Base 301 Dual Input Thermometer Questions

[thusband]

That's both bean and environment temp right? 

What's the center system for data logging?

Comment says that it does not work as well with Artisan as the Phidget does.  So I should buy the Phidget temp sensor and use that with the Base 301 Dual Input for Artisan via USB?

Many thanks

[SusanJoM]

The Center 301 will record two thermocouples, so yes, you can read BT and ET.
If you want to record BT, ET and MET, you either need the Center 304 or a Phidget.
Either one of them will feed your data into Artisan.

Until recently (and I believe Marko has fixed this in the latest version of Artisan), the Center system didn't play quite as well with Artisan as the Phidget does.

The Center system seems to have one advantage over the Phidget in that it has its own readout, so you could read your temps on it without a laptop.  I love the Phidget and would get one again, but for someone without an available and probably dedicated laptop, the Center might be a better choice.

[thusband]

Thanks SusanJoM.  So the Center system has it's own display but there'd be no graphing?  I'm having trouble picturing this are there photos anywhere?

Ultimately I'd like to run Artisan on my Chromebook with Linux installed.  It wouldn't be dedicated however.  Could one go with the Phidget at a later date and use the Center 301 hookup?

[SusanJoM]

Here's the Center webpage:
http://www.centertek.com/products_con.aspx?cid=C_00000011&cpid=C_00000002&pid=P_00000034&pn=proT
As you can see there is a readout, but until/unless you then connect that to your computer I don't think you will get any data saved or graphed.

[thusband]

Got it.  Thanks again.

I was checking out Phidget and Linux and it'll will work but getting it up and running sounds way over my pay grade.

[SusanJoM]

I don't know anything about Linux, but the Phidget with my Windows computers was a piece of cake.

[thusband]

Yeah, I'll have to look around for a cheap Windows laptop.

[HukyGnome]

I too was looking at using Linux to run the Phidget through. Does seem scary! I'm not sure any programming is required if run through the Artisan software. Will have to dig more.  There must be someone in this forum who runs their Phidget through Linux?

[edtbjon]

I bought the Center 301 which does work as intended with Artisan and a Windows laptop. I later got me a Phidget so that I could connect my (3'rd) MET probe as well. I started up trying to get the Center to work on a 9 year old laptop running Linux, but apart from the machine being to slow to live with, I couldn't get it running properly with the Center meter.
So, I now have a stand-alone precision dual TC thermometer at hand. I have decided to keep it as a nice gadget, but I don't use it when roasting coffee with the Huky and Artisan.

I would recommend checking the HB forum for the Linux/Phidget combo.

[jeffgsd]

I am using the Center 304 as the interface for my thermocouples with Artisan.  With the latest version of Artisan, I am getting full readout and graphing with the center using a windows 8 laptop.  There was a glitch in the last version of artisan, where you couldn't see the 3rd probe in the LCD you assigned to it (MET) but it did graph.  I lived with it because I had an LCD on the center until Marko fixed it with the latest release.

For me - I like having the temp displayed on the center as a backup in case there is a computer glitch during the roast.   

[Slayton]

I need to look into the latest Artisan updates.  I've been busy roasting so haven't looked lately but I couldn't get Artisan to display either LCD or graph of MET.   I didn't try spectacularly hard to get it to work but I'm getting to the point where I think it's important.

Funny. I just posted to a post Susan made back in March about Phidget vs Center 304.  The only draw back to the Phidget as I can see now, without ever having used one as I use the Center, is that it is absolutely computer dependent.  There aren't any readouts of temps as there are on the Center devices so if the computer goes down (as mine did) you're running blind unless you're at a point where you can roast via sight and smell.     

[SusanJoM]

Slayton when you get a chance look at the document I have in the Downloads" section.  I think the second page of that document will show you how to set up MET in Artisan (regardless of version).   
So many people have asked about how to do that that now I am wondering if anyone has noticed that that document is there.  And/or if anyone else had as hard a time as I did figuring out HOW to download it.  IF so, let us know....

[thusband]

So many people have asked about how to do that that now I am wondering if anyone has noticed that that document is there.  And/or if anyone else had as hard a time as I did figuring out HOW to download it.  IF so, let us know....

Yes, I used the Artisan screenshots to set it up on my laptop.  Saved my bacon. 

I wonder if the downloads should also be in Resources to the right?

[SusanJoM]

Good point.  Currently I can't figure out how to do that because the document is in a PDF format and there are some limitations to this free platform we are using for the forum and even more limitations to my technical savvy.  I am, however, going to work on it. 

Thanks for the input.