HOWTO - Make a BrewPi Fermentation Controller For Cheap

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Dolomieu said:
Yes I am. The one recommended in the first post. This is a 11.5 gallon batch.
Click to expand...

Hmm, you might need to adjust the control algorithm - P or Proportional setting to get rid of the ringing. Go into advanced settings, write down the original value of Kp, and try adjusting it down.
 
Well it looks like it's starting to tighten up. I did not check any of the settings or mess with them. Not sure if this was just it taking time to relearn the parameters after active fermentation ended or do to the swings in temp. I've been on the road working most of the time, bouncing from job site to job site. So I only get time to look at it when i get back to the hotel. Though I will state again, this doesn't have me freaked out. Even with the momentary swings this thing is working just as well, nay.. better than the STC that i was using previously.

I have upgrades in mind as stated before. Just need to actually get some time at home to play around with it.

Screen Shot 2014-11-18 at 7.52.25 PM.png
 
That's wild. "It's learning" :D

I wonder if the same behavior would have resulted had your manual ramping been plugged into a profile...

Cheers!

[edit - I hope]

Well we're stuck. Management has locked down this forum but hasn't moved active threads in it to whatever sub-forum it's going to end up. Catch-22.

Anyway, I stumbled over these spiffy looking mini-XLR plugs and didn't want to lose the link while we wait for this thread to come back to life.

Cheers!
 
I would be wondering what the ambient temp was around the system and whether that played a role, because it hit and held 20°C for almost an entire day during the 14th, and only then began ringing on its 6hr cycle, for 3 days, then calms down.
 
I can show you that info later. I have a site to get to and then a long drive home so it will be much later, but I have that data.
 
I'm having issues getting my second temp probe to work, see this log:

Nov 19 2014 13:06:45 Installed devices received: [{'a': '28E07D2A0600000C', 'c': 1, 'b': 1, 'd': 0, 'f': 9, 'i': 0, 'h': 2, 'j': 0.0, 'p': 18, 't': 1}, {'a': '289BF0D0B6F97409', 'c': 1, 'b': 0, 'd': 0, 'f': 5, 'i': 1, 'h': 2, 'j': 0.0, 'p': 18, 't': 1}, {'c': 1, 'b': 0, 'd': 0, 'f': 2, 'i': 2, 'h': 1, 'p': 5, 't': 3, 'x': 1}, {'c': 1, 'b': 0, 'd': 0, 'f': 3, 'i': 3, 'h': 1, 'p': 6, 't': 3, 'x': 1}]
Nov 19 2014 13:06:45 Available devices received: [{'a': '289B7B2C060000F9', 'c': 1, 'b': 0, 'd': 0, 'f': 0, 'i': -1, 'h': 2, 'j': 0.0, 'p': 18, 't': 0}, {'c': 1, 'b': 0, 'd': 0, 'f': 0, 'i': -1, 'h': 1, 'p': 2, 't': 0, 'x': 1}, {'c': 1, 'b': 0, 'd': 0, 'f': 0, 'i': -1, 'h': 1, 'p': 19, 't': 0, 'x': 1}, {'c': 1, 'b': 0, 'd': 0, 'f': 0, 'i': -1, 'h': 1, 'p': 4, 't': 0, 'x': 1}]

It sees the installed device but only one is listed as available - any ideas?
 
Have you assigned the device? How about a screen shot of your configured devices? It's being detected, so without more info I can't offer much more help.
 
Dolomieu said:
Well it looks like it's starting to tighten up. I did not check any of the settings or mess with them. Not sure if this was just it taking time to relearn the parameters after active fermentation ended or do to the swings in temp. I've been on the road working most of the time, bouncing from job site to job site. So I only get time to look at it when i get back to the hotel. Though I will state again, this doesn't have me freaked out. Even with the momentary swings this thing is working just as well, nay.. better than the STC that i was using previously.

I have upgrades in mind as stated before. Just need to actually get some time at home to play around with it.
Click to expand...

Is it possible that you bumped the thermowell probe as well? Or someone else did?

Ive seen mine do that when i accidentally pull my thermowell probe up a bit..its still in the thermowell but not submerged so not very useful.
 
