Point being, the premise was inaccurate...
Cheers!
Cheers!
Fermentrack: Fermentation monitoring & BrewPi-www Replacement for Raspberry Pi
- Thread starter Thorrak
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Sure thing. Excuse my terrible handwriting/lack of artistic talent, but here's generally what a build looks like/how it works:
private4587
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Thanks for the drawing Thorrak, hope you don't mind but i have another few questions. 1. Like i said i control the operation of the brew fridge via a STC1000, could i still use the setup but without installing relays on the board. 2 Also you mention using brake out boards setup within the fridge and wire to mainboard. my question is would these be OK at lower temps i.e 1c for when i cold crash especially when i do lagers?
There are people that put their controllers in their Ferm Chambers, so you should be fine with a breakout board. You don’t have to put the breakout board in there though. Like Thorrak’s (very elegant) picture depicts, you can put the breakout board on the outside of the ferm chamber and just run your temp probes into the chamber and use an Ethernet (RJ45) or Phone (RJ11) patch cable to your controller.
The project is done in PlatformIO. You will find it much easier to modify it with PlatformIO as it will handle the libraries for you. They are all listed in the PlatformIO.ini file, and they will download automatically based on that configuration.
Yes, it will be. Once you modify the code you own it forever and you would have to re-do your work if/when Thorrak makes a change.
As @day_trippr said, making an Uno wireless or adding BT is trivial, and you would have many more extra pins. WiFi is discussed here, and that thread should give you more than you need to get it going. I recommend using the jeelabs/esp-link code as the bridge. If you want to explore BT, I wrote that up here as well (based on day_trippr's excellent work!) If you use the Uno you can use the extra pins and existing code to control them without having to change the firmware or come up with your own code to do the other work.
Your experience may be dated. RPi is still not perfect when it comes to Wireless, but it is much better and I have had a fridge running for over a year in the garage on WiFi with no issues. I don't know if Thorrak has a WiFi script in Fermentrack, but I have modified the one I put in BrewPi Remix to be a standalone project. You may find use for that.
I'm not sure I ever considered the ESP-8266 as an upgrade. It's absolutely handy when it comes to WiFi, and it does have more memory, but in comparison to the Uno running the same code I'd call it a compromise. If you are buying them anyway, you might find using them as a WiFi "dongle" a fair consideration. There's also an all-in-one option for the Uno that I wrote up which you may want to look at.
If you soldered up a proto-board I daresay that qualifies as a shield.
Everyone here has different skill levels and when I say it needs a shield I suppose it's more proper to say "you are going to have to do some soldering." At the very least if you went all caveman with twisting wires and duct tape, you would need to solder pins or wires onto the Wemos since they do not come that way. With the Arduino and especially the I2C display, you can do the whole setup with a handfull of dupont wires and a barrier strip.
Well, since we are being pedantic here I'd point out that the 5V pin is definitely 5V tolerant.
The voltage drop on those Chinese leads is pretty high and given 3V3 is the low limit on voltage for the DS18B20's you might find powering them with 5V and using the 3V3 on the pull up a more solid proposition. Likewise, split the relay by removing the jumper and power the coils with 5V. The new shield design is done in this manner.
Sweet I haven’t heard of that. I’ll look into it.
definitely would be harder to update that’s a good point as I’d have to go back in and add my a custom bits again. That could be a deal breaker for suing the same hardware since this is in fact actively being developed unlike some other projects I’ve modified out there.
