BruControl: Brewery control & automation software

[clearwaterbrewer]

fitting 4 10ga conductors and ground in the housing is a bit tight, and I have had one short one time, so extra care, and willingness to cut off ends and start over to get lengths 'just right' is needed... and you cannot use an off-the shelf plug and receptacle, it has to be hard wired.

 

[aeviaanah]

If you run the star delta connection on a 12kw element, your element will run at ~3.6Kw (you will have LOW watt density) I run the delta configuration.

First, I think you should consult an electrician familiar with three phase...

To get 2 elements without powering the 3rd element one has to split the connection, as I mentioned. A competent electrician would take one of the connection bars off and run an extra wire, one from each contactor to each separated lead... when they do this, they essentially have a dual element and a single element that happen to share a single wire(they can run 5 wires and have them totally separate.) They will normally use two 3-pole contactors, but they could use a 2-pole and a 3-pole(I wouldn't)

top one is 5 wires to the element, bottom is 4 wires to the element.

View attachment 675491

Thankyou for the info. My goal is to learn something and provide the right components in the panel, so that I can wire the low voltage stuff. Ultimately I have our electrical contractors that will perform the wiring to the elements and provide feed to the panel. I appreciate the concern for my safety (and everyone around me) and you taking the time to help.

 

[oakbarn]

A capacitor will look like a short with transient voltages.

Anyway, this is why we preach "use a schematic". Not sure if you are, and even if you are it can happen... but drawing one then wiring off it makes wiring and debugging thousands times easier. Glad you figured it out!

I do make diagrams and schematics. Only thing is, I sometimes make physical wiring mistakes! Bad eyes and too damn old!

 

[oakbarn]

You are missing the forest from the trees. Yes floating point variables will have much higher precision to reduce computational rounding errors and provide maximum range/precision. No need to re invent that. What I am talking about is truncating a number to a certain amount of decimal places for viewing. If I can print the value with a certain precision, why can't I concatenate/cast it into a string with the same precision?

Just stating the obvious. The "value" is always whole maximum range/precision. The truncating is a temporary display thing and does not affect the "value" any more than only displaying two decimal places with currency. I had been dealing with the currency issue for years and it is the same issue. Regardless of what you generally do, the maximum range/precision was retained in the value. That how I came up with a conversion to a string. I tried many things with the currency field over the years and the conversion to a string and then back to a true fixed 2 decimal place was the only thing I ever found to work.

 

[oakbarn]

Is this correct for the UNI and One Wire?

 

[BrunDog]

Looks good. You can actually wire the blue VDD wire to VCC. Also, make sure the control switch #7 and 8 are ON to connect to the base and turn the pull-up on.

 

[oakbarn]

Looks good. You can actually wire the blue VDD wire to VCC. Also, make sure the control switch #7 and 8 are ON to connect to the base and turn the pull-up on.

Can you also connect an external 5 + vdc or do you need the power through the UNI?

 

[BrunDog]

You can, but there isn't much need. These sensors use hardly any power. Like micro-watts.

 

[oakbarn]

Looks good. You can actually wire the blue VDD wire to VCC. Also, make sure the control switch #7 and 8 are ON to connect to the base and turn the pull-up on.

I am slightly confused by Dip 8:

DIP 8:
Connects the interface pin 5 to the Base board. In cases where a shield is used and pin 5 is needed for SPI or 1- wire communications, disconnecting this line may ensure proper operation of the SPI or 1-wire bus.

You say it should be "ON". Does "ON" disconnect it from the Base?

Also assume that if you were using PIN 6 for One Wire (Pin 8-3D), you would only need Dip 6 ON. And since you may use additional PINS (2-4, 8, 9 etc) for one wire in the latest Wiring Interface for a Mega, those would need the 4.7K resistor circuit.

 

[BrunDog]

Wait... I just realized something. Which UniShield do you have (which communications: serial, ethernet, or WiFi)?

 

[swimIan]

Is this correct for the UNI and One Wire?

View attachment 675648

Aren’t the “D” pins the driver pins?

 

[BrunDog]

WOW - good catch. Correct. I didn't even see that. Ya... @oakbarn only use D pins for outputs! Sorry I overlooked it.

Let's start over here. Assuming you have a WiFi interface, then you can't use pin 5 at all, per the interface wiring map.

 

[oakbarn]

Wait... I just realized something. Which UniShield do you have (which communications: serial, ethernet, or WiFi)?

I have one with an Ethernet Shield connected that I added myself. I order one without the shield as I had a couple laying around. I flashed it to 45E and set Control Dip switches for Ethernet with one wire for Port 5. I am powering via the VS from a 12 vdc power supply that is down to 5 volts per the instructions.

 

[oakbarn]

Aren’t the “D” pins the driver pins?

