HOWTO - Make a BrewPi Fermentation Controller For Cheap

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And you don't add the line he mentions, you change it, from acm0 to USB0
 
Okay so I've got the address down! Now when I try to program the hex file to my arduino it returns with 'warning: cannot receive version number from controller. Your controller is either not programmed or running a very old version of BrewPi. Please upload a new version of brewpi to your controller.' What now?! This is substantially harder than expected!
 
I GOT IT! Ive never been more excited about something...Geeeze! That was some work! I connected my arduino to my PC and flashed it with XLoader, plugged back into the pi and reformatted there! Should be good to go, running to the hardware store now for a project box, and some screws to get my hardware together!
 
wbarber69 said:
And you don't add the line he mentions, you change it, from acm0 to USB0
Click to expand...

True, now that i think about it, the config.cfg must be overrides and you can edit it in the defaults.cfg as long as you dont also have a different setting in the config.cfg that would override it.

The config.cfg isnt really used in Wheezy but is in Jessie to override the default www path.
 
Dgratiot said:
Okay so I've got the address down! Now when I try to program the hex file to my arduino it returns with 'warning: cannot receive version number from controller. Your controller is either not programmed or running a very old version of BrewPi. Please upload a new version of brewpi to your controller.' What now?! This is substantially harder than expected!
Click to expand...

In the future when this happens its generally because theres something(or nothing) programmed onto the chip itself.

Usually opening your arduino in the Arduino IDE for Windows, opening the default "Blank" sketch and uploading that to your Arduino will fix that problem. A lot of the cheap chinese knockoffs just seem to solder down the Atmel chip and ship it off rather than putting a blank sketch on it.
 
So randomly my sensors stopped working and now when I try to find them it doesn't show any A4 addresses. It won't find any sensors
 
Could I have fried the board? It says the script is still running but no sensors are detected and I've tried 5 different sensors
 
Are you sure your resistor or something didnt get disconnected or anything? If you used a new resistor are you sure you used 4.7k?
 
Is there anything of interest in the BrewPi log?
I've never blown an AVR pin though I've certainly "challenged" them often enough...

Cheers!
 
day_trippr said:
Is there anything of interest in the BrewPi log?

I've never blown an AVR pin though I've certainly "challenged" them often enough...



Cheers!
Click to expand...


You should try doing anything with a Ramps board. im on my 4th mega on my first homebrew 3d printer ;( and im not even finished yet.
 
Thanks to all that contribute ... excellent thread. I was up and running within a day using the info in this thread and primarily the wiki (Thanks FuzzeWuzze).

Running 2015-05-05-raspbian-wheezy and just a couple of quick questions as I start to use BrewPi.

1) A read a few bits here and there about 'Disabling Power Mgmt' to help with wifi stability. Is this old info or still recommend (how?)? Note - Cron job wifichecker is running.

2) Can you point me in the right direction (posts or other) regarding suggested or lessons learned modifications to the actual BrewPi settings within the 'Advanced Settings' under the 'Maintenance panel' ... or do most folks just leave them alone with the defaults?

3)When I want to convert over to multiple chamber config with the multiple Arduinos, is it recommended to start fresh with a clean 2015-05-05-raspbian-wheezy install and the steps in the wiki or can I modify my existing single chamber setup and retrofit?

Thanks again for the BrewPi community here HBT.

Rob
 
VictorBrew said:
Thanks to all that contribute ... excellent thread. I was up and running within a day using the info in this thread and primarily the wiki (Thanks FuzzeWuzze).

Running 2015-05-05-raspbian-wheezy and just a couple of quick questions as I start to use BrewPi.

1) A read a few bits here and there about 'Disabling Power Mgmt' to help with wifi stability. Is this old info or still recommend (how?)? Note - Cron job wifichecker is running.

2) Can you point me in the right direction (posts or other) regarding suggested or lessons learned modifications to the actual BrewPi settings within the 'Advanced Settings' under the 'Maintenance panel' ... or do most folks just leave them alone with the defaults?

3)When I want to convert over to multiple chamber config with the multiple Arduinos, is it recommended to start fresh with a clean 2015-05-05-raspbian-wheezy install and the steps in the wiki or can I modify my existing single chamber setup and retrofit?

Thanks again for the BrewPi community here HBT.

Rob
Click to expand...

1) Not sure, i dont use Wifi
2) Most people leave them the same, they shouldnt need to be adjusted.
3) There is work being done by user Ame here on HBT(and im trying to help!) to get a RPI only BrewPi up and running. Its close but a lot of testing is required and that just takes time. Hopefully at that point Multiple arduinos wont be required and setting up multiple chambers using the various GPIO pins on a single RPI will be possible. Its still speculation at this point, but its technically possible (and fairly easy?) with the code hes working on. But again...testing :) So maybe by the time your ready to start doing multiple chambers it will be ready.
 
FuzzeWuzze said:
3) There is work being done by user Ame here on HBT(and im trying to help!) to get a RPI only BrewPi up and running. Its close but a lot of testing is required and that just takes time. Hopefully at that point Multiple arduinos wont be required and setting up multiple chambers using the various GPIO pins on a single RPI will be possible.
Click to expand...

