NEW StrangeBrew Elsinore Thread

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FuzzeWuzze said:
I saw this on reddit and its nice, but again...circuit diagram :)
Click to expand...

I'm a bit conflicted about making a circuit diagram. On one hand it would take a good deal of time to make a diagram more detailed than the one Doug has already provided... and it also concerns me that somebody was attempting to build their own control panel but couldn't figure out how the components worked together without a circuit diagram. Electricity kills, and if you can't with 100% confidence put something like this together you either need to read more or go a different route.

On the other hand I'm all about increasing accessibility to this sort of stuff, and I assume if you're able to read a circuit diagram you probably know enough to assemble a control panel safely. I probably will put one together... soon...
 
Mikeliverpooluk said:
I have had the same minor bug as you in that Elsinore will only save one timer and one switch when you properly shut it down.
Click to expand...

I thought I noticed this problem awhile back as well, but I leave Elsinore running for weeks (i.e. infrequent shutdowns) so it wasn't something I looked into further
 
BlkWater_brewer said:
Need one piece of information if someone could help. My system was doing what I needed until I ran an update for the second type of one wire sensor. Since then I have been unable to launch SBE to pull down the fix. Want to git checkout the latest commit so I can get it running again. What is the commit as I am very new to the checkout process.

Said I wouldn't wouldn't bug you again Doug - just want to get back to a functional system without starting from scratch.
Click to expand...

With 'git checkout' you're literally checking out a specific revision of the code. If you had done this in the past [I believe] you need to type 'git checkout master' to get out of this checkout mode, before 'git pull' will work again. 'git pull' will bring you up to date with the most recent commits. All of these commands would be used while in the Elsinore directory.
 
Awesome, thanks! Looks like it's working as intended now. :mug: You deserve a beer!

The only thing I notice odd is when I move something it doesn't stay moved. In the attached picture when I move the 60 minute timer above the 90 minute timer, after I shutdown (or refresh), the 90 minute timer is on top again. Same thing with my switches.

Timers.PNG
 
Is there currently any documentation for troubleshooting? I am just thinking along the lines of how to view the get status pages, and various log files and where the config file lives and how to edit it. I looked on the reddit page and the github and may have missed it if it is there.

I currently have a temp probe that was connected for testing before I set up my kettles, that i am no longer using and i cannot delete it. i looked all over on my RasPi and could not find the config file to remove it, and dragging the probe on the GUI did not give me the delete option. I am not running the latest version and will update when i have an internet connect for my Pi.

Thanks again for this killer software!! Getting closer to being able to brew with this new set up and can't' wait!
 
TechyDork said:
Is there currently any documentation for troubleshooting? I am just thinking along the lines of how to view the get status pages, and various log files and where the config file lives and how to edit it. I looked on the reddit page and the github and may have missed it if it is there.
Click to expand...
No specific troubleshooting guide. Happy to add a troubleshooting section to the reddit wiki thing. Will need some authors to flesh it out though ;)

TechyDork said:
I currently have a temp probe that was connected for testing before I set up my kettles, that i am no longer using and i cannot delete it. i looked all over on my RasPi and could not find the config file to remove it, and dragging the probe on the GUI did not give me the delete option. I am not running the latest version and will update when i have an internet connect for my Pi.
Click to expand...

the default configuration file is elsinore.cfg and is in the main elsinore directory. If nothing else is working for you, you can remove that file (i.e. `rm elsinore.cfg` in terminal) and re-setup your brewery... and that probe shouldn't come up again unless it's still connected!
 
jangevaa said:
No specific troubleshooting guide. Happy to add a troubleshooting section to the reddit wiki thing. Will need some authors to flesh it out though ;)



the default configuration file is elsinore.cfg and is in the main elsinore directory. If nothing else is working for you, you can remove that file (i.e. `rm elsinore.cfg` in terminal) and re-setup your brewery... and that probe shouldn't come up again unless it's still connected!
Click to expand...

I think it would be good to have a list of places to look for errors, or where to get the information that is often needed to troubleshoot.

I will remove the config file and start over. It is a good time to pull the latest updated and test it on my set up.
 
TechyDork said:
I currently have a temp probe that was connected for testing before I set up my kettles, that i am no longer using and i cannot delete it. i looked all over on my RasPi and could not find the config file to remove it, and dragging the probe on the GUI did not give me the delete option. I am not running the latest version and will update when i have an internet connect for my Pi.
Click to expand...

This was added in a relatively recent release as a request by someone. So you're probably just out of date.

I do not recommend editing the configuration file, XML is not designed to be hand edited
 
DougEdey said:
This was added in a relatively recent release as a request by someone. So you're probably just out of date.

I do not recommend editing the configuration file, XML is not designed to be hand edited
Click to expand...

I will update to the latest release soon.