I’ll have to look into this checker. My bad experiences with pi WiFi May be model specific but I had some issues with pi3 model b just being generally unresponsive especially one I had running my raspberry pints server. Im sure some models are better than others and maybe I got a dud with that one but there were tons of posts with similar issues if unresponsive strange WiFi behavior in some pi 3 b models. Even close to the router. But I second your notion that it can be good as I have a zero w clear out in the corner of my yard in my hottub cabinet running some speakers out there and controlling some lighting. That’s about as far away from the router as it gets in my house and that ones solid so it can be done. But the flaky ones have had 100 percent reliability as hardwired Ethernet devices in my network now. Is the 4 any better with WiFi? Or which model is in your garage?
is this statement merely because of the lack of extra pins? Like tons of analog and digital pins? Cause more memory is definitely big, built in WiFi is definitely big. Is an uno faster? I do realize the uno is more versatile with the extra pins but I’m trying to understand in a project where you might not need the pins what the advantage is? I always thought it was crazy that the brewpi script completely filled the uno. Especially as a new hobbiest programmer such as myself I may not be the most efficient coder so having some memory to spare definitely helps me with my C writing skills haha.
touchéWell, since we are being pedantic here I'd point out that the 5V pin is definitely 5V tolerant.
Thanks for pointing out this possibility. I never even thought of using the 3.3 as a pull-up only on the data line and powering the sensors on 5v... I didn’t have to extend the cables at all from the stock 1 meter length since everything is run into the fridges compressor hump but if I get any odd sensor behavior this will be my first fix. Seeing the cheap wires inside I can imagine the voltage drops quite quickly with any sensor wire of a decent length.
Would be tough to have a 4 out there for a year.
The one out there is a 2 actually with an Edimax USB Wifi dongle.With that "checker" script though, I just kept adding features to check for what I thought my problems were on a troublesome unit. If you find a fail case I've not accounted for, let me know.
Yes, more pins. The ESP8266 does not have rotary encoder support for example, which is a deal-breaker for me but not for everyone. If you don't make changes you won't need more memory, and while the ESP8266 is faster, both run at the speed of the script which is 9600 baud. THe core processing speeds are more than fast enough for PID processing.
When Thorrak helped me adding the I2C, I had to remove exactly 26 letters from strings to get the thing to run without crashing. It's that close.
Yeah - as @garzlok noted the advantage of the “breakout board” is that you can put it either inside or outside your chamber. Outside is preferable, but inside works as well. The temperature sensors themselves are rated from -67F to +257F* so you should be fine.
You can definitely use that setup with an STC1000 if you want to just monitor temperatures, but the control algorithm that will be applied will be that of the STC1000. You would need to use two types of temperature sensors in that case - one set hooked up to your BrewPi controller and the existing sensor you currently have hooked up to the STC1000. You will effectively have two completely separate devices - the BrewPi will be unaware of the STC1000 and vice-versa.
* - Although the DS18b20 sensor has a wide temperature range, I personally wouldn’t trust the cables/housing for direct exposure to high heat. I also wouldn’t immerse it in liquid and then freeze that liquid without some kind of thermowell/protection. Not an issue for fermentation temperatures, but something to think about.
private4587
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Hi Thorrak thanks for your reply I am thinking that my STC1000 is in a box next to the fermenting fridge and my thinking is that leave the STC1000 to control the heat/cool cycles and have Fermentrack display the fridge ambient temp with 1 probe and the second probe attached under sponge to the fermenter. Also temp and SG of brew and taken from an ispindel. with the box being close i was hoping i could get temp probes with leads of approx 2m in length. Does this make sense and is it doable.
I have to ask why? I mean in that configuration you've got an arguably superior temperature control system, just sitting there watching. Why not just have the Fermentrack handle it all?
Sure, but the display won’t display the iSpindel data - just the data from the chamber & beer sensors.
Car Ramrod
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has anyone ran into this issue?i have built 2 identical control boxes. Both are running version 2.12. one runs flawlessly and the other's screen wigs out after a few hours running. It never resets. And when i turn it off and back on it loses all settings for the relays and probes.
the only difference is the one running a Arduino Uno and the other is running a knock off. Could that be the culprit? I have reflashed multiple times.
the only difference is the one running a Arduino Uno and the other is running a knock off. Could that be the culprit? I have reflashed multiple times.
Have you erased firmware?
The current Uno firmware should reset the display every 180 seconds I think it is. Are you sure you're running 0.2.12?
The current Uno firmware should reset the display every 180 seconds I think it is. Are you sure you're running 0.2.12?
