[Version 2 Release] RaspberryPints - Digital Taplist Solution

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CadiBrewer said:
It works! Perfectly! This is sooooooo cool. And even a minorly (ok, majorly) slow person like me made it happen with no previous soldering skills or Linux experience. That is truly a testament to the strength of the guys who put this project together.

If I can make one suggestion to those who follow, have a sessionable brew on hand for the testing phase. I drank 99 ounces (I know because my flow monitors tell me so) of a 2.8% mild ale. Bloated, but still able to operate heavy machinery.
Click to expand...

LOL! Happy to have helped you get up and running.

You're fortunate that you didn't have to debug the 'Pints software along with your own installation issues. For the first ~week after V2 was released I was sloshed every fricken' night getting meters, python scripts and php files to all play nice together :drunk:

CHeers!
 
My pour were still reading spotty at best so i decided to do a wipe and reinstall.

I downloaded the zip from the v2 branch at github so i would have the most up to date files.

now when setting up my taps it no longer asks for me to assign a pin the the tap.

Is this step no longer necessary, or did i do something incorrect?
 
So everything is starting to fall apart after my reinstall: Wi-Fi can't connect now, permissions issues, phpmyadmin won't connect and flow meters not recognise. So going to try round 3 of version 2
 
If you did the install for meters, the Tap gui requires an AlaMode pin to be assigned when tapping a keg, otherwise the keg won't actually appear on the tap list - although it apparently exists on the list because if you check the Keg gui it will appear to be on tap and has to be manually removed.

I just checked the above to make sure nothing has changed and the behavior is as described.

If you pulled from the unreleased V2 branch you have all the right files. Must've missed something along the way...

Cheers!
 
day_trippr said:
If you did the install for meters, the Tap gui requires an AlaMode pin to be assigned when tapping a keg, otherwise the keg won't actually appear on the tap list.

If you pulled from the unreleased V2 branch you have all the right files...

Cheers!
Click to expand...

Yeah, I did the "with meters" install and pulled the zip from the unreleased branch on github.

However when i tap a keg, the pull down box and pin request are no longer there....
 
day_trippr said:
You would have to go into /var/www/includes/pours.php and modify line 41:

$amount = $PULSE_COUNT / 21120;

This is the pulses per gallon, which translates to 165 pulses per ounce (not ounces per pulse as written in the comments ;)) which will undoubtedly be different using the AdaFruit meters. You would have to determine a suitable value for this constant to calibrate your meters.

Otherwise you'd be all set. There are plenty of examples on hooking up those meters on the web, and I believe Kegbot or one of the other open source dispensing systems has an option to use the AdaFruit meters, so it's not without precedent...

Cheers!

[edit] I'll add that the SF800 meters are supposedly accurate to 1% (assumes perfect installation, etc) while the AdaFruit meters are rated at 10%. That's a rather significant difference when dealing with a 5 gallon vessel, but if you can live with it, you're good to go...
Click to expand...

I noted this earlier, now sorry but I am a metric bloke, and I understand the reasoning at this time for not getting metric up and running. My question is other than the above and the php volume symbol in the tap display, what else would I need to alter to have the system record metric?
 
I spoke too soon when I said everything was working. I pulled files from the V2 branch on GitHub and updated them according to DayTripper's instructions and now the kegs all show the varying levels of full and the different colors. But when I pull a pint, the screen updates after the pour, but the numbers don't change. Any idea where to start troubleshooting this?
 
CadiBrewer said:
I spoke too soon when I said everything was working. I pulled files from the V2 branch on GitHub and updated them according to DayTripper's instructions and now the kegs all show the varying levels of full and the different colors. But when I pull a pint, the screen updates after the pour, but the numbers don't change. Any idea where to start troubleshooting this?
Click to expand...

If the screen is updating, then the AlaMode saw a meter moving, the flow_monitor.py script got the pour message and told pours.php about it, which in turn triggered the rest of the code that logs the data and then refreshes the screen.

So the first thing that comes to mind is you have a mismatch between what you defined as the tap pins in the raspberrypints.ino used to program the Arduino, what you set for the pins in the Tap screen when you tapped each keg, and/or the actual connections to the AlaMode pins.