I will also delete the config file and start over with the update.

thank you Doug.
 
Fixed some issues with the re-ordering of pumps & timers. I'll write up a doc page on how to get debug information later tonight.

Also, a huge thanks to everyone who's bought me beer so far, the money is going to go towards new Conicals & electric valves.
 
DougEdey said:
Fixed some issues with the re-ordering of pumps & timers. I'll write up a doc page on how to get debug information later tonight.

Also, a huge thanks to everyone who's bought me beer so far, the money is going to go towards new Conicals & electric valves.
Click to expand...

Perfect! I think those were all the issues I was having. I'm still waiting for components to arrive, but after a brew day with it I'll be sure to post my build and feedback.

Enjoy the, um, keg :).
 
DougEdey said:
Fixed some issues with the re-ordering of pumps & timers. I'll write up a doc page on how to get debug information later tonight.

Also, a huge thanks to everyone who's bought me beer so far, the money is going to go towards new Conicals & electric valves.
Click to expand...

I also sent a round to Doug. Let's all chip in! It's really easy and its a great thing to do to (a) show our appreciation for work that benefits us and (b) encourage the creation and support of software, the open-source way.

Here's what you do: Just find the footer for one of his recent posts (look up in the thread from this post just a few blocks) and click on the "if you want to support me send me something here" link... that will give you the email address to which to send some funds. Then just go to Paypal and click "send some money to friends or family", then paste that email address into the box. That's pretty much it, Paypal will guide you through the rest.

If you've ever bought or sold anything on ebay, your paypal account is probably already set up to send funds. If not, its easy to set up so you can send money; just read the instructions. Fortunately, anyone capable of setting up linux on a RPi or BBB and git-pulling elsinore is capable of setting up paypal; you're way ahead of the curve.

After all his trouble, let's just buy the man a round. It doesn't take much, if all of us do it.
 
markgm said:
Perfect! I think those were all the issues I was having. I'm still waiting for components to arrive, but after a brew day with it I'll be sure to post my build and feedback.

Enjoy the, um, keg :).
Click to expand...
I'm in Ontario, it's expensive up here
 
jangevaa said:
I'm a bit conflicted about making a circuit diagram. On one hand it would take a good deal of time to make a diagram more detailed than the one Doug has already provided... and it also concerns me that somebody was attempting to build their own control panel but couldn't figure out how the components worked together without a circuit diagram. Electricity kills, and if you can't with 100% confidence put something like this together you either need to read more or go a different route.

On the other hand I'm all about increasing accessibility to this sort of stuff, and I assume if you're able to read a circuit diagram you probably know enough to assemble a control panel safely. I probably will put one together... soon...
Click to expand...

It just seems there are so many different ways to do it, various parts. In the end what i want to do is make a post similar to my BrewPi one for Elsinore, but im in between houses and new baby so have a lack of time for the next month or two.

Basically "Buy these things, hook them up here, program this, and brew". And cheaply as possible without buying known shoddy parts. Granted the user base for people going electric is a bit smaller than those that are building Ferm chambers, but i think a lot of people weren't quite as afraid of BrewPi after reading my post and gave it a shot after seeing how cheaply it could be done. These are only moderately more complex than a BrewPi setup, but obviously care always needs to be taken when dealing with high voltage stuff.

I think the same thing could be done for Electric brewing if people could more easily know how to build their own Elsinore box instead of dropping 1.5-3k for a EBS BCS box or Kal clone. Seems obvious thats why Elsinore exists in the first place to lower that cost of entry, i just dont think the actual "How to build one" has been given enough thought or documentation unless i am missing something.

My goal is to basically explain how to build a DIY Hosehead, for those that want to save some money.
 
FuzzeWuzze said:
It just seems there are so many different ways to do it, various parts. In the end what i want to do is make a post similar to my BrewPi one for Elsinore, but im in between houses and new baby so have a lack of time for the next month or two.

Basically "Buy these things, hook them up here, program this, and brew". And cheaply as possible without buying known shoddy parts. Granted the user base for people going electric is a bit smaller than those that are building Ferm chambers, but i think a lot of people weren't quite as afraid of BrewPi after reading my post and gave it a shot.
Click to expand...

The issue with these "buy these parts" lists, is they only work for the country or even the area that you're in. It's almost impossible for me to buy a NEMA box here in Canada for instance. And places like the electric brewery annoyed me because I think maybe 5% of their links actually worked for me. Even though Kal lives in my city.
 
DougEdey said:
The issue with these "buy these parts" lists, is they only work for the country or even the area that you're in. It's almost impossible for me to buy a NEMA box here in Canada for instance. And places like the electric brewery annoyed me because I think maybe 5% of their links actually worked for me. Even though Kal lives in my city.
Click to expand...

