iSpindle - DIY Electronic Hydrometer

[gezzanet]

Did you get anything out of it before you killed it? My bits are arriving but very slowly
I stuck the battery in the tube to see how it floats. I can see why they need weights to get it to 25 deg in plain water.

 

[ElChangoGuero]

well, what a freaking horrible experience with soldering, think i finished it "correctly", do not solder the temperature sensor until you are almost finished, can be a pain due to the height, next time i would probably wait on removing the LED after testing, since now i cant even tell when anything is on lol, you can still remove the LED when its all together with no problem


think the angle is still a little off

still need to program and test, has anyone flashed and got this to work successfully?

edit: was able to setup the wemos on ubidots and get data(temp, inclination, battery) only works when connected directly though to a usb on my laptop, will redo the circuit board

 

[Mikmonken]

Did you get anything out of it before you killed it? My bits are arriving but very slowly
I stuck the battery in the tube to see how it floats. I can see why they need weights to get it to 25 deg in plain water.

Yep I got it all wired up a few days ago and was waiting for the pelting. Only the switch didn't seem to work.

Connected to ubidots and it was working fine.

I agree about not removing the leds on the lipo charger as I couldn't tell if that was working unless it was plugged in and I was looking at the voltage on the website but you need to take the diode off the wemos as otherwise it can be a fire hazard.

You can see if it's working by pressing the wemos reset button as the little blue light will flash on it just below the GYU." Chip

 

[ElChangoGuero]

Yep I got it all wired up a few days ago and was waiting for the pelting. Only the switch didn't seem to work.

did you connect the orange wire like in the original german schematics? just noticed it trying to figure this out


"Eingangsdiode entfernen und verbindung (orange) an Lotpunkt, der vom USB kommt, anloten (Ruckseite)"

"Remove the input diode and connect (orange) to the solder point coming from the USB (reverse)"

Looks like there is a soldering dot at the bottom of the wemos mini?

 

[gezzanet]

Diagram not clear but says below

Battery charging module
•Battery to B + and B-
•GND -> GND
• + OUT switch to + 5V Wemos D1 mini
• + IN to USB + 5V of the Wemos D1 mini (optional)

Not sure why it's optional

 

[Mikmonken]

did you connect the orange wire like in the original german schematics? just noticed it trying to figure this out

View attachment 395227
"Eingangsdiode entfernen und verbindung (orange) an Lotpunkt, der vom USB kommt, anloten (Ruckseite)"

"Remove the input diode and connect (orange) to the solder point coming from the USB (reverse)"

Looks like there is a soldering dot at the bottom of the wemos mini?

View attachment 395228

No I didn't, but it explains how I've made a mistake, I think I've ballsed something up to do with the switch where I thought that the middle pin of the switch needed connecting to the live which I thought made no sense at the time.

 

[ElChangoGuero]

Read that the orange cable is so you can also charge your battery when you connect to the wemos directy, this thread has pretty good pictures too

http://www.hobbybrouwen.nl/forum/index.php?topic=33743.0

 

[crane]

did you connect the orange wire like in the original german schematics? just noticed it trying to figure this out

View attachment 395227
"Eingangsdiode entfernen und verbindung (orange) an Lotpunkt, der vom USB kommt, anloten (Ruckseite)"

"Remove the input diode and connect (orange) to the solder point coming from the USB (reverse)"

Looks like there is a soldering dot at the bottom of the wemos mini?

View attachment 395228

That's not a soldering dot. It's called a fiducial. There is another one on the upper right corner. These are used as optical alignment identifiers for the pic and place machines to orient themselves to the board for proper component placement. The copper pad won't be connected to anything electrically.

 

[jwilli54]

I had the same sizing issue a few others had with the XL PET tube I ordered off eBay. I slimmed down the design on thingiverse and uploaded the new model here: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2231986

This is the tube that I ordered off eBay.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/XXLBIG-PET-...1dcdcc7&pid=100011&rk=1&rkt=5&sd=142295113730

 

[Mikmonken]

If you can find this design it fits perfectly View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1491504044.200848.jpg

 

[Bigdaddyale]

No I didn't, but it explains how I've made a mistake, I think I've ballsed something up to do with the switch where I thought that the middle pin of the switch needed connecting to the live which I thought made no sense at the time.

what is the proper way to connect the switch?

I connected my switch with power to the center, charger out + to the left and nothing on the right.

 

[Mikmonken]

GromitDJ has been helping me a lot with this, and i hope to have a board developed soon.

You're right the connection fro the middle to the top switch plug is and it shouldn't be connected to anything, i think effectively the switch toggles whether the battery is charging or powering

 

[Bigdaddyale]

How do you flash the D1 after everything is assembled? I plug in the USB port with the charger switch in the off position and nothing happens with the D1

 

[Mikmonken]

How do you flash the D1 after everything is assembled? I plug in the USB port with the charger switch in the off position and nothing happens with the D1

The wemos needs both power and a data connection to be flashed. It sounds like you're not getting power to it.