What might be helpful: kill the flowmon process

$ sudo /etc/init.d/flowmon stop

then run the flow_monitor.py script in a terminal session

$ python /var/www/python/flow_monitor.py

and pour from one of the taps. You'll see a message with the pin number which you can correlate against your wiring and Tap-A-Keg pin setting..

Cheers!
 
Two pours since. One registered 14 ounces, which was good, and one registered 1 ounce, when it probably should have been 14, both on the correct tap. It seems like the pins are set ok. Any other suggestions?
 
Cadibrewer, there could have been air or something in the second pour that caused the code to send a kicked message instead of the full pour amount.
 
mcangeli said:
Cadibrewer, there could have been air or something in the second pour that caused the code to send a kicked message instead of the full pour amount.
Click to expand...

Thanks. Just poured another and it came up as 15 ounces, which is correct. I'll consider the first couple of missed pours and the recent bad pour as anomalies.

This thing rocks.
 
glacious said:
& - it launches it into the background and keeps it there until it dies. I'm not starting it with the X startup scripts that's in the instructions as my setup is headless X doesn't launch. It's started via cron on boot :mug:

Flow meters (thanks again!) and temp sensors working, populated with default beverages :rockin: :
Click to expand...

I have two DS18B20 sensors that I can call up with seperate py scripts in terminal but don't know how to call them so they apppear in index.php like you have?

Everything I've found on the web and tried has not worked, either nothing or pages that never stop loading. I would gladly appreciate if you could tell me how, and hopefully with scrpits and the index.php code, you call up the temperature.
 
Made it surprisingly far before my first hiccup. Step 9 on the Pints site has us open Arduino and edit Raspberrypints.ino, which I did. Then I go to tools -> boards and don't have the option to select Alamode. See the screen shot. Arduino version 1.0.1

What'd I screw up?

1411748058221.jpg
 
Well then, you are correct. Not even the slightest clue how I missed an entire section of the install guide. Running like a champ now, set the refresh to 5 minutes, it's tracking pours on all taps, all flow meters, and all my wiring seems to have worked because 3 flow meters and 4 temperature probes are running away and logging away!

Thank you x100 to EVERYONE who worked on this and contributed in any way.
-Kevin
 
I have RasPints up and running. I can login to my account and change settings. I can add beers, add kegs, but when I try to add beers to the "My Taps" section it allows me to select "Tap a Keg" and fill out the tap form, but it never updated my taplist??!? What am I doing wrong?

I followed the build instructions for w/out flow meters. I installed V2.0.0.
 
jcc4507fly said:
I can add beers, add kegs, but when I try to add beers to the "My Taps" section it allows me to select "Tap a Keg" and fill out the tap form, but it never updated my taplist??!? What am I doing wrong?
Click to expand...

You need to replace one of your files. See post #361 and ensuing replies.
 
Thanks! I was 2 pages away before I gave up.

I copied and replaced the suggested 3 files and it still didn't work.
So I decided to just wipe my Pi and reinstall using Version2 from the branch on GetHub. It still didn't work until I enabled the flow monitoring and then I was able to assign a random pin under the tap a keg link. (FYI, I was following the without meter install.) So far that has allowed me to Tap kegs and I haven't notice any down sides.
 
well, i hate to post as i fear i may jinx myself.
After a fresh install with the updated files from the version 2 branch i have been pouring and reading correctly for about a two weeks now.
Its really impressive to walk over, pour a pint and have a digital representation of how much of a drinking problem i have......

lol, anyway thanks team, and all who helped me get up and running!
 
ichbinbier said:
I have two DS18B20 sensors that I can call up with seperate py scripts in terminal but don't know how to call them so they apppear in index.php like you have?

Everything I've found on the web and tried has not worked, either nothing or pages that never stop loading. I would gladly appreciate if you could tell me how, and hopefully with scrpits and the index.php code, you call up the temperature.
Click to expand...

