Kill-A-Watt Brewery Build Compilation

CornyKegs 728
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JayInJersey said:
Really? Waiting on a computer gadget?

I could have sent you 1 a day since the time you bought them...who did you get it from?


Then again I have little to no tolerance of any stocked item shipping anymore...
Click to expand...

Well, I bought it off Amazon... it came from Amazon... it shipped a week ago but there were a couple NO SHIP days in there too. It is supposed to arrive today. It is just the wireless bridge that will be mounted in the E-bay so that my netbook can communicate with the BCS wirelessly. I COULD finish the physical building part now, but I want to be patient and wait to seal it all up only after the bridge is installed and configured.
 
JayInJersey said:
<- Amazon Prime member


Free Two-Day shipping for $75 a year. Totally worth it as I do a buttload of shopping on there.
Click to expand...

I typically dont buy that much there... so have been hesitant to get the membership
 
I read a lot...and have a pretty extensive movie collection.

And they sell my K-Cup coffee on there...and that alone pays the $75 a year.


They resell the homebrew stuff from like KegWorks...but that isn't eligible for Prime else I would probably single-handedly make them increase the rate

At least my rate...
 
IF it shows up today, all is well. When I left home last week I had just finished the wiring of all those SSRs (wow) and today is my first day back, so... if it is here today, as planned, then I will lose no time.

I really want to get this thing done so I can get the 240 running to it and start messing! I mean I could now, just attach my netbook via the ethernet but I want to have it fully operational before I start playing.
 
The bridge is here... but... after going over the 2 paragraphs of instructions for about an hour, it is clear that I am not going to get this with this flimsy manual. Time for tech support!
 
JayInJersey said:
Wireless Print Server?
Click to expand...

Yes, becuase I can attach the BCS to it in one of the computer ethernet ports, it has 4 PC ports

Problem being, I have to figure out how to get it configured to my home network
 
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I am sure it will work, it is just a bridge, and now I am trying to explain to this lady from India why I am not attaching a printer to it.... damn
 
Ok from what I read you basically want to set your laptop to use 92.168.1.100 as its IP then connect wired to the PS at 192.168.1.102

Once there you want to find (there is no screens of the config page so that's the best I can give ya) the SSID section and enter your network info.
 
Dammit...I need to RTFM more myself as opposed to telling all the lemmings that call my support station that (don't tell them or I'll never live it down)


On the 192.168.0.102 (sorry messed it up the first time...there is a 0 not a 1) page you want the "Wireless Settings" link

Then choose "Select Existing Network"
Connect to yours
Plug the BCS in (you assigned this an IP on your network already I'm assuming)
And BAM it should be up
 
I've mentioned this before on another thread, but after you think that you have your wireless bridge setup properly for your network, verify it before plugging in the BCS. You can verify that the bridge is working properly by connecting a laptop to it. (make sure the laptop's own wireless is disabled, so it has to go through the bridge).
Its much easier to get the bridge working when you can see what's happening on the other side.. A laptop is much nicer than that BCS when setting up a bridge.

Also, its recommended that you set your BCS to a static IP when using a wireless bridge. This bypasses any weird startup timing issues that you could run into with DHCP.
 
Funny, during the girls loooooong pauses, I figured it out on my own. It is working perfectly now. The KEY, was logging in to my home router and transferring all of those setting to the bridge, then I assigned the bridge an IP in the range that my home network allows and bam... the BCS is running a process now, watching the SSRs blink ;)

Thanks dudes. Looks like I just needed another hour.
 
The Pol said:
Funny, during the girls loooooong pauses, I figured it out on my own. It is working perfectly now. The KEY, was logging in to my home router and transferring all of those setting to the bridge, then I assigned the bridge an IP in the range that my home network allows and bam... the BCS is running a process now, watching the SSRs blink ;)

Thanks dudes. Looks like I just needed another hour.
Click to expand...

Almost there Pol. I bet you can see the light at the end of the tunnel.
 
Speaking of lights... :) I have a short vid coming up from YouTube. The brewery is finished.

EDIT:
Here is the rig, living and breathing on its own. The pulse of the system is clearly visible ;)



P1030822.JPG
 
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Thanks guys... I am just tickled that I am sitting on my sofa and I can turn on and off my little SSR LEDs :D

It is a sexxxxy build, better than I had originally planned.
 
jkarp said:
So when we gonna see some beer? :)
Click to expand...

A month or so I assume...

I need to run tests, tune PID functions, determine losses, create more processes...

But, it is built, now the fun part starts ;) I hope!
 
TheAleMaster said:
Nice job, Pol. I don't know how you wait so long. I'm too impatient. I'd be wanting to brew yesterday...
Click to expand...

I would like to, but there are a lot of #s I have to collect first, so that I know what I am working with.
 
Very nice POl :mug: I look forward to the data collected when you brew. I bet those LG pumps crank it out. They will show their weight when you chill. Keep us posted on your water tests. Really awesome man!
 
Dog House Brew said:
Very nice POl :mug: I look forward to the data collected when you brew. I bet those LG pumps crank it out. They will show their weight when you chill. Keep us posted on your water tests. Really awesome man!
Click to expand...

