Gaggiuino started as an idea to improve an already capable coffee machine while keeping the machine appearance and button functionality as close as possible to the original. An important part is that no internal cables/connectors were modified; all the connections were made by creating splitters using the purchased spade connectors.
For project related help or learning more on future plans make sure to join the discord server here or clicking the "chat" badge under the logo.
- Housing - credits
- UI/UX - credits
- Temp control
- Steam control and alerting
- Preinfusion
- Realtime pressure feedback
- Pressure profiling (realtime feedback loop)
- Manual pressure control
- Graphing shot stats
- Realtime values update
- Saving selected values
- Descale program
- Brew start sense
- Auto shot timer
- Tray integrated load cells - WIP ~55%
- Saving/Loading profiles
Notes:
- Pressure:
- It is expected your OPV has been tuned to 9bar by default.
- Regional power:
- Defaults to 230V/50Hz and should be changed to the regional values for the correct work of the ACS712 sensor.
<< Ideas are welcome in the Issues tab >>
USAGE:
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BOILER - sets the desired temperature at the boiler level
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OFFSET - sets the offset value used to calculate the real water temperature
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HPWR - sets the relay start pulse length
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M.C.DIV - sets the main cycle divider(aka non brew heating beahaviour), used in conjunction with HPWR
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B.C.DIV - sets the brew cycle divider
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Brew(Auto) - all pressure settings are following the bellow:
- PREINFUSION - enables preinfusion
- Time - sets the length of the PI phase
- Bar - sets the max reacheable pressure for the PI phase
- Soak - sets the length of the soaking(blooming) phase
- P-PROFILING - enables AUTO pressure profiling mode
- Start - sets the desired starting point of the PP phase, can be High->Low or Low->High.
- Finish - sets the desired finish point of the PP pahse, same as above can be from High->Low or Low->High.
- Hold - sets the length of the PP hold period, if it's desired to maintain the "Start" pressure for a period of time before the pressure drop/raise is applied this is where it's done.
- Length - sets the length(aka speed) of the PP drop/raise behaviour, so one can change the pressure slow or fast if desired.
- PREINFUSION - enables preinfusion
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Brew(Manual) - allows for manual pressure control at brew time.
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DESCALE - enables the descaling program, at this point there's only one default behaviour:
flush - 10s x5 at 2bar flush - 20s x5 at 1 bar idle - 5min at 0 bar
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Needed to upload the code ".ino" to the arduino ROM
Libraries to add:
Library manager: - Easy Nextion Library - MAX6675 by Adafruit External libraries: - ACS712 > https://github.com/rkoptev/ACS712-arduino - RBDDimmer > https://github.com/RobotDynOfficial/RBDDimmer -
Only necessary if planning on editing the ".HMI" file to ammend the LCD functionality
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USB driver so your system recognizes the Arduino clone board, let's say i have found this the hard way as apparetly the majority of cloned arduinos use a cheaper USB controller comparing to "genuino"
The code has been designed to be plugable, meaning there is a minimal hardware configuration one can start with if certain features are not something of interest, it's all appropriately split under "BASE" or "EXTENDED" functionality (see bellow).
- Arduino Nano AT328
- 2.4" Nextion LCD
- MAX6675 thermocouple
- C-M4 screw K-Type thermocouple sensor
- 40DA SSR Relay
- Thermo-resistant cables AWG15 and AWG20 ( 1m black/red ) and AWG26 ( 5m black/red/yellow/blue )
- Spade connectors M/F 6.3mm
- Power Supply (multiple options provided choose what fits your needs):
- 5v AC Adaptor
- 12v Power Supply and 12v to 5v stepdown (these two should only be used together)
It's recommended to power the arduino board using 12V 1000mA power supply and the stepdown convertor.
- RobotDYN dimmer module - Dimmer 4A-400V
- Hall Current Sensor Module ACS712 - 20A
- Pressure sensor - 0-1.2Mpa
- Gaggia Classic (pre 2015 versions):
- Gaggia Classic Pro (2018+ versions):
Housing variants designed by the redditor /u/LikeableBump1:
Optional additional parts to use with the V1 housing type:
- DB15 D-SUB connectors, male and female
These are used as a disconnectable pass-through to get the data and power cables through the back of the machine case. The 3d files include custom housings for these connectors. There will need to be 2 or 3 of the vertical "slats" cut out of the cooling vents on the machine case back to make these fit. Make sure you purchase both male and female DB15 connectors.
