iSpindle - DIY Electronic Hydrometer

[Bobo1898]

A couple of possible points on battery life...

1. There are lots of fake 18650 batteries around, they need to be sourced from reliable sources. In the UK, I bought my 3400mAh from Torchy.

2. When running, there should only be an occasional flash from the iSpindel at the time it transmits a data batch. If the LED on the gyro is constantly lit, that will seriously reduce your run time. The simple way to prevent that, is to simply snip through the middle of the LED with some small snips to break the component, rather than attempt to desolder.

1. This is very likely. All the parts were bought from AliExpress EXCEPT the batteries and the whatever he had on hand. The batteries were bought on Amazon from who knows where? Oddly enough, or not surprisingly, old link to these batteries doesn't have them as a product anymore, which further suggests this is the problem.

2. Yeah the LED is never on constantly so I don't believe this is an issue. I have a feeling this all pointed back to the battery.

It honors your mate that he soldered this together "the old way".

Haha I'm sure he'll dig this.

You have the right one and it seems to operate in the right manner like switching it off when it gets down to 2.5V. However, there seems to be no solder at all at B- that could be a problem.

I have one left with the resistors and diode already soldered on to them and I am happy to send it to you but as I am EU based and I dove in to this I thought "I'll put it in an envelope and send it which will cost 4 euros" but it isn't allowed anymore to send goods in an envelope and frank it as a letter. They will just confiscate it, the US wants to know what is in it before it is send and I should send it as a package with a customs declaration form CN22, and that costs 11 euros(about 13,50USD). And then to think I had these made in the US a couple of years ago at pcbs.io.

Thanks for the kind suggestion. Probably no need to send it. In regards to the lack of solder at B-, I may investigate the battery side first before looking at replacing the PCB.

 

[LBussy]

the only way to make it smaller would be to use custom electronics, which would be very expensive.

At the risk of sounding like every other dude on the Internet who corrects other people on the Internet (A.K.A: Cunningham's Law): You could go with a bare ESP8266 module, and then the max-width goes from 25.7mm to 16.1mm. While I suppose that could be considered "custom electronics," you're making a circuit board anyway and could go ahead and add the other necessary components. Since there's no serial circuit, you would have to use a test/burning fixture but and potentially some other changes, but I don't think it's correct to say there's no way to get smaller.

 

[DuncB]

Has anyone on this forum tried / built one of these?

https://www.diyhomebrewers.com/2021/03/repetidor-ispindel-con-display-oled.html
Translate it from Spanish and it looks like a useful addition for the price.

 

[LBussy]

Maybe I'm just being a dense American - but why would you need a repeater for something that's already on WiFi?

 

[DuncB]

Seems to be for people who don't want to go on web access and don't want to use a device to read the data off such as laptop yet do want to have a device to read! Making a solution for a non problem.
Personally I'm happy with brewspy and not having to run to the fridge to get a reading.

 

[BreeBrew]

Has anyone on this forum tried / built one of these?

https://www.diyhomebrewers.com/2021/03/repetidor-ispindel-con-display-oled.html
Translate it from Spanish and it looks like a useful addition for the price.

I didn't build one but I did buy one overhere:
http://www.nautilis.eu/en/portfolio-item/nautilis-ispindel-relay/

Maybe I'm just being a dense American - but why would you need a repeater for something that's already on WiFi?

Because my fermentation chamber is an old fridge standing in my shed at the end of the garden 50 feet from the back of my house with armed concrete walls with the central router at the front of the house. I could do without but then I have a lot of gaps in between the reports of the iSpindel and I also just like a cool gadget
However, if you have a situation like mine and on top of that, you ferment in a stainless steel fermenter then you probably will need one. You can also buy a cheaper regular repeater but this is so much cooler.

 

[BreeBrew]

And the thingy in action:

 

[DuncB]

@BreeBrew
Saw the nautilus on David Heath channel.
It does all you want by the sounds of it.
I just reconfigured a spare router as my relay with a cable connection but my brewery isn't in an old pill box or bunker by the sound of it's construct.

 

[DuncB]

However no relay can help my ispindel at the moment as it sank when I put some pressure on the ferment. Thought the router had gone down at first.
So my first NEIPA is double dry hopped and spindelled and cold crashing at the moment.
Soldering iron is going to have to come out again.

 

[LBussy]

Lithium dry hopping. Yum!

I guess that makes sense, and having a local display is handy. Lord knows I have come to depend on my TiltBridge display.

 

[wd16261]

Has anyone on this forum tried / built one of these?

https://www.diyhomebrewers.com/2021/03/repetidor-ispindel-con-display-oled.html
Translate it from Spanish and it looks like a useful addition for the price.

I've tried it and its based on BrewPiless but it still has a lot of bugs.
For example if you use Plato instead of Gravity then it crash and turns into a reboot loop. So you need to upload the firmware again to get it back up.