Excellent news on the side project, thanks for sharing the info. I have got a second RPI sitting around that is just waiting for some alpha testing cycles ...

Keep us posted and many thanks for your hours of contributions on this topic ; I would have been lost without your wiki.

Rob
 
VictorBrew said:
[...]Running 2015-05-05-raspbian-wheezy and just a couple of quick questions as I start to use BrewPi.

1) A read a few bits here and there about 'Disabling Power Mgmt' to help with wifi stability. Is this old info or still recommend (how?)? Note - Cron job wifichecker is running.[...]
Click to expand...

I've never run the wifichecker, don't think it's actually needed, and have read that it causes its own set of issues.

3)When I want to convert over to multiple chamber config with the multiple Arduinos, is it recommended to start fresh with a clean 2015-05-05-raspbian-wheezy install and the steps in the wiki or can I modify my existing single chamber setup and retrofit?
Click to expand...

No need to start anything "over". There are two BrewPi rooted file structures, one at /usr/brewpi, the other at /var/www. I simply moved the files to newly created subordinate folders (eg: /usr/brewpi/brewpi1 and /var/www/brewpi1), made the adjustments to the configuration files for the relocated structures, and got that running as the first "instance".

Then I cloned those folders to new ones (eg: /usr/brewpi/brewpi2 and /var/www/brewpi2), adjusted the configuration files for that instance, added another line to /etc/udev/rules.d/99-arduino.rules for another Uno with the appropriate serial number, then got that running as the second "instance".

Using that template I quickly got four BrewPi instances running...

Cheers!
 
day_trippr said:
No need to start anything "over". ...

Cheers!
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info on your approach. Makes sense, but I might reach out when I get to that point. I will spend a couple of brews working through the behavior and nuances of a single chamber, but you gave me the insight I was hoping for and a good place to start.

Thx
 
There's a long winded write-up I did on it somewhere here...

[much Google-Fu later]

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showpost.php?p=6314307&postcount=1393

The part about symlinks should be replaced using serial numbers instead.
I wrote that up somewhere, too, but even Google can't find it.

But this should give you an idea on what the eventual /etc/udev/rules.d/99-arduino.rules file should have in it.

Code: 
SUBSYSTEM=="tty", KERNEL=="ttyACM*", ATTRS{serial}=="85336303532351F0A031", SYMLINK+="brewpi1", GROUP="brewpi"
SUBSYSTEM=="tty", KERNEL=="ttyACM*", ATTRS{serial}=="754373038303510BF870", SYMLINK+="brewpi2", GROUP="brewpi"
SUBSYSTEM=="tty", KERNEL=="ttyACM*", ATTRS{serial}=="5543131323835130B160", SYMLINK+="brewpi3", GROUP="brewpi"
SUBSYSTEM=="tty", KERNEL=="ttyACM*", ATTRS{serial}=="55431313238351104021", SYMLINK+="brewpi4", GROUP="brewpi"

You find the serial numbers using the same udevadm command...

Cheers!

[edit] Still can't find the original, but here I posted the gist of the ATTRS{serial} thing.
 
Ugh, my brewpi is no logger coming up on my network. Seems to be running at the last set temp 38f though, so at least there's that.
 
My BrewPi has always kept my ferm temps between .1-.3 F. Today something has changed and I have not made any adjustments. It is now swinging .5. If my set temp is 64 it will now swing between 63.5 and 64.5. It used to swing between 63.8 and 64.2. Any thoughts as to why the sudden change?
 
Usually wider swings are

1) Your ferm chamber isnt sealed, my door sometimes opens on its own ...
2) Your probe if in a thermowell may have been pulled out slightly so its measuring the air more than the beer and throwing brewpi off.
 
And it's now spring so ambient air temperature will begin to rise possibly throwing off the pid a bit. I'd let it run, maybe it'll balance back out in its own. but definitely check the probe in the thermowell.
 
Has anybody else run into browser incompatibility from the iPhone or iPad? I have tried Safari, Chrome, Firefox, Dolphin on the iphone and they all have the intermittent 5 Sec of showing the text in the LCD window (upper left) and then 5 seconds of 'Cannot Receive LCD text from Python Script'. It basically toggles from showing that the script is running to showing that it is not, every 5 secs. The BrewPi install is running fine and the script never actually stops. The behavior does not exist on any of the browsers from the Mac, so I am certain it is an Phone browser incompatibility issue. I can duplicate the issue using Safari on the Mac (Chrome and Firefox work with no issues), but all browsers on the iPhone seem to have this issue. Ideas?
 
VictorBrew said:
Has anybody else run into browser incompatibility from the iPhone or iPad? I have tried Safari, Chrome, Firefox, Dolphin on the iphone and they all have the intermittent 5 Sec of showing the text in the LCD window (upper left) and then 5 seconds of 'Cannot Receive LCD text from Python Script'. It basically toggles from showing that the script is running to showing that it is not, every 5 secs. The BrewPi install is running fine and the script never actually stops. The behavior does not exist on any of the browsers from the Mac, so I am certain it is an Phone browser incompatibility issue. I can duplicate the issue using Safari on the Mac (Chrome and Firefox work with no issues), but all browsers on the iPhone seem to have this issue. Ideas?
Click to expand...

