HOWTO - Make a BrewPi Fermentation Controller For Cheap

[phishie]

Where is your beer temp probe?

Good question, it's taped against the side of the keg with a towel folded over top. You're probably right that the probe is just uber sensitive without being in a thermowell.

 

[thekraken]

Good question, it's taped against the side of the keg with a towel folded over top. You're probably right that the probe is just uber sensitive without being in a thermowell.

I've found your method is generally acceptable. Maybe try a little better insulation on top the probe and/or sealing the insulation to make sure no draft is getting to it. What worked best for me was a bubble wrap lined shipping envelope I pulled out of my recycle bin.

 

[phishie]

I've found your method is generally acceptable. Maybe try a little better insulation on top the probe and/or sealing the insulation to make sure no draft is getting to it. What worked best for me was a bubble wrap lined shipping envelope I pulled out of my recycle bin.

But more than likely the beer is not actually fluctuating quite that much?

 

[gromitdj]

But more than likely the beer is not actually fluctuating quite that much?

Most likely not. It looks like in a 6 Hour stretch the compressor is coming on approx. 18 times. Which is 3 times an hour on average. That's reasonable. In my experience, a sensor taped to the side of a vessel needs to be insulated from ambient pretty well in order to mimic the accuracy of a thermowell.

 

[phishie]

Most likely not. It looks like in a 6 Hour stretch the compressor is coming on approx. 18 times. Which is 3 times an hour on average. That's reasonable. In my experience, a sensor taped to the side of a vessel needs to be insulated from ambient pretty well in order to mimic the accuracy of a thermowell.

Thanks - any recommended buy from home depot for this which can conform easily to a rounded surface of a keg?

 

[day_trippr]

fwiw, I use inch thick closed cell foam scavenged from shipping cartons and velcro straps to pin the pad and probe to the vessel...

Cheers!

 

[Arminius757]

Hey guys,

I have been lurking on this project for a while now and finally got all my stuff together to start working on it. I have hit a wall. I have the whole thing wired up, but my pi does not find my ardunio serial and I cant find any clear instructions on what to do... I a have tried resetting, unpluging, searching to see what ports are available on my pi (the only one that comes is the internal port). I am guessing i need to flash the ardunio as per instructions but I need the port open first and I have no idea where to find the file that I need to flash and how to flash it.
So could someone explain this to me like I am 5?
Sorry if this is on here somewhere, there is so much info I am getting very overwhelmed...

 

[Bigdaddyale]

You most likely have a Chinese clone that uses a ch340g usb chip.You will have to add change a few line in the brewpi code.Hopefully others will come along and explain the nuts and bolts on how to do that.

 

[Arminius757]

You most likely have a Chinese clone that uses a ch340g usb chip.You will have to add change a few line in the brewpi code.Hopefully others will come along and explain the nuts and bolts on how to do that.

I bought the same arduino linked in the guide on the first page... I dont doubt that this could be the case, Amazon can be shifty, but it seems to look legit to me.

Thanks for your reply though. I believe i found the hex code I need...

 

[Bigdaddyale]

I bought the same arduino linked in the guide on the first page... I dont doubt that this could be the case, Amazon can be shifty, but it seems to look legit to me.

Thanks for your reply though. I believe i found the hex code I need...

Good news you got it working. Can you post what you did to get it going? I have a few of the cheap knockoffs that work well with brewpi but I can't remember the few extra steps it takes to get the rpi to recognize the usb chip.

 

[gromitdj]

...I can't remember the few extra steps it takes to get the rpi to recognize the usb chip.

You could try the information in this post on the Brewpi Site. Elco addresses making changes to the autoSerial.py file on April 27th, but it should be included in the auto install now.

 

[Bigdaddyale]

You could try the information in this post on the Brewpi Site. Elco addresses making changes to the autoSerial.py file on April 27th, but it should be included in the auto install now.

Thanks that's the page I was looking for.

