Thanks. I ended up changing the formula and putting the Ispindel in the fermenter. I now see that there has been no activity for 2 hours. So the reception must be difficult inside the SS fermenter and inside the wine fridge. I tested it last night in the same location but I guess it is different full of wort. Any way to boost the signal without being able to touch the unit? I can't move my router.
iSpindle - DIY Electronic Hydrometer
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Have any of you guys connected your iSpindel to BrewersFriend? I use BrewSpy now which works great, any advantages with BrewersFriend?
DuncB
Well-Known Member
Yes but you'd need a WiFi booster plug or make a relay as per Martin ger using a D1 mini.
I have tried Brewers friend and Brewfather. I cannot get either to work. I have tried looking at the formula's and did the needed changes as described on the Youtube channel I found. I keep getting the same thing, a reading of 1.004. It is frustrating as hell and I am ready to just throw the darn thing out. I have had my wife look at it, since she is much better with technology stuff, and she cannot get it to work either. It is now collecting dust in the bottom of my box of stuff I use during my brew day. I am sure, for those who can get it to work, it is awesome. But, for me, I just cannot get it going.
NSMikeD
Well-Known Member
I had the same problem. I spent a year troubleshooting, and each time, it appeared promising but failed me on brew day (on brew father). BrewFather would recognize the iSpindle but not take readings when I brewed. I eventually decided to cut my losses and get a Tilt, which, for me, was a pleasant plug-and-play experience. I still have the spindle and harbor unrealistic dreams that I'll one day figure it out and have two brews in fermenters at the same time. The smart move would be to donate the iSpindle here, let someone else figure it out and not let it collect any more dust.
Thanks. I will check it out for future brews as the Ispindel is already stuck inside this ferment. Or get a Tilt if the rabbit hole seems too daunting!
I have both the Ispindle and a Plaato airlock and I cannot seem to get either to work. So, in my mind, it is user error. I am going to keep messing with it though. Thanks for the input, I have thought of putting it for sale for what I bought it for, but still think I can do it. LOL
You guys followed all steps to get it to connect to your home network and were able to get it to calibrate? I first used the Rapt Pill, which died on me, and switched to the iSpindel and it has worked flawlessly since. Did you try brewspy or any other apps?
I have tried BrewSpy and Brewfather. It seems to connect, but the reading never comes off 1.004. The temp goes up and down so I think it is working. Who knows, I am not a very technical person
With Brewfather, at least, this indicates that you've set the iSpindel to report in SG. Brewfather expects it to report in Plato.
I tried changing it in the settings of the Ispindel and it did nothing, same results. I am going to try again next brew.
You can test it out prior to brew day, you just need some sugar and water..same as when you calibrated it after building.
joshbuhl
Active Member
If you keep getting 1.004 in BF then this is because your iSpindel is reporting SG, but Brewfather expects °Plato by default. You have to add 'SG' in the name of the device in the iSpindel config, e.g. 'iSpindel_SG'. Then BF knows the device reports SG.
joshbuhl
Active Member
Hi. If you're getting only 1.004 in Brewfather, the your iSpindel is calibrated to report SG, while Bf expects °Plato. You just need to add 'SG' to the name of the deviceein the iSpindel config so BF knows thät the device reports SG e.g. 'iSpindel_SG'
joshbuhl
Active Member
See my other replies above.
joshbuhl
Active Member
What exactly, did you change?
joshbuhl
Active Member
One thing you should do is use tilt^3 instead of tilt*tilt*tilt because you only have a limited number of characters for the formula.
For ubidots, you add one widget that just reports the value from the iSpindel as is (either SG or °Plato, whichever the iSpindel is reporting). For the other, use a 'synthetic varible' and enter an appropriate formula, either
°P = 260.4 - 260.5/SG (if the i&pindel reports SG) or
SG = 260.4/(260.4 - °Plato)
If the iSpindel reports °P.
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NSMikeD
Well-Known Member
thanks. Not the issue with mine.
joshbuhl
Active Member
NSMikeD
Well-Known Member
100% sure. Been through a long list of troubleshooting. SG/Plato issue was one of the first things I looked into. I tried different decimal lengths, retaliated a dozen times, and so forth. I don't stress out about numbers, efficiency, etc. Out of curiosity, I picked up a Tilt, and it was more like plug-and-play. Based solely on my experience, the Tilt app makes the data flow, I think because it is just better at communicating with its own device so that once on my phone, the data can get to brewfather reliably.
Once you close the lid on the fermentor, it becomes much harder to trouble shoot the connection.
Per instructions I added SG to the name in parenthesis, I changed it back to see if that might be the issue. It wasn't
DuncB
Well-Known Member
Did you have it like this
iSpindel_SG
Note the underscore between iSpindel and SG
iSpindel_SG
Note the underscore between iSpindel and SG
No, Ispindel {sg} Actually it was my name then [sg] I think.
joshbuhl
Active Member
I just use ispindel_SG (no parentheses or braces capital letters SG) and it works.
Thank you. I will check it all out when I can fish the Ispindel out of the unitank in a few months!
I will give that a try. Seems I remember a Youtube vid saying to use the quotes. Who knows, but I am willing to try anything at this point Thank for the info
I opened an enhancement request so that the "SG" setting can be changed in brewfather instead of by the device name.
https://gitlab.com/warpkode/public/brewfather/-/issues/1483
https://gitlab.com/warpkode/public/brewfather/-/issues/1483
looking for validation here. Electronics and math are my Krptonite
Ispindel will send the first readings but nothing after that. Suspect the diode(?) maybe resistors
as mounted on the board - Resistance on the diode was going + left to - right 1.076k, going - left to + right 8.47k. If I do the diode test on my MM its come back OL both directions.
+ DO to - RST = 8.54k
- DO to + RST = 1.92k
I measured across all the resistors also if we need those readings
Also I noticed the wemos still has the "SL" diode on it. It's been charged numerous times without incident, do I need to work about it.
I have pix if that helps
Thanks
Ispindel will send the first readings but nothing after that. Suspect the diode(?) maybe resistors
as mounted on the board - Resistance on the diode was going + left to - right 1.076k, going - left to + right 8.47k. If I do the diode test on my MM its come back OL both directions.
+ DO to - RST = 8.54k
- DO to + RST = 1.92k
I measured across all the resistors also if we need those readings
Also I noticed the wemos still has the "SL" diode on it. It's been charged numerous times without incident, do I need to work about it.
I have pix if that helps
Thanks
DuncB
Well-Known Member
Picture would help me.
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You have a problem with the diode/resistor between D0 and RST. It will not wake up ofter the first run if there is an issue here.
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Just remove the battery when connecting to the esp usb and you should be fine (remove the risk). You only need to replace the diode och check the connections (could be bad solder as well)
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Check these points these are general limitations for the esp8266
- Don’t use space in your wifi SSID or wifi password
- Only supports 2.4Ghz bands, channels must be 1-13, other channels are not supported (In 802.11 b/g/n modes)
- Channels between 20-25 Mhz bands
- SSID must be visible (hidden SSID dont work)
replaced the diode zero change, moving on to the ressistors
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Replacing the other resistors would not have any effect. Did you check that there is a connection between the diode pins and the esp pins? Could be a broken trace on the pcb as well. Could also be a faulty esp....
DuncB
Well-Known Member
Does brewpiless forward to the internet? I thought it was just an access point inside your network?
