HOWTO - Make a BrewPi Fermentation Controller For Cheap

[gromitdj]

Symptoms: Iceweasel just crashes halfway through loading the Brewpi page. Some elements show up, then it chokes and I have to kill the browser's process to regain control.

Can you access BrewPi from another computer's browser on the same network? How long has it been logging data? It sounds like it could be an issue with your graph data being too large.

ETA: I run 3 instances of BrewPi on a Toshiba laptop from circa 2004, and it does very well. That is part of the reason I am assuming it is the log data. I never use the local machines browser to view the interface, always remotely.

 

[100amps]

Can you access BrewPi from another computer's browser on the same network? How long has it been logging data? It sounds like it could be an issue with your graph data being too large.

Good question, gromitdj. I only access from the laptop which sits on top of my fermenter mini-freezer. I'll check that out and get back to you.

How would I get rid of some data? Toss some the JSON files? Or would that just confuse Brewpi?

--100amps

 

[100amps]

Okay. Yes, I can access the Brewpi from a different computer.
And I went ahead and removed most of the fermentation data folders. Some of them, particularly the latest one, was quite large. It had been logging for 6+ months, polling every 30 seconds. So the interface loads fine locally and across the LAN now.

Unfortunately a lot of things aren't working. Script won't start, Fermenting: link dialogs don't work. Maintenance panel Logs show STDERR, but nothing in STDOUT.

STDERR repeats this:
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/home/brewpi/brewpi.py", line 21, in
from BrewPiUtil import printStdErr
File "/home/brewpi/BrewPiUtil.py", line 22, in
import autoSerial
File "/home/brewpi/autoSerial.py", line 6, in
from serial.tools import list_ports
ImportError: No module named tools

which doesn't mean much to me, other than the Python scripts are mentioned.

The Previous Beers screen all works fine. Graphs appear for the couple data sets I did keep.

Device config menu just shows an error msg:
Error while receiving device configuration: SyntaxError: JSON.parse: unexpected character at line 1 column 1 of the JSON data

Not sure which JSON file that's talking about. Crappy error messages (as always).

I hope it's just permissions issues, but I'm a bit lost on how to confirm things are correct. I went through the install.docs from the BrewPi website, and it looks like the correct users and groups exist. Not sure if all the programs and their directories are configured properly. I ran the fixPermissions.sh script and it didn't help.

Ideas?

 

[MBasile]

Pull up a month-log BrewPi log on your fastest and slowest RPi's.
Or, open up the Pour table inside a three-year-long RaspberryPints database.

As for network throughput, afaik every RPi IO device talks through the same internal USB2 port on the SOC.
Not exactly a fat pipe...

Cheers!

I just got, and swapped in a RPi Zero W, and it does just fine at pulling up a month-long brew (which happens to be the longest I have saved). By "fine" I mean that it takes 2-3 seconds to load up the chart. I'm not sure if it the built in wifi is better than the dongle I had on the RPi2, and maybe that is making up for the processing difference.

Now, once I get my new power supply and weatherproof connectors for the sensors I can finish my new improved and cleaner setup. Oh, and when I get a new freezer, because I missed locating one of the coils and punctured it the other day.

 

[100amps]

Okay, making some progress.

I discovered STDERR.txt was 135MB and not functioning. Cleared that and got some nice helpful (and current) error messages.

It turns out I somehow updated my Scripts with scripts for the latest BrewPi. The log even told me how to reload the older scripts.

run: sudo ~/brewpi-tools/updater.py --ask , and choose the legacy branch.

Of course that failed (and there was no option to select a legacy branch or anything else.):

error: Your local changes to the following files would be overwritten by merge:
install.sh
Please, commit your changes or stash them before you can merge.
Aborting

An error occurred during git pull. Please update /home/brewpi/brewpi-tools manually.
You can stash your local changes and then pull: cd /home/brewpi/brewpi-tools; sudo git stash; sudo git pull

The update script was not up-to-date, but it should have been updated. Please re-run updater.py.