 

[Arminius757]

So I still cant get this pi to recognize my arduino... I have tried editing the autoSerial.py script based on the recommendations of the article posted above. The current script includes many more lines than the version listed in the post above, but even those fail to find the ardunio. When I run ls /dev/ttyA* I only get ACM0 which is the internal port that I cant do anything with. When I run just tty*, I dont get o these USB slots to show up either... I followed the steps to a tee, but I cannot find the ardunio for the life of me... At this point, it shouldnt be a wiring issue should it? I could pretty much just connect the arduino to the pi and flash it, then build the circuits around it. I have the full thing built and I installed BrewPi with the arduino connected, but nothing seems to make a difference... any help would be great.

 

[gromitdj]

... any help would be great.

This may be a long shot, but have you tried a different USB cable? One of the Sainsmart arduinos I used had trouble with the USB cable that came with it. So I had to buy another, higher quality cable.

 

[Bigdaddyale]

$ lsusb
were you able to load the BLINK script on to the uno?

 

[Arminius757]

I have not tired another cable, I will put that on my list of possibilities and try later. I have not tried the above either. Im not sure what you mean. As of right now, I start the pi with the arduino connected. The pi lights up a little then a few seconds later, the arduino lights up as well. There is a solid green light and a pulsating orange light. Im guessing that neither of these would indicate if the arduino is properly connected, probably that it just has power.
Would any usb to micro usb work, say for instance, a cell phone charging cable? Or does it have to be something specific to data transfer?

 

[LBussy]

Would any usb to micro usb work, say for instance, a cell phone charging cable? Or does it have to be something specific to data transfer?

The Uno has a type B connector, not a micro USB. What type are you using? If you do not have an Uno that may explain the issue.

At any rate, yes, you need a data cable. Charging cables will often not work.

 

[Arminius757]

The Uno has a type B connector, not a micro USB. What type are you using? If you do not have an Uno that may explain the issue.

At any rate, yes, you need a data cable. Charging cables will often not work.

The cable I am using is what came with the ardunio itself, so I would assume that its proper. And this is an Arduino Uno. I ordered the parts stated on the first page of this forum. The only part different is the Pi. I got that in Germany when I wanted to learn some basic programing. I made double sure that it is an official Pi before ordering it. Unless there is an issue there, but I would doubt that...

 

[LBussy]

The power for the Pi is a micro B USB . The Pi is powered by a wall-wart typically. The power for the Uno is from the regular USB (type A) on the Pi to the Uno (type B). You need a data cable between the Pi and the Arduino (Type A to B).

If you are looking for something to power the Pi, yes, a cell phone charger will work. You will want a 2A of you are using a Pi 2 and a 2.5A if it's a Pi 3. If you were trying to power the Pi from something else like a computer or an Apple USB power adapter, it does not have the amperage. A PC's USB is rated at .5A, an Apple power cube at 1 A. The iPad power adapter is 2.1A and may be suitable for a Pi2 but I've never tried it.

 

[Arminius757]

The power for the Pi is a micro B USB . The Pi is powered by a wall-wart typically. The power for the Uno is from the regular USB (type A) on the Pi to the Uno (type B). You need a data cable between the Pi and the Arduino (Type A to B).

If you are looking for something to power the Pi, yes, a cell phone charger will work. You will want a 2A of you are using a Pi 2 and a 2.5A if it's a Pi 3. If you were trying to power the Pi from something else like a computer or an Apple USB power adapter, it does not have the amperage. A PC's USB is rated at .5A, an Apple power cube at 1 A. The iPad power adapter is 2.1A and may be suitable for a Pi2 but I've never tried it.

I have a 2A Samsung cell charger running my Pi2 and the Arduino. I have the standard USB cable that came with the Arduino connecting the Arduino to the Pi. This is the USBA to USBB cable that you speak of. Everything lights up and seems to be connected, but my Pi doesnt say that anything is connected to the USB in terms of a serial port. I know my USB on the Pi is working, because I have a Wifi dongle attached and I had a keyboard and mouse attached before switching to SSH. Ill see if I can find another cable at home to test with. I hope that is my only problem, but I dont see it as being the problem given that the Arduino is lighting up when power is plugged in.

