iSpindel: What is the Simplest Way to Make it Work?

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GrowleyMonster

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This thing is not very straightforward, compared to the Tilt. I tried two apps suggested by the website, Ubidots and Bierbot Bricks, no success so far. I messed with it for about 8 hours last night. The best I could do was connect directly to the device by wifi and access a screen that gives me the data.
Screenshot from 2022-02-04 08-27-10.png

Maybe it's just me, but all the instructions I see seem to lead nowhere useful. To access the above page, I have to manually press a reset button inside on the board. After a few minutes it shuts off and goes into automatic mode, which would be good if it would automatically DO something. Can anybody point to a tutorial that is a little easier to follow and gives me a leg up on getting this thing to work?
 
It took me a while to get things working so persistence is key. I got 2 of mine working with ubidots. There's some good info on YouTube that helped me out.

Do you have a ubidots account setup?
Can you share a screen shot of your ispindle setup (with the personal bits blurred out)?
 
You don't get a page with the following options? https://www.ispindel.de/pics/Portal.png

Also, is that Ubuntu?
Yeah I get that page. Sometimes. When I am connected directly to the device via wifi and not through the network, and I point my web browser at 168.192.1.4 I think it was. And yeah I run Ubuntu on all my computers. Well, except the RPi's which are running Raspbian. I'm on one of them right now, actually. But at the old house it is all laptops running Ubuntu.
 
It took me a while to get things working so persistence is key. I got 2 of mine working with ubidots. There's some good info on YouTube that helped me out.

Do you have a ubidots account setup?
Can you share a screen shot of your ispindle setup (with the personal bits blurred out)?
Yeah I do. I tried Ubidots first. I am at the new house though, and the computer I used and the iSpindle are at the old house. I will post screenshots this evening.
 
The other thing to consider is how you're testing the ispindle to ubidots (or other "end point"). Try testing with the ispindle by itself. Then try in a fermentor. You may need a repeater for your wifi depending on the location of your wifi signal and where (or in, bucket conical, keg, ect) your fermenter resides. A couple of test "along the path" may lead to where you need to focus your attention too.
 
In my playing with one before brewing with it, I actually connected to ubidots, grainfather app, (had to get right settings from main web page) and then brewspy. ubidots is limited by great degree unless you want to pay way more than what it is worth for on or two ispindel. Brewspy works well, you can see temp, hydrometer reading and the voltage
 
Brewspy is only 1 spindle and costs more for additional ones right?

Ubidots, is free if its personal use. I'm running 2 using ubidots.
 
I managed to get brewspy to work on an android phone. Honestly it seems a lot more trouble than it is worth, when I have lots of old phones and I can easily dedicate one to running a Tilt. I don't use temp control, just need to check the gravity and temp once a day or so. Dont need graphs, don't WANT to rely on a web connection when I am right there and the fermenter is right there but my internet can crap out at any time. I don't want to go through a network, I just want to use a straight peer to peer connection. And I think I am tired of fussing with the iSpindel. Seriously I have spent at least 10 hours messing with the iSpindel and realistically I can afford to spend a half hour on it. So I'm done. For some, good purchase. For me, bad purchase and waste of time I couldn't afford to waste.

In fact, I can't think of a single instance where knowing the SG of a batch was even absolutely necessary. Regardless, the wort is getting tasted, and getting transferred to fermenter, and as long as it is blooping, it stays in the fermenter. When it's done, it gets kegged or bottled. If ever a batch sucks, then it gets poured out. So far knock on wood, it's all been drinkable. So, there's that. But I think I will just keep using the TIlt. It is the least amount of hassle. I barely can find time to brew at all, let alone be a network geek or learn to write code to access bluetooth or wifi connections and data. Thanks everybody, for the replies.
 
Brewspy is only 1 spindle and costs more for additional ones right?

Ubidots, is free if its personal use. I'm running 2 using ubidots.
I only have one, and ubidots kept locking me up when I tried to set up the one and wanted 3 settings.
OP looks like he had issues he couldn't resolve. Yep, it is pretty easy to draw a sample to check, but I'm just as interested in temperature as I ferment in either my basement or garage. Temperature doesn't bloop.
 
This thing is not very straightforward, compared to the Tilt. I tried two apps suggested by the website, Ubidots and Bierbot Bricks, no success so far. I messed with it for about 8 hours last night. The best I could do was connect directly to the device by wifi and access a screen that gives me the data.
View attachment 758189
Maybe it's just me, but all the instructions I see seem to lead nowhere useful. To access the above page, I have to manually press a reset button inside on the board. After a few minutes it shuts off and goes into automatic mode, which would be good if it would automatically DO something. Can anybody point to a tutorial that is a little easier to follow and gives me a leg up on getting this thing to work?

Sorry to hear that (I'm the guy behind BierBot Bricks). Can you explain at which things did not work out for you? The iSpindel has a very aggressive battery saving. It's possible that you simply have to wait some time for the transmission. You can speed that up by short pressing the button multiple times.

For BierBot Bricks should be as easy as

1. Getting the API key from "Bricks" page
2. Setting up the iSpindel as you would usually do and pasting the API key from above.
3. Creating a fermenter device, and drag and dropping temperature and gravity sensor onto that fermenter.

Cheers!
 
Thanks, everybody, but I tossed the ispindel. I am too busy to diddle with it when the Tilt just works.
 
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