True enough, my BrewPi post was aimed more at US people i suppose as its almost all Amazon based as they usually have the best deals, especially if you have Amazon prime.

I still think its a good thing though, and plan to do it myself if no one else does in the next 2 months ;)
 
FuzzeWuzze said:
True enough, my BrewPi post was aimed more at US people i suppose as its almost all Amazon based as they usually have the best deals, especially if you have Amazon prime.

I still think its a good thing though, and plan to do it myself if no one else does in the next 2 months ;)
Click to expand...

I appreciated your brewpi thread and am looking at the Elsinore for my small batches. Doug's site is excellent (as is the brewpi site), but having and all-in-one, updated "this is how you do it" here on HBT? That would be fantastic.
 
I would have to agree, I followed your BrewPi guide and have a working fermentation chamber now and would love to see something for StangeBrew.

I have my vessel all done and am just about to start looking into the brains behind it and would love to build a StangeBrew Setup.
 
jangevaa said:
I have now completed a (first draft) walkthrough of the hardware set up for a Strangebrew elsinore powered brewery here:

http://www.reddit.com/r/StrangeBrew/wiki/hardware

There may be some other wiki articles that interest you here (not all have been completed):
http://www.reddit.com/r/StrangeBrew/wiki/index
Click to expand...

great job on the write-up. Have you considered using a Darlington Array especially if activating multiple SSR's for pumps and chamber control. The 3.3v output is at the low end of the SSR trigger range. Just a thought.
 
BlkWater_brewer said:
great job on the write-up. Have you considered using a Darlington Array especially if activating multiple SSR's for pumps and chamber control. The 3.3v output is at the low end of the SSR trigger range. Just a thought.
Click to expand...

I ordered one and still have it on hand from when I was planning the build... I never needed it though. The SSRs have been nothing but reliable.
 
Same here, have been meaning to add transistors, but the 3.3 has been plenty reliable for me too.
 
I used the update command button the other day and got a Java error, now when I use the button, the console prints WARNING: Update is already running.

I used the new launch.sh update flag and it reports Already up-to-date

Is there a file that signals an update is in progress?

John K.
 
kleczewj said:
I used the update command button the other day and got a Java error, now when I use the button, the console prints WARNING: Update is already running.

I used the new launch.sh update flag and it reports Already up-to-date

Is there a file that signals an update is in progress?

John K.
Click to expand...

What's the Java error?
 
kleczewj said:
It scrolled off my screen , but I think it was a null pointer exception, I did not having any logging enabled. Would that be captured in a file?

John
Click to expand...

Normally yes, elsinore.log, but I've pushed changes today that mean it should recover from errors.

Did you shutdown and startup Elsinore again to see if it failed again?
 
DougEdey said:
Normally yes, elsinore.log, but I've pushed changes today that mean it should recover from errors.

Did you shutdown and startup Elsinore again to see if it failed again?
Click to expand...

Yes I did, I don't get errors now, it just says Update is already running.

This morning I ran the launch.sh update command and several files got updated. I started the server and pressed the check for updates button and my debug log shows this.

May 28, 2015 6:06:44 AM com.sb.elsinore.BrewServer serve
INFO: URL : /checkGit method: POST
May 28, 2015 6:06:44 AM com.sb.elsinore.LaunchControl checkForUpdates
WARNING: Update is already running
May 28, 2015 6:06:44 AM com.sb.elsinore.OutputControl run

It looks like a flag is set somewhere so it thinks I am already updating.
 
kleczewj said:
Yes I did, I don't get errors now, it just says Update is already running.

This morning I ran the launch.sh update command and several files got updated. I started the server and pressed the check for updates button and my debug log shows this.

May 28, 2015 6:06:44 AM com.sb.elsinore.BrewServer serve
INFO: URL : /checkGit method: POST
May 28, 2015 6:06:44 AM com.sb.elsinore.LaunchControl checkForUpdates
WARNING: Update is already running
May 28, 2015 6:06:44 AM com.sb.elsinore.OutputControl run

It looks like a flag is set somewhere so it thinks I am already updating.
Click to expand...

There is literally no flags or files stored outside of a restart of Elsinore. The only think I can think is that you have it running as a service and the service hasn't restarted.
 
DougEdey said:
There is literally no flags or files stored outside of a restart of Elsinore. The only think I can think is that you have it running as a service and the service hasn't restarted.
Click to expand...

I powered down the Pi when I left the house this morning, I will fire it back up later on and try again.

Thanks for the help and great software solution!
 
Question about heat, I got a good deal on a 10 by 10 nema box so got it, it seems the four ssrs, contractor, and so I will fit on the plate fine, a bit tight but it works. My questions are, does it matter if the heat sinks are touching side by side? Seems like it would dissipate heat better? Also I see in jang's box he just has it all enclosed in the box no heatsink outside, does it matter if I'm using a smaller box or should I look at putting a small fan in the box?
 
kleczewj said:
I powered down the Pi when I left the house this morning, I will fire it back up later on and try again.

