HOWTO - Make a BrewPi Fermentation Controller For Cheap

[user 40839]

And as I rarely build just one of anything, I built its twin in parallel, so the filing was doubled.

Speaking of your builds, what Hammond box are you using on yer minions? I'm abandoning the notion of a single contained box, and going with a BT minion version instead. (I need to use 12v for the SS Brewtech pumps and heat pads, so not cramming an enormous 12v 20a internal PSU in a box for this when I can use two 10a wall warts)

 

[bmcgarry]

these are the ones I got, no issues whatsoever

except they're a little short, I should have gone with 2m

buzzbuzz... that's on me

Yeah I should've mentioned length but that's not something I was concerned with as I used cat5 ethernet wire to extend the sensors.

 

[wbarber69]

I've been converting just about all connections I make for low voltage over to rj45. just built a whole 3d printer with the stuff. and it's easy to build a termination for. just get a nice keystone jack or breakout jack and your done.

 

[day_trippr]

Speaking of your builds, what Hammond box are you using on yer minions?[...]

Philmore PB130. Bought locally but you can find them on the web...
http://www.masterelectronics.com/philmore-mfg./pb130.html?p=12176100

Chees!

 

[Thor80]

Hi All,

First time poster here so pls be gentle. I have gone down the path of a DIY Brewpi but having issues with getting it up and running. Is there a good place to go trawling through to trouble shoot 'Script not running'? something for 'dummies' would be a great help!

Cheers

Thor

 

[wbarber69]

Start on page 1 of this thread…

 

[wbarber69]

lol, jk. but yeah the answers you seek are in this thread

 

[day_trippr]

Hi All,
First time poster here so pls be gentle. I have gone down the path of a DIY Brewpi but having issues with getting it up and running. Is there a good place to go trawling through to trouble shoot 'Script not running'? something for 'dummies' would be a great help!

There's a link to a wiki on the first page of this thread with the full installation, you could compare that against what you did.

Beyond that...were you able to successfully configure your temperature probes and actuators? If you got that far that establishes basic connectivity (A Good Thing).

If you weren't able to get that far, dumping the log file might be helpful...

Cheers!

 

[Bigdaddyale]

Hi All,

First time poster here so pls be gentle. I have gone down the path of a DIY Brewpi but having issues with getting it up and running. Is there a good place to go trawling through to trouble shoot 'Script not running'? something for 'dummies' would be a great help!

Cheers

Thor

What type of UNO R3 are you using? Ch340g chipset (Chinese clone)

 

[Mikmonken]

Hi All,

First time poster here so pls be gentle. I have gone down the path of a DIY Brewpi but having issues with getting it up and running. Is there a good place to go trawling through to trouble shoot 'Script not running'? something for 'dummies' would be a great help!

Cheers

Thor

Also script not running (if you're using safari) is a know issues if it's popping out every 5 seconds or so between temps?

 

[tloveland]

Here's my enclosure. I used a cheap PVC housing from Menards.

 

[Thor80]

Hi Guys,

Many thanks for your quick responses. To be fair I really have no idea with linux but being an engineer by profession I am certainly not one to shy away from a problem...

So I was trying a number of things and ended up re-installing from scratch using NOOBS. When I posted earlier this afternoon I had installed from 2015-05-05-raspbian-wheezy. This time around with Jessie everything went well but cant access remotely via putty for some reason as I get an error message. Install of brewpi on RPI was ok and then I tried connecting in the Arduino and now can no-longer access internet. a reboot with just the RPI connected and I have internet. so now I fell like I have taken a step backwards in my install.. nuts!

Oh and as far as reading from page 1.... wow.... now that is an effort!!!! I just figured I wouldnt be the only numpty here bashing their way through this!

