I have been using Eric's adapter for about 19 months now and I could not imagine being without it. The consistency it allows is remarkable.. almost boring. It allow a prefect cooling flush of overheated E-61 brewgroups without wasting any more water than necessary. One of the things Eric recommends is leaving the digital thermometer on because most all failures are related to the on/off switch, and batteries last about a year when left on. My first battery lasted just about a year, but the second one, possibly suffering from its longer shelf life, only lasted about 8 months.

There are two ways to tell that the battery needs replacing. The first is that the display gets more difficult to read. The viewing angle becomes quite narrow, and the display becomes difficult or impossible to read when viewed straight on.

The second clue is that accuracy suffers. I knew my battery as getting weak and had ordered a supply of replacement batteries, but before they came I had no doubts that the battery was about dead. When flushing and getting a stream of water with no steam or spurting, the thermometer read 214 degrees at about 2100 feet of altitude!

So if the digits are looking more like they are gray in tone instead of deep black, it is time for new batteries!

Are you able change the batteries in place - without removing the thermometer?

EricL wrote:Are you able change the batteries in place - without removing the thermometer?

Great question, Eric.. Yes. The thermometer is split along its equator. A fingernail can pop the front half off while the thermometer's bottom half and probe remain in the group. The battery sits under a metal holder that is soldered in place on the circuit board. The battery can be slid out from under the holder and a new cell slid back into place.

I got 10(!) name-brand cells off eBay for Less that $3.50 delivered.

if you need pics of the battery replacement I can do that...

Randy, pics of the battery replacement would be a good idea, for when I need to do it. I turn the thermometer off when I am done. How often do these fail?

sweaner wrote:Randy, pics of the battery replacement would be a good idea, for when I need to do it. I turn the thermometer off when I am done. How often do these fail?

Mine failed after about 2-3 months. It would turn off in an intermitant fashion and then not on again without a lot of playing around with the switch. Chris' Coffee had a replacement at my door the next day - gotta love their service. I am careful with the switch now holding the body of the thermometer while moving the switch. I keep it off and only turn it on when I am using the machine and so far so good with the new one.

In my opinion it is an essential feature for monitoring and regulating shot temperature on my QM Anita.

Another question related to the VBM Domobar. Do the adapters sold through Chris Coffee need to have the nut milled down to fit the Domobar without cutting into the chrome? There's a couple posts on installing on the Domobar Super referencing either extra washers or milling down the barrel of the 7/16" hex nut a bit.

Another thought, you can get a 1.5 v 500 mA solar cell for $15. Not sure how much light they require, but if the machine was installed near a window, you could hang the small solar panel on the side and run wires from the thermometer. Of course, $15 buys a lot of batteries....

I might have cursed my replacement thermometer by posting here.

I just ordered some batteries on ebay and they are on the way. However, my thermometer now has fading numbers when the switch is in the on position and its on and seemingly OK in the off position. Has anyone seen this symptom before? I'll see if its OK when I get home this evening or if a new battery fixes the situation when the new ones arrive in a couple of days.

These thermometers seem finicky probably being so close to a hot grouphead all the time.

A fresh battery should (according to Eric) run the thermometer for a year. If after replacing the battery you discover that the the switch is failing you might be able to bypass or short out the switch so the thermometer stays on all the time. The circuit board is held to the face with little Phillips head screws. I did not want to disassemble mine to see exactly how to do that. In any case, if you discover it is a bad switch, you have little to lose by trying.