Car Ramrod
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I have just reflashed the firmware via fermentrack. Is there a way to erase the firmware first? Yes I'm sure I'm using 2.12 that's why I'm confused
If that controller is losing its memory on a power cycle, the most likely cause is the eeprom is never being written correctly.
Use the gui to reset the eeprom, restart the controller, and go into Device Manager and install the devices again.
I would think not, based on my own use of both "genuine" and $5 knockoffs (but still using the 16U2 bridge)...
Cheers!
Use the gui to reset the eeprom, restart the controller, and go into Device Manager and install the devices again.
I would think not, based on my own use of both "genuine" and $5 knockoffs (but still using the 16U2 bridge)...
Cheers!
This should do it:
In Fermentrack the "Reset EEPROM" option is on the "Manage Device" page for the device you want to reset:
Doh! Sorry, I forgot which thread I was in.
You've posted more on vacation than when you were working.
You've posted more on vacation than when you were working.
You've posted more on vacation than when you were working.
We’ll need to start calling him, “Mr. James Brown”!
I just merged the changes from dev into master. For those of you who run on the dev branch, nothing new got released - for everyone else, here's a changelog:
[2019-12-15] - Brewer's Friend, Brewfather, and MacOS BLE Support
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Added
---------------------
- Added support for pushing gravity sensor data to Brewer's Friend
- Added support for pushing gravity sensor data to Brewfather
- Added BLE support for MacOS (thanks corbinstreehouse!)
Changed
---------------------
- Adding an external push target now triggers data to always be sent within 60 seconds regardless of push frequency
Fixed
---------------------
- Disable "View Full CSV" button if gravity/beer logs don't exist
- Properly cleanse booleans when changing site settings for Constance
- Allow updates to controller settings when controller name isn't changing
- Remove requirement for TiltBridge value in the TiltBridge model definition
- Ignore Tilt diagnostic codes that cause erroneous temperature/gravity readings
[2019-12-15] - Brewer's Friend, Brewfather, and MacOS BLE Support
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Added
---------------------
- Added support for pushing gravity sensor data to Brewer's Friend
- Added support for pushing gravity sensor data to Brewfather
- Added BLE support for MacOS (thanks corbinstreehouse!)
Changed
---------------------
- Adding an external push target now triggers data to always be sent within 60 seconds regardless of push frequency
Fixed
---------------------
- Disable "View Full CSV" button if gravity/beer logs don't exist
- Properly cleanse booleans when changing site settings for Constance
- Allow updates to controller settings when controller name isn't changing
- Remove requirement for TiltBridge value in the TiltBridge model definition
- Ignore Tilt diagnostic codes that cause erroneous temperature/gravity readings
PeteZA
Active Member
Thank Thorrak, awesome work as always. On the Brewfather support, can you only send gravity sensor data to Brewfather? I don't have the hardware right now to build a TiltBridge, so I am just using a Pi Zero W I had lying around and loaded TiltPi, the plan is to integrate this directly with Brewfather (unless I can get it into Fermentrack as well?). I would however like to pull the temp data from Fermentrack into Brewfather. I looked and couldn't find an idiots guide to doing this so wonder if its possible?
Yep! Brewfather support is currently tied to gravity sensors, which can work either on a standalone basis or tied to a BrewPi temperature controller.
If your gravity sensor is on its own, the gravity sensor’s gravity and temp readings are sent to Brewfather on their own. No BrewPi needed.
I did add a new feature last night for anyone with their gravity sensor paired to a BrewPi controller: In the dev branch, if your gravity sensor is tied to a BrewPi controller, the gravity sensor’s gravity readings are sent, but the BrewPi’s temp readings are sent - if available. If you don’t have a beer sensor on your BrewPi, the gravity sensor’s temp reading will still be sent.
I didn’t include this in the release as the behavior is potentially controversial. If you have a paired sensor + controller then this means the sensor’s temp readings won’t be cascaded so long as the sensor is reading beer temps. My thought is that if it’s good enough to control your chamber, it’s good enough to show up in Brewfather.