I have no idea what "stash my local changes" means, or how to update the brewp-tools manually. Is this git lingo? I'm not conversant in git.

Still chipping away at this... So, uhh, how do I reinstall the older scripts?

--100amps

 

[Thorrak]

Okay, making some progress.

I discovered STDERR.txt was 135MB and not functioning. Cleared that and got some nice helpful (and current) error messages.

It turns out I somehow updated my Scripts with scripts for the latest BrewPi. The log even told me how to reload the older scripts.

run: sudo ~/brewpi-tools/updater.py --ask , and choose the legacy branch.

Of course that failed (and there was no option to select a legacy branch or anything else.):

error: Your local changes to the following files would be overwritten by merge:
install.sh
Please, commit your changes or stash them before you can merge.
Aborting

An error occurred during git pull. Please update /home/brewpi/brewpi-tools manually.
You can stash your local changes and then pull: cd /home/brewpi/brewpi-tools; sudo git stash; sudo git pull

The update script was not up-to-date, but it should have been updated. Please re-run updater.py.

I have no idea what "stash my local changes" means, or how to update the brewp-tools manually. Is this git lingo? I'm not conversant in git.

Still chipping away at this... So, uhh, how do I reinstall the older scripts?

--100amps

Updating to the latest copy of brewpi script shouldn't have any meaningful impact, tbqh. The changes that were made were pretty much all incremental as I recall. From your earlier trace you posted, I think your issue may be the version of pyserial you're using. Try running

sudo pip install pyserial --upgrade

and see if that fixes it.

As far as the git thing is concerned, try going to your brewpi-script directory and try running

git reset --hard

. That should revert any changes that it wants you to "stash" iirc.

 

[100amps]

Updating to the latest copy of brewpi script shouldn't have any meaningful impact, tbqh. The changes that were made were pretty much all incremental as I recall. From your earlier trace you posted, I think your issue may be the version of pyserial you're using. Try running

sudo pip install pyserial --upgrade

and see if that fixes it.

Nope. Turns out that earlier trace was from ages ago, the log was hung. However...

As far as the git thing is concerned, try going to your brewpi-script directory and try running

git reset --hard

. That should revert any changes that it wants you to "stash" iirc.

This resolved the update script (stash) error, and permitted me to update everything, including Arduino firmware to an update that I didn't even know existed. So, as it turns out Thorrak, everything is working perfectly now. Better than it has ever run.

Thank you, thank you, thank you. :rockin:

(I never get tired of that banana.)

--100amps

 

[gromitdj]

Glad you got it working. I stayed quiet since I knew you were in better hands with @Thorrak

 

[LBussy]

Deleted

 

[100amps]

A couple questions, now that I'm back in business.

1. Are the 1wire device addresses burned into the DS18B20 devices, or are they assigned ad-hoc by the Arduino/1wire system?

2. Is there an active fork of Brewpi (Arduino) that's running on Windows?

cheers,

--100amps

 

[Thorrak]

1. Are the 1wire device addresses burned into the DS18B20 devices, or are they assigned ad-hoc by the Arduino/1wire system?

They're associated with the DS18B20 chip - not the Arduino (or the computer running BrewPi-www).

2. Is there an active fork of Brewpi (Arduino) that's running on Windows?

Hmm - Not sure what you'd want in this case. You say BrewPi Arduino, which makes me think the firmware as opposed to the website. In that case, there is @ame 's Fuscus project which technically would run on Windows -- but given that most devices running Windows don't have GPIO ports for connecting relays/temperature sensors, I'm not entirely sure that's what you're looking for.

If you're looking for something that runs the BrewPi-www software (what the Arduino-based firmware connects to) then BrewPi-www itself should technically run (as would my Fermentrack project). In both cases, however, you'd need to manually install some kind of webserver as well as the BrewPi-www/Fermentrack software.

 

[100amps]

Hmm - Not sure what you'd want in this case. You say BrewPi Arduino....

