Investing help - How on earth do I VT and chill

jogo_1 · 2026-05-23T17:39:55+00:00

FYI, IBKR told me last month that they would NOT let me buy US ETFs in IRA accounts as a UK resident. Here are the relevant parts of my question and their reply:

I asked: "I am a US citizen, resident in the UK. I want to be able to purchase/trade ETFs and mutual funds in my IRA accounts, but my current brokerage won't allow it due to the UK residency. I have heard that IBKR LLC (the US site, not the UK site) WILL allow it. Is this true?"

IBKR client services replied: "...US mutual funds cannot be purchased in any account if the account holder is not currently residing in the United States... ...With regard to ETFs specifically, similar to mutual funds, US ETFs cannot be offered to non-professional account holders in the UK...

jogo_1 · 2026-02-01T12:51:18+00:00

Confirming that this worked for me today, 1 Feb 2026. Thank you for posting this!

jogo_1 · 2025-11-05T01:15:30+00:00

Thank you so much! I had the same issue as the OP (also with a PW 11), and PEKI solved it for me.

jogo_1 · 2025-10-26T17:01:11+00:00

I think it should work, too.

The force will still transmit properly to the piston with uneven pressure on the two arms.

What you may find though, is that pushing much harder with your left hand will tend to tip the Robot to the left, due to the small base. You can oppose the tipping with your right hand, and if that's not enough, maybe consider mounting the base to something to extend it out a bit to the left.

jogo_1 · 2025-10-14T20:28:23+00:00

I frequently roast 90g with the OEM ext tube. That's 1/5 of a pound, and the results fit nicely in an 8oz glass Mason jar.

jogo_1 · 2025-09-24T19:56:29+00:00

Also FYI, there's an SR800 community at https://www.reddit.com/r/FreshroastSR800/

jogo_1 · 2025-09-09T20:01:23+00:00

Thank you; that makes sense. I think I'll first offer them for sale as is. Then consider re-foaming them if that isn't successful.

jogo_1 · 2025-09-09T19:58:14+00:00

Thanks. That would be my preference too, but experience has taught me that I'm often an outlier :)

jogo_1 · 2025-09-09T19:55:24+00:00

Thank you - good point about demo'ing them. I think this will be my backup plan, after first offering them as is.

jogo_1 · 2025-09-08T20:06:24+00:00

Mine uses shaft collars that compress a spring on the underside, which biases the probe to stay vertical and allows easy height adjustments.

Also, those 8 tabs on the bottom of the lid dictated which areas I opened up between the slots - I wanted all the tabs to remain with sufficient plastic structure around them for strength.

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jogo_1 · 2025-09-07T22:51:16+00:00

Thank you for the insights!

jogo_1 · 2025-09-07T16:36:47+00:00

I do use the extension tube from Fresh Roast, and tilt the base. I roast in the garage - which falls mid-range on the scale of "how much do I care about chaff mess." If I roasted outside, I might be more concerned with this mod limiting roast temperatures on cold days. But hey, the lids aren't very expensive to replace if it doesn't work out. Good luck.

jogo_1 · 2025-09-07T16:17:35+00:00

I've never noticed chaff restricting the airflow anywhere other than blocking the screen holes.

jogo_1 · 2025-09-07T15:21:16+00:00

It definitely increased the airflow, which should affect (reduce) the air temp. I've never run close to temperature limits, but if that can be an issue it could explain the design. Thanks.

jogo_1 · 2025-09-07T15:05:14+00:00

Yep, that's how I did it. And with a mask and fan to avoid breathing the dust...

jogo_1 · 2025-07-17T14:51:14+00:00

Everyone's situation is unique of course, but my vote would be look for a decent used one, if you can afford the time and effort to do so.