Assuming I don’t hear strenuous objections I’m going to mirror the functionality for the beer temp for Brewer’s Friend and pull it to master with the next release (probably Jan/Feb).
PeteZA
Active Member
Yep! Brewfather support is currently tied to gravity sensors, which can work either on a standalone basis or tied to a BrewPi temperature controller.
If your gravity sensor is on its own, the gravity sensor’s gravity and temp readings are sent to Brewfather on their own. No BrewPi needed.
I did add a new feature last night for anyone with their gravity sensor paired to a BrewPi controller: In the dev branch, if your gravity sensor is tied to a BrewPi controller, the gravity sensor’s gravity readings are sent, but the BrewPi’s temp readings are sent - if available. If you don’t have a beer sensor on your BrewPi, the gravity sensor’s temp reading will still be sent.
I didn’t include this in the release as the behavior is potentially controversial. If you have a paired sensor + controller then this means the sensor’s temp readings won’t be cascaded so long as the sensor is reading beer temps. My thought is that if it’s good enough to control your chamber, it’s good enough to show up in Brewfather.
Assuming I don’t hear strenuous objections I’m going to mirror the functionality for the beer temp for Brewer’s Friend and pull it to master with the next release (probably Jan/Feb).
I have only just moved over from Beersmith to Brewfather (mostly because Beersmith doesn't seem to have API or allow information to push into it?). Anyway... my point may be invalid, but I would love to have the tracking of what the target temp, plus fridge/heater switching as well in Brewfather. Would be rad to have all the info in one place with the recipe. Not sure it accepts this info? Two points of data wouldn't be bad, I certainly would not complain!
BrewingAroundtheRrealm
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Over the weekend I assembled 3 iSpindel sensors. I set each iSpindel to use Fahrenheit as it's temperature. I then went on the search to find something to send the data to. After searching for quite a while I came across Fermentrack. It does exactly what I want. Except for one thing, the temperature is being converted to Fahrenheit even though the temp is being sent from the iSpindel in Fahrenheit.
The only reference I could find to this issue is here: https://github.com/thorrak/fermentrack/issues/253 from March 2018 Which shows that the problem was fixed.
That leaves me with two options. I set the wrong temperature when I configured the iSpindel's in Fermentrack or the problem from that ticket wasn't fixed.
Is there a way to check the iSpindel settings in Fermentrack? When I look at the iSpendel settings in Fermentrack it only shows the calibration settings. The main config settings in Fermentrac are set to Fahrenheit.
I could just set the temperature to Celsius on the Ispindel. But that doesn't seem like the right solution. Because the programmer in me says I should fix the problem. not just work around it.
Thanks in advance.
The only reference I could find to this issue is here: https://github.com/thorrak/fermentrack/issues/253 from March 2018 Which shows that the problem was fixed.
That leaves me with two options. I set the wrong temperature when I configured the iSpindel's in Fermentrack or the problem from that ticket wasn't fixed.
Is there a way to check the iSpindel settings in Fermentrack? When I look at the iSpendel settings in Fermentrack it only shows the calibration settings. The main config settings in Fermentrac are set to Fahrenheit.
I could just set the temperature to Celsius on the Ispindel. But that doesn't seem like the right solution. Because the programmer in me says I should fix the problem. not just work around it.
Thanks in advance.
Hm, it's still there. Do you are saying the iSpindel is reporting F and Fermentrack is still doing the (temp-32) * 5 / 9 math?
Which firmware are you using for the iSpindel? Older ones didn’t send the units along with the reading - I submitted a pull to the iSpindel project, but I don’t know if it ultimately made it in.