Yep. I did not reconfirm, but it should be the "P" pin. I can't get something about "P" out of my mind. I am not going to share as you may get the "P" in your head as well. Good catch.

 

[oakbarn]

WOW - good catch. Correct. I didn't even see that. Ya... @oakbarn only use D pins for outputs! Sorry I overlooked it.

Let's start over here. Assuming you have a WiFi interface, then you can't use pin 5 at all, per the interface wiring map.

I corrected the diagram in my previous post just in case it confused anyone for the P Pin. I do not have Wifi but wired RJ45 Ethernet.

 

[BrunDog]

Ok then to use pin 5 for the 1-wire. Connect to the P pin, which is the direct connection to the interface (no driver, which you’d use for high power outputs only).

 

[oakbarn]

I am slightly confused by Dip 8:

DIP 8:
Connects the interface pin 5 to the Base board. In cases where a shield is used and pin 5 is needed for SPI or 1- wire communications, disconnecting this line may ensure proper operation of the SPI or 1-wire bus.

You say it should be "ON". Does "ON" disconnect it from the Base?

Also assume that if you were using PIN 6 for One Wire (Pin 8-3D), you would only need Dip 6 ON. And since you may use additional PINS (2-4, 8, 9 etc) for one wire in the latest Wiring Interface for a Mega, those would need the 4.7K resistor circuit.

Read the Manual!
or in this case, the notes:

I re-read the notes for UM-1:

If configuring the UniShield for connection to 1-wire devices, switches 6, 7, and 8 may need configuration. No external 4.7k pull-up resistor is needed when configuring using pins 5 or 6. If using on other available pins, an external pull-up resistor is required.

1. For UniShields without a communications shield or with an Ethernet shield, the 1-wire bus can be connected to either pin 5 or 6. If connecting to 5, ensure switches 7 and 8 are ON. If connecting to pin 6, ensure switch 6 is ON.

2. For UniShields with a Wi-Fi communications shield, the 1-wire bus can only be connected to pin 6. Ensure switch 6 is ON in this case.

 

[BrunDog]

Are you asking a question? If just verifying, then yes - this looks correct.

 

[crittler710]

Designing my first brucontrol system here and have a couple of questions. Do I need to buy a unishield for my mega? Also does this 17" x 14"x 6" enclosure look big enough for a 30A 2 Element System with 2 pumps, 9 Valves and 10 Temp Sensors + room to grow?

 

[DoubleHaulBrewing]

Wanted to give everyone a heads up on an issue I had with Sunfounder Mega 2560s. I had gotten in two new Sunfounder Megas and noticed that they were slightly different than the original Sunfounders I have been using. The original Rev 3 Sunfounder is white on the back with the blue circle. The 2 new SunFounders I got last week were Rev 3b and the back of the card is blue.

Now on to the issues. One of the new Megas showed up as an Arduino Uno in Windows Device Manager when I went to upload firmware. It took the firmware and allowed me to configure the ethernet shield. The second mega showed up as a Mega 2560 in Device manager and took the firmware and ethernet configuration without issue. Everything seemed fine until I connected two RP3 boards with 8 temp probes. Neither of the new Sunfounders would support more than 1 RP3 with 4 temp probes. If I disconnected the second RP3 board and power cycled the Mega it would connected to BruControl but would not connect with 2 RP3 Boards. My original SunFounders (with the white back on the board) connects to 2 RP3 boards without issue.

I ordered two Elegoo Megas that arrived today. I swapped them with the Rev3b new Sunfounder and they connected to BruControl with no delay and showed all 8 temp probes on both RP-3 boards no problem. Took me 2 days with lots of help from BrunDog to get this figured out. Hopefully this will save someone else some time.


Definitely something going on with the Rev3b Sunfounder boards that are shipping now from Amazon. I have exchanged a few emails with SunFounder but so far they have not offered any ideas or solutions. I will post their reply if I hear anything helpful.

 

[crittler710]

Wanted to give everyone a heads up on an issue I had with Sunfounder Mega 2560s. I had gotten in two new Sunfounder Megas and noticed that they were slightly different than the original Sunfounders I have been using. The original Rev 3 Sunfounder is white on the back with the blue circle. The 2 new SunFounders I got last week were Rev 3b and the back of the card is blue.

Now on to the issues. One of the new Megas showed up as an Arduino Uno in Windows Device Manager when I went to upload firmware. It took the firmware and allowed me to configure the ethernet shield. The second mega showed up as a Mega 2560 in Device manager and took the firmware and ethernet configuration without issue. Everything seemed fine until I connected two RP3 boards with 8 temp probes. Neither of the new Sunfounders would support more than 1 RP3 with 4 temp probes. If I disconnected the second RP3 board and power cycled the Mega it would connected to BruControl but would not connect with 2 RP3 Boards. My original SunFounders (with the white back on the board) connects to 2 RP3 boards without issue.

