Strangebrewtroller (Raspberry Pi Based brewtroller)

Edit: Removed at the request of the brewtroller people.

A friend of mine pointed me in the direction of this tiny computer, do you think it could work with a full electric brewery system??

I'm using it with a two vessel system as we speak, my friend is going to start using it on a 3 vessel next week, and I'm add variable valve control (so it's not a full open/closed value) and pump control in the coming weeks.

Yaksha808 said:

A friend of mine pointed me in the direction of this tiny computer, do you think it could work with a full electric brewery system??

Click to expand...

Might want to take a look at what I'm doing.

I'm working on the PID section now.

First: The RPi GPIO pins are not 5V tolerant, so you are inviting trouble if the 100ohm resistor is inadvertently shorted during operation. You might want to consider tying the DS18B20 VCC to 3V3, as they work just fine at that voltage.

Second: You might want to consider increasing the size of the resistor. At 5V and 100ohms, it's possible to exceed the PRi's safe current limits. Here is an explanation of that. I use a 4k7 resistor at 3V3 over very long ( > 50ft) lines with no problem.

Third: You're driving what appear to be 5V relays with the 3V3 output of the RPi. Depending on the specs of the relays, this may or may not be adequate for proper drive. The SSRs I use operate at from 3-32 VDC.

Just some points to ponder...

jimmayhugh said:

First: The RPi GPIO pins are not 5V tolerant, so you are inviting trouble if the 100ohm resistor is inadvertently shorted during operation. You might want to consider tying the DS18B20 VCC to 3V3, as they work just fine at that voltage.

Click to expand...

That is actually a diagram issue, it's actually a 4k7.

jimmayhugh said:

Second: You might want to consider increasing the size of the resistor. At 5V and 100ohms, it's possible to exceed the PRi's safe current limits. Here is an explanation of that. I use a 4k7 resistor at 3V3 over very long ( > 50ft) lines with no problem.

Click to expand...

see above

jimmayhugh said:

Third: You're driving what appear to be 5V relays with the 3V3 output of the RPi. Depending on the specs of the relays, this may or may not be adequate for proper drive. The SSRs I use operate at from 3-32 VDC.

Click to expand...

Relays are 3-32V, again, diagramming issue, I forgot to change the default values...

Thanks for the input though

I'm tuned in. There is potential here.

DougEdey said:

Edit: Removed at the request of the brewtroller people.

Click to expand...

thats too bad that they would take issue... makes me think less of them as a company. the patent and trademark abuse in this country is disgusting. i could see taking offense if you were making money off of it, if the hardware or software was similar to theirs in anyway or if this was anything more than some homebrew (pun intended) project... but its not.

its also too bad for them that the post was cached in google and will live on forever on the internet regardless of their efforts to censor your discussion...

http://webcache.googleusercontent.c...w+Strangebrewtroller&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us

I'll be republishing it, I have to remove all traces/references to the Phrase "BrewTroller", I thought it was a common phrase like "Keggle" or "Kegerator".

I've already got a new name though I'll post a new thread at the weekend.

For anyone listening on this thread, reposted under Strangebrew Elsinore; https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f170/strangebrew-elsinore-raspberry-pi-based-brewery-controller-396627/