Optional:
- Heat shrink
- Soldering iron
Schematics:
Diagrams:
!! WARNING !!
First and foremost please do not underestimate the danger of electricity or overestimate your ability to work around it. Only start working on your machine while it's completely disconnected from the mains power socket, also by agreeing to follow the below guide I cannot be deemed responsible for any of the damage you induce to your house appliances, yourself, your cat, friend or gold fish and it will be entirely your fault!
First we need to understand what goes where. The schematics aren't really rocket science but for someone who's never disasembled or has no experience working with electrical circuits it might get confusing really fast so I will try to describe it as simple as possible yet limited by my vocabulary. First let's check that the setup works as expected while outside the machine so you don't have it all installed and realise just afterwards it's not reading any temperature because of a faulty component or the relay doesn't switch between the ON/OFF modes.
Note 1 - no permanent connections are needed during testing so no soldering needed for now.
Note 2 - the 5v/GND Arduino board pins will be shared between all the connected devices.
BASE FUNCTIONALITY
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The first step will be connecting the MAX6675 module to the arduino board using the pins defined in the code. You can find them defined at the top of the .ino file.
MAX6675 Arduino VCC 5v GND GND SCK D6 SO D4 CS D5 -
Connect the relay. For now only connect the circuit controlling ports to check whether the relay LED indicates the power states.
Relay Arduino 4 GND 3 D8 Relay ports [1] and [2] are the high voltage circuit breaker
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Plug the arduino board in using the mini USB cable that came with it and upload the code to the arduino board.
Note: uploading won't work with the LCD connected
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Nextion LCD wiring
Nextion Arduino TX RX RX TX VCC 5v GND GND -
Uploading the LCD ROM code
Method 1
Just copy the *.tft file on a FAT32 formatted microSD card and upload onthe LCD panel using the onboard card readerMethod2
Open the .HMI file using Nextion Editor and using the File menu upload it on a microSD cardNote: card needs to be FAT32 formatted
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After the upload is finished get the card out and power cycle the LCD.
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You should see temp readings on your screen if everything went according to plan.
Don't forget to test the thermocouple/relay combo operation, apply some heat to the thermocouple end and see whether the relay led operates in HIGH/LOW modes
Due to the way the Arduino design works as well as the nature of how the on-board ADC functions in order to avoid a loop in regards to the BREW MODE it's required to connect the pins A0 -> GND, this is only needed if the ACS712 sensor board is not connected to the Arduino.
At this point if all the above works as expected you're ready to install it all inside the machine. For this we'll need to prepare some splitters that we'll use to connect to the Gaggia internals without introducing any permanent modifications so in the event of a desire to revert to stock it's a few disconnects away!
POWER DELIVERY RECOMMENDATION
Method 1:
If choosing to power the system using the AC adapter then the arduino board and all the connected componnents will receive power by the means of the regulated 5v the AC adapter delivers through the USB port.
Method 2:
If powering using the [ 12v ] power supply module + [ 9v ] stepdown convertor follow the bellow scheme:
| PS | Arduino |
|---|---|
| 9v | VIN |
| GND | GND |
All the other boards will get their power from the arduino 5v / GND pins and it's extrmely important they are powered using those outputs.
STEAM HANDLING
Gaggia Classic:
- Disconnect all the steam switch high voltage wires
- Bridge the wires connected to the steam switch poles 1 and 2.
- Bridge the steam thermostat wires.
- Connect steam switch poles 3 and 4 to the arduino nano like in the table bellow using some AWG26 wires.
- Make sure you secure all the left disconnected wires so they don't make any accidental contact.
| GC SWITCH | Arduino |
|---|---|
| 3 | D7 |
| 4 | GND |
Gaggia Classic Pro:
- Move steam switch wire 4 to steam switch pole 1.
- Unplug and secure steam switch wire 5.
- Replace the SSR brew thermostat connected wires with the steam thermostat wires.
- Bridge the brew thermostat wires(the wires we just disconnected from te SSR in favour of the steam thermostat ones)
- Connect steam switch poles 4 and 5 to the arduino nano like in the table bellow using some AWG26 wires.
| GCP SWITCH | Arduino |
|---|---|
| 4 | D7 |
| 5 | GND |
EXTENDED FUNCTIONALITY
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Adding the ACS712 hall current sensor is quite straight forward
ACS712 Arduino VCC 5v GND GND OUT A0 The high voltage circuit control ports will act as a passthrough for the front panel brew button LIVE wire
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Adding the dimmer
Dimmer Arduino VCC 5v GND GND Z-C D2 PSM D9 Dimmer high voltage circuit control ports will act as a passthrough for the pump LIVE and NEUTRAL wires
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Adding the pressure transducer
Transducer Arduino RED 5v BLACK GND YELLOW A1
ATTENTION !!!