 

[Bigdaddyale]

http://linuxcommand.org/man_pages/lsusb8.html
This command will let you know if the RPI is even recognizing your uno.

 

[day_trippr]

[...]The iPad power adapter is 2.1A and may be suitable for a Pi2 but I've never tried it.

The Spousal Unit's iPad Air (I think it's a 2) uses a Lightning connector.
Guarantees I'll never borrow it

Cheers!

 

[Arminius757]

Well as far as I can tell, it just straight up dosnet recognize my Uno... I will have to try and buy a new cable tomorrow and see if that makes a difference. Otherwise, I will return the Uno through Amazon and call it defective.

 

[Bigdaddyale]

Well as far as I can tell, it just straight up dosnet recognize my Uno... I will have to try and buy a new cable tomorrow and see if that makes a difference. Otherwise, I will return the Uno through Amazon and call it defective.

I'm wondering now if you have a CH340 usb chip.You will need to load the driver.I can't remember how I did it.Also check to see if you can load the blink script from the Ardunio program.This will verify that the bootloader is installed on the uno and see if your usb cable works.

 

[Arminius757]

I'm wondering now if you have a CH340 usb chip.You will need to load the driver.I can't remember how I did it.Also check to see if you can load the blink script from the Ardunio program.This will verify that the bootloader is installed on the uno and see if your usb cable works.

How would I ruin this script? I'll look for the driver you mentioned too. Thanks for the help

 

[Bigdaddyale]

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5OtMqr5hGjE[/ame]

 

[Arminius757]

Sweet. I will get on that later.
I think I found a link on how to get that driver you mentioned:
https://github.com/aperepel/raspberrypi-ch340-driver
This mentions how to install and run the proper updates to get your Pi to recognize the Uno should you be stuck with one of these new chips.
I will confirm later if this works or not, but maybe this should be added to the trouble shooting section. My understanding is that these chips will become much more popular in the years to come as they are cheaper than the previous model. Also, something about the previous chip manufacturer release malicious drivers that wound up bricking Arduinos.

 

[wbarber69]

Fwiw I've never had to install drivers for ch340 chipsets it must be something that has changed with the os. or maybe it's because I don't use noobs

 

[wbarber69]

Sweet. I will get on that later.
I think I found a link on how to get that driver you mentioned:
https://github.com/aperepel/raspberrypi-ch340-driver
This mentions how to install and run the proper updates to get your Pi to recognize the Uno should you be stuck with one of these new chips.
I will confirm later if this works or not, but maybe this should be added to the trouble shooting section. My understanding is that these chips will become much more popular in the years to come as they are cheaper than the previous model. Also, something about the previous chip manufacturer release malicious drivers that wound up bricking Arduinos.

That was the ftdi mfg that was bricking clones that's why China switched over to ch340

 

[Gooser]

I'm just finishing up. Everything seems to be working fine on the RPi and Arduino side. I just have to connect the outlet and power cord to the relay.

Am I okay using 14 gauge wire for the Red/Black from the relay? In the one diagram it says 16-18 gauge but I have 14 already at home. Just hoping I can use what I already have.
Thanks

 

[thekraken]

Am I okay using 14 gauge wire for the Red/Black from the relay? In the one diagram it says 16-18 gauge but I have 14 already at home. Just hoping I can use what I already have.
Thanks

As long as the wire fits into the terminals on the relay, go for it.

 

[Gooser]

As long as the wire fits into the terminals on the relay, go for it.

Thanks!

 

[Arminius757]

Alright well, I cant get that driver install to work either... So, Im returning the item marked as defect and spending the extra few dollars to make sure that I have a proper Arduino, not the knock off. I have tried both installing the drivers, running a blink test, and a few more hours of research and determined this board to be broken.
Thanks for all your help guys!
I hope that my new board will work without issue, seeing as it should be a proper Arduino board.