Oh and yes I was running safari but then also checked it using edge and same issue. I never got to the point of confiuring anything in the GUI as it wouldnt run the scrip to begin with so I didnt go any further. Happy to provide log file - if I knew how. sorry :-(

I was following the instructions to a tee from page 1 as I have no idea otherwise

I have attached a pic of the Arduino & RPI units if that helps. I figure is a 99% chance its an issue due to me, 0.75% Arduino and the remainder RPI

 

[stlbeer]

So I was trying a number of things and ended up re-installing from scratch using NOOBS. When I posted earlier this afternoon I had installed from 2015-05-05-raspbian-wheezy. This time around with Jessie everything went well but cant access remotely via putty for some reason as I get an error message.

Did you run raspi-config to turn on SSH?
Command: sudo raspi-config

I was following the instructions to a tee from page 1 as I have no idea otherwise

So you followed the instructions here: http://diybrewpi.wikia.com/wiki/DIYBrewPi_Wikia ??

 

[Mikmonken]

Hi Guys,



Many thanks for your quick responses. To be fair I really have no idea with linux but being an engineer by profession I am certainly not one to shy away from a problem...



So I was trying a number of things and ended up re-installing from scratch using NOOBS. When I posted earlier this afternoon I had installed from 2015-05-05-raspbian-wheezy. This time around with Jessie everything went well but cant access remotely via putty for some reason as I get an error message. Install of brewpi on RPI was ok and then I tried connecting in the Arduino and now can no-longer access internet. a reboot with just the RPI connected and I have internet. so now I fell like I have taken a step backwards in my install.. nuts!



Oh and as far as reading from page 1.... wow.... now that is an effort!!!! I just figured I wouldnt be the only numpty here bashing their way through this!



Oh and yes I was running safari but then also checked it using edge and same issue. I never got to the point of confiuring anything in the GUI as it wouldnt run the scrip to begin with so I didnt go any further. Happy to provide log file - if I knew how. sorry :-(



I was following the instructions to a tee from page 1 as I have no idea otherwise



I have attached a pic of the Arduino & RPI units if that helps. I figure is a 99% chance its an issue due to me, 0.75% Arduino and the remainder RPI

Out of interest are you just installing brewpi using the standard setup?

This is clutching at straws somewhat

It might be that you need to downgrade using the legacy

From the brewpi forum

Arduino users
This new release did not fit into an Arduino and it is unlikely we can make it fit in the future. To keep using your Arduino version of BrewPi, and to prevent our update scripts from updating the UI to something that only works with 0.4.0 and later, change your branch to the 'legacy' branch. Run the updater with --ask. It will ask you which branch to check out. Choose 'legacy'.
cd ~/brewpi-tools
sudo python updater.py --ask

Other than that it could be a power only USB cable that you're using connecting the arduino and the RPI.

Those are a couple of easy things you can check at least.

 

[waverz]

I turned off the light this morning. I still get an occasional error in the log about a disconnected temp sensor but they are less frequent. The graph now shows consistent readings even when zoomed in. I'm considering disconnecting the power from the ballast to see if it will help with the log errors.

Well, things were running fairly consistently for a few days but now it's back to being erratic and unstable. I ordered new sensors but may try powering the current sensors with an external 5v supply rather than using the Arduino as a power source.

After, this I have pretty much changed everything except the RPi.

 

[Thor80]

Thanks again for your help. Things have progressed and I am now trying to upload HEX file but none of the links in the go-bys seem to work? anyidea where I can download from?

Thanks in advance.

Thor

 

[Thor80]

Thanks again for your help. Things have progressed and I am now trying to upload HEX file but none of the links in the go-bys seem to work? anyidea where I can download from?

Thanks in advance.

Thor

When I try to go to http://dl.brewpi.com/brewpi-avr/stable. it says the page does not exist yet??

 

[day_trippr]

I'll have to go back through my latest installation notes but I thought brewpi-tools provided a method to download (from wherever it was coded to look) and flash the Arduino hex file.

In any case, if you can't find an alternative, I have placed a copy of what I believe is the latest Arduino hex file (0.2.10) on my Google Drive here.
You should be able to download a copy, then (assuming you have the BrewPi web gui up and running) use the Maintenance Panel - Reprogram Arduino panel to flash your Uno...

