I bought the Taylor SpeedStir earlier this year, and it's been really handy for testing. I've been happy with it.

But... (of course there's a "but") lately, the bar hasn't really been spinning in the cylinder. Instead, it sort of vibrates, and makes about 10 revolutions per minute, compared to the high speed it had when it was new. It still mixes, but not nearly as quickly as when it was new. I'm using the mixing vial that came with it, and the vial is clean. I don't see any damage that could account for this.

Has anyone else experienced this? Is it simply time to buy a new bar?

Has anyone opened one up to determine how it works? Does it have a motor that physically spins a magnet, or does it alternate the fields through a coil to "spin" the field itself?

Try fresh batteries...

Are the batteries fresh?

X3 on the batteries!

X4 for batteries.

It's not actually a motor as you're thinking. It's three separate coils that are energized in sequence to attract the bar from one to the next. So in effect it's a motor just not in the conventional sense.

Check your bar too. It should be a fairly strong magnet. If a metal object won't pick it up you need a new bar. Be sure to buy a smooth bar not a raised ring one. Ebay has them so does Houston Scientific.

Mine is doing the same thing and I figured it was the batteries. You can turn it on first and then drop in the bar and this tends to work.

Well that was pretty stooopid! Naturally it would be the batteries. I really should have thought to check that first. Oh, well.

Replaced the batteries, and it's back to it's old self, complete with spinning the mixing tube on the base.

I expected it to be two coils instead of three, but that's basically what I thought it might be. Probably more economical and durable to build it that way, instead of with a motor.

Taylor wants about $10 each for them. EBay is closer to $4.50.

I received 4 stir bars today. I ordered them off ebay from some homebrewer supply in Michigan. $17.71 via paypal, delivered.

Had gotten my SpeedStir 3/10, and it didn't work. The stir bar just vibrated. I put a small button magnet in the vial and jumped all around, suggested the stir bar was bad. Customer service sent a new base unit and having me replace the batteries a couple of times. The new base unit did the same thing. Finally sent new stir bars and it works fine. Just had to go through their process.

The first one I got had a bad stir bar. Maybe we should let Taylor know exactly what the problem was so they can send a magnet first.

Customer service said they had no complaints or inquiries on stir bar.

I was looking online to find a new bar. Mine had been doing the vibrate thing for a couple of months. Put fresh batteries in today and voila!!! like new!