 

[Bigdaddyale]

Alright well, I cant get that driver install to work either... So, Im returning the item marked as defect and spending the extra few dollars to make sure that I have a proper Arduino, not the knock off. I have tried both installing the drivers, running a blink test, and a few more hours of research and determined this board to be broken.
Thanks for all your help guys!
I hope that my new board will work without issue, seeing as it should be a proper Arduino board.

Can you post a picture of the board? I wonder if you just need to install the bootloader -but you need another working board to do that.
I have a few of these boards that work but it will take a month to have it shipped.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/311399723664?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT

 

[LBussy]

I have a few of these boards that work but it will take a month to have it shipped.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/311399723664?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT

The engrish on that auction is rough. What's the difference with those, aside from the micro-USB?

 

[Arminius757]

Can you post a picture of the board? I wonder if you just need to install the bootloader -but you need another working board to do that.
I have a few of these boards that work but it will take a month to have it shipped.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/311399723664?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT

I will get a picture up after work. I read that I could try to install a bootloader and get it working, but then I noticed I need another board to do it. I just decided it wasn't worth the time or effort to source out another board and hope it works when I could return this one and by an official board for a few bucks more. I just hope that this official board is just plug and go.
Thank you for the suggestion though. I should have the new board early next week.

 

[bufford]

I am having the same problem as Arminius757. I am not ready to give up yet. I have 3 Arduinos 2 new cheap Chinese Arduino clones and on Sainsmart. The sainsmart was previously working in a BrewPi multi-chamber set up. Everything went per the instructions provided the first time. No problems or difficulty of any sort. Now I get nothing all 3 are acting the same. I am assuming that something happened to result in the change. So my question is does this have any possibility to fix this?

http://forum.arduino.cc/index.php?topic=45104.0

 

[GrogNerd]

here's an issue.

I was always under the presumption when the Pi part quits, you would lose data logging and web access, but the Arduino keeps going, as long as it has its own power

which is the way I have it setup

my first lager (a Schwarzbier!)

10:04 am on the 2nd, we lost power for about 30 seconds. I forgot to go check the BrewPi, didn't notice until later the computer I have it hooked to (Win10 running V'Box) was off. when I got it back up at 9:18pm, the beer temp had risen .65°. NOT a huge rise, but still... I thought it would maintain the profile, at the least. at worst it should have maintained temps

 

[FuzzeWuzze]

Profiles work differently than Constants. You can think of Profiles as the Host PC sending continuous "Constant" updates to the Arduino behind the scenes. Which is why you flatlined when the power went out and it resumed when you turned it back on.

Its entirely possible maybe it was maintaining temperature, but when the host is off it has no data logs so just shows a line connecting the last point it had, with the first point when it came back online.

 

[mattrox]

So I had been testing to make sure everything was stable before permanently mounting everything in a project box.

I got 2 probes working and was going to wait until hard-wiring this up with receptacles to nut out what was going on with the 3rd probe.

I left it to run for a week and I came back to it and had something go wrong.

I got the message on the "LCD" display Not receiving data from brewpi script.

I killed the script from the terminal window and restarted. It ran but returned null data, as if the temperature probes were not connected. But instead of just having blank temperature readings I got the not receiving stuff from the script again.

I went to the device config tab and all the settings had disappeared. I reset device list and got an error message. I have packed everything up in frustration now and am about to sleep on the problem. But the error message said something about a syntax error.

I think it is on the wheezy/python side not the arduino/hardware side as I re-did the wiring, including taking everything off except the wifi shield and arduino. I could still flash the hex file on to the Arduino from wifi.

Just in case, I am going to take all the spare arduino clones into work and hit them with the hex file over Xloader on windoze machine.

The only thing I can think of is that I corrupted some file somewhere and need to start from scratch with wheezy again.