I already have 120v coming in to my box and running to my relay and wall socket, is there any reason I shouldn't just tap this same 120 line directly into my wall wart that powers my rpi? This is a dedicated power supply so I don't plan on needing it back. I would take my 120 wires and wrap them around the prongs of the wall wart (and through the holes), crimp the wires down, heat shrink to cover any exposed wire, then wrap the whole thing in electical tape. I'd also secure it to my enclosure so it can't move around and work anything loose. Would this be safe or is there a better way to do this?

[Edit] 110 V AC...
 
If you're gonna do that then just go to lowes look down on the end of the aisle where they sell extension cord ends and such and find the 2 prong female plug. Much better idea than wrapping tape all around the wall wart and blocking off any bent holes it may have in it.
 
I'm guessing that was a typo and you ment vent holes? This wart has no vent holes, I dont mean to tape up the case of the wart any way. What I was getting at is that I would go above and beyond to isolate from my mains.

Ahhh, I didn't realize they sold just the plugs at the hardware store, looks like for repairing extension cords. That's a better idea, harbor freight has one for cheap too: http://www.harborfreight.com/125-volt-15-amp-female-plug-connector-93687.html
 
Mikmonken said:
Me again, and out of my depth once more, (my brewing OK by the way) it's the improving my kit that i'm struggling on.

Link to post i'm referring too LCD Installing LCD on Brew Pi
As Homer Simpson would say Doh! :drunk:

Which of the above diagrams is the working model i note that their is one revised version that shows to LEDs , but i can't see these on the actual picture of the working unit. I have frizting and have tried to replicate but it keeps saying I am 1 connection still to be routed. a link to the fritzing diagram would actually be great that way i know exactly which one i was working with.

thanks again for your help
Click to expand...

I have also been trying to get this to work but haven't had any luck yet. Right now I am leaning toward an issue that I have seen people talking about recently in this thread. I don't know if the RasberryPi B+ is different than the earlier ones but if you are powering your Arduino of the USB of the Pi B+ some are reporting that they don't get the full 5v and they are using a separate power supply for the Arduino. It is possible that the guy that did the display want using a B+. Now in my case I tried to build it without the capacitors as I didn't have any handy so it could be that as well. I think I will run over to Radio Shack one of these days and pick them up to see if it solves it but I haven't had time to run out there lately. I am running everything of a breadboard for now but when I build it out I am using a screw shield and will be powering the Pi, a couple Arduinos and lcd display(s) off a modified ATX power supply. In my case I am doing this mainly so I only have one power plug for all of these devices. I will be running several computer fans where I need several 12v power sources in addition to what I mentioned above.
 
Mine has been running successfully for quite a few months now, and I love it. I have it running on an old laptop set up right on top of my refrigerator. After thanksgiving I'm going out of town for two weeks and now trying to set up the password protected portion of this project so I can monitor it while I'm gone, but I'm having some difficulty when it comes to the step where you need to write an .htaccess file. I really have no idea what I'm doing. My attempts at it have failed and Google hasn't been much help because all the tutorials I've seen are written for someone who understands Linux, and I honestly still don't.

When I created the file, I changed the settings to what I needed. I thought I saved it, but I can't find the .htaccess where I told it to save, which should be /var/www/ correct? So I tried to create it again. Linux told me that the file already existed, even though I can't find it anywhere. Can someone in the correct direction of what I should be doing?


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew
 
billybryson54 said:
Mine has been running successfully for quite a few months now, and I love it. I have it running on an old laptop set up right on top of my refrigerator. After thanksgiving I'm going out of town for two weeks and now trying to set up the password protected portion of this project so I can monitor it while I'm gone,
Click to expand...

I didn't even bother and simply used Debian to load the Linux version of VNC (TeamViewer is also free and works well) and then can remote view from any PC, any Android, any i-Thing.
 
Last edited:
billybryson54 said:
When I created the file, I changed the settings to what I needed. I thought I saved it, but I can't find the .htaccess where I told it to save, which should be /var/www/ correct? So I tried to create it again. Linux told me that the file already existed, even though I can't find it anywhere. Can someone in the correct direction of what I should be doing?
Click to expand...

