iSpindle - DIY Electronic Hydrometer

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Hello!

If i want to print a pcb, what is the latest schematic to use? I've found ver. 2.6. Is there any update regarding this part?

Thanks!
 
RodimusPrime98 said:
Hi, I posted in that Github issue you mention and at least one user thinks it is not the same issue as I am using the iSpindle 4.0 PCB and the issue you mention is related to the SMD board. Can you help me understand why you feel this may be a similar issue for the PCB board? I searched the other issues for cherryphilips designs and I don’t see a lot of issues mention for the 4.0 PCB. If it is something related to one of the daughter boards (Wemo, etc) that may be common between the two designs, please let me know and I will investigate further. Also if you know where the schematics for the 4.0 PCB and the smd board are for me to study that would also be helpful. I am tempted to build my second iSpindel to see if it is a one off build or component issue but if there is a quicker way to verify the existing build of sub components that would be greatly appreciated! Thank you!
Click to expand...

My mistake, I didn't realize that you weren't using the SMD board. I don't have any experience with the non-SMD version, but the symptoms sounded very similar to what I worked through with the SMD version. The other user is correct that the exact issues that I had with the SMD board do not apply to the non-SMD design. I don't know where to find the schematics for the boards, unfortunately, but that would be very helpful!
 
Has anyone else noticed their update interval randomly switching to 1 second between batches? I charged one of my iSpindels up a couple of weeks ago and threw it into my brew, only to discover the next day that the batt voltage had plummeted to 3.8v in a matter of a few hours! This same iSpindel had just finished a 4 week ferment of a stout and the battery never got that low. I did some investigation and noticed that the blue LED of the D1 mini was flashing every couple of seconds, and it normally only lights up when it is sending data (every 1800 seconds for me). Sure enough, Ubidots had a data point about every 2-3 seconds, which is as quickly as it could take a reading and send it. I entered config mode and the update interval was set to 1 second. I did not change this and every other setting remained unchanged. I just did the typical "that was weird" and moved on...problem solved. Then on Sunday evening when I plopped two more iSpindels into new brews I noticed that one of them was flashing the blue LED on the D1 mini as if it was doing the same thing. So I pulled it out, entered config mode, and sure enough...update interval is set to 1 second. The only thing I did to these between sessions was charge them. And only 1 of the 2 iSpindels flaked out like this, although it is the same iSpindel that did it the last time. Any clue what would cause that one setting to reset itself to 1 second?
 
smithsh said:
Has anyone else noticed their update interval randomly switching to 1 second between batches? I charged one of my iSpindels up a couple of weeks ago and threw it into my brew, only to discover the next day that the batt voltage had plummeted to 3.8v in a matter of a few hours! This same iSpindel had just finished a 4 week ferment of a stout and the battery never got that low. I did some investigation and noticed that the blue LED of the D1 mini was flashing every couple of seconds, and it normally only lights up when it is sending data (every 1800 seconds for me). Sure enough, Ubidots had a data point about every 2-3 seconds, which is as quickly as it could take a reading and send it. I entered config mode and the update interval was set to 1 second. I did not change this and every other setting remained unchanged. I just did the typical "that was weird" and moved on...problem solved. Then on Sunday evening when I plopped two more iSpindels into new brews I noticed that one of them was flashing the blue LED on the D1 mini as if it was doing the same thing. So I pulled it out, entered config mode, and sure enough...update interval is set to 1 second. The only thing I did to these between sessions was charge them. And only 1 of the 2 iSpindels flaked out like this, although it is the same iSpindel that did it the last time. Any clue what would cause that one setting to reset itself to 1 second?
Click to expand...

Yes I had the same issue but I've noticed it before I dropped the iSpindel in my brew so I could reconfigured it.
I thought that is was a coincidence.
 
I've been working on building a variation of this, similar in hardware, but integrated into my own cloud platform. Definitely following this thread, and I'll be posting my own thread once I'm finished!
 