I ordered two Elegoo Megas that arrived today. I swapped them with the Rev3b new Sunfounder and they connected to BruControl with no delay and showed all 8 temp probes on both RP-3 boards no problem. Took me 2 days with lots of help from BrunDog to get this figured out. Hopefully this will save someone else some time.


Definitely something going on with the Rev3b Sunfounder boards that are shipping now from Amazon. I have exchanged a few emails with SunFounder but so far they have not offered any ideas or solutions. I will post their reply if I hear anything helpful.

I've had issues in the past with clones of various Arduino models where the arduino bootloader on the Atmega chip was corrupt and had to be re-flashed. That's what I suspect is the issue here. Not a terrible re-flashing process, but in the case of Amazon I would just return and get another if you have the time.

 

[BrunDog]

Designing my first brucontrol system here and have a couple of questions. Do I need to buy a unishield for my mega? Also does this 17" x 14"x 6" enclosure look big enough for a 30A 2 Element System with 2 pumps, 9 Valves and 10 Temp Sensors + room to grow?

Hi,

Short version: No x 2.

Long version: The UniShield was made to facilitate wiring and installation as it combines a screw shield, a power supply, and high current drivers. The intent is such that you can use it to power devices like valves directly, therefore needing no other electromechanical relays (for AC devices, we recommend SSR's appropriate for the current load). So the choice is up to you based upon your preferences and cost. If you prefer to connect to your MEGA with a passive screw shield and make sure that every output stays under a low current limit and interfaces appropriately with other devices (for example a relay boards with transistorized front-ends), then go that route. If you like to make space, wiring, component selection easier, than a UniShield may be a better fit.

In MY opinion, that enclosure will be way too small. If you want room for I/O and for growth opportunities, I would go with a 20x24 or 24x24. It seems at first but then will get used to it. You will never be mad you have too much space but will when you run out. Keep in mind that unlike the clones, you do not need the enclosure to be accessible. Since the Workspace on your computer is your human-interface, the control enclosure can be under your rig or mounted on the wall or wherever, not necessarily in your face!

 

[crittler710]

Hi,

Short version: No x 2.

Long version: The UniShield was made to facilitate wiring and installation as it combines a screw shield, a power supply, and high current drivers. The intent is such that you can use it to power devices like valves directly, therefore needing no other electromechanical relays (for AC devices, we recommend SSR's appropriate for the current load). So the choice is up to you based upon your preferences and cost. If you prefer to connect to your MEGA with a passive screw shield and make sure that every output stays under a low current limit and interfaces appropriately with other devices (for example a relay boards with transistorized front-ends), then go that route. If you like to make space, wiring, component selection easier, than a UniShield may be a better fit.

In MY opinion, that enclosure will be way too small. If you want room for I/O and for growth opportunities, I would go with a 20x24 or 24x24. It seems at first but then will get used to it. You will never be mad you have too much space but will when you run out. Keep in mind that unlike the clones, you do not need the enclosure to be accessible. Since the Workspace on your computer is your human-interface, the control enclosure can be under your rig or mounted on the wall or wherever, not necessarily in your face!

Thanks for the reply. Do you have any suggestions for a 24x24 enclosure? I wasn't able to find anything on amazon and my local electrical supply shop wanted $320 for a 20x16. I was hoping to keep the enclosure around $100 if possible.

 

[DoubleHaulBrewing]

Thanks for the reply. Do you have any suggestions for a 24x24 enclosure? I wasn't able to find anything on amazon and my local electrical supply shop wanted $320 for a 20x16. I was hoping to keep the enclosure around $100 if possible.

I ordered my enclosure from FactoryMation.com. Were great to deal with. Eldon metallic panel with sub panel and got wire duct etc. from there as well. They have some 24X24 panels closer to your price range than the elec supply shop and free shipping I believe. https://www.factorymation.com

 

[BrunDog]

I have sourced Yuco enclosures - you can get them from Amazon or connect with a seller. Definitely not going to be $100 (need to find something used for that). Check out industrialoversupply.com. You can email Mike @ that address and let me know I sent you - you may get a discount (or price increase!).

 

[crittler710]

Also, has anyone seen a significant performance improvement using the ESP32 vs something like the arduino mega or the ESP8266? I have both a Mega and 8266 on hand, but am not sure if I should buy a ESP32 considering it is supposed to be much faster.

 

[RiverCityBrewer]

I think it depends on what you want to do... I use a MEGA for the brewery due to its high I/O count, and I use an ESP32 for a fermentation controller thanks to it BLE compatibility and TILT integration. I also have a couple ESP8266 for general refrigeration controllers.