In linux any file name preceeded with a . (period) is a hidden file. if you run the command "ls -a" it will show you all the files including the hidden files. I typically use "ls -al" to show the files in a list that shows more details.

http://unixhelp.ed.ac.uk/CGI/man-cgi?ls
 
FuzzeWuzze said:
Is it possible that you bumped the thermowell probe as well? Or someone else did?

Ive seen mine do that when i accidentally pull my thermowell probe up a bit..its still in the thermowell but not submerged so not very useful.
Click to expand...

FTW! the probe moved up the thermowell about a half inch. Though it eventually got things figured out. here is a shot of that time with room temp. I also started cold crashing as usual and so far so good.

Screen Shot 2014-11-21 at 9.55.43 AM.png


Screen Shot 2014-11-21 at 9.56.32 AM.png
 
Just wanted to say thank you to everyone who helped me out over the last few weeks. Everything is done and running smoothly.

I took quite a few pictures of the finished product, so if anyone would like to see them the album is here!
 
Hah! I parked this in an earlier reply while this thread was in limo.

I stumbled over these spiffy looking mini-XLR plugs and didn't want to lose the link while we wait for this thread to come back to life.

I've been using the all-plastic-body models (not the plastic and rubber ones which do indeed totally suck) which work fine but had I seen these a few months ago I'd have used them instead as the price isn't much higher...

Cheers!
 
Those work pretty good. But I've had trouble with all the mini-xlr's I've gotten that are Chinese made corroding.
 
Well that would suck, given where these things can end up in service.
I guess I'll stick with the plastic ones.

I wonder if a coating of BoeShield T-9 would be worth the effort?

Cheers!
 
I used the ones you linked to. I just injected a bunch of silicon into the housing to add a little protection.
 
I installed Debian on my olf netbook and now I waiting the hardwares I bought. So, lookink into Brewpi, I would like to ask how should (recommended) be the initial parameters for PID algorithm.

My system is for a conical fermenter and 45 L of beer.

Thanks,

Fabiano da Mata
 
I added an encoder/switch to mine over the weekend. Its wired just like the schematic, an EC12 encoder with 10K pullup resistors and 0.1uf bypass caps. I've got it wired to the arduino as follows - Channel A = Pin 9, Channel B = Pin 9, and the switch is on pin 7, but it doesn't work.

Is there something that needs to be turned on in the Brewpi software to make it work?

20141122_144424.jpg


20141122_144430.jpg
 
atoughram said:
I added an encoder/switch to mine over the weekend. Its wired just like the schematic, an EC12 encoder with 10K pullup resistors and 0.1uf bypass caps. I've got it wired to the arduino as follows - Channel A = Pin 9, Channel B = Pin 9, and the switch is on pin 7, but it doesn't work.

Is there something that needs to be turned on in the Brewpi software to make it work?
Click to expand...

I am guessing it is a typo, but you have Pin 9 listed twice.

Channel A should be on 8 and Channel B should be on 9. Switch on 7.
 
Borisfa said:
I installed Debian on my olf netbook and now I waiting the hardwares I bought. So, lookink into Brewpi, I would like to ask how should (recommended) be the initial parameters for PID algorithm.

My system is for a conical fermenter and 45 L of beer.

Thanks,

Fabiano da Mata
Click to expand...

Stick with the defaults, they should work just fine if your using a thermowell.

There are some minor things you may be able to do, but it wont change things significantly. But see how well it works with the defaults for a brew or two before fiddling with the PID settings :)
 
I could have sworn someone posted in this thread about running BrewPi using an Uno with an ethernet shield to communicate with the RPi side instead of USB. But the closest post I've found so far is from someone who was asking about going that route, not someone who had solved it.

Is this a false memory or does anyone else remember seeing something about this?

Cheers!
 
day_trippr said:
I could have sworn someone posted in this thread about running BrewPi using an Uno with an ethernet shield to communicate with the RPi side instead of USB. But the closest post I've found so far is from someone who was asking about going that route, not someone who had solved it.

Is this a false memory or does anyone else remember seeing something about this?

Cheers!
Click to expand...

I didn't see that, but I'm using rxtx pins and gpio instead of usb for serial comms. I don't know what your trying to do but that's an alternative to usb in case it helps.
 
thekraken said:
I didn't see that, but I'm using rxtx pins and gpio instead of usb for serial comms. I don't know what your trying to do but that's an alternative to usb in case it helps.
Click to expand...

