HOWTO - Make a BrewPi Fermentation Controller For Cheap

[day_trippr]

The preponderance of problems with ds18b20 probes over the last couple of years was due to folks actually ending up with ds18b20-par probes - which utilize the "parasitic power" paradigm which steals current from the signal wire pull-up to allow a 2 wire connection instead of 3.

BrewPi does not support parasitic mode.

There is a sketch out there that you can load on the Arduino that will reveal whether a probe is a parasitic model or not...

Cheers!

 

[gromitdj]

Post #5416 is the sketch you are looking for... if testing for parasites

 

[dryhopgulch]

Thanks guys, I checked and it does indeed say that my ds18b20 are parasitic. I've ordered the following probes based on one comment in the amazon review saying that it was working with brewpi back in Jan 2016. Fingers crossed that they haven't changed their supplier x.x.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00EU70ZL8/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

 

[Dolomieu]

Thanks guys, I checked and it does indeed say that my ds18b20 are parasitic. I've ordered the following probes based on one comment in the amazon review saying that it was working with brewpi back in Jan 2016. Fingers crossed that they haven't changed their supplier x.x.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00EU70ZL8/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

I've used these for several builds and they have always worked. That's with strange brew Elsinore, Craftbeerpi and two versions of brewpi.

 

[day_trippr]

Sorry about that hiccup, but you're just one of many folks that got bit over the last couple of years.
Prior to that one could be virtually guaranteed to get a true three-wired "one-wire" probe (btw, how stupid is the whole convention anyway ).
I have nearly three dozen 3 meter probes acquired over a few years in lots of 5 and never ran into a -par version.

Anyway...feel free to contact the seller to specify you need non-parasitic probes...

Cheers!

 

[zgja2]

Hey gang. Have been using my controller for months with no problem. Now it will not activate heat or cool when needed. I am illiterate with this stuff and only got it set up due to the great instructions here. Where is the best place to get advice on fixing my issue?

Thanks!

 

[day_trippr]

This is pretty much the place for BrewPi issues on HBT.
But you're going to have to provide more info that you have.

Is the script running?
Do you see temperature readings?
Does the "LCD panel" (the box in the upper left corner) indicate cooling or heating or is it sitting in the "Idle" state?
Did you try resetting the Arduino?
After that, did you try rebooting the web host (RPi or other)?

The more info you provide the quicker we can get you up and running again...

Cheers!

 

[zgja2]

This is pretty much the place for BrewPi issues on HBT.
But you're going to have to provide more info that you have.

Is the script running?
Do you see temperature readings?
Does the "LCD panel" (the box in the upper left corner) indicate cooling or heating or is it sitting in the "Idle" state?
Did you try resetting the Arduino?
After that, did you try rebooting the web host (RPi or other)?

The more info you provide the quicker we can get you up and running again...

Cheers!

Thanks for the response. I didnt want to post unless this was the place for it. Thanks in advance for the help!

Do you see temperature readings? Yes

Does the "LCD panel" (the box in the upper left corner) indicate cooling or heating or is it sitting in the "Idle" state? It is just idling

Did you try resetting the Arduino? I did not. Is there a reset on it or is this done through the software?

After that, did you try rebooting the web host (RPi or other)? i did reset the RPi. No change.

 

[all_about_stouts]

Hey everyone. Been a while since I've posted here.

I had my brewpi working for a couple months then I think my micro SD card became corrupted somehow (wouldn't boot at all).

I tried formatting and reinstalling, but now I can't figure this last part out. I downloaded the latest NOOBS file which installs Raspbian Jessie. I almost got it to work but it won't give me an IP address at the end.

It just says:

"To view your BrewPi web interface, enter http:// into your web browser

Happy Brewing!"

I'm using a wifi dongle. I don't know if that matters. Any ideas?

 

[day_trippr]

[...]Do you see temperature readings? Yes
[...]It is just idling
[...]

Ok, if you can see both Chamber and Beer temperatures in the gui, this indicates pretty near everything is working.

Yes, there's a reset button in the corner of the Uno near the USB receptacle.
You can push that any time.

I would go into the gui and verify that you (still) have actuators set up for cooling (and heating if you use that). If BrewPi doesn't have any actuators set up I believe it will behave exactly as you're seeing.

Then, set up a simple Beer Constant mode with the temperature goal set above or below the current Beer sensor temperature and see what happens.

You might also check the log file via the gui and see if there are any messages of interest therein...

Cheers!

 

[day_trippr]

[...]
I downloaded the latest NOOBS file which installs Raspbian Jessie. I almost got it to work but it won't give me an IP address at the end.
[...]

New installations of the Apache2 web server cause in-bound web requests to default to /var/www/html - where older versions try to resolve them to /var/www.
If you installed BrewPi rooted at /var/www as was the standard model, Apache2 isn't going to try to use it (for lack of better phraseology).

