HOWTO - Make a BrewPi Fermentation Controller For Cheap

[day_trippr]

Hahaha! You're gonna fit in this asylum just fine

So Bigdaddyale got it - it's not Raspbian that needs the nudge, it's BrewPi.
Follow the link he posted, but the short of it is, execute this command:

o ls /dev/ttyU* (we already know this particular clone sits at /dev/ttyUSB0)

o record the vid and pid values,

o edit /home/brewpi/autoSerial.py

o add an entry similar to the others with the actual vid and pid values prefixed with 0x, as the example below:

{'vid': 0x1a86, 'pid': 0x7523, 'name': "Uno-Clone"}

o save the file, start up BrewPi and see what happens...

Cheers!

 

[Thor80]

Hahaha! You're gonna fit in this asylum just fine

So Bigdaddyale got it - it's not Raspbian that needs the nudge, it's BrewPi.
Follow the link he posted, but the short of it is, execute this command:

o ls /dev/ttyU* (we already know this particular clone sits at /dev/ttyUSB0)

o record the vid and pid values,

o edit /home/brewpi/autoSerial.py

o add an entry similar to the others with the actual vid and pid values prefixed with 0x, as the example below:

{'vid': 0x1a86, 'pid': 0x7523, 'name': "Uno-Clone"}

o save the file, start up BrewPi and see what happens...

Cheers!

So.... makes sense to me but when i try run ls /dev/ttyU* i dont get any values. Just says USB0

 

[day_trippr]

Ah, ok, that was noted immediately following the linked entry, to wit:

- if you have installed the Arduino IDE on something you can plug the Uno clone into, launch the Arduino IDE, point it to the port your Uno is plugged into, and then use Tools -> Get board info.

Cheers!

 

[Thor80]

Ah, ok, that was noted immediately following the linked entry, to wit:

- if you have installed the Arduino IDE on something you can plug the Uno clone into, launch the Arduino IDE, point it to the port your Uno is plugged into, and then use Tools -> Get board info.

Cheers!

Thank you once again for your help.

Will have to look into what you have said when i get home and decipher arduino ide has me scratching my head at present. But as i said, will try when i get home.

Ta!

 

[Bigdaddyale]

I have to search the back posts but I went thru this with my Chinese clone. The answer is in one of the back posts.It was an easy fix.

 

[Bigdaddyale]

The answer is is here in these posts
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showpost.php?p=7479542&postcount=5038
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showpost.php?p=7479621&postcount=5041
and here
http://brewpi.readthedocs.io/en/latest/after-install/program-arduino.html

 

[Thor80]

Thank you to all who have helped me. Finally got Brewpi up and running. Waiting on my sensors to arrive so that will be the next hurdle but in the mean time I think I will work on a housing and finish off the extension to the bar fridge to fit in my fermenter. Seriously cant wait to be brewing at correct temps... gets up over 40 deg inside my garage during summer warm days.

Oh I tried to get BrewPi working with AM2302 sensor in the mean time but no deal... Will wait till I have the correct ones and then let the trouble shooting start again.

Thanks again all for your assistance and patience with a noob

 

[wbarber69]

Fwiw I don't remember ever having to edit anything to get ch340 chips to work, but that was back in the hay day or wheezy. and I only ever had 1 genuine arduino. now remember when the fake ftdi chips made the rounds?… pepperidge farms remembers…

 

[waverz]

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.

I think I've finally fixed my issue. I connected the sensors to their own dedicated 5V power instead of using the arduino's 5V and haven't had a single error in my log for over an hour.

I could be speaking too soon but I hope this fixes my never ending temperature sensor issues.

I am wondering if the cheap little breadboard "jumper wires" I was using just weren't able to handle the amount of current it takes to power all 3 sensors.

 

[Bigdaddyale]

Thank you to all who have helped me. Finally got Brewpi up and running. Waiting on my sensors to arrive so that will be the next hurdle but in the mean time I think I will work on a housing and finish off the extension to the bar fridge to fit in my fermenter. Seriously cant wait to be brewing at correct temps... gets up over 40 deg inside my garage during summer warm days.