I get this on my Win7 PC running Opera
 
GrogNerd said:
I get this on my Win7 PC running Opera
Click to expand...

I believe the reason is a bug in the way that the browser expect data and while I have not corrected it it can be supressed by changing a timeout value in the python script from 5 to 60. After that Safari, MS Edge work as fine as Crome at least for me.

-Ill see if I can digout exactly where this is.

Btw, I have set up a development environment and can compile hex codes, so I made a self resetting display (every five minutes) using i2c and rotary encoder. I had a lot of emi from using sainsmart relays, as one do not know where on the frequency they will be activated .Tbd is to switch display on and of by using the rotary encoder or other button. One can also use a ldr to set the display to match ambient light connected to pins on the i2c driver.

Skål /A
 
VictorBrew said:
Has anybody else run into browser incompatibility from the iPhone or iPad? I have tried Safari, Chrome, Firefox, Dolphin on the iphone and they all have the intermittent 5 Sec of showing the text in the LCD window (upper left) and then 5 seconds of 'Cannot Receive LCD text from Python Script'. It basically toggles from showing that the script is running to showing that it is not, every 5 secs. The BrewPi install is running fine and the script never actually stops. The behavior does not exist on any of the browsers from the Mac, so I am certain it is an Phone browser incompatibility issue. I can duplicate the issue using Safari on the Mac (Chrome and Firefox work with no issues), but all browsers on the iPhone seem to have this issue. Ideas?
Click to expand...

In /etc/apache2/apache2.conf, change the KeepAliveTimeout from 5 to something higher (I used 99), seems that fixes the issues with safari on iOS. Restart apache2 via

sudo service apache2 restart

Cheers,
-Th
 
I need to vent for a second. My whole fermentation chamber setup blew up. Made a beer last night, put in the chamber, and the stupid Pi wouldn't boot. Kernel Panics. Awesome. left it and went to bed.

Fixed it today. Couldn't fix the Pi so I wiped it and started over. FuzzeWuzze your new wiki and install are awesome. Got the Pi running, reset to legacy branch, thought I was good. Nope, wouldn't talk to the arduino. Arduino works fine, I can flash it through the IDE, but it refuses to talk to either of my brewpi Pi's. Finally gave up and replaced the uno with a new one, which worked. Awesome. Then I got to fight with it not saving devices again. Fixed that with an EEPROM reset. Finally have the chamber working again. What a morning.
 
Are you guys having your PI's die using crappy SD cards or putting it somewhere its overheating or something?

I ran my original image for well over a year or two before i wiped it to rewrite the install instructions.

And its some cheap ****ty Class 4 Kingston 8Gb card i got for $5 on Amazon.
 
No, using a good quality 16gig class 10 card. It's not even in a case right now until I can get around to laser cutting a custom one to house everything. I think it's probably my fault. I needed an outlet the other day, decided nothing could go wrong by just unplugging the pi. Wondering if that corrupted the card.
 
Glad I jumped on the bandwagon and got me one.:)

I thought the SD card corruption was a long gone bug by now though? Ive never had that occur and have not been kind to my Pi1 nor the new.

/A
 
CaptnDelta said:
In /etc/apache2/apache2.conf, change the KeepAliveTimeout from 5 to something higher (I used 99), seems that fixes the issues with safari on iOS. Restart apache2 via

sudo service apache2 restart

Cheers,
-Th
Click to expand...

Perfect ... that worked. Many thanks!
 
Wanted to say thanks for all of the hard work on the post. I followed the guide and did some more searching through the thread to do the legacy install and it worked great!

You guys rock!

Happy Brewing
-Imp
 
Hey FuzzeWuzze (and everyone else who contributed to this),

Thanks for the tutorial and the work you did on this... I managed to build this largely from parts I had laying around. Finally have a real use for my old Raspberry pi!

This looks like it will be a wonderful upgrade from my STC-1000. I am paying the old STC-1000 forward by donating it to a friend of mine who is getting started in the hobby.

Going to take it for a test run with a saison this evening. Overly involved, 8 day, 16 step fermentation temperature schedule, here I come :)

The build being tested:

4u1SuPt.jpg


The final product:

G2TZq7S.jpg

EOH4GbZ.jpg

N1We4sN.jpg
 
LBussy said:
That is a sweet fridge! What Make/model is that?
Click to expand...

It's a Sunbeam SA 12752. I saw it listed for $40 and jumped all over it. :ban:

Testing it out with the BrewPi attached today, and so far, it seems to work pretty well. It cooled a glass of water to 38 degrees last night! :rockin:

edit: My ferm bucket didn't quite fit sitting on the shelf level with the hump, but with the flat-faced door, I was able to remove the hump-level shelf and the bucket fits on the next half shelf down. I'll probably put an aquarium heater on the bottom shelf.
 
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