Has anyone connected ispindle with Brewers Friend?
I have it connected to a recipe, but can't see any data. Is there also somewhere in there i can calibrate it to my hydrometer's results?
 
MT_Keg said:
I officially got mine soldered and firmware loaded. I loaded the Firmware 6.0.X but my offset calibration wouldn't "stick" after a power cycle. I downgraded to version 5.9.1 and all is well. Not sure what happened to the source code between v5 and v6. I do know that the offsets have been successfully written to the GY-521 (MPU-6050) register; if I perform the offset calibration on the version 6.0.x then upload the version 5.9.1 the offset is taken into account even after a power cycle.

For some reason when I switch from degrees C to Degrees F that change doesn't stick in v5 or v6.

Thoughts on the offset or temperature unit issues would be great!

I am going to stick with 5.9.1 for now.

Thanks for your help.

MT
Click to expand...
Firmware 6.2.0 fixed this problem.
 
DaniFilth said:
Has anyone connected ispindle with Brewers Friend?
I have it connected to a recipe, but can't see any data. Is there also somewhere in there i can calibrate it to my hydrometer's results?
Click to expand...

I'm doing it but via Fermentrack, and its pushing fine. One thing that maybe happening depending on how your pushing, BrewersFriend ignores all data pushes from your API key if your doing updates more than every 15 minutes.
 
Curious if anyone can help with this one, went back a bit in the thread but didnt see anything about it.

CherryPhillips V4, newly calibrated. Entered numbers into Fermentrack. Verified about 3-4 random gravities from 1.065 to 1.000 with my manual hydrometer to what Fermentrack was outputting and it was always within .002 or so of what the manual gave.

Put it in my next brew and all seemed to be going well, it came in about .002 lower than how i read the manual hydrometer but thats in the noise to me maybe im reading it wrong. Anyways for the first day all was going good its slowly going down, there are some bumps in the road but overall it has a downward trend so i was happy, and then randomly it got stuck at 1.032 for an entire day nearly, then dropped instantly and has been stuck at 1.013 now.

Is this the krausen causing issues with the reading? I'm fermenting in a large 15 gallon rotomold conical with 11 gallons in it so theres plenty of room for the thing to not get stuck on a side.

I'm also skeptical it dropped 50pts in 2 days, but then again i pitched heavy and have never been able to track my gravity real time so i have no reference for how fast my beers actually are fermenting.
iSpindelStuck.PNG
 

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FuzzeWuzze said:
Curious if anyone can help with this one, went back a bit in the thread but didnt see anything about it.

CherryPhillips V4, newly calibrated. Entered numbers into Fermentrack. Verified about 3-4 random gravities from 1.065 to 1.000 with my manual hydrometer to what Fermentrack was outputting and it was always within .002 or so of what the manual gave.

Put it in my next brew and all seemed to be going well, it came in about .002 lower than how i read the manual hydrometer but thats in the noise to me maybe im reading it wrong. Anyways for the first day all was going good its slowly going down, there are some bumps in the road but overall it has a downward trend so i was happy, and then randomly it got stuck at 1.032 for an entire day nearly, then dropped instantly and has been stuck at 1.013 now.

Is this the krausen causing issues with the reading? I'm fermenting in a large 15 gallon rotomold conical with 11 gallons in it so theres plenty of room for the thing to not get stuck on a side.

