I have a crude diagram of how to wire this as Gor says that is done in Excel. My machine is wired the same as yours would be, Howard. Even though I have the mechanical thermostat, the original owner before me added the on/off rocker switch to the front. I can email it to you if you like. The visual is helpful.

Pete

Howard:

The learning curve to pull a good shot on the Caravel is short and your Baratza Vario should be more then adequate. Your thermostat is working once you can bring it up to a boil. A food thermometer will tell you if you're within factory range for deadband, but deadband isn't a big issue since you can recognize full heat before shutoff. If you bring it up to a boil, let it settle for a minute or so and then pull your shot. Let it sit for another minute or two or even three and pull another shot. See how they come out. Grind coarser than you would for your other machines, give it time to pre-infuse helping a bit with some priming pumps. These are very easy.

drgary wrote:Howard:

The learning curve to pull a good shot on the Caravel is short...

Thanks, Doc! I fully appreciate the tips & encouragement. My caravel technique is pretty well sorted at this point, I've had it for a couple years now and I consider it my fool-proof back-up machine, for occasional pleasure and for reference shots (i.e., if I'm having trouble dialing in a coffee on another machine, I pull a few on the caravel and discover what crazy depths of flavor I'm missing). I tend to go with a relatively fine grind, light leveling tamp (compressing only the 5mm width of the OE stubby tamper base), pull til a few drops emerge signaling preinfusion, give it a second to expand, then 1.5 pulls. All my confusion in this thread is purely regarding the functionality of the thermostat, which we now know definitely works, just not the way I want it to, per se. I have the thermocouple, which I usually position so the sensor is in the center of the water inside the tank, and then pull around 203-ish (Assuming a few degrees soaked up by the group).

My issue with the thermostat is really pretty minimal. I just don't like standing there eyeballing the thermal readout, waiting for it to drop down into the zone, or conversely watching it coast up out of the zone if I try to catch it on the up-swing. The beeping thermometer would probably the simplest solution, although the tinkerer in me is interested in digging a little deeper for improvements.

Okay, I understand!

This could be a nice workaround. Wire a switch to temporarily bypass the TSTAT by bridging the tabs that connect to it. If temperature has coasted low instead of waiting you could toggle that to reheat. And you've probably seen this but if not the learning curve on the pre-M La Pavoni doesn't need to be steep.

Reaching the Zen Zone with a Two Switch La Pavoni