Thanks, I appreciate it. Looking at this thread, I have been at this for about 4 weeks, it seems much longer.
 
Pol, I'm really interested in your wireless bridge. I have my BCS built onto a panel, and the rig is in my detached shop. I have wireless in the shop but no wired connection to the house so I have to be in the shop to connect to the BCS. That is not a problem on brew days, but it would be more comfortable to setup pids, processes, etc, in the house, then go to the shop for testing.

I started some wet tests last night, I'll be interested in your feedback when you get to that point. I'm gonna brew Saturday... will most likely be in the Manual Mode. I'm not expecting great results (I think the BCS will do fine, but I don't have all the info for the calculations... losses, etc.).

I found that in manual mode, after you make a change, you have to hit the "apply" button... so to turn off a pump, you hit direct off, then apply, then there is a slight delay, then the pump goes off.

Also, looks like the manual mode "fights" with the Output buttons on the top of the Main screen... So, if you are in manual mode with a pump (or heater) on, and you hit the Lighted Output button, you get a slight delay, then the pump goes off, then a delay and the pump comes back on! This is kinda obvious with a pump because you can hear it, not so clear with an element.

I'm certainly no expert, so maybe I missed something... Oh well, guess I'll go re-read the manual... wait a minute there is no manual ;) Guess I'll go bouncing around the wiki.

BTW... Congrats on a beautiful build... can hardly wait to hear about it in action.
 
Some pics from this morning after getting my hoses all cut. I had about 3" of hose left when I was finished :D

P1030823.JPG


P1030824.JPG
 
Holy crap. This thing gets more amazing looking everyday.
Especially now that it looks complete, rather than a collection of (great looking) parts.
 
Ohio-Ed said:
Pol, I'm really interested in your wireless bridge. I have my BCS built onto a panel, and the rig is in my detached shop. I have wireless in the shop but no wired connection to the house so I have to be in the shop to connect to the BCS. That is not a problem on brew days, but it would be more comfortable to setup pids, processes, etc, in the house, then go to the shop for testing.

I started some wet tests last night, I'll be interested in your feedback when you get to that point. I'm gonna brew Saturday... will most likely be in the Manual Mode. I'm not expecting great results (I think the BCS will do fine, but I don't have all the info for the calculations... losses, etc.).

I found that in manual mode, after you make a change, you have to hit the "apply" button... so to turn off a pump, you hit direct off, then apply, then there is a slight delay, then the pump goes off.

Also, looks like the manual mode "fights" with the Output buttons on the top of the Main screen... So, if you are in manual mode with a pump (or heater) on, and you hit the Lighted Output button, you get a slight delay, then the pump goes off, then a delay and the pump comes back on! This is kinda obvious with a pump because you can hear it, not so clear with an element.

I'm certainly no expert, so maybe I missed something... Oh well, guess I'll go re-read the manual... wait a minute there is no manual ;) Guess I'll go bouncing around the wiki.

BTW... Congrats on a beautiful build... can hardly wait to hear about it in action.
Click to expand...

The wireless bridge, in the end, very easy to set up. It was hard for me though because I had to go through a bunch of false starts to get the right parameters. NOW however the static IP address stuff and Gateways all make sense. To do it again would be snap!

I have been playing with the manual mode. I do like it, there is a 2 second delay after I hit "apply" before the action takes place.

Yes, the buttons at the top of the page for the outputs, will not work in conjunction with manual mode, since they are both trying to control the outputs in that case.

What I can tell you is this. The wireless bridge is easy to set up, just write down all of the settings from your router (log into it to get them) and then just place ALL of those in your setup for the bridge.

Then when you are ready to assign your BCS a static IP address, make sure you know your DCHP range of your router, then make sure the static IP address you assign it and the Gateway are OUTSIDE of that range of you will get all sorts of miffed up!

Go into ethernet settings on the BCS panel and UNCLICK the box where it sayes STATIC or DCHP IP address. Then change the IP address in that box to something OUTSIDE of your networks DCHP range. Mine was 192.168.0.10 - 192.168.0.19. So I set my Static IP to 192.168.0.21 and my Gateway to 192.168.0.2.

BAM, works awesome. I so far have 100% continuity (which I did NOT have when I had a dynamic IP address) and I can power the rig up and down and up and down and it always comes up under the same IP address and it actually comes up!
 
Hermit said:
I'm calling the feds. There has to be SOME department that will think this is illegal for some reason or another. :eek:
Click to expand...

My painters are like... WTF is that? What do you do for a living? How the heck did you imagine that?

HBT baby... HBT... thanks fellas.
 
Layne said:
Holy crap. This thing gets more amazing looking everyday.
Especially now that it looks complete, rather than a collection of (great looking) parts.
Click to expand...

It is complete, I have used up all of my parts...!

The last part was getting it networked, now that I understand it, it would be easy to do again. But, not knowing dick about that stuff placed me on a steep learning curve.
 
That's all so clean, you need to get rid of the wall worts... split off one leg of the 240V and get a couple internal outlets...

C'mon... I've gotta find something to pick on...
 

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