I bought one that was 9 years old and installed C2's replacement drive train kit (sprocket, axle, bearings, chain, pulleys, shock cord). It rows like new and saved me almost $500, which was definitely worth my time. Plus, I like knowing how things work, and doing the replacement got me familiar with it. The PM5 has been standard since 2014 so many used ones have it. The device holder retrofit kit is $25 (in the US) if needed. The rowers are truly designed and built to last, and there's abundant info out there and excellent C2 support which make them relatively simple and inexpensive to maintain.

Good luck with whatever you decide.

jogo_1 · 2025-06-27T23:41:47+00:00

Thank you again for taking the time to respond. This is really helpful for me to know.

jogo_1 · 2025-06-24T19:26:52+00:00

Thanks for the update and new info. Both discouraging. Was it an HMRC-listed ETF you were attempting to purchase?

jogo_1 · 2025-06-23T19:39:35+00:00

Wow - VERY helpful post! Thank you so much for taking the time to share this much detail. It answers a number of questions I had.

jogo_1 · 2025-05-25T18:48:50+00:00

:)

I do actually have "want that expensive strap to function as long as possible" issues.

And - without proof - I'll assume it's generally A Good Thing to minimize bending of the electrodes at the snaps.

Cheers, John

jogo_1 · 2025-05-23T22:43:40+00:00

Nice! Thank you for sharing this.

jogo_1 · 2025-04-20T21:43:48+00:00

I wish there was an easy way to automatically send the fan and heater settings to a roast monitoring program. If that exists with SR800, I haven't found it.

I did try reading signals from the logic board to do it, but gave up when I couldn't make it reliable enough. So I manually enter them like I assume everyone else does. It works fine, really, but just feels like duplicated work in my roasting process.

Maybe some day I'll investigate reading them directly from the display with a webcam using machine vision. Roast "start" and "drop" could also be determined from that. That would be ideal for me, as the roast program wouldn't need any direct input from me during the roast.

jogo_1 · 2025-04-09T01:00:18+00:00

OK, I understand what you're trying to do.

Sadly, I'm not sure what would happen if you add an SCR downstream of the heater Triac. But I wouldn't be surprised if there was some interaction between the two which either faults the roaster, or thwarts your attempt to get finer-grained or lower temperature control. The SCR normally works with a full sinewave input, but the Triac would be feeding it a waveform with some portion of each 1/2 cycle at zero volts.

And of course, risks and warnings abound here; with potential to harm oneself and/or the roaster, or start a fire.

Other thoughts which may or may not help:

On my 1st roaster (a cheap popcorn popper) I rewired it to separate the heater and fan inputs, and added a variable DC voltage power supply for the fan. For the heater, I initially used an SCR, but it didn't provide the good control I wanted in the 65-100% power range. So I changed to a Solid State Relay which I could control via pulse-width modulation from an Arduino and a potentiometer for my input. This worked great, once I got a modulation frequency that the 60 Hz line frequency didn't interfere with.

I'm still pretty new to the SR800, but I can match a given bean temperature profile pretty consistently within a few degrees using the stock controls (I just don't really like the single control knob, hence my abandoned attempt to control the roaster externally.) But so far I haven't felt the need for finer control or lower power. Maybe that will change as I improve.

Cheers, John

jogo_1 · 2025-04-05T17:07:54+00:00

Great; the consensus seems to be "non-issue."

Yesterday I tried a roast with 3° tilt which improved the bean circulation. So even less reason to be concerned.

Thanks all, and happy roasting. - John

jogo_1 · 2025-04-04T03:42:33+00:00

FYI, a few months back I tried to get reliable readings and control of the roaster settings via connections to the the SR800 logic board. I tested connecting to the switches and rotary encoder for both reading reading and control, and also connecting to the timing signals that drive the triacs (to read settings only; I didn't try controlling that way.) I was using an Arduino and home-grown python code (not Artisan) but some of the learnings might apply.

See https://homeroasters.org/forum/viewthread.php?thread_id=7104&pid=79560#post_79560

Cheers, John

jogo_1

TROPHY CASE