[Version 2 Release] RaspberryPints - Digital Taplist Solution

billybryson54 said:

I think I may have discovered my problem. My keg was partly frozen. Somehow or another my temp probe dislodged itself from where I normally keep it attached. I pulled out my keg of stout and heard a strange sound when I was moving it. When I opened it, I had about 5 pints remaining in there of slushy beer. after replacing it with another stout keg that I had on deck, it's pouring exactly the way it's supposed to. I swear, I'm my own worst enemy sometimes....anyway, thanks guys!

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mmmooretx said:

Will I have not gotten the script to start;

sudo /etc/init.d/flowmon start $ ps aux | grep flow_monitor.py

But pretty sure I got the rest right. In the flowmon there are 3 lines I am concerned whether I got it right or not:

# Change the next 3 lines to suit where you install your script and what you wa$
DIR=/etc/init.d
DAEMON=/var/www/python/flow_monitor.py
DAEMON_NAME=RPFlowMon

In the DIR line I have tried what is there as well as /var/www I am not sure what it should be.
In the DAEMON line that is where the file is actually located.
In the DAEMON_NAME= line I have not modified it but the leading RP looks strange to me.

If I can get past this item I think I will have it running very soon!
Thanks again to all who have helped me getting this up and running.
Mike

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mmmooretx said:

The above is from flowmon and if I can get some help on what I have wrong in the above 3 lines (maybe only the first one needs correction), I think I can get my install completed. Sorry about being a noob, but we all have to start somewhere...
This is from step 9 of the install instructions.
Mike

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mmmooretx said:

Interesting point once I got home this evening. I went and looked at my RPiPints display and it showed beer dispensed yesterday. So it looks like the flowmon script is running in the background, but the feedback CLI did not tell me that all was good. So I dispensed some from each tap to clear lines and to do a flow check and only a keg that ran dry did not show flow,except for the empty tap. So knowing this should I skip portions of the section 9 and complete section 10? Ihave already had enough headaches with partially implemented sections that I do not want to go there again. Starting over is a PITA!
Later
Mke

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$ sudo /etc/init.d/flowmon status

$ sudo /etc/init.d/flowmon stop

$ sudo /etc/init.d/flowmon start

day_trippr said:

Fwiw, this command will tell you if flowmon is running:

Code:

$ sudo /etc/init.d/flowmon status

This command stop flowmon:

Code:

$ sudo /etc/init.d/flowmon stop

And this command will start flowmon:

Code:

$ sudo /etc/init.d/flowmon start

There's a typo in Step 9: the command to start flowmon is sharing a line with the command to check its process state. It should have been broken into two lines, as below:

$ sudo /etc/init.d/flowmon start
$ ps aux | grep flow_monitor.py

That's dinged a few folks already.

In any case, $ sudo /etc/init.d/flowmon status is a handier command to check the service process state.


Anyway...it sure seems like you're done with Step 9 and most of Step 10.
Time to create a backup of your SD card!

btw, I don't quite get what "and only a keg that ran dry did not show flow,except for the empty tap." means, but I gather whatever it is, it's not a bad thing...

Cheers!

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mmmooretx said:

[...]I have one tap with no beer on-line yet, and two taps/flow meters are not reporting, debug later.

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There seems to be additional recipe items that do not come up in the new beer menu. Is this a future update item or did I not activate in the admin section?

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day_trippr said:

If you find you set the PIN wrong you have to kick the keg, change its status to Conditioning, then tap it again and with the proper PIN setting. The first few times I tapped a keg I kept forgetting to set the PIN or set the wrong number. I think I've finally gotten that part down

fwiw, I can recommend pins 2, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 for your first six meters - 3 & 4 won't work. mcangeli has used some of the upper pins - I believe he's used 8 through 11. Arduino Pin 13 is used as a "pour indicator" driving the "blink" LED on the AlaMode: if the Arduino "sees" a pour it will blink that light for a few seconds. If someone really needed that pin for a meter it's a minor edit to the ino file to free up that pin

Cheers! And enjoy the new toy!