I'm also skeptical it dropped 50pts in 2 days, but then again i pitched heavy and have never been able to track my gravity real time so i have no reference for how fast my beers actually are fermenting.
iSpindelStuck.PNG
Click to expand...
I have used mine in a few different types of brews, but most recently in a porter (Denny's Bourbon Vanilla Imperial Porter) and that brew took 40 hours before it showed any signs of life and then dropped 50 pts in the next 48 or so. Also, with such an aggressive fermentation on a beer like this, you have a good bit of krausen and that will definitely mess with the iSpindel. Mine was all over the map during that 48 hour period until I cracked open the fermentor to take a peek and used that opportunity to stir lightly to reduce the krausen and used a turkey baster to kind of wash the iSpindel cap of krausen buildup. After that the readings were much more consistent and it followed along with hydrometer readings as expected. So I think you are just seeing the erratic behavior due to the high krausen.
In beers, I am not overly concerned with the actual gravity reading, but rather watching the trend. So maybe clean off that krausen and then just watch for it to slow down or finish. When I'm using it for meads, I'm much more interested in the actual readings, because I use those to determine when to add my 1/3 and 2/3 sugar break nutrient additions. But mead tends to ferment much more slowly and without the high krausen, so I typically get very consistent readings throughout the entire fermentation.
One other bit of info that may help...make sure your sled is VERY solid inside the tube. If it can slide back and forth in ANY direction (yes, even side to side) it will have a tremendous affect on the tilt reading. I wedge in some small pieces of foam on one side and on top so that it can't move at all in there. Otherwise, if you swirl your fermentor and knock that tube around, the sled can shift just a bit inside and cause your readings to make a step change in one direction or the other until you knock it back to where it was. Hard to explain, but I have some charts that show this and you can experiment with it by shifting it one way to take a reading in water, then shift it the other way and take a reading. I was surprised how much effect it had. You want the sled to tube interface to be exactly the same every time it takes a measurement. Only way to ensure that is to wedge it in a couple of places or use something like the sled that OpenSourceDistilling made, where you file down his tabs until you get the perfect fit. The old 3D printed sleds had the spring clips on the sides for a reason.
 
smithsh said:
I have used mine in a few different types of brews, but most recently in a porter (Denny's Bourbon Vanilla Imperial Porter) and that brew took 40 hours before it showed any signs of life and then dropped 50 pts in the next 48 or so. Also, with such an aggressive fermentation on a beer like this, you have a good bit of krausen and that will definitely mess with the iSpindel. Mine was all over the map during that 48 hour period until I cracked open the fermentor to take a peek and used that opportunity to stir lightly to reduce the krausen and used a turkey baster to kind of wash the iSpindel cap of krausen buildup. After that the readings were much more consistent and it followed along with hydrometer readings as expected. So I think you are just seeing the erratic behavior due to the high krausen.
In beers, I am not overly concerned with the actual gravity reading, but rather watching the trend. So maybe clean off that krausen and then just watch for it to slow down or finish. When I'm using it for meads, I'm much more interested in the actual readings, because I use those to determine when to add my 1/3 and 2/3 sugar break nutrient additions. But mead tends to ferment much more slowly and without the high krausen, so I typically get very consistent readings throughout the entire fermentation.
One other bit of info that may help...make sure your sled is VERY solid inside the tube. If it can slide back and forth in ANY direction (yes, even side to side) it will have a tremendous affect on the tilt reading. I wedge in some small pieces of foam on one side and on top so that it can't move at all in there. Otherwise, if you swirl your fermentor and knock that tube around, the sled can shift just a bit inside and cause your readings to make a step change in one direction or the other until you knock it back to where it was. Hard to explain, but I have some charts that show this and you can experiment with it by shifting it one way to take a reading in water, then shift it the other way and take a reading. I was surprised how much effect it had. You want the sled to tube interface to be exactly the same every time it takes a measurement. Only way to ensure that is to wedge it in a couple of places or use something like the sled that OpenSourceDistilling made, where you file down his tabs until you get the perfect fit. The old 3D printed sleds had the spring clips on the sides for a reason.
Click to expand...

Great thanks thats what i thought, i just found it very concerning that its stuck at a certain number. Even if it was screwed up by the krausen i would expect it to move even a .001 worth over a 24 hour period, being stuck at a certain value makes me thinks its stuck against a wall but even then i'd expect it to move a little from the fermentation. Also it makes no sense to go from 18 hours of 1.032 to 18+ hours now of 1.013 because of Krausen, its way too stable. I may crack it open tonight and see where the thing is, but may just not bother since its such a tight fit in my chamber i'll have to slide the fermenter out to open the lid which will just move the iSpindel anyways.

