HOWTO - Make a BrewPi Fermentation Controller For Cheap

[redman67]

I thought my issues were Jessie related so I started over with a fresh format of wheezy
reloaded the pi started the multi install instructions
and I still ran into the same issue, when i get to the config user part i ran

/var/www/chamber1/config_user.php

and get:

/var/www/chamber1/config_user.php: line 1: ?php: No such file or directory
/var/www/chamber1/config_user.php: line 2: //: Is a directory
/var/www/chamber1/config_user.php: line 3: //: Is a directory
/var/www/chamber1/config_user.php: line 4: //: Is a directory
/var/www/chamber1/config_user.php: line 6: //: Is a directory
/var/www/chamber1/config_user.php: line 7: //: Is a directory

so i ran ls /var/www/chamber1

and i see the file in the list

config_user.php favicon.ico

so i ran ls -la /var/www/chamber1

to check the details of the file and they are

-rw-rwxr-- 1 www-data www-data 382 Nov 11 12:47 config_user.php

does anyone know why it wont let me access a file that is clearly there?

thanks again

 

[day_trippr]

Am I correct that you are in this part of my multi-instance installation procedure?

1.3.2. Edit the web interface config files
config_user.php needs to be created in each web interface instance to properly configure them. Here are the config files I’m using.

If so, and you're trying to execute the next line:

1. /var/www/brewpi1/config_user.php

you missed the context: you're editing that file, not executing it.

For tasks such as this I access the RPi using WinSCP from a Windows workstation and from there can launch my favorite text editor.
Hence, I generally don't use explicit edit commands in my notes - I just list the file and what changes need to be made.

So, if you want to use the RPi nano editor from a terminal session, do this instead:

$ sudo nano /var/www/brewpi1/config_user.php

Let me know if that gets you over the hump...

Cheers!

 

[redman67]

OMG I can't believe that I didn't try that the thousand times I tried to do thi seems good now
Thank you so much

 

[day_trippr]

Excellent. Always happy to help where I can...

Cheers!

 

[100amps]

I need some help. My linux courses from 15 years ago have long faded away.

My brewpi system is an arduino uno and laptop running wheezy. It been running generally okay, doing what it's supposed to do. But ice weasel or the brewpi ui hangs for like 15 seconds when i click on buttons or try to refresh the plot. Even clicking on the scroll bar to move the window causes the hang.

This behavior has been getting worse over time and it's pretty bad now. I've shut it all down and restarted the laptop, no change. The stderr log was pretty much empty. I cleared it before rebooting and it's still empty.

Not sure what to check next. The CPU isn't maxing out, there's tons of ram and hd space.

Advice?

..tj

 

[gezzanet]

I'm running a similar system. Just a couple of posts ago there is an issue where the op had a brew running for a long time and therefore makes the browser have to bring back a lot of data which slows it down considerably. I changed mine some time ago to log every 2 min rather than the default 30 sec. I find this is plenty enough. I use 30 sec to log mash temp with brewpi.

 

[100amps]

That might be it. My last fermentation lasted 7 weeks. I don't recall if I changed the default logging period. Is there a way to delete that data?

 

[wbarber69]

Once again go back a couple posts to find the answer

 

[thekraken]

That might be it. My last fermentation lasted 7 weeks. I don't recall if I changed the default logging period. Is there a way to delete that data?

You don't *have* to delete the data, what I do is after a few days I simply turn logging off or start a new brew session.

The problem isn't just that there is a lot of data, it's that it is processed on the user side (web browser) instead of server side (brewpi). The brewpi server only sends the data for that logging session to your browser and the javascript on your computer/phone/device has to process it and render an interactive graph, if you've collected a lot of data in that session than it will lock up your browser until the browser has a chance to process it. This is especially frustrating on slow phones/tablets. So just starting a new brew session will fix it (until that data grows too large), you don't actually have to delete anything.

 

[100amps]

Got it. Thanks all.

Couple posts = 9 pages. lol.

 

[redman67]

never mind

 

[wbarber69]

Got it. Thanks all.

Couple posts = 9 pages. lol.