You know, that might be a fall-back, thanks!

A wireless topology would be easier to implement given what I was thinking of doing. There's an aisle between my BrewPints box and my two brew fridges that would have to be crossed somehow. I'd like to bring those two fridges under the BrewPints umbrella without resorting to outright heroics.

I assume you had to rebuild the AVR code to make that work?

Cheers!
 
day_trippr said:
You know, that might be a fall-back, thanks!

A wireless topology would be easier to implement given what I was thinking of doing. There's an aisle between my BrewPints box and my two brew fridges that would have to be crossed somehow. I'd like to bring those two fridges under the BrewPints umbrella without resorting to outright heroics.

I assume you had to rebuild the AVR code to make that work?

Cheers!
Click to expand...

I didn't need to rebuild the AVR, the rpi picks it up on /dev/ttyAMA0, you just have to make one change to a brewpi config file, and make a change to a rpi system file or two. Sounds like your running multiple arduino's on one pi, I believe we're limited to just one arduino through the gpio pins unless theres some tricks I'm not aware of.
 
Interesting - so if I get that right, you're using the Arduino hardware serial port to talk to the RPi hardware serial port. It makes sense then that you didn't have to rebuild the AVR code in that case, though it raises a curiosity about those AVR signals also being connected to the (idle) serial/USB bridge chip.

There'd be a conflict with that in my case as the hardware serial port on the RPi is being used by an AlaMode shield for RaspberryPints support - its AVR uses AMA0.

But I believe the RPi has a provision for a secondary serial port, which presumably would be AMA1. I know the BrewPi host files that have to change on the "host" side to point to various transports, having gotten BrewPi mostly running on the AlaMode once, and having multiple Unos running via USB. I'd have to verify all that but if true that could be a viable alternative - that transport doesn't have to run fast, just reliably.

Still want to pursue a wireless solution. Worst case if I can port Elco's AVR code to a bigger core there'd be room to pull in the ethernet library to support the wireless shield without shedding BrewPi functionality...

Cheers!
 
Hmm, the alamode is essentially what I made, I put a arduino pro mini on top of some protoboard that sits on the rpi gpio, a diy rpi shield.

There may be a way to breakout the gpio into multiple serials...

As for wireless I can't think of any solutions that don't involve custom avr code. I believe Elco is going to be releasing a new brewpi system soon that uses sparks as "wireless nodes" somehow. You may look into what he's up to.
 
I'd have to investigate what the RPi has for a Bluetooth stack, but from my admittedly limited experience with Raspbian so far, I'd bet you can treat it like any other transport terminus, just need to know its logical name and plug it in.

The cherry on top of that solution is there are combo wifi/bluetooth dongles running on Raspbian. Don't know how reliable they've proven to be but it's a start...

Cheers!
 
thekraken said:
I was just coming back to suggest Bluetooth. I've never messed with it my self, for the rpi end would an adapter show up as some port in /dev/ that you could use just like a serial port?
Click to expand...

I'd have to assume so, I know that module takes some initialization strings before it will work and thats why I didnt use it on the megaquirt at the time. but if you put a pro mini in between it and the arduino, you could program the pro-mini to initialize the BT and then pass the serial info from the arduino, I dont think the arduino will know the difference.

On the Rpi side, I wonder if a standard BT USB dongle would work?? And like you said, show up in /dev/tty*???

Could be...
 
atoughram said:
I'd have to assume so, I know that module takes some initialization strings before it will work and thats why I didnt use it on the megaquirt at the time. but if you put a pro mini in between it and the arduino, you could program the pro-mini to initialize the BT and then pass the serial info from the arduino, I dont think the arduino will know the difference.

On the Rpi side, I wonder if a standard BT USB dongle would work?? And like you said, show up in /dev/tty*???

Could be...
Click to expand...

I see, use a pro mini as a relay, and since you can get them around $2-3 a pop on eBay (in bulk) that's not to costly either, no modifying the brewpi_avr necessary. Though, how much space would a Bluetooth module require in the brewpi avr itself? And how much room is left?
 
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