So you either need to install BrewPi so it is rooted at /var/www/html, or change the Apache2 DocumentRoot setting back to /var/www...

Cheers!

 

[zgja2]

Ok, if you can see both Chamber and Beer temperatures in the gui, this indicates pretty near everything is working.

Yes, there's a reset button in the corner of the Uno near the USB receptacle.
You can push that any time.

I would go into the gui and verify that you (still) have actuators set up for cooling (and heating if you use that). If BrewPi doesn't have any actuators set up I believe it will behave exactly as you're seeing.

Then, set up a simple Beer Constant mode with the temperature goal set above or below the current Beer sensor temperature and see what happens.

You might also check the log file via the gui and see if there are any messages of interest therein...

Cheers!

So I reset the uno but while looking through the logs I realized I had it set higher than the max allowed temp. This is why it was not working. I adjusted the max and min. and tested. Seems to be working. Thanks!

Second question. When viewing in a browser, "Script not running" will appear then it will go back to displaying info and "script running". It will continue swapping back and forth. What can I do to fix this?

 

[zgja2]

Ok, if you can see both Chamber and Beer temperatures in the gui, this indicates pretty near everything is working.

Yes, there's a reset button in the corner of the Uno near the USB receptacle.
You can push that any time.

I would go into the gui and verify that you (still) have actuators set up for cooling (and heating if you use that). If BrewPi doesn't have any actuators set up I believe it will behave exactly as you're seeing.

Then, set up a simple Beer Constant mode with the temperature goal set above or below the current Beer sensor temperature and see what happens.

You might also check the log file via the gui and see if there are any messages of interest therein...

Cheers!

So I reset the uno but while looking through the logs I realized I had the temp set higher than the max allowed temp. This is why it was not working. I adjusted the max and min. and tested. Seems to be working. Thanks!

Second question. When viewing in a browser, "Script not running" will appear then it will go back to displaying info and "script running". It will continue swapping back and forth. What can I do to fix this?

 

[day_trippr]

Happy it was a simple "IO error"

Is your Uno connected via USB or something else?
I have a bunch of BrewPi configurations that use remoted Unos connected via Bluetooth or WiFi instead of USB.
Occasionally I'll catch one of their web pages showing "script not running" but it quickly goes back to the normal display.

I don't worry about it...

Cheers!

 

[wbarber69]

So I reset the uno but while looking through the logs I realized I had the temp set higher than the max allowed temp. This is why it was not working. I adjusted the max and min. and tested. Seems to be working. Thanks!



Second question. When viewing in a browser, "Script not running" will appear then it will go back to displaying info and "script running". It will continue swapping back and forth. What can I do to fix this?

The script not running on and off problem is usually a result of using safari

 

[day_trippr]

Good memory, I totally forgot about that syndrome

Cheers!

[edit] And I forgot I had recorded the fix:

Edit this apache2 configuration file:
sudo nano /etc/apache2/apache2.conf

Change "KeepAliveTimeout 5" to "KeepAliveTimeout 99" to deal with LCD text refresh bug.
Save the file then restart Apache2:

sudo /etc/init.d/apache2 restart

 

[all_about_stouts]

New installations of the Apache2 web server cause in-bound web requests to default to /var/www/html - where older versions try to resolve them to /var/www.
If you installed BrewPi rooted at /var/www as was the standard model, Apache2 isn't going to try to use it (for lack of better phraseology).

So you either need to install BrewPi so it is rooted at /var/www/html, or change the Apache2 DocumentRoot setting back to /var/www...

Cheers!

Ok thanks for the help. I thought BrewPi was already rooted to /var/www/html because it asked me if that's where I want to install it. But I'm sure I'm missing something.

How exactly do I go about setting the Apache2 DocumentRoot back to /var/www?

Do I just go into the document and edit the "/var/www/html" to "/var/www"?

And how can I verify that my installation is actually rooted in /var/www rather than /var/www/html?

 

[CadiBrewer]

You need to move the document root file to the new location and edit your config. This tutorial does a pretty good job of explaining how to do it. https://www.digitalocean.com/commun...he-web-root-to-a-new-location-on-ubuntu-16-04

 

[day_trippr]

Ok thanks for the help. I thought BrewPi was already rooted to /var/www/html because it asked me if that's where I want to install it. But I'm sure I'm missing something.

Well, not necessarily.

And how can I verify that my installation is actually rooted in /var/www rather than /var/www/html?

If you go into /var/www/html and find a bunch of files that look like they belong to BrewPi (it will be obvious) then you did root the installation there and we're looking at a different problem. Otoh if you don't find BrewPi files there, look in /var/www.

How exactly do I go about setting the Apache2 DocumentRoot back to /var/www?
Do I just go into the document and edit the "/var/www/html" to "/var/www"?