BrewingAroundtheRrealm
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The raw data coming from the iSpindel:
'{"name":"iSpindel001","ID":9390968,"token":"fermentrack","angle":68.81093,"temperature":73.175,"temp_units":"F","battery":4.103232,"gravity":22.80585,"interval":20,"RSSI":-41}'
Here is what Fermentrack is showing:
The App configuration in Fermentrack is set to Fahrenheit:
When I do the math to convert from C to F I get the same answer Fermentrack gives. (73.175°C × 9/5) + 32 = 163.715°F
I'm using the latest (as of this post) 6.2.0 firmware for the iSpindel.
Attachments
The raw data coming from the iSpindel:
'{"name":"iSpindel001","ID":9390968,"token":"fermentrack","angle":68.81093,"temperature":73.175,"temp_units":"F","battery":4.103232,"gravity":22.80585,"interval":20,"RSSI":-41}'
Here is what Fermentrack is showing:
The App configuration in Fermentrack is set to Fahrenheit:
View attachment 657259
When I do the math to convert from C to F I get the same answer Fermentrack gives. (73.175°C × 9/5) + 32 = 163.715°F
I'm using the latest (as of this post) 6.2.0 firmware for the iSpindel.
Huh. Everything in the code looks right, but I've been fooled before. I just changed the handful of things I think might be causing the issue and pushed it to a new branch. I PM'ed you instructions for how to switch over and give that branch a try - if they solve the issue, I'll merge the changes into dev.
Sorry for the issue - we'll get it solved!
BrewingAroundtheRrealm
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Thank you. I'm a developer myself. I understand how things that look right sometimes work wrong.
I'll check that in the morning and report back.
Thanks again for taking the time to look at that.
Car Ramrod
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Yea I knew where the eeprom reset was. I did that, shut the controller down for a while then reinstalled everything. Let's see if it bugs out again.
The quick verification test would be to simply power off the Arduino (or whatever microcontroller is being used) and power it back up again.
If all of the installed devices remain, you should be good to go...
Cheers!
If all of the installed devices remain, you should be good to go...
Cheers!
Car Ramrod
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Ok I did that and everything came back on like normal. I guess it needed that reboot after the reset. We'll see if it stays running. Thanks
Excellent! 
Hi guys, so I just updated fermentrack to the latest version released on the 16th and am keen to try out Ipsindel push to brewfather. But im not sure what the logging URL is that I have to put into fermentrack?
I have a server URL in Brewfather which is this. /ispindel?id=xxxxxxxx
Is this what I need to put in to the logging URL field?
I have a server URL in Brewfather which is this. /ispindel?id=xxxxxxxx
Is this what I need to put in to the logging URL field?
Last edited by a moderator:
No - there are two ways to use Brewfather with iSpindels - through Fermentrack and directly.
If you do it directly, you would log into the iSpindel and add that to the config somewhere.
If you do it through Fermentrack you would set your iSpindel up in Fermentrack, then set up the “custom stream” option in Brewfather. You would then get a full URL from Brewfather that you could input into Fermentrack.
mothership
Active Member
so...this happened last night. somehow the heater got stuck on even though the controller was saying "cool"
any ideas?
i'm assuming the relay went poop...again
any ideas?
i'm assuming the relay went poop...again
That’s what it looks like. What kind of relays are you using and how exactly do you have the relay wired?
mothership
Active Member
this is the relay i have in there: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B072BY3KJF/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
i'm not home now. when i get home, i can take a picture and show you how it's wired.
My Ispindel reports to fermentrack and I want to get it to pass this information on to Brewfather. Where is the customstream option?
EDIT:- Its ok Ive found it. Will test it out when I get home from work tonight.
Thanks for editing out the private key who ever did that, I wasnt sure if i should paste that in or not.
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mothership
Active Member
well, when i got home, i plugged in the fermenter again (the controller and relays are self-contained on the fermenter). sure enough, as soon as i plugged it in the heater started up again. while it was plugged in and heating up, i unplugged the control wires from the controller to the relay board; the heater kept going. that told me that the relay was stuck in the on position. so, i'm just gonna replace the relay with two proper SSR's like these:
https://www.amazon.com/BEM-14840DA-...ay&qid=1576636225&sprefix=SSR+,aps,396&sr=8-9