Also i am confident its in the tube very well, so much so that i cant get it out without needle nose pliers once its fully seated.
 
FuzzeWuzze said:
Great thanks thats what i thought, i just found it very concerning that its stuck at a certain number. Even if it was screwed up by the krausen i would expect it to move even a .001 worth over a 24 hour period, being stuck at a certain value makes me thinks its stuck against a wall but even then i'd expect it to move a little from the fermentation. Also it makes no sense to go from 18 hours of 1.032 to 18+ hours now of 1.013 because of Krausen, its way too stable. I may crack it open tonight and see where the thing is, but may just not bother since its such a tight fit in my chamber i'll have to slide the fermenter out to open the lid which will just move the iSpindel anyways.

Also i am confident its in the tube very well, so much so that i cant get it out without needle nose pliers once its fully seated.
Click to expand...
Silly question, but do you know for a fact that it is giving you current information? Look at the last update timestamp. I had one die in less than 24 hours because it reverted back to an update interval of 1s somehow. I agree that you should be seeing some kind of variation. Are you saying the tilt angle isn't varying by more than 0.001? Or are you talking about the SG calculation? The tilt angle will show some very minor variation from reading to reading, but that calculated SG takes quite a bit of tilt variation to move it to the next 0.001.
 
smithsh said:
Silly question, but do you know for a fact that it is giving you current information? Look at the last update timestamp. I had one die in less than 24 hours because it reverted back to an update interval of 1s somehow. I agree that you should be seeing some kind of variation. Are you saying the tilt angle isn't varying by more than 0.001? Or are you talking about the SG calculation? The tilt angle will show some very minor variation from reading to reading, but that calculated SG takes quite a bit of tilt variation to move it to the next 0.001.
Click to expand...

I assume it must be because i am getting data points logged in Fermentrack, also it just dropped again, to 1.006, so i am fairly confident its borked at some level because theres no way it went that low. I'll try to take a look tonight and see whats going on with it in the fermenter if i can.
 
Opened the fermenter up and the krausen is already gone, which is quite amazing. Problem is the tilt had no joke about an inch and a half of krausen/hops/protein crap stuck to the top of it. I wiped it off best i could without keeping the lid off long and my OG shot back up to 1.013. Still seems off but at least closer to the final gravity im expecting for this oatmeal stout. Still a bit shocked the fermentation of this S04 has powered through the 1.066 brew in such short work. This weekend i may steal a sample and see if its really done and keg it. But the other part of me says to just let it sit the normal full 2 weeks i give normal beers before i keg. We'll see. Does Brulosphy or anyone have any experiments on kegging the day(or day+1) estimated FG vs letting it sit for a few more days?
 
I finally got it all running and the data is streaming to Brew-spy. I would really like to have the data streaming to Google Sheets. Is there an intermediate device/software that can take the iSpindel info and beam it to Google Sheets?
 
Hi guys! I'm new here, but I've been brewing beer for 4 years. I assembled my first iSpindle and with the iSpindel_4.0 board from here.
I flashed the program 6.2.0 without problems. But the device freezes during calibration, the blue light was on constantly. I waited about 40 minutes, then just turned it off. After switching on, the LED flashes quickly about 2 times per second. Blinks at the same frequency as if flashing. Then I tried to clear everything according to the instructions. Cleaned and flashed programs 6.0.6, 6.1.3, again 6.2.0, all firmware are successful but after the switching On LED flashes again the same way, 2 times per second.
Maybe someone of you have encountered such a situation and can help me with this? I do not understand Arduino, I do everything according to the instructions, write to me more simply. Also I am very bad in English, I can’t read the whole forum, maybe there is already an answer there, but I can’t find it. Sorry and thanks
 
