Dead iSpindel?

[Brewer #429391]

Hello! I'm new to the forum – hello everyone

I was hoping someone may have some advice to share. My iSpindel suddenly died. It was behaving a little erratically during a brew (only sending updates every hour or two), so I reset it, confirmed that it was sending updates every 15 minutes as configured, and put it back in the fermenter. It never sent another update after that.

20 days later (I didn't want to open the fermenter again), I brought it out and found that it's completely unresponsive. Even though I've recharged it, it won't switch on any lights under any circumstances. Following the reset procedure doesn't do anything – the usual blue lights don't blink, and the iSpindel network doesn't pop up on my laptop. I've also tried connecting it to my laptop via USB, but nothing happens.

There's no sign of water damage, corrosion or oxidation inside the capsule, and I'm perfectly confident that no water has even been inside that capsule. It's been used for maybe 10 brews.

This looks to me like some component in the logic board failed, which means I'm unlikely to be able to fix it. But if anyone has any other ideas, I'd be very thankful!

Thanks in advance and happy brewing everyone

 

[Yooper]

Hello! I'm new to the forum – hello everyone

I was hoping someone may have some advice to share. My iSpindel suddenly died. It was behaving a little erratically during a brew (only sending updates every hour or two), so I reset it, confirmed that it was sending updates every 15 minutes as configured, and put it back in the fermenter. It never sent another update after that.

20 days later (I didn't want to open the fermenter again), I brought it out and found that it's completely unresponsive. Even though I've recharged it, it won't switch on any lights under any circumstances. Following the reset procedure doesn't do anything – the usual blue lights don't blink, and the iSpindel network doesn't pop up on my laptop. I've also tried connecting it to my laptop via USB, but nothing happens.

There's no sign of water damage, corrosion or oxidation inside the capsule, and I'm perfectly confident that no water has even been inside that capsule. It's been used for maybe 10 brews.

This looks to me like some component in the logic board failed, which means I'm unlikely to be able to fix it. But if anyone has any other ideas, I'd be very thankful!

Thanks in advance and happy brewing everyone

I have an older Tilt, so maybe it's different, but it sounds like you need new batteries?

 

[Brewer #429391]

I have an older Tilt, so maybe it's different, but it sounds like you need new batteries?

Thanks, Yooper! That's pretty disappointing battery life if that's the case, but worth a try anyway! I suspect I'll have all sorts of calibration problems after replacing, but I'll cross that bridge when I come to it

Please do let me know if anyone else has any thoughts!

 

[Yooper]

Thanks, Yooper! That's pretty disappointing battery life if that's the case, but worth a try anyway! I suspect I'll have all sorts of calibration problems after replacing, but I'll cross that bridge when I come to it

Please do let me know if anyone else has any thoughts!

Yeah, that would definitely be really bad battery life. I've never replaced the batteries in mine. You could try their customer service email, as they have been pretty good from what I understand and maybe could replace it for you.

 

[Donoroto]

Thanks, Yooper! That's pretty disappointing battery life if that's the case, but worth a try anyway! I suspect I'll have all sorts of calibration problems after replacing, but I'll cross that bridge when I come to it

Please do let me know if anyone else has any thoughts!

Their customer service might offer a different diagnosis, or walk you through troubleshooting. But completely dead does sound like battery.

 

[Brewer #429391]

Thanks, folks. This is going to make me sound more than a little silly, but I'll share it anyway in case it benefits other forum users.

The iSpindel started charging again when I tried it with a different charger.

My new dog recently chewed through my old and trusty USB charger, so I was using a different one (from a Macbook Air). This had been working fine for every device in the house, so it didn't cross my mind that the iSpindel might have taken a dislinking to it. But, as it turns out, that was exactly the case.

Thanks for the suggestions – I probably wouldn't have thought to try a different charger if you hadn't set me thinking about battery issues in the first place.

Happy brewing everyone!