I just meant not the Brewpi Spark system.

So, apache, php, python, and the Brewpi files running on a Windows system rather than linux.

I'll check out your project. Sounds interesting.

--100amps

 

[LBussy]

So, apache, php, python, and the Brewpi files running on a Windows system rather than linux.

I've made it run:

http://www.silverfoxcrafts.com/2016/10/brewpi-on-windows-under-wamp/

I don't have a currently running Windows system, but I think I documented it pretty well last time.

 

[100amps]

I've made it run:

http://www.silverfoxcrafts.com/2016/10/brewpi-on-windows-under-wamp/

I don't have a currently running Windows system, but I think I documented it pretty well last time.

Cool. Thanks for the link.

 

[thestraw0039]

Any of you guys using the SS Brewtech Brew Buckets? I am considering getting one and trying to figure out if the on with the thermowell is worth it figuring I have a thermowell and would be using brewpi. I realize I'd have to drill a hole for it but I know its been done.

@Thorrak How much of a pain would it be for me to install Fermentrack? I am currently running brewpi on my Ubuntu 16.04 server, so I had to do some hacking to get brewpi installed, I didn't like the permission changes that the install script was running. I figure I'd have to do the same thing with your work but would love to check it out.

 

[Thorrak]

@Thorrak How much of a pain would it be for me to install Fermentrack? I am currently running brewpi on my Ubuntu 16.04 server, so I had to do some hacking to get brewpi installed, I didn't like the permission changes that the install script was running. I figure I'd have to do the same thing with your work but would love to check it out.

Shouldn't be much of one at all, but I'm guessing you'd want to install it manually from what you're describing. The tools to install fermentrack are located here but you'll probably be most interested in reading through install.sh to see what it does sudo'ed. There shouldn't be any permanent permission changes if memory serves - if I'm wrong about that, let me know.

If you run into any issues or have questions, for the time being the thread being used for Fermentrack-related discussion is this one. Feel free to post over there or send me a PM on the forum and I'm happy to help.

 

[Anticlimaddox]

Hello, was hoping for a little help troubleshooting my brewpi. I set mine up exactly as Fuzze specs out on the first post (man this thread has gotten long since then) - I think it was at around 200 when I built mine. Anyway - my brewpi was functioning flawlessly, then I moved. It was in storage for 8 months. Now I'm all set back up, plug it all in and nothing on the monitor. The RaspPi does nothing. I get green and red solid lights but no flicker and no boot up sequence like I used to.

My question is - what do you think the order of things would be to troubleshoot this? I can get a miniSDcard adapter to check the card, but what would I be looking for? How could I check to see if the RaspPi is bad? I did check the monitor and it works fine, unplugged everything from the device to see if it would flicker a little and boot when powered back up, nothing. Just sits there. Thoughts?

Thanks // Brian

 

[gromitdj]

...my brewpi was functioning flawlessly, then I moved. It was in storage for 8 months. Now I'm all set back up, plug it all in and nothing on the monitor. The RaspPi does nothing. I get green and red solid lights but no flicker and no boot up sequence like I used to....

Sounds like it's not reading the operating system on SD card. How did you go about powering down the Raspberry Pi?

Did you make a backup of the SD card?

 

[Anticlimaddox]

Yeah, that was my hunch. Looking for a backup of the SD card, but most likely its gone after 3+ years. By powering down - do you mean when it worked? (sudo shutdown) or my attempts recently to get it up and running? - pulled power.

 

[gromitdj]

Initially. It sounds to me like you may have a corrupted SD card. As you know pulling the power is not a good idea.

If you have a spare SD card you can try a fresh install of Raspbian to see if it's a card or board issue.

I have a Raspberry Pi B+ that won't boot up and I'm about to toss it and get a Pi 3. I only get solid red/green LED's and I'm not sure what the issue is.