Because the last nine pages is full of guys just like you kitting the same walls

 

[100amps]

I don't know what "kitting the same walls" means, but I take it you don't approve of something I did or said.

Guys like me? Really?

Please explain this. I came, I asked a reasonable on-topic question, got a couple reasonable answers. And it sounds like I also got trolled. Why?

 

[redman67]

Thanks to many here I finally got this thing programmed. Only took me 10 weeks
Now on to the actual build, the bread board doesn't look like the best application for a permanent install
Would anyone care to share what they are using for their builds?

 

[danielcook]

I don't know what "kitting the same walls" means, but I take it you don't approve of something I did or said.

Pretty sure what he meant was "hitting the same walls". In other words not trolling, just mentioning that some of the problems are common among many people.

 

[day_trippr]

[...]Now on to the actual build, the bread board doesn't look like the best application for a permanent install
Would anyone care to share what they are using for their builds?

I use an Arduino proto-shield atop my Uno R3 boards...



Cheers!

 

[wbarber69]

Thanks to many here I finally got this thing programmed. Only took me 10 weeks
Now on to the actual build, the bread board doesn't look like the best application for a permanent install
Would anyone care to share what they are using for their builds?

Personally, dive done the breadboard, proto-board and even tried my hand at etching my own boards. each time some new awesome mod or hack was brought to the community and I started over from scratch. ive recently found a eBay seller that had nearly every component of the build in easy to use jumper modules. each with their own mounting holes. I have a few more design modifications and I'll be using these predominantly in my builds. I'll just jumper wire each module together. I've got a 3d printer, so I'm in the process of modeling my own custom parts. the soldering got too tedious and a lot of work to toss to the side if/when you change your mind. ive seen some sick builds out there that still incorporate the breadboard and I've seen some with permanent soldered solutions. there was even one on the old brewpi forum that had a custom duino-board all-in-one. its it's really about what skill level you're comfortable with.

 

[thekraken]

Would anyone care to share what they are using for their builds?

I used perf board and made a shield for the raspberry pi that fits on the gpio, this shield holds the compents and an arduino pro mini to make a nice compact package. (also, directly wired to gpio rx/tx pins so no mucking around with usb cables)

 

[100amps]

Pretty sure what he meant was "hitting the same walls". In other words not trolling, just mentioning that some of the problems are common among many people.

Thanks for straightening me out on that. Faith in fellow brewers is restored and the planet may resume its regularly scheduled orbit.

 

[redman67]

Personally, dive done the breadboard, proto-board and even tried my hand at etching my own boards. each time some new awesome mod or hack was brought to the community and I started over from scratch. ive recently found a eBay seller that had nearly every component of the build in easy to use jumper modules. each with their own mounting holes. I have a few more design modifications and I'll be using these predominantly in my builds. I'll just jumper wire each module together. I've got a 3d printer, so I'm in the process of modeling my own custom parts. the soldering got too tedious and a lot of work to toss to the side if/when you change your mind. ive seen some sick builds out there that still incorporate the breadboard and I've seen some with permanent soldered solutions. there was even one on the old brewpi forum that had a custom duino-board all-in-one. its it's really about what skill level you're comfortable with.

I can see your point, I've never soldered anything other than pipe and I'm not known for my finesse, more for my hamhandedness so this solution speaks to me
Do you have a link handy for the seller by chance?

 

[FuzzeWuzze]

I can see your point, I've never soldered anything other than pipe and I'm not known for my finesse, more for my hamhandedness so this solution speaks to me
Do you have a link handy for the seller by chance?

Unless your doing some of the mods to get the LCD working or the like, the default build requires no soldering or finesse or extra breadboards... Using the terminal block like 100Amps circuit image has solves how to connect the resistor without soldering..other than that its just a few electrical twist caps and small jumper wires.

 

[wbarber69]

I can see your point, I've never soldered anything other than pipe and I'm not known for my finesse, more for my hamhandedness so this solution speaks to me

Do you have a link handy for the seller by chance?

The seller is alice1101983

 

[Bigdaddyale]

The seller is alice1101983

could you please provide a parts list?