You said you have the temp sensors working, setup a cronjob to write the temps to files every few minutes. This is a complete hack, but it works, so I don't care :)

Then use this in the header to display the temps:
Code: 
                                 <div class="HeaderRight">
                                        Beer Temp: <br> <font size="6">
                                        <?php $beertemp = file_get_contents("/home/someuser/raspints/tempbeer.txt");
                                        print $beertemp; ?> F </font> <br>
                                        Fridge Temp: <br> <font size="6">
                                        <?php $beertemp = file_get_contents("/home/someuser/raspints/tempambient.txt");
                                        print $beertemp; ?> F </font>
                                <?php if($config[ConfigNames::UseHighResolution]) { ?>
                                                <a href="http://www.raspberrypints.com"><img src="img/RaspberryPints-4k.png" height="200" alt=""></a>
                                        <?php } else { ?>
                                                <a href="http://www.raspberrypints.com"><img src="img/RaspberryPints.png" height="100" alt=""></a>
                                        <?php } ?>
                                </div>
 
glacious said:
You said you have the temp sensors working, setup a cronjob to write the temps to files every few minutes. This is a complete hack, but it works, so I don't care :)

Then use this in the header to display the temps:
Code: 
                                 <div class="HeaderRight">
                                        Beer Temp: <br> <font size="6">
                                        <?php $beertemp = file_get_contents("/home/someuser/raspints/tempbeer.txt");
                                        print $beertemp; ?> F </font> <br>
                                        Fridge Temp: <br> <font size="6">
                                        <?php $beertemp = file_get_contents("/home/someuser/raspints/tempambient.txt");
                                        print $beertemp; ?> F </font>
                                <?php if($config[ConfigNames::UseHighResolution]) { ?>
                                                <a href="http://www.raspberrypints.com"><img src="img/RaspberryPints-4k.png" height="200" alt=""></a>
                                        <?php } else { ?>
                                                <a href="http://www.raspberrypints.com"><img src="img/RaspberryPints.png" height="100" alt=""></a>
                                        <?php } ?>
                                </div>
Click to expand...

Nice! Thank you.

It looks like I was over complicating my script compared to yours.
Funny thing is I have cron jobs running for my website but it never occurred to me that it can be done on a pi, as I'm smacking my head on the desk.

Thanks again.
 
I am really interested in doing this project. I haven't looked into the specifics of the raspberry pi box or what it is compromised of yet. Any ability for it to stream music from a service such as Pandora?
 
mrtrav said:
I am really interested in doing this project. I haven't looked into the specifics of the raspberry pi box or what it is compromised of yet. Any ability for it to stream music from a service such as Pandora?
Click to expand...

The short answer is yes.
 
Just an observation on my setup...your mileage may vary. I was getting phantom pours and, more difficult to figure out, very small pours when in fact I poured a full pint. There were no air bubbles in my lines to speak of and no foam. My flow meter was sitting at an angle on top of my keg, so I adjusted it to lay horizontal. For the past three days, things are working perfectly. Could be a coincidence, but it fixed my problem.
 
mrtrav said:
I am really interested in doing this project. I haven't looked into the specifics of the raspberry pi box or what it is compromised of yet. Any ability for it to stream music from a service such as Pandora?
Click to expand...

mcangeli said:
The short answer is yes.
Click to expand...

Probably a dumb question, but how would one go about running a browser with Pandora playing in the background, while displaying Raspberry Pints full screen? TIA!
 
VikeMan said:
Probably a dumb question, but how would one go about running a browser with Pandora playing in the background, while displaying Raspberry Pints full screen? TIA!
Click to expand...

I don't use Pandora, so I can't answer it directly, but I have two browsers open on mine. When not serving beer, it shows my google calendar. When serving beer, I just Shift-Tab and it switches. Both are full screen. The point is, you can have more than one browser open at a time, even with Pints open full screen. Hope that helps.
 
CadiBrewer said:
Just an observation on my setup...your mileage may vary. I was getting phantom pours and, more difficult to figure out, very small pours when in fact I poured a full pint. There were no air bubbles in my lines to speak of and no foam. My flow meter was sitting at an angle on top of my keg, so I adjusted it to lay horizontal. For the past three days, things are working perfectly. Could be a coincidence, but it fixed my problem.
Click to expand...

Just a data point but my flowmeters are mounted horizontally to the inside of my keezer collar and they have worked perfectly since day 1.



Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew
 
I've got a new issue for me that I may have to scroll backward in this thread to find, but I had a keg on tap that I only poured about 70 oz from one night. Throughout that 70 oz, the pours were working just fine. The rest of that keg was bottled. After bottling I went and tapped a new keg but 'pints is still displaying that the brand new keg has 70 oz poured. It's not coming up as a full keg. I still haven't uploaded the updates V2 files, I'm still using the initial release from Github, for what it's worth. Maybe I'll start with that. Anyone else ever have that issue?