 

[Anticlimaddox]

Same. Mine is the B+ and solid red/green only. I'll probably build an STC controller for now so I can get brewing and revisit this when time and patience allow. Sounds like it will only be fixed by replacing vital parts and using profanity. Will try the SD card first though, thanks for the advice. Cheers.

 

[wbarber69]

Initially. It sounds to me like you may have a corrupted SD card. As you know pulling the power is not a good idea.

If you have a spare SD card you can try a fresh install of Raspbian to see if it's a card or board issue.

I have a Raspberry Pi B+ that won't boot up and I'm about to toss it and get a Pi 3. I only get solid red/green LED's and I'm not sure what the issue is.

Always check the power supply first.

 

[Anticlimaddox]

Always check the power supply first.

Doesn't getting solid lights on the Pi indicate it's getting power or do you mean something else? thx.

I just ordered a new card adapter and microSD. Will check out my current SD card and if needed install fresh and see how it goes.

 

[stlbeer]

Same. Mine is the B+ and solid red/green only. I'll probably build an STC controller for now so I can get brewing and revisit this when time and patience allow. Sounds like it will only be fixed by replacing vital parts and using profanity. Will try the SD card first though, thanks for the advice. Cheers.

Check this link: https://raspberrypi.stackexchange.com/questions/24664/what-do-the-leds-on-the-b-mean

Red PWR LED

on if power OK
flashes (or goes out) if the power drops below about 4.63V

Green ACT LED

steady on if no SD card during boot

irregular flashes for SD card access

 

[Bigdaddyale]

http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-Repair-a-Broken-Raspberry-Pi-SD-Card-Slot/

 

[Anticlimaddox]

Thanks for the links. Will try to decipher the issue this weekend.

 

[gromitdj]

Always check the power supply first.

While I suppose it doesn't eliminate the Power Supply as the culprit, it's the same power supply I've been using for a couple of years prior to it crapping out. Also, everything I've read says that the solid red PWR LED indicates adequate power. It's the solid green ACT LED that indicates an SD read failure. (Which is why I suggested the same for @Anticlimaddox)

Since I've tried formatting and using multiple cards that have worked in a Pi zero (with said Power Supply), I'm leaning towards a hardware issue.

@Bigdaddyale posted a helpful link, but mine is a B+ (MicroSD) so I'm not sure if its the same process. I thought they fixed the sloppy SD mount on the B+.

 

[wbarber69]

Getting power doesn't mean you have sufficient power... I just bought a pi zerow from canakit… with the full kit. it comes with a 1a power supply. which is plenty of power for a zero. guess what happened when I plugged in my 3d printer while the wifi was active…. So now it's on a 2.5a psu. guess what? my lights lighted up and everything… last year my router went out… nope it was the power supply…. That new 8tb USB3 hdd I bought over Christmas but just opened 2 weeks ago and it didn't power on… bad power supply…. The HD-pvr I've had running for 6 years straight no issues that just stopped recording last month… take a guess what fixed it?

 

[Anticlimaddox]

As an update - I'm back up and running. Was a bad microSD card. I bought an adapter to reinstall and a new 16gb card as a backup (both were only $10). Installed clean and so far so good. Thanks to all that chimed in with suggestions. Much appreciated.

 

[gromitdj]

Getting power doesn't mean you have sufficient power... I just bought a pi zerow from canakit… with the full kit. it comes with a 1a power supply. which is plenty of power for a zero. guess what happened when I plugged in my 3d printer while the wifi was active…. So now it's on a 2.5a psu. guess what? my lights lighted up and everything… last year my router went out… nope it was the power supply…. That new 8tb USB3 hdd I bought over Christmas but just opened 2 weeks ago and it didn't power on… bad power supply…. The HD-pvr I've had running for 6 years straight no issues that just stopped recording last month… take a guess what fixed it?

@wbarber69

I would love to come back on here and tell you "I told you so", but I can't. I reluctantly plugged the pi into my computer (figuring it would be the most stable, reliable source of power). And it worked flawlessly.

I guess that solid red LED (and the internet) can be wrong!

Thanks for the recommendation.