Oh I tried to get BrewPi working with AM2302 sensor in the mean time but no deal... Will wait till I have the correct ones and then let the trouble shooting start again.

Thanks again all for your assistance and patience with a noob

Which link helped you the most? I will bookmark it and have it handy for the next guy that has this problem.

 

[Thor80]

Which link helped you the most? I will bookmark it and have it handy for the next guy that has this problem.

Hi Bigdaddyale

all of them helped me but in the end it was day_trippr regarding the flashing of arduino with the hex file by directly connecting to PC.

cheers to all.

 

[shtank]

My relays will not turn on... Please Help
I just got my brewpi up and running and after hours searching and checking wires I can say (with confidence) everything is wired properly. I don't have any lights on the sainsmart relay board no popping of relays...nothing. Any ideas?

 

[gromitdj]

My relays will not turn on... Please Help
I just got my brewpi up and running and after hours searching and checking wires I can say (with confidence) everything is wired properly. I don't have any lights on the sainsmart relay board no popping of relays...nothing. Any ideas?

How about a picture? Did you wire the relays to the NC or NO terminals? Do you have them assigned properly? I'm afraid we are going to need more information.

 

[shtank]

Not sure what you mean by the NC or NO

 

[shtank]

device config

 

[gromitdj]

Why do you have 2 Cooling Devices and 2 Heating Devices? I would start by removing the ones on pins 4 and A4. It appears you have them wired to the NO (Normally Open) contacts, so that is correct. Other than that, I'm not seeing any glaring issues. Someone with a keener than I will (hopefully) come along, but I'll keep looking.

Do you have a way to check your wiring (Multimeter)?

 

[shtank]

Why do you have 2 Cooling Devices and 2 Heating Devices? I would start by removing the ones on pins 4 and A4. It appears you have them wired to the NO (Normally Open) contacts, so that is correct. Other than that, I'm not seeing any glaring issues. Someone with a keener than I will (hopefully) come along, but I'll keep looking.

Do you have a way to check your wiring (Multimeter)?

I will test it tomorrow with a multimeter. And switch those configurations. Thanks for taking a look at it.

 

[gromitdj]

Why don't you have a fridge temp sensor? With the Legacy software (Arduino) I think you have to have the Beer and Fridge sensors at a minimum. The room sensor doesn't do anything useful to the software. Maybe you just didn't include it in your screenshots.

I'm just spit-balling here....

Your connection from 5V on the arduino to the contact block doesn't look all that secure. Is it?

 

[wbarber69]

Also that green wore looks to be hanging on by a thread under that screw terminal. your screen says its been idle for 49 minutes… has it ever tried to kick on the heating or cooling? im guessing no, since you don't have a fridge sensor and that's kind of the whole point of brewpi, to control the fridge temp…

 

[gromitdj]

Also that green wore looks to be hanging on by a thread under that screw terminal…

That's the one I'm referring to, as well.

 

[day_trippr]

Good work by the team
Without a chamber sensor no actuators will turn on...

Cheers!

 

[shtank]

The wires are definitely tight.

Can I just change the room temp sensor to fridge?

 

[gromitdj]

Yes, you can just re-assign it as the fridge sensor.

 

[shtank]

Good work by the team
Without a chamber sensor no actuators will turn on...

Cheers!

I switched room sensor to chamber temp and plugged fans into both outlets with no results

 

[wbarber69]

Try inverting

 

[shtank]

Try inverting

I believe it already was inverted, but I'll double check when I get home.

 

[wbarber69]

Then un-invert it…

 

[user 40839]

Try inverting

Then un-invert it…

Hit it with a hammer?

 

[wbarber69]

Also can you confirm that it's getting power? dupont wires can sometimes be deceiving

 

[wbarber69]

I did have a nano once that wouldn't initialize properly after a fw flash until I manually inverted the states of the pins from webui. once I ran it through a couple times to make sure it was working it worked fine, until i reflashed it again.