Cheers!

 

[Thor80]

When I try to go to http://dl.brewpi.com/brewpi-avr/stable. it says the page does not exist yet??

So have found the HEX file after some digging. A question..

when I run ls /dev/ttyACM* i get the following:
ls: cannot access /dev/ttyACM*: no such file or directory

I have tried different USB cables but no luck?

 

[Thor80]

Thank you!

 

[day_trippr]

Try ttyUSB0

btw, is that a "real" Ardunio Uno R3 with a Atmel Mega16U2 acting as a USB/serial bridge...or is this a Chinese CH34X?
If the latter I believe there's a file edit required to get the host to recognize the CH34X...

Cheers!

 

[Thor80]

Try ttyUSB0

btw, is that a "real" Ardunio Uno R3 with a Atmel Mega16U2 acting as a USB/serial bridge...or is this a Chinese CH34X?
If the latter I believe there's a file edit required to get the host to recognize the CH34X...

Cheers!

Hi day_trippr

thanks for all your help.

Not sure of its origins 100% but has the markings Atmel mega 328P AU 1545

when I try ttyUSB0 (zero not 'o') i get /dev/ttyUSB0
when I use capital 'o' : no such file or directory

 

[Thor80]

I am also having issues with dropping internet connection. sometimes when I reboot i try ping google with no luck but after a number or reboots it works or the alternative is i boot without arduino connected and it pings right away. connect arduino and ping works. hmmmm. plenty of trouble shooting for me here...

 

[Bigdaddyale]

http://diybrewpi.wikia.com/wiki/Setting_Up_Your_RPI#comm-233

 

[wbarber69]

Hi day_trippr



thanks for all your help.



Not sure of its origins 100% but has the markings Atmel mega 328P AU 1545



when I try ttyUSB0 (zero not 'o') i get /dev/ttyUSB0

when I use capital 'o' : no such file or directory

Don't you love it when they post a picture, but like, intentionally miss the part you need to help them diagnose the issue? but given the size and placement of that tiny black sliver of a chip up in right hand side is any indication, it's got a ch340 chip on it… also confirmed as he has a dev entry for USB0.

 

[wbarber69]

I am also having issues with dropping internet connection. sometimes when I reboot i try ping google with no luck but after a number or reboots it works or the alternative is i boot without arduino connected and it pings right away. connect arduino and ping works. hmmmm. plenty of trouble shooting for me here...

Sounds like you don't have enough juice going from the pi to the arduino. either power the arduino separately with a 9 volt power supply, or use a powered USB hub. the reason it's not working when connected at boot is because of the intense power draw. once the system settles you may be able to plug in the arduino with no issue. its like turning on every device in your house and then flipping on the main breaker… if you don't have a big enough service then you're going to have a bad time.

 

[Thor80]

http://diybrewpi.wikia.com/wiki/Setting_Up_Your_RPI#comm-233

Thank you Bigdaddyale

Tried following the link but all i get when I type ls /dev/ttyU* is /dev.ttyUSB0? so no vid or pid numbers?

 

[Thor80]

Don't you love it when they post a picture, but like, intentionally miss the part you need to help them diagnose the issue? but given the size and placement of that tiny black sliver of a chip up in right hand side is any indication, it's got a ch340 chip on it… also confirmed as he has a dev entry for USB0.

hahaha.. thats what happens when working with unskilled labour!!! yes the ch340 chip... thank you.

edit: also now running with 9V battery.

 

[day_trippr]

Don't you love it when they post a picture, but like, intentionally miss the part you need to help them diagnose the issue? [...]

lol! Now now, be cool, clearly unintentional.
I will be sending him a chiropractic bill for the neck craning to figure out what I was looking at, however...

Cheers!

[edit] Wasn't there some file that had to be edited to get the Raspbian USB driver to recognize the CH340/341 bridge chip?

 

[Thor80]

money order sent for chiropractic services!