PillRepeater - Repeater for Kegland RAPT PILL

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Diyhomebrewers

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Joined
Mar 24, 2023
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Location
Spain
Hello! brewers.

I made a new DIY gadget, just to see what you think. It is a BLE repeater for Kegland's RAPT PILL.

With this device, what I was looking for was to solve the problems for those who cannot use the Rapt Pill because they do not have Wi-Fi or enough Wi-Fi to use it since it sends via BLE, and at the same time be able to use it with local systems such as BrewBlox, CraftBeerPi and Home Assistant.

I leave you a link with the gadget and an explanatory video.

I know it is in Spanish, I'm sorry, it is my main language and although I can express myself in English, I think that my English is not the most suitable for writing articles with a minimum of seriousness. There are link buttons for direct translation of the article and try to give the video an extra boost with subtitles.
PillRepeater.jpg



Explanation and assembly step by step:
https://www.diyhomebrewers.com/2023/11/pill-repeater-repetidor-para-el-rapt.html
Explanatory video:


Greetings!
 
Great, just what I was looking for. I'll give it a try once I get my hardware in. Will the source be available?
 
At the moment, the source is not public. It is in beta phase, but three users have already reported to me that they have been installed and that they are working correctly. I am debugging errors with comments from users who are testing it.
 
Thanks for getting back to me. I'm fine with the source not being public, I was mainly thinking about support for different screens. I'm not a programmer anymore, but I can add drivers for a different screen if needed.

Anyhow, things moved fast for a change and I got all hardware in today, including the PILL. I'm used to search for solutions before there are actual problems, but I'm keen to check your solution together with Brewblox.
 
Funnyx said:
Thanks for getting back to me. I'm fine with the source not being public, I was mainly thinking about support for different screens. I'm not a programmer anymore, but I can add drivers for a different screen if needed.

Anyhow, things moved fast for a change and I got all hardware in today, including the PILL. I'm used to search for solutions before there are actual problems, but I'm keen to check your solution together with Brewblox.
Click to expand...
With Brewblox it works correctly for me, it's how I use it on my team, but if there's anything strange, don't hesitate to comment!
 
I'm using PillRepeater 1.0.1.2 and using Diyhomebrewers2 as password. When I try to connect to the PillRepeater it gives me a message that it can't connect to the network.

Not much info in serial monitor:
Dir509: �
Dir510: �
Dir511: �
[ 2834][E][WiFiSTA.cpp:232] begin(): SSID too long or missing!
Connecting to WiFi...
Connection in progress...
Connection in progress...
Connection in progress...
Connection in progress...
Connection in progress...
Conexión fallida
Web server started
 
Funnyx said:
I'm using PillRepeater 1.0.1.2 and using Diyhomebrewers2 as password. When I try to connect to the PillRepeater it gives me a message that it can't connect to the network.

Not much info in serial monitor:
Dir509: �
Dir510: �
Dir511: �
[ 2834][E][WiFiSTA.cpp:232] begin(): SSID too long or missing!
Connecting to WiFi...
Connection in progress...
Connection in progress...
Connection in progress...
Connection in progress...
Connection in progress...
Conexión fallida
Web server started
Click to expand...
That message is that it does not connect with the configured Wi-Fi, not with the AP (because you will not have it configured yet), as an AP you should connect without any problem. and then access the IP http://192.168.4.1/ to add your WiFi credentials.
 
Diyhomebrewers said:
That message is that it does not connect with the configured Wi-Fi, not with the AP (because you will not have it configured yet), as an AP you should connect without any problem. and then access the IP http://192.168.4.1/ to add your WiFi credentials.
Click to expand...
I understand you have to configure the wifi first, but I can't access the repeater. I'm trying to connect to the PillRepeater network with my phone, but it won't let me.
 
Funnyx said:
I understand you have to configure the wifi first, but I can't access the repeater. I'm trying to connect to the PillRepeater network with my phone, but it won't let me.
Click to expand...
Try it from a PC, mobile phones often tend to disconnect from the network if they don't have a network.
 
Diyhomebrewers said:
Try it from a PC, mobile phones often tend to disconnect from the network if they don't have a network.
Click to expand...
Thank you, that worked indeed and I've got things running. Normally it works fine with the phone, but that might be some hardware issue. I also had a few times the MQTT server (Brewblox) couldn't be reached, but it has been working for the last 10 hours or so.
 
Funnyx said:
Thank you, that worked indeed and I've got things running. Normally it works fine with the phone, but that might be some hardware issue. I also had a few times the MQTT server (Brewblox) couldn't be reached, but it has been working for the last 10 hours or so.
Click to expand...
Fantastic!
 
Diyhomebrewers said:
Hi! I know that a few must have been built, but no one tells me that they are using it without problems. Mine in my scenario works correctly but I hardly have any more feedback.
Click to expand...
That is good to know. I think it the userbase that has a PILL, and the expertise/need to build the repeater is fairly limited. Would you be willing to share the source code on the Github for folks like me that would like to learn and tinker with it? It would seem that everything is working as it should based on your findings and no-one else reporting issues.
 
I had a few problems after flashing the firmware.

After flashing and entering wifi information and saving, the device crash. And won't start with the wifi, you have to remove everything. I wiped everything with linux and reflash the firmware.​
I have to remove the garbage text in the webpage before saving to get it working​
​
Second, the latest English version, the layout for mqtt brewblox is wrong. I had to go back one version to get it working.​
​
I would also like, if it's possible to switch to Plato/SG/Brix on the screen.​

But i really like the software, and will use it as soon as the next brew.
 

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