As always with such projects common sense should be applied at all times, it's expected people doing such sort of modifications will have some basic understanding.
AGAIN!!! Triple check your machine is disconnected from any power sources, even better just pull the power cable out of it!
- Take off the top cover by unscrewing the 2 top screws. You should be able to see something similar to the below image minus the SSR relay:
- Prepare 2 splitters like in the below image using the AWG15 cable, be sure one splitter to be black(negative) and one red(positive)
- Be sure to mark your top left power connector so you don't mix them up ( even though it's not that hard to understand which one is which)
- Disconnect all 3 of them as you'll use the midlle and bottom ones for power sharing.
- The hardest part will be now in my opinion as you'll have to unscrew the bottom boiler stock thermostat and screw back in the new thermocoule. Be sure to apply some thermal paste on the thermocouple threads. (Just a teeny tiny bit.)
- Prepare 2 cables you'll use to connect the cables disconnected from the thermostat to the port 1 and 2 of the SSR relay. Use the red cable for that. They shouldn't be too long, about 10cm will suffice, one end should be crimpled with a male spade connector and the loose end screwed to the relay and attach the relay to the machine case itself, I have no clue what screw size I used as i have just matched one by trial and error lol, but be sure to apply some thermal paste to the SSR backplate that will make contact with the metal case of the machine.
So you end up having them connected like this:
- Prepare 2 more 10cm cables( also colour coded accordingly) which should be crimpled with M/F spade connectors at each end, the female end will go in Gaggia's front panel and the male end will go to the female end of the previously prepared (2) splitters, as in the below image:
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Connect the front panel cables to any of the free male ends of the splitters as well, black one for the negative cable and red for the positive one (on my machine the positive is having 2 cables crimped together).
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To power the Arduino system I have used an old 5v mobile charger which I'm sure all of us have laying around. Just solder 2 cables to the 2 ends of the charger and for the other ends use 2 F spade connectors, after which plug them to the remaining 2 splitter (2) ends.
- Now you're ready to connect everything to the arduino like you did it when testing everything, one piece of advice would be to solder all the Arduino connected cables as during the machine operation there is quite a bit of vibration and that can introduce all sorts of noise/frequent disconnects to certain pins which will lead to unexplained behaviours.
- While installing the ACS712 Hall current sensor please note in the photo below the way the sensor faces the camera and how the cable passthrough is done with the cable originally connected to the middle slot front panel brew button (1). It's a short cable connecting the brew button with the steam button, we leave it connected to the steam button but the end which was connected to the middle slot of the brew button connects now to the top port of the ACS712 board (1) and then the exit (2) port of the ACS712 board feeds a cable to the original front panel brew button position.
It is important to connect the cables properly as the sensor has a polarity and when incorrectly connected outputs a negative value! Another VERY important aspect is to have the board connected just as shown in the picture (location and position) as well as only the necessary cables connected to the sensor board itself, no additional wires(high or low voltage) should be positioned anywhere around the hall effect sensor as this will most likely create unexpected reads that will confuse the program. A easy way to understand whether your program has false readings is if the shot timer keeps starting randomly when the machine is in idle state.
PLEASE DON'T FORGET TO INSULATE THE ACS SENSOR WHEN STICKING IT TO THE GAGGIA BODY, STAINLESS STEEL IS A GREAT ELECTRICAL CONDUCTOR!
- Installing the RobotDYN dimmer module.
The image above is provided as a reference to understand how the connection through the dimmer is made, please check whether your dimmer high voltage ports placement differs from the above image before connecting the dimmer, it's very important to feed the IN wires properly.
- Installing the pressure transducer. The pressure sensor will be tapping into the hose connecting the pump outlet and the boiler inlet, the way people connect it is up to individuals, i would generally advise to take out the original hose and use the one ordered together with the pressure sensor, cut a similarly sized one out of the bought one and use the rest of the left length as additional transducer buffer.
It's advisable after making the connections and just before connecting the transducer itself turn on the machine and while cold engage the pump to fill the transducer hose with water as well, leaving a lot of air in the system might play funny with the readings.