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew
 
VikeMan said:
Probably a dumb question, but how would one go about running a browser with Pandora playing in the background, while displaying Raspberry Pints full screen? TIA!
Click to expand...

I found build sheet for "Pandora's Box" which is for running Raspberry Pi to have a dedicated Pandora player. It uses "pianobar" as a Pandora player. It might be possible to install this and tweak the index.php file to reference this module to display and control Pandora. I don't have the raspberry pi yet, so I can't test this, but if anyone wants to give it a try, that's how I plan on starting.

Link: http://www.instructables.com/id/Pandoras-Box-An-Internet-Radio-player-made-with/step3/Installing-Pianobar/
 
billybryson54 said:
I've got a new issue for me that I may have to scroll backward in this thread to find, but I had a keg on tap that I only poured about 70 oz from one night. Throughout that 70 oz, the pours were working just fine. The rest of that keg was bottled. After bottling I went and tapped a new keg but 'pints is still displaying that the brand new keg has 70 oz poured. It's not coming up as a full keg. I still haven't uploaded the updates V2 files, I'm still using the initial release from Github, for what it's worth. Maybe I'll start with that. Anyone else ever have that issue?


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew
Click to expand...

When you tapped a new keg did you truly tap a new keg (kick the old one, Mark the keg cleaning, tap a new keg) or did you simply update the information under the keg for the amounts?

Also, update the files.
 
Well... poop. Everything was running great during testing. Last night, went to grab my first beer since initial setup (I've been busy, give me a break) and it logged nothing. Tried a few different things, lots of refresh commands sent through Chromium, ran the python script and pulled a few oz out of the tap, got some random uninteligible output in the terminal after I closed the tap... Eventually, RPints showed 2oz poured, despite my having poured more than that. A few reboots and more monkeying around - no change.

I haven't gone back through this and read all the recommended changes / updates, so I'll do that next. I think day_trippr had some suggested modifications around post 455/456, but I'm not sure if they'll work.

Either way, I'm sad, and will post any updates if I can get it running again.
 
billybryson54 said:
[...]After bottling I went and tapped a new keg but 'pints is still displaying that the brand new keg has 70 oz poured. It's not coming up as a full keg.[...]
Click to expand...

I do all of the management for 'Pints and BrewPi remotely, and if I tap a keg the display over my keezer won't automagically update - it'll still show the old tap list unless I pour a beer, or send a refresh command from the remote node, or manually refresh the display using the mini-kb stationed next to my keezer.

Anyway...do the update. My system would not work properly without it...

Cheers!
 
I'm honestly not sure if I truly tapped a new keg or just updated the tap info. It was late and I'd been drinking. Ha. But I DO know that the new keg displayed no problem. The only thing that didn't change was the keg levels. I do all my updating remotely as well and this is the first time it's occurred. I'm gonna be out of town for awhile so when I get back I'll start by updating the files and see where that takes me


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew
 
billybryson54 said:
I'm honestly not sure if I truly tapped a new keg or just updated the tap info. It was late and I'd been drinking. Ha. But I DO know that the new keg displayed no problem. The only thing that didn't change was the keg levels. I do all my updating remotely as well and this is the first time it's occurred. I'm gonna be out of town for awhile so when I get back I'll start by updating the files and see where that takes me
Click to expand...

I'm going to put my money down on "Set the wrong PIN".

Untap the keg, then edit the keg status to "conditioning", then re-tap the same keg, only this time make sure you set the meter pin to match the meter that's on that keg...

Cheers!
 
I doubt it was the wrong pin because my pours DID update without a problem. It just didn't initially start with a keg labeled as "full" and instead remained with 70 oz poured that I had with the previous keg. Now it's reading at about 120 oz poured cause of the few glasses that I "Tested" with last night


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew
 
Ok, when I read "The only thing that didn't change was the keg levels. " that doesn't seem to be the same thing you're saying now...

Cheers!
 
Ahh. My bad. I see the confusion now. The flow monitor is recording pours properly. That has not been an issue for awhile. What I meant to say was that after a new keg was recently tapped, the 'pints screen is still displaying the levels from the old keg, and did not reset back to a full keg. Instead it is still showing 70 oz poured 570 oz remaining instead of 0 poured, 640oz remaining


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew
 

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