@LBussy : The reason why I would like to use this is because a friend brewer would like to see the status of his ispindel when he is in front of his refrigerator and he does not have internet nor network connection in that room (garden shed).
Nautilus is maybe a good solution but he (and me too) finds it very expensive (€ 42,54 + €8.34 transport) so a DIY version would look nicer. Maybe another new project for you Lee? Based on Brew bubbels?

 

[LBussy]

Nautilus is maybe a good solution but he (and me too) finds it very expensive (€ 42,54 + €8.34 transport) so a DIY version would look nicer. Maybe another new project for you Lee? Based on Brew bubbels?

I'm actually scheming right now. Give me "a little time™" and I'll see what I can do. I have a plan (I think.)

 

[DuncB]

I think I'll order the parts in anticipation given the very very long lead time from china to New Zealand. Seems to spend forever on the dockside.

 

[DuncB]

I'm wondering if there is a module for that repetidor that i could fit an external antenna on as per the nautilus? Or do you have to hack into the existing antenna on the processor board?

 

[DuncB]

I have found an instructable to allow me to do this.

 

[LBussy]

I have found an instructable to allow me to do this.

To which “this” are you referring?

 

[Lalo_uy]

I'm wondering if there is a module for that repetidor that i could fit an external antenna on as per the nautilus? Or do you have to hack into the existing antenna on the processor board?

If instead of a Wemos D1 or an ESP-12 you can use a ESP-07 it has external anntena connector.

I like the repeater idea. Now I have set an AP over my fermentation fridge to get goos signal inside.

 

[LBussy]

The D1 Pro has an antenna connector, as well as a dedicated I2C connector.

 

[BreeBrew]

If instead of a Wemos D1 or an ESP-12 you can use a ESP-07 it has external anntena connector.

I like the repeater idea. Now I have set an AP over my fermentation fridge to get goos signal inside.

The D1 Pro has an antenna connector, as well as a dedicated I2C connector.

The firmware of the iSpindel is designed for the D1 mini, please correct me if I am wrong. I know it also works with the D1 Pro(see opensourcedistilling) and it might work with other boards but you can't count on that.

 

[LBussy]

I thought we were talking about the repeater?

 

[BreeBrew]

I thought we were talking about the repeater?

Ouch, sorry, you are right

 

[Lalo_uy]

The software is designed for the ESP8266 chip.
D1, nodemcu, esp-01 to ESP-12 are diferent modules with the same chip, so firmware should work ok on most of them if the gpio pins are present.

 

[LBussy]

I noodled through some ideas for an iSpindel "repeater," with a heavy emphasis on stand-alone integration (i.e. "can I walk past and see what's happening?") I don't know when I'll have any alpha code to test, but I'll share back what direction it's taking so those of you with long lead times can get some hardware in your hands.

 

[DuncB]

To which “this” are you referring?

I found an instructable about dividing the antenna on the module and soldering in the external antenna, different option to the pro which is designed for an external. But this repeater isn't an ispindel so thought i'd look at alternatives.

 

[LBussy]

Ah, okay. Would love to get a link just to file away if you saved it. You never know when that will come in handy.

 

[DuncB]

Ah, okay. Would love to get a link just to file away if you saved it. You never know when that will come in handy.

https://www.instructables.com/External-Antenna-for-ESP8266/
Looks quite easy and would be a good choice or option for the repeater.

 

[BreeBrew]

https://www.instructables.com/External-Antenna-for-ESP8266/
Looks quite easy and would be a good choice or option for the repeater.

Mine has an external antenna, there is a D1 mini PRO inside. It would be a lot simpler to use that to build a repeater with external antenna imo.

 

[DuncB]

Mine has an external antenna, there is a D1 mini PRO inside. It would be a lot simpler to use that to build a repeater with external antenna imo.
View attachment 727818

Yes realise the Nautilus has the external but was looking for options with the repetidor we had been discussing. I don't know whether the D1 pro is a direct swap for the ESP 8266. Doesn't look a difficult hack to add the antenna to ESP 8266 but I'd be lost if the code had to be rewritten to get the D1 pro working.

 

[HarryB]

I've tried it and its based on BrewPiless but it still has a lot of bugs.
For example if you use Plato instead of Gravity then it crash and turns into a reboot loop. So you need to upload the firmware again to get it back up.

@LBussy : The reason why I would like to use this is because a friend brewer would like to see the status of his ispindel when he is in front of his refrigerator and he does not have internet nor network connection in that room (garden shed).
Nautilus is maybe a good solution but he (and me too) finds it very expensive (€ 42,54 + €8.34 transport) so a DIY version would look nicer. Maybe another new project for you Lee? Based on Brew bubbels?