 

[day_trippr]

Unless your doing some of the mods to get the LCD working or the like, the default build requires no soldering or finesse or extra breadboards... [...]

Yeah, my first thought when I read his post was "What bread board?"

Then I thought maybe he had seen some of the related threads and was looking forward...

Cheers!

 

[wbarber69]

could you please provide a parts list?

That depends on what you're building

 

[redman67]

Then I thought maybe he had seen some of the related threads and was looking forward...

Cheers!

Yep I'm sure once I have this set up I will feel the need to make it bigger and better, and was wondering what if anything would make sense to do now, to make that process easier

 

[wbarber69]

Bluetooth is fun, lcd is a headache. just not at first. see you'll get your breadboard up and running and the lcd will be humming along nicely giving you no problems. then when wire up your perfboard/pcb it magically starts screwing up and you'll be here like "everytime it kicks on the display goes crazy.". And day_tripper will be all like, "all mine work great!" and and then somebody else will suggest you put some random cap somewhere. that'll work for a day or so, then you'll be back saying how it's gotten worse for some reason. etc. etc. and then there'll be 3 or 4 more pages of you desperately trying to get it to work before rage quitting. then a few days or weeks will go by and someone else will come in saying how they can't wait to get started building their own, and the circle continues. or you'll have no problems at all and we'll get to see some pretty sweet pics of your new setup. it could go either way really.

 

[redman67]

No, for me it WILL go just like that
Maybe I'll quit while I'm ahead

 

[Mikmonken]

Bluetooth is fun, lcd is a headache. just not at first. see you'll get your breadboard up and running and the lcd will be humming along nicely giving you no problems. then when wire up your breadboard/pcb it magically starts screwing up and you'll be here like "everytime it kicks on the display goes crazy.". And day_tripper will be all like, "all mine work great!" and and then somebody else will suggest you put some random cap somewhere. that'll work for a day or so, then you'll be back saying how it's gotten worse for some reason. etc. etc. and then there'll be 3 or 4 more pages of you desperately trying to get it to work before rage quitting. then a few days or weeks will go by and someone else will come in saying how they can't wait to get started building their own, and the circle continues. or you'll have no problems at all and we'll get to see some pretty sweet pics of your new setup. it could go either way really.

Then you switch to SSRs instead of the relay and it'll work a treat with no interference...

 

[redman67]

I was doing some messing around with my dual setup last night
I spliced in a 30 foot piece of cat 5 cable between the Arduinos and relay board and to my surprise it worked fine still, I was expecting that distance to cause enough loss in the 5 volt to render it unusable

So my idea is to have a separate project box with the outlets, relay board and 120v feed, remote from the control panel near the side by side and chest freezer with the cat 5 running to the control panel that would house the pi, the arduinos and the usb hub

Anyone see a reason that won't work

 

[all_about_stouts]

I haven't looked at this thread in a long time, but I'm glad to see it's still active.

I once had my brewpi setup working with an old netbook, but I want to buy a raspberry pi now to set it up a little nicer.

Why is the model 2 version linked in the first post? Does this system need the quad core and 1Gb of ram?

Could I used the RPi B+ instead? I probably won't ever use the raspberry pi for anything besides brewpi. Does brewpi require the model 2? Thanks.

 

[wbarber69]

I was doing some messing around with my dual setup last night
I spliced in a 30 foot piece of cat 5 cable between the Arduinos and relay board and to my surprise it worked fine still, I was expecting that distance to cause enough loss in the 5 volt to render it unusable

So my idea is to have a separate project box with the outlets, relay board and 120v feed, remote from the control panel near the side by side and chest freezer with the cat 5 running to the control panel that would house the pi, the arduinos and the usb hub

Anyone see a reason that won't work

Em interference

 

[wbarber69]

The model 2 is exactly the same price

 

[day_trippr]

You can use any model RaspberryPi - A, B, B+, or Model 2.

But if you don't have any of those laying around or available for free, I wholeheartedly recommend the Model 2.
For little or no premium over a B+ (the previous latest version) and about $10 over a B, you get a FAR faster machine with greater IO connectivity...