gromitdj said:
Sounds like you may be in A.P. mode. Did you try connecting to it over WiFi? It should show up as an access point with the "iSpindel" name.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the answer.
Well, I absolutely do not understand what is A.P.??? Sorry :confused:
Of course, I tried to connect to the network, and it was online, and it connected and remained on my home network until it hung up on calibration. And now Wemos does not respond to any RESET presses.
And of course, I climbed a lot here on the Internet, and I realized that I probably need some kind of program to reset the Wemos. Maybe it's help... But so far I don’t know what to do, so I'm afraid to do it ...
 
Sorry, by "A.P. mode" I mean that it is in access point mode. Which is signified by the steady blinking. When it's in that state, try connecting to it and rebooting without the calibration to see if it will start reporting.

I have not used the newer firmware that supports the calibration, so can't help much with it. Perhaps you can install an older firmware just to confirm that the hardware is working properly.
 
No no, it is not in access point mode. I wrote that it blinks much more often, not once per second as in A.P., but about 2 times per second.

gromitdj said:
Perhaps you can install an older firmware just to confirm that the hardware is working properly.
Click to expand...
I have already done this many times. Without luck...
 
You did not mention clearing the addresses...

In addition to not being familiar with the Cherry Phillip version, I'm afraid I've run out of ideas. I've built 10+ with my version and never a problem. At least that couldn't be solved by the advice I've given.
 
gromitdj said:
In addition to not being familiar with the Cherry Phillip version
Click to expand...
Yes, I probably need to switch to the version of Cherry Phillip. Before I started working with this, I did not know about him. But now, in search of my problem, I learned a lot about his project and I like it.
 
Seram said:
Hi guys! I'm new here, but I've been brewing beer for 4 years. I assembled my first iSpindle and with the iSpindel_4.0 board from here.
I flashed the program 6.2.0 without problems. But the device freezes during calibration, the blue light was on constantly. I waited about 40 minutes, then just turned it off. After switching on, the LED flashes quickly about 2 times per second. Blinks at the same frequency as if flashing. Then I tried to clear everything according to the instructions. Cleaned and flashed programs 6.0.6, 6.1.3, again 6.2.0, all firmware are successful but after the switching On LED flashes again the same way, 2 times per second.
Maybe someone of you have encountered such a situation and can help me with this? I do not understand Arduino, I do everything according to the instructions, write to me more simply. Also I am very bad in English, I can’t read the whole forum, maybe there is already an answer there, but I can’t find it. Sorry and thanks
Click to expand...
Mine did exactly this when I had a bad gyro board. If you go to the device information page, this usually shows up as reading "0.0" tilt angle. I actually had 3 bad gyro boards out of a box of 10, exhibiting the exact behavior you described. Replaced those boards and all is well now. Apparently it is a common problem.
There is something in this thread from a while back where someone posted the address of a supplier they have used and never got a bad gyro board, so you might look for that. If I was going to build 5 more of these I would buy 10 of the GY521 boards :)
 
smithsh said:
Mine did exactly this when I had a bad gyro board. If you go to the device information page, this usually shows up as reading "0.0" tilt angle. I actually had 3 bad gyro boards out of a box of 10, exhibiting the exact behavior you described. Replaced those boards and all is well now. Apparently it is a common problem.
Click to expand...

You're right, thanks.
Of the three of my collected devices, two do not show the angle, but show SG. And one shows the angle, but does not show SG. But all works correct on BrewSpy app!!! :yes:

Maybe someone will find it useful, but in one Russian forum, the guy who collected more than a dozen devices, advised me to buy modules only from LOLIN Official Store on AliExpress. There are Chinese "originals" parts :rolleyes:
 
Positronic_Matrix said:
Do you happen to have a link to the parts list that would work with your board?
Click to expand...
I just purchased all the parts from the links provided on the opensourcedistilling.com website here. I used a combination of Amazon and eBay sources, spending a total of $132 on the board and parts.