Edit /etc/apache2/sites-available

Find the DocumentRoot setting and change it from /var/www/html to /var/www.
Save the file then restart Apache2:
sudo /etc/init.d/apache2 restart

Cheers!

 

[all_about_stouts]

Well, not necessarily.



If you go into /var/www/html and find a bunch of files that look like they belong to BrewPi (it will be obvious) then you did root the installation there and we're looking at a different problem. Otoh if you don't find BrewPi files there, look in /var/www.



Edit /etc/apache2/sites-available

Find the DocumentRoot setting and change it from /var/www/html to /var/www.
Save the file then restart Apache2:
sudo /etc/init.d/apache2 restart

Cheers!

Thanks! Unfortunately, we're looking at a different problem. There's a bunch of files in the /var/www/html forlder. And the DocumentRoot file shows /var/www/html there too.

Not sure what the issue is. I could always just format the sd card and install Wheezy. I was just hoping to have it work on Jessie. I think the OS I used a couple months ago was Jessie, although the one I'm using now is the latest NOOBS file for Jessie.

 

[day_trippr]

I have everything I've run on Wheezy running on Jessie, so no need to regress.
We just need to figure out what's not working.

btw, the "latest Noobs" is actually Stretch. You have to dig into the archives to pull a Jessie release out...

Cheers!

 

[all_about_stouts]

I have everything I've run on Wheezy running on Jessie, so no need to regress.
We just need to figure out what's not working.

btw, the "latest Noobs" is actually Stretch. You have to dig into the archives to pull a Jessie release out...

Cheers!

Whoa well that might do it. I can't keep up with these things!

Ok that could explain why I was able to run on Jessie before and now I can't. It's not Jessie anymore!

I'll try to find a Jessie release and install that. Should be as straightforward as last time.

 

[Bigdaddyale]

I wish I had the ability to update the wikia. seems like there are a lot of gotchas from the original install. this format doesn't help.http://diybrewpi.wikia.com/wiki/DIYBrewPi_Wikia
missing out on the new nano 2.01 shield by Cadibrewer/day_trippr.

 

[Bigdaddyale]

What are the gotchas? We should list them .the ones that got me
UNO chip sets, ch340g
DS18B20 temp. sensors parasite power
Headless wifi start up on Jessie

I wish I had the ability to update the wikia. seems like there are a lot of gotchas from the original install. this format doesn't help.http://diybrewpi.wikia.com/wiki/DIYBrewPi_Wikia
missing out on the new nano 2.01 shield by Cadibrewer/day_trippr.

 

[LBussy]

And I forgot I had recorded the fix:

Edit this apache2 configuration file:
sudo nano /etc/apache2/apache2.conf

Change "KeepAliveTimeout 5" to "KeepAliveTimeout 99" to deal with LCD text refresh bug.
Save the file then restart Apache2:

sudo /etc/init.d/apache2 restart

And the easy command based fix is:

sudo sed -i -e 's/KeepAliveTimeout 5/KeepAliveTimeout 99/g' /etc/apache2/apache2.conf

sudo service apache2 restart

 

[zgja2]

The script not running on and off problem is usually a result of using safari

Which I am. I recently reformatted my mac so i guess its time to DL chrome again. Thanks!

 

[CadiBrewer]

I wish I had the ability to update the wikia. seems like there are a lot of gotchas from the original install. this format doesn't help.http://diybrewpi.wikia.com/wiki/DIYBrewPi_Wikia
missing out on the new nano 2.01 shield by Cadibrewer/day_trippr.

I think anyone can edit the wiki.

I haven't added the shield version 2.01 for the Nano because I haven't had a chance to order the latest version and solder it up to field test it. You've given me the motivation to do it and to update the soldering instructions to differentiate between the original 1.01 and 1.2 without the p-fet.

 

[CadiBrewer]

What are the gotchas? We should list them .the ones that got me
UNO chip sets, ch340g
DS18B20 temp. sensors parasite power
Headless wifi start up on Jessie

Check out day_trippr's roll up on the Raspberry Pints thread. He has all of the gotchas there including the new Apache locations. We should include a note on Safari for posterity's sake.

 

[all_about_stouts]

I have everything I've run on Wheezy running on Jessie, so no need to regress.
We just need to figure out what's not working.

btw, the "latest Noobs" is actually Stretch. You have to dig into the archives to pull a Jessie release out...

Cheers!

I downloaded NOOBS for Jessie and it worked perfectly. Thank you for all your help. I'm back up and running.

Any way to make a backup of the SD card so that I can just restore it quickly if this ever happens again?

 

[gromitdj]

@day_trippr has an excellent method of handling incremental backups of all of his devices. He has outlined his method somewhere in this mammoth thread (or perhaps it's in one of the other threads he is so helpful on), so a search is in order for that one.

I just use Win32DiskImager to create a full size backup on my hard drive whenever I make any risky changes.