How To: BrewPi LCD Add-On

[CadiBrewer]

V1.2 boards are fabbed and on the slow plane from China. V2.0 boards should be sent to the board house tonight.

 

[LBussy]

V1.2 boards are fabbed and on the slow plane from China. V2.0 boards should be sent to the board house tonight.

I went back about 10 pages but did not see the features of these boards in one place. Do you mind sharing (again)?

Was there anything but the pfet/transistor changed on the 1.2?

 

[CadiBrewer]

I don't mind at all. When I get both boards in hand and they have been tested, I planned on starting a new thread with parts lists and build tips to keep all of that in one spot.

V1.2 just replaced the p-fet with a transistor.

V2.0 is built for the Nano, has the ability to plug in the Bluetooth module directly to the shield, has a header for the encoder, has a header for a few of the meaningful IO pins for various brewpi options, has an RJ11 jack for the probes along with a separate pin header for those who don't want RJ11, and can be mated directly to the LCD if desired.

Day_trippr and I tried to include as much of what folks were asking for as possible.

 

[day_trippr]

Hey Mark! I reviewed the latest layout last night and literally had just hit Send on my PM when HBT went down.
So, maybe I crashed AWS?

Anyway I just checked and the message isn't in my Sent box so I presume it was lost in the ether.
Sent another just now so check your In box...

Cheers!

 

[CadiBrewer]

V2.0 board done and ordered up. In 4 to 100 short weeks, it should arrive.

 

[Bigdaddyale]

V2.0 board done and ordered up. In 4 to 100 short weeks, it should arrive.

Can you post the link for the eagle files please

 

[CadiBrewer]

Can you post the link for the eagle files please

No problem at all. All three versions can be found here:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0BwakCoACNDsmSWNQeS0xNVBBRFk?usp=sharing

That being said, I'd wait before ordering them until I have a chance to solder one up for testing. I'd hate to have someone waste $25 on a batch of boards and the components only to have them not work. But the files are yours to do with what you will.

 

[Bigdaddyale]

No problem at all. All three versions can be found here:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0BwakCoACNDsmSWNQeS0xNVBBRFk?usp=sharing

That being said, I'd wait before ordering them until I have a chance to solder one up for testing. I'd hate to have someone waste $25 on a batch of boards and the components only to have them not work. But the files are yours to do with what you will.

I know better than to be on the leading than the Bleeding edge of technology. I pulled up the brd in eagle and noticed that there might be an error with the text at the spot the Nano is on the board. Did you go with DirtyPCBs for your boards?

 

[CadiBrewer]

I know better than to be on the leading than the Bleeding edge of technology. I pulled up the brd in eagle and noticed that there might be an error with the text at the spot the Nano is on the board. Did you go with DirtyPCBs for your boards?

Yep, I sent them to DirtyPCBs so I can still change them if need be. What did you find?

 

[day_trippr]

I don't know what he's looking at, but I'm seeing some rats! (unrouted connections).

Pull the board up and change the unrouted connections to something more visible - like that hot pink color - and they'll stand out better.

There's a missing 5V connection to R3-R5, a missing GND connection to the Encoder header, and a missing GND connection to C1 and the LCD header pins and the shift register pin 8.

My apologies for missing it earlier, that goldish color just doesn't show up well enough to spot.

Cheers!

[edit] Also you have the net at J1.1 named "TX" which is also the name of the net from the Arduino to the resistor divider. That's causing an Unconnect rat across both pins of R7 that shouldn't exist, Rename the net at J1.1 to something else.

 

[CadiBrewer]

I don't know what he's looking at, but I'm seeing some rats! (unrouted connections).

Pull the board up and change the unrouted connections to something more visible - like that hot pink color - and they'll stand out better.

There's a missing 5V connection to R3-R5, a missing GND connection to the Encoder header, and a missing GND connection to C1 and the LCD header pins and the shift register pin 8.

My apologies for missing it earlier, that goldish color just doesn't show up well enough to spot.

Cheers!

[edit] Also you have the net at J1.1 named "TX" which is also the name of the net from the Arduino to the resistor divider. That's causing an Unconnect rat across both pins of R7 that shouldn't exist, Rename the net at J1.1 to something else.

Thanks for catching those. Not sure what happened there. I had that stuff all routed. Must have sent you an older version and then stuck with that one. I'll fix those and resubmit the files to the board house. One positive side of using the cheap slow house is that they only send the files out a couple of times per week, so you have a chance to make up for boneheads who shouldn't be doing this stuff in the first place!

 

[day_trippr]

And that may well be the first time I've been happy about a slow turn-around

 

[Bigdaddyale]

The TX is what I was seeing

 

[CadiBrewer]

Nice catches, gentlemen. Here's the link again. The files have been replaced and the job at DirtyPCBs has been updated. I owe you guys a beer.

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0BwakCoACNDsmSWNQeS0xNVBBRFk?usp=sharing

 

[ame]

What software are you using? Doesn't it have LVS (layout versus schematic) to catch this sort of thing?

 

[CadiBrewer]

What software are you using? Doesn't it have LVS (layout versus schematic) to catch this sort of thing?

Yes, yes it does have such feature. But it assumes that the operator is smart enough to listen to what it's telling you.