Cheers!

 

[FuzzeWuzze]

I was doing some messing around with my dual setup last night
I spliced in a 30 foot piece of cat 5 cable between the Arduinos and relay board and to my surprise it worked fine still, I was expecting that distance to cause enough loss in the 5 volt to render it unusable

So my idea is to have a separate project box with the outlets, relay board and 120v feed, remote from the control panel near the side by side and chest freezer with the cat 5 running to the control panel that would house the pi, the arduinos and the usb hub

Anyone see a reason that won't work

FWIW, 10Mb Ethernet is 5V Peak->Peak and can travel well over 100 meters....granted theres some magic at the receiving end to understand such a distorted signal, but i bet you could go well beyond 30 ft without much issue. Twisted pair cable is great.

 

[day_trippr]

In this application, bandwidth is hardly a concern
All that's needed is to carry enough sink current to light up the emitter side of an optocoupler, so maybe a couple of milliamps.
Even CAT cable can manage that over fairly prodigious distances...

Cheers!

 

[craigmw]

I was doing some messing around with my dual setup last night
I spliced in a 30 foot piece of cat 5 cable between the Arduinos and relay board and to my surprise it worked fine still, I was expecting that distance to cause enough loss in the 5 volt to render it unusable

So my idea is to have a separate project box with the outlets, relay board and 120v feed, remote from the control panel near the side by side and chest freezer with the cat 5 running to the control panel that would house the pi, the arduinos and the usb hub

Anyone see a reason that won't work

Long distances across resistive cable can cause issues with serial communications, but if you are controlling relays with on/off signals, I see no problem. I think this should work fine.

 

[GrogNerd]

doing my final testing, pretty smooth sailing so far **knocks wood**

just a few more wires to solder on panel mounts and then make it all look pretty.

after weeks of testing, I was all set to go into production, then I happened to come into possession of a newer refrigerator. I was going to use the newer one to be my drinking fridge, while I use the old one to ferment. well, the configuration of the shelving in the newer fridge isn't conducive to holding as many 12 oz bottles as the old one and it's too wide to get it thru the doorway to the lab, so it will have to sit outside the lab.

but that's kind of a good thing, because that's right next to the laptop running Wheezy, so I'm going to use it for my fermentation fridge, keep the old one holding ready-to-drink beer.

so, after all that testing on the old fridge, would I have to do anything to reset the PID to learn the new fridge? the new fridge is working great and all, but if you notice in the attached pic, the cider is bouncing + & - a near full degree each way. thought this setup would be tighter than that.

 

[FuzzeWuzze]

doing my final testing, pretty smooth sailing so far **knocks wood**

just a few more wires to solder on panel mounts and then make it all look pretty.

after weeks of testing, I was all set to go into production, then I happened to come into possession of a newer refrigerator. I was going to use the newer one to be my drinking fridge, while I use the old one to ferment. well, the configuration of the shelving in the newer fridge isn't conducive to holding as many 12 oz bottles as the old one and it's too wide to get it thru the doorway to the lab, so it will have to sit outside the lab.

but that's kind of a good thing, because that's right next to the laptop running Wheezy, so I'm going to use it for my fermentation fridge, keep the old one holding ready-to-drink beer.

so, after all that testing on the old fridge, would I have to do anything to reset the PID to learn the new fridge? the new fridge is working great and all, but if you notice in the attached pic, the cider is bouncing + & - a near full degree each way. thought this setup would be tighter than that.

View attachment 317683

Something seems wrong with that graph. Why is it showing your room temperature in the LCD in the top left? It should be beer and fridge...

Why is your fridge temperature continuously going down even though the fridge is barely ever coming on? Your fridge temp should be spiking up and down as the fridge starts and turns off. I suspect somehow you have the wrong probes in the wrong place, or setup wrong in your config.

 

[day_trippr]

Good pick-up, Fuzze. The Fridge and Beer channels are definitely swapped.
Kinda fun to look at though

I think it would be a good idea to set everything to their defaults when moving a PID controller to a new environment...

Cheers!