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day_trippr said:

You have to stop the flowmon service when you want to reprogram the Arduino, as it ties up the serial port so the IDE gets all pissy.

Code:

$ sudo /etc/init.d/flowmon stop

Cheers!

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billybryson54 said:

I have a question for those of you tapping partial Kegs; how are you determining your remaining keg volume? By weight? I've got two partials that I'm ready to tap. One cream ale, one smoked porter, plus I need to correct a keg that phantom poured on me last night. Obviously I would like these numbers to be somewhat accurate, so how are you guys doing it? Correct me if I'm wrong but it would seem to me that bigger beers like stouts with a bit higher FG would weigh more per gallon than something like a cream ale would. Is there a math equation out there to determine this that I may have missed? It doesn't seem to me that taking the standard weight of water and subtracting the weight of the keg would be too accurate...Then again I've been wrong on this thread more often than I've been correct. Lol. Thanks you guys.


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

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DrunkleJon said:

Personally, I have been guessing. Otherwise you can do a little math.

Weight of keg with beer - Weight of empty keg = FG of beer * weight of volume as water
so
(Weight of keg with beer - Weight of empty keg)/FG of beer = (Gallons of beer in keg / 8.34)
since 1 gallon of water is 8.34 pounds

Should work pretty well.

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chemman14 said:

Would there be any issue placing the flow meters on the end of my shanks? (if I can find an adapter for this)
Also, where is the best price for the flow meters?

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2Kegger said:

I do the math. I actually write a VERY remedial python script to do it. It's close, though I'm not sure how close just yet. I haven't emptied a keg since I installed the meters.

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mcangeli said:

The space shouldn't matter.

Which pin is the one that the water is on?

I've started working on the code to add the centipede shield which would enable more pins but I haven't sat down and worked on it in depth in a while.

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winovino said:

how difficult would it be to make the pir sensor turn on a 12v led strip the same time it turns on the monitor? would this just be a matter of wiring up a circuit to utilize a wallwart, then modifying the alamode code?

any input?

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#!/usr/bin/env python

import os
import RPi.GPIO as GPIO
import time
GPIO.setmode(GPIO.BCM)

cmd = 'xscreensaver-command -deactivate'
playsound = 'mpg321 /home/pi/tada.mp3'

PIR_PIN = 7
STATUS_PIN = 8
GPIO.setup(PIR_PIN, GPIO.IN)
GPIO.setup(STATUS_PIN, GPIO.OUT)

def MOTION(PIR_PIN):
	os.system(cmd)
	GPIO.output(STATUS_PIN,True)
	os.system(playsound)
	GPIO.output(STATUS_PIN,False)

try:
	GPIO.add_event_detect(PIR_PIN, GPIO.RISING, callback=MOTION)
	while 1:
		time.sleep(100)

except KeyboardInterrupt:
	GPIO.cleanup()

GPIO.cleanup()

chemman14 said:

Would there be any issue placing the flow meters on the end of my shanks? (if I can find an adapter for this)
Also, where is the best price for the flow meters?

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day_trippr said:

You could give it a try, but observation leads me to believe the closer you can mount the meters to the beer disconnects the more reliable they'll be. Putting them on the opposite end exposes the meters to any CO2 bubbles that form in the lines during temperature swings - which happens: fans only even out the air, they don't stop cycling. They eventually find their way up to the faucets, and I'm pretty sure as they travel through the meters they can cause false pours.

fwiw, I had my meters smack in the middle of 12 foot runs - they were (and are) nestled in the coils atop the kegs. I was getting random tiny pours and eventually changed the lines to put the meters within a foot of the QDs. Since then I never have even an ounce go missing across six taps.

If you figure out how to make a direct connection to the shanks (there's gotta be a John Guest adapter to do that) it's not like you'd have to trash
the lines if it doesn't work out. You might have to switch out the push-in adapters on the JG fittings, but those are inexpensive...

Cheers!

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