - nothing to do with temperature directly.

Right hand side - thats steam pressure. Machine will be on full flame until this reaches somewhere between 1 and 1.2bar.

Can you explain - in steps - exactly what you do up until the lights flash?

Lights flashing will be nothing to do with group pressure nor steam pressure directly as none of the electronics (button related) know temp nor pressure.


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## BlackCatCoffee (Apr 11, 2017)

Plug it into the mains and test it. Still use the gas.

I suspect this is power related. When my inverter died / batteries were low I had this sort of behaviour. The fact that Fracino had it on their bench and it behaved itself would back this theory up.


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## camperccino (Dec 4, 2020)

thats the issue..the machine ran fine for an hour at least..30 drinks plus. Runs on the red bottle..not the blue.

So steps wise there's nothing to say..its run fine, then all the lights started flashing.


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## camperccino (Dec 4, 2020)

oh thats interesting. Never questioned the inverter. How would that affect the machine?


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## NewboyUK (Jul 14, 2018)

camperccino said:


> thats the issue..the machine ran fine for an hour at least..30 drinks plus. Runs on the red bottle..not the blue.
> 
> So steps wise there's nothing to say..its run fine, then all the lights started flashing.


 So you are just sitting there doing nothing and it starts flashing?


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## camperccino (Dec 4, 2020)

i have an alarm on the inverter. That usually goes off during grinding as that the biggest draw...so i get advance notice. The machine will just turn off if the battery goes. Swap over to another an switch back on...


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## camperccino (Dec 4, 2020)

yes...i was making 2 drinks..left group using our beans, worked fine. Other group was doing the decaf...then failed. Both groups were not running at the same time though


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## camperccino (Dec 4, 2020)

i was wondering if scale could be causing issues anywhare?


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## NewboyUK (Jul 14, 2018)

How long is it taking to do a shot of decaf?

If the grind is very very fine and takes too long to pull the shot - all lights will flash.

Prove this by putting your cleaning blank in and pressing just the star button. After a while it will time out and flash everything


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## BlackCatCoffee (Apr 11, 2017)

The inverter could be in its death throws. I could be totally wrong of course but I would plug it in to the mains then you can at least rule it out.


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## camperccino (Dec 4, 2020)

Fraccino suspected the PCB but they've run a test on it and its fine..even the ribbon cable.

Its a dificult one i'll admit..its just random and intermittent. Whats throwing me is that i can vent it all down, turn it off, re-start and fill. Everything went to the correct pressure etc then the lights start blinking again. I know its full as i drained off the tank via the site glass once home. 7 or so litres of very hot water drained out...with some scale


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## camperccino (Dec 4, 2020)

Thats the point as noted above...the decafe is pre ground by our supply and its very fine..it was dripping out ..like every 2 or 3 seconds.

I do have another inverter..i could swap over at the next event on wednesdy to see if it has an effect


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## camperccino (Dec 4, 2020)

so how do you clear the time out?..is there a time period for the valve to reset?


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## NewboyUK (Jul 14, 2018)

You dont.

Send your preground back and tell them its too fine. Where was it from and where are you? Pm if you prefer.

So your saying that it only ever happens on preground?


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## camperccino (Dec 4, 2020)

well it did this time yes. If its timing out as safety then thats fine...but its obviously not resetting. Our pre-ground is from Coffee Central in Nottingham. Used them for 5 years..all good..its just this particular pack i think


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## NewboyUK (Jul 14, 2018)

It wont reset. Power off and on.


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## camperccino (Dec 4, 2020)

did that..no difference


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## camperccino (Dec 4, 2020)

im picking it up on Monday morning..again..so i'll run off the spare inverter from the next few shows to see if that helps. it may come down to swapping out the flow jet an HP pump as a process of elimination. Both 5 years old now so i cant really moan.


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## camperccino (Dec 4, 2020)

are you sure the contempo duel fuel has a time out?.. doesnt it just vent it out the back of the group instead if left to long?


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## camperccino (Dec 4, 2020)

keep you posted..thanks so much for being here on a crap wet Saturday night.🙂


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## NewboyUK (Jul 14, 2018)

camperccino said:


> did that..no difference


 If its flashing - power off then on and that resets it


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## NewboyUK (Jul 14, 2018)

camperccino said:


> im picking it up on Monday morning..again..so i'll run off the spare inverter from the next few shows to see if that helps. it may come down to swapping out the flow jet an HP pump as a process of elimination. Both 5 years old now so i cant really moan.


 Its your coffee


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## NewboyUK (Jul 14, 2018)

What was the outcome of this one?


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## camperccino (Dec 4, 2020)

Sorry i didnt get back. Believe it or not, we've been very busy.

So "Black Cat" was 100% correct. Had the machine set up and running at one of usual markets. Worked fine for an hour then all lights started to flash. This time, it did reset its self. However, it kept doing this every 3rd drink..so as a last resort i just plugged the machine into my standby inverter and left the lights and grinder on the usual inverter. All worked perfect and still is. Good call Black Cat!!


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## BlackCatCoffee (Apr 11, 2017)

Glad you got sorted 👍


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