Thanks for the help and great software solution!
Click to expand...


I powered up the Pi when I got home and started Elsinore, this morning I pressed the check updates button and it still says:
WARNING: Update is already running

May 28, 2015 5:15:51 PM com.sb.elsinore.LaunchControl <init>
INFO: CONFIG READ COMPLETED***********
May 28, 2015 5:15:51 PM com.sb.elsinore.BrewServer <init>
INFO: Launching on port 8080
May 28, 2015 5:15:51 PM com.sb.elsinore.BrewServer <init>
INFO: Enabled logging at level:WARNING
Warning: NLS unused message: CHANGE_SCALE in: com.sb.elsinore.nls.messages
Warning: NLS unused message: DUTY in: com.sb.elsinore.nls.messages
Warning: NLS unused message: CALIBRATION in: com.sb.elsinore.nls.messages
Warning: NLS unused message: HIDE in: com.sb.elsinore.nls.messages
Warning: NLS unused message: SHOW in: com.sb.elsinore.nls.messages
Warning: NLS unused message: INVERT_COOL in: com.sb.elsinore.nls.messages
Warning: NLS unused message: INVERT_HEAT in: com.sb.elsinore.nls.messages
Warning: NLS unused message: INVERT_GPIO in: com.sb.elsinore.nls.messages
Warning: NLS unused message: UPDATE_GRAVITY in: com.sb.elsinore.nls.messages
Warning: NLS unused message: DESCRIPTION in: com.sb.elsinore.nls.messages
Warning: NLS unused message: TARGET in: com.sb.elsinore.nls.messages
Warning: NLS unused message: SHUTDOWN in: com.sb.elsinore.nls.messages
Warning: NLS unused message: SHUTDOWN_SYSTEM in: com.sb.elsinore.nls.messages
May 29, 2015 5:40:33 AM com.sb.elsinore.LaunchControl checkForUpdates
WARNING: Update is already running

When I shut it down using the shutdown button, I got a Java error that is probably the same one I saw the other day:

May 29, 2015 5:41:10 AM com.sb.elsinore.LaunchControl saveEverything
WARNING: Shutting down. Saving configuration
May 29, 2015 5:41:12 AM com.sb.elsinore.LaunchControl saveSettings
WARNING: Saving Timer: Mash
May 29, 2015 5:41:12 AM com.sb.elsinore.LaunchControl saveEverything
WARNING: Configuration saved.
May 29, 2015 5:41:12 AM com.sb.elsinore.LaunchControl saveEverything
WARNING: Shutting down temperature probe threads.
May 29, 2015 5:41:12 AM com.sb.elsinore.LaunchControl saveEverything
WARNING: Shutting down PID threads.
May 29, 2015 5:41:12 AM com.sb.elsinore.OutputControl run
WARNING: Output Control turning off outputs
Exception in thread "Thread-4" java.lang.NullPointerException
at com.sb.elsinore.devices.OutputDevice.setValue(OutputDevice.java:113)
at com.sb.elsinore.devices.OutputDevice.turnOff(OutputDevice.java:59)
at com.sb.elsinore.OutputControl.run(OutputControl.java:128)
at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:744)
May 29, 2015 5:41:12 AM com.sb.elsinore.OutputControl run
WARNING: Output Control turning off outputs
May 29, 2015 5:41:12 AM com.sb.elsinore.LaunchControl saveEverything
WARNING: Goodbye!
 
FuzzeWuzze said:
Question about heat, I got a good deal on a 10 by 10 nema box so got it, it seems the four ssrs, contractor, and so I will fit on the plate fine, a bit tight but it works. My questions are, does it matter if the heat sinks are touching side by side? Seems like it would dissipate heat better? Also I see in jang's box he just has it all enclosed in the box no heatsink outside, does it matter if I'm using a smaller box or should I look at putting a small fan in the box?
Click to expand...

I don't think it should be a problem as long as the SSRs are running well below what they are rated for. That being said, a fan is not a bad idea... Sometimes a single large heat sink is used for several SSRs, so the heat sinks being next to one another or touching I believe to be a none issue.
 
jangevaa said:
I don't think it should be a problem as long as the SSRs are running well below what they are rated for. That being said, a fan is not a bad idea... Sometimes a single large heat sink is used for several SSRs, so the heat sinks being next to one another or touching I believe to be a none issue.
Click to expand...

Ever since I lost my SSRs due to fire, I recommend using a DS18x20 sensor on one of the heatsinks with a threshold temperature to shutdown.everything when it gets hot
 
It'd be cool if you could create a smaller temperature display for sensors we're just using for monitoring, so we can keep an eye on things without having them take up the majority of the interface.
 

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