I have now have an issue with my iSpindel and/or Repeatador. Can someone tell me which is getting stuck in a loop please?

A bit more about my example.....

It was my first fermentation using the repeater with the iSpindel, it worked absolutely fine for 7 days of storing and reporting, before it misbehaved. Repeater showed invalid date/time and wifi no contact with iSpindel, but the repeater was still reporting on my LAN. Taking the iSpindel out of the FV and restarting it got it to report again briefly, the time/date and wifi showed OK. Then iSpindel would disappear again.

I took the iSpindel out of the FV, gave it a full charge, tried again, maybe one report and it stopped again. Restarted several more times, same result. I am using SG not Plato.

I have had the iSpindel stop reporting a couple of times before, when reporting direct to my network, but restarting it, it has always carried on reporting and continued to run normally.

 

[HarryB]

Mmm - I have both iSpindle and repeater next to me, in my eyeline, so I can try see what is happening. It logged three readings in succession just fine, then for the following two flashes of the LED, the iSpindel did a reboot. The repeater display went off, came back on and showed it rebooting.

 

[DuncB]

Mmm - I have both iSpindle and repeater next to me, in my eyeline, so I can try see what is happening. It logged three readings in succession just fine, then for the following two flashes of the LED, the iSpindel did a reboot. The repeater display went off, came back on and showed it rebooting.

Assume this issue wouldn't occur if the ispindel was relaying to your normal hub ( it was okay in the past). Any updates of software on either device recently?

 

[KennyCason]

Does the Tilt have these same issues, and others found in the iSpindle? No judgment, I’m a software developer so understand bugs. Just wondering if there are some design issues I could maybe help with.

 

[LBussy]

Tilt uses BLE, not WiFi. Given BLE is a stateless communication method, it does not have these issues, no. I have both and I reach for the Tilt when I brew.

 

[DuncB]

@HarryB
Have you tried reloading the software in the repeater? Any way to see if the repeater is full of data?
Any feedback from the developer ?

 

[NSMikeD]

My iSpindel arrived during the week so I tried it outs last night. It was preloaded and pre calibrated so I set up up to use with my Brewfather and thought all was well as I could see it listed in brewfather after following their set up instructions. After pitching yeast I turned it on got the lights and dropped it in. But 24 hours later still no readings.

I don’t want to open the fermenter so I’m stuck with waiting about two weeks when I keg to take a final reading. But I’m wondering why readings are not making it to brewfather and if there is a way to access it through the cloud without touching it now. It’s not listed in my WiFi networks like when i configured It.

also I saw the post with pressured fermentation. I have my spundle valve at 5psi. I’m not really seeking to pressure ferment but rather let the valve replace and airlock as the lid only has corny keg ball fittings and I plan to pressure transfer. Am I ok at 5psi? Will the higher air pressure affect SG readings?

 

[HarryB]

Assume this issue wouldn't occur if the ispindel was relaying to your normal hub ( it was okay in the past). Any updates of software on either device recently?

I updated the iSpindel months ago it has been used many times since and just the two lockups/crashes.

They are still on test at my side at the moment. It stopped reporting numerous times, but eventually began working normally again and has continued to do so, every ten minutes, for the past three and a half hours absolutely fine.

..and still working as it should, 11 hours later.

 

[DuncB]

I'm not familiar with setting up the ispindel on brewfather, but can tell you that pressure and krausen do affect the readings on the ispindel.

I have had it under 25 psi and been okay. But sunk one last week under low psi but it was in kveik ferment at 35 celsius which might be the reason the seal failed.
Even if readings change you will see the trend and if pressure is stable and alcohol changes you'll notice.

 

[DuncB]

Hey guys, There is now an option for battery conversion factor on the Ispindel. What is that and how do I use it? can't seem to find any info to explain it.

 

[rsquared]

Hey guys, There is now an option for battery conversion factor on the Ispindel. What is that and how do I use it? can't seem to find any info to explain it.

The iSpindle reads a value that it converts to the battery voltage using a formula based on resistor values and a conversion factor (default of 191.8).

For instance, the iSpindle is telling you the battery is 4.15V. You take the battery out and measure it with a multimeter and it's really 4.25V. You take the displayed value and divide by the measured value and you get 1.024. Then you take that 1.024 and multiply by the current conversion factor (let's assume the default of 191.8) and you get 196.4 so that's the new value you save as the conversion factor.

So basically what you've done is tell the iSpindel as part of the formula to take that reading and convert to voltage it should use 196.4 as the multiplier instead of 191.8, which for the same reading will now display a value 2.4% higher than it did before.

 

[DuncB]

Thank you @rsquared , it's been a puzzle to me for a while. Think I'm going to need a digital voltmeter for that as my analogue meter not that accurate. I assume you would check the battery voltage for confirmation once in a while or set and forget?