I (almost) have sufficient parts to build five units. (I need to spend an additional $12 to procure more Wemos D1 boards but left those out for now to spread the cost over time.) So the total cost to buy in with a minimum order on everything is about $144, which will build out five units.

Based on the material costs, the price of a single iSpindel is approximately $29. However, this is inflated due to multiple components that can only be ordered in quantity (e.g., resistors, switch, battery holder, rectifier). If I only had to buy the minimum amount of hardware, the total cost per unit would be approximately $23.

Note that the shipping times on some of these parts can be quite long. I ordered the parts at the end of Feb 2020, however some of the hardware will not arrive until the end Apr 2020 — two full months.

Edit: Fixed temperature-sensor price.
 
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Positronic_Matrix said:
The most expensive component is the thermometer, which accounts for approximately 20% of the cost. I’m going to see if I can source a cheaper one in the future, after I build a couple of these out.
Click to expand...
Not sure where you bought the thermometers, but those should be one of the cheapest components at a few cents each. I thought I overpaid when I had to order mine from Amazon, and those were $8 for a pack of 5.
 
smithsh said:
Not sure where you bought the thermometers, but those should be one of the cheapest components at a few cents each. I thought I overpaid when I had to order mine from Amazon, and those were $8 for a pack of 5.
Click to expand...
Mine were $14 for a pack of 2. The price is just right out.

My approach was to buy the minimum possible of the more expensive parts to get this project going ASAP and then source the full build list cheaper on a site like Digikey. The end goal being to create a more affordable list (or kit), that delivers faster.
 
Positronic_Matrix said:
Mine were $14 for a pack of 2. The price is just right out.

My approach was to buy the minimum possible of the more expensive parts to get this project going ASAP and then source the full build list cheaper on a site like Digikey. The end goal being to create a more affordable list (or kit), that delivers faster.
Click to expand...
I understand the reasoning, because I did the same for my first D1 mini. Had to pay something like $8.99 to get it from Amazon just to get one working while I waited on the $3 ones from China.
I'm just wondering what part number you are ordering for the thermometer, because that is outrageous for something so tiny with no electronics. Here is a link to the ones I got...looks like they sell in a 10 pack for $10 now...with one day shipping :) https://www.amazon.com/Eiechip-DS18...sr_1_3?keywords=ds18b20&qid=1582812087&sr=8-3
 
smithsh said:
I understand the reasoning, because I did the same for my first D1 mini. Had to pay something like $8.99 to get it from Amazon just to get one working while I waited on the $3 ones from China.
I'm just wondering what part number you are ordering for the thermometer, because that is outrageous for something so tiny with no electronics. Here is a link to the ones I got...looks like they sell in a 10 pack for $10 now...with one day shipping :) https://www.amazon.com/Eiechip-DS18...sr_1_3?keywords=ds18b20&qid=1582812087&sr=8-3
Click to expand...
Oh my. I looked up my order and it’s actually 10 pieces of DS18B20 for $14. So I bought 20 of them thinking it was two. Thus their price is $1.40 apiece. I have thermometers, people. I shall measure everything.

I updated my predicted cost per unit in the post above to reflect the lower price of the temperature sensor. It’s now ($23 min, $29 max, $144 total initial outlay).
 
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Finally got around to building 3 last night using the cherry Phillip 4.0 board. I Couldn’t get the battery conversion factor dialed in and that’s when I realized I used 220 ohm resistors instead of 220 kohm resistors guess I didn’t notice the k. Hopefully I didn’t do any damage. I ordered some 220 kohm from mason when they get delivered I’ll heat up the old ones and pop them off. How likely did I do any damage. They seemed fine just read a higher than actual battery voltage even with the max conversion factor set. I’ll just not turn them on again until I get the right part.
IMG_3485.JPG
 

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