 

[oakbarn]

Designing my first brucontrol system here and have a couple of questions. Do I need to buy a unishield for my mega? Also does this 17" x 14"x 6" enclosure look big enough for a 30A 2 Element System with 2 pumps, 9 Valves and 10 Temp Sensors + room to grow?

It depends on how much wall space you have.

We have an 18 x 18 Metal box but I have additional boxes.

BruControl Mega, UNI and Temp and Analog in the 18 x 18 box.

That box allows me to have up to 3 MEGAs, two TF3, 2 RP-3 and one AA-1 Analog board. It does not have any thing else.


We have all our Transformers in a much separate smaller Box and just run the that DC power to the BruControl Panel.

I have my SSRs in a separate Metal Enclosure that is a bit high so that fingers cannot get in them. They are about 6 foot away from the BruControl Panel. All of the 110 v circuits are GFI.

I use the UNI to control Valves and you can wire them directly to the UNI. We actually use two 8 Channel Relay Boards (Again in a separate Box) because we are going to use CR05 Valves so I can create a Visual Panel with LEDs of where our valves are. We have a Manifold that we leave in place.

You can find smaller boxes quite cheap on Ebay. We personally like to divide and conquer as it is easier to not mix 110 v with lower power DC.

In fact, we separate our 110 v and the 220 v items in their own enclosures.

One thing about BruControl, if you think it, you can likely do it. Having separate Boxes allows for a lot of expansion.

 

[BrunDog]

Interesting layout. Holes in the panel are more of a permanent/production kind of design - you must be confident in your build!

I just chatted with another user about this, but you may have trouble with the distance between the MEGAs and the RTD platforms's amplifiers. They communicate at a MHz rate - this distance of wiring will potentially create issues. I recommend you use shielded wiring and tie the shield back at the MEGA end only.

 

[aeviaanah]

Interesting layout. Holes in the panel are more of a permanent/production kind of design - you must be confident in your build!

I just chatted with another user about this, but you may have trouble with the distance between the MEGAs and the RTD platforms's amplifiers. They communicate at a MHz rate - this distance of wiring will potentially create issues. I recommend you use shielded wiring and tie the shield back at the MEGA end only.

What kind of issues we talking?

 

[BrunDog]

Communication issues. Drops, "noise", etc.

 

[TexasWine]

Hey @BrunDog . I'm making some good progress on my build, and while laying out the workspaces I thought of a small feature request.

It'd be nice to be able to 'nudge' the elements in the workspace using the arrow keys on a keyboard. Alignment of the elements has been quite tricky. I need a coarse grid to get the inputs workspace to line up easily, but I need a fine grid to get the elements to line up with my background in my brewery workspace (screenshots below). And when I switch grid spacing, the brewery workspace elements shift around.

Another workaround would be to allow different grid spacing in each workspace, but that seems like it'd be trickier to implement.

 

[clearwaterbrewer]

Also, has anyone seen a significant performance improvement using the ESP32 vs something like the arduino mega or the ESP8266? I have both a Mega and 8266 on hand, but am not sure if I should buy a ESP32 considering it is supposed to be much faster.

ESP32 can be updated without connecting it to USB on a PC.. Over the air updates are awesome, and it is is snappier than the 8266/8255

 

[BrunDog]

Understood! I've played with the idea of X and Y position and width fields to give you specific control.

 

[BrunDog]

I know this is going to feel like an empty tease... trust me we're gonna get the update out.

We added the ability to enable/disable device elements right from the element itself. This will be configurable to be available always, unlocked only, or never.

 

[Paulaner]

I know this is going to feel like an empty tease... trust me we're gonna get the update out.

We added the ability to enable/disable device elements right from the element itself. This will be configurable to be available always, unlocked only, or never.

View attachment 676158

I like it, will this work with graphs also?

 

[BrunDog]

I like it, will this work with graphs also?

Wan't planning on that... this disables the device in the interface. We don't disable graphs. Curious why you would want to do that?

 

[Paulaner]

Wan't planning on that... this disables the device in the interface. We don't disable graphs. Curious why you would want to do that?

During brew day I have 7 graphs tracking data and then 2 during the spund. To avoid it slowing down my computer I have had to delete the graphs when not in use, and then re-create everything again, unless I'm missing a better way to do this?

 

[BrunDog]

Is it a very old/slow computer?

this version will have a database back end and we turned off logging by default. We are also adding the ability to store data by refresh multiple rather than every interval. Let’s see if those help at all. If not we can look at other solutions.

 

[day_trippr]

Is it a very old/slow computer?[...]

TRS-80?

Would love to know the polling and graphing intervals being used as it's hard to believe rational settings for both would end up taxing a reasonably powered peecee...

Cheers!