 

[day_trippr]

What software are you using? Doesn't it have LVS (layout versus schematic) to catch this sort of thing?

It does, and I had run it on an earlier edit with no errors noted.
My bad that I didn't run it on the "final" edit

Cheers!

 

[LBussy]

Sneak peek:

 

[wbarber69]

Nice you got a Thingiverse link?

 

[LBussy]

Nice you got a Thingiverse link?

It's not tested yet ... when it is we'll release it. The new box is printing. I should know whether it's good tomorrow.

 

[LBussy]

It's not tested yet ... when it is we'll release it. The new box is printing. I should know whether it's good tomorrow.

Here's a pic of the latest print.

(For those of you not familiar with 3-D printing and how it can go wrong, suffice it to say I screwed up.)

It's re-printing. I should have a verifiable print tomorrow and then I'll post the .STL files.

 

[day_trippr]

Wow. That looks really, really good!
And I just realized I haven't eaten anything all day

 

[Bigdaddyale]

Wow. That looks really, really good!
And I just realized I haven't eaten anything all day

Needs a couple of meatballs.

 

[wbarber69]

Here's a pic of the latest print.

(For those of you not familiar with 3-D printing and how it can go wrong, suffice it to say I screwed up.)



It's re-printing. I should have a verifiable print tomorrow and then I'll post the .STL files.

Nice, I've made a few just like that before. lol.

 

[Bigdaddyale]

Nice, I've made a few just like that before. lol.

Can you remelt your mistakes and make new filament?

 

[wbarber69]

It's possible, but no where near cost effective

 

[LBussy]

Can you remelt your mistakes and make new filament?

A roll of filament is anywhere from $15 - $45 for a kilo. It takes about 150 grams to print a case so the material cost is low. Time-wise, it's four hours for the lid and 15 for the case. 3D printing is not fast. I looked on 3DHubs and it should cost from $25 on up to have this done.

Printed a good case last night and verified all the boards fit. I'd really like to make sure the switches fit in before releasing the STL.

 

[wbarber69]

If your cad software has the ability to bring in models of physical parts to work with you should be able to test fit the parts into the holes. if you can't find a proper part rendered you can always mock one up…

 

[LBussy]

If your cad software has the ability to bring in models of physical parts to work with you should be able to test fit the parts into the holes. if you can't find a proper part rendered you can always mock one up…

Donnie is doing the modeling and I'm doing the kibitzing and printing. Some of the things don't have models, some don't even have proper measurements. Case in point: I ordered some LED bezels that claimed to need a 7.1mm mounting hole. When I actually had some in hand they were 5.7mm. If I had actually purchased the parts first (and had them in hand) we'd be done by now.

All parts should be in hand by tomorrow. There needs to be one more change (to the LED holes) and then I think we've got it. Donnie is on vacation (lucky guy!) so it will be a few days before that change is made.

 

[ame]

When all you have is a 3D printer, everything looks like it needs to be 3D printed.

How about inserting a 3mm hole in the model (which would accept a 3mm LED without a bezel), and then using hand tools to open up the hole to accept 5mm LEDs or arbitrary-sized bezels/housings? The 3mm hole would be a good pilot hole for larger drill bits.

 

[gromitdj]

How about inserting a 3mm hole in the model (which would accept a 3mm LED without a bezel), and then using hand tools to open up the hole to accept 5mm LEDs or arbitrary-sized bezels/housings? The 3mm hole would be a good pilot hole for larger drill bits.

That's a good idea. I've been so focused on an accurate model, I didn't think about it from that angle.

 

[jbnla]

V1.2 boards are fabbed and on the slow plane from China. V2.0 boards should be sent to the board house tonight.

If you have extras of the 1.2 boards when they arrive please add me to your list.
I'd take 2

Thanks I'm just trying to gather my parts.

 

[CadiBrewer]

If you have extras of the 1.2 boards when they arrive please add me to your list.
I'd take 2

Thanks I'm just trying to gather my parts.

No problem at all. PM me your address. I'm happy to give you two gratis if you don't mind being a tester and soldering them up to make sure they work. I'm not sure how quickly I'll get around to testing one so I'm happy for the help.

 

[wbarber69]

I too have parts ready to go once the new boards are ready

 

[CadiBrewer]

Just an FYI for those that have ordered parts for the V1.2 board, I had an incorrect spec for one of the resistors in the schematic and on the component list. I had R11 spec'd as 470 ohm when it should be 150 ohm. I've updated both the schematic and list. If you use the 470 ohm, it will still work but the LCD won't be quite as bright.

Also, I've added a component list for the V2.0 boards.

Here is the link to the boards.

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0BwakCoACNDsmSWNQeS0xNVBBRFk?usp=sharing

 

[wbarber69]

Blah… I meant that I was ready for 2.0.

 

[seixi]

Am I right if I assume there is no need for diodes in 1.2 because of changing the PFET to transistor?

Thank you

 

[day_trippr]

Correct. Between the transistor base bias and collector resistors the voltage hitting the backlight anode is around 3.4 volts, which is equivalent to what we had with the fet/diodes/resistor implementation...

Cheers!

 

[seixi]

Correct.

Thanks!

 

[day_trippr]

More than welcome! (<excuse to grab #1000 )