If you press the reset button on the wemos does it flash blue briefly?

If not try switching it the other way. As I mentioned I messed my switch up to start so had to have the power attached to the lipo charger to get mine flashed.

 

[Bigdaddyale]

This is how I flashed the D1. Now what?

 

[ElChangoGuero]

This is how I flashed the D1. Now what?

Firmware Release flash

-Install Wemos driver
-Download and start NodeMCU-Flasher
-Download newest release of / bin folder
-On the "Config Tab" select the .bin file by clicking on the gear (i only edited the first line myself)
-On the "Operations Tab" a COM Port to the Wemos should show if the drivers are installed correctly
-Click on "Flash" and you will see the progress bar start moving

Ubidots

To start, you must create a free account at Ubidots.com
Next, you must go to the menu "API Credentials" to get a Token to be used by the iSpindle to authorize writing data to the Ubidots account. Write this down.

Portal

Then just follow the portal instructions here

After you setup everything you should see your iSpindel on the "Devices" tab on the Ubidots website, hope this helps

 

[observing]

Just finished building an iSpindel and it seems to work with Ubidots, but I haven't tried to calibrate it yet. I used the drawer design "Drawer-combo.stl," which I had to drastically dremel to fit in Learning Resources' six-pack of Jumbo Test Tubes (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004ALRJKE/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20). It looks like the inner diameter of the test tube is slightly over 35 mm, but I managed to squeeze it all in. I removed the diode from the Wemos D1 and the LED from the GY-521. I didn't, however, connect the orange wire from IN+ of the TP4056 to the Wemos (I still don't understand why the connection is necessary). When I added about 28 grams of weights to the side of the drawer opposite the battery, I was able to get a consistent tilt angle of 4.5 degrees in water. The overall weight of my iSpindel is 176.5 grams. Thanks to everyone in this thread for sharing their information and experiences.

 

[rocketpants]

This thread has been a great help in getting things up and running. At the moment I have the circuit built and connected through to ubidots and now have to print the sled to get it in the tube. It all appears to be working correctly so far.

However I've done a few things differently to the original design.

1. I haven't flashed the wemos. What is the purpose of flashing? Is it just for new standard wemos firmware or is it a specific ispindel firmware?

2. I am using a wemos battery shield rather than the basic TP 4056 (https://www.wemos.cc/product/battery-shield.html). This looked like it required less work than the TP 4056. I am able to (according to the docs) charge the battery at the same time as running the wemos using this shield. I guess this removes the need to remove the diode on the wemos itself or include the toggle switch. Has anyone had experience with this shield or does my reasoning appear correct?

3. The GYU led is still connected. Is the purpose of removing this purely to increase battery life?

Thanks

 

[Bigdaddyale]

This thread has been a great help in getting things up and running. At the moment I have the circuit built and connected through to ubidots and now have to print the sled to get it in the tube. It all appears to be working correctly so far.

However I've done a few things differently to the original design.

1. I haven't flashed the wemos. What is the purpose of flashing? Is it just for new standard wemos firmware or is it a specific ispindel firmware?

2. I am using a wemos battery shield rather than the basic TP 4056 (https://www.wemos.cc/product/battery-shield.html). This looked like it required less work than the TP 4056. I am able to (according to the docs) charge the battery at the same time as running the wemos using this shield. I guess this removes the need to remove the diode on the wemos itself or include the toggle switch. Has anyone had experience with this shield or does my reasoning appear correct?

3. The GYU led is still connected. Is the purpose of removing this purely to increase battery life?

Thanks

Not sure it will fit in the tube with the shield.The TP 4056 is on the opposite side of the D1 and the MPU-6050 is stacked on top of the D1

 

[rocketpants]

Not sure it will fit in the tube with the shield.The TP 4056 is on the opposite side of the D1 and the MPU-6050 is stacked on top of the D1

I'm too not worried about that. The shield largely replaces the protoboard so I am not gaining much size.

 

[-Snow-]

I had the same sizing issue a few others had with the XL PET tube I ordered off eBay. I slimmed down the design on thingiverse and uploaded the new model here: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2231986

This is the tube that I ordered off eBay.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/XXLBIG-PET-...1dcdcc7&pid=100011&rk=1&rkt=5&sd=142295113730

Awesome thanks!

I'm having one made and have the tube ordered. Being Easter everything is taking some extra time, not to mention the extra time to get the stuff to Australia.

 

[-Snow-]

I had the same sizing issue a few others had with the XL PET tube I ordered off eBay. I slimmed down the design on thingiverse and uploaded the new model here: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2231986

I forgot to mention that the iSpindel Github has been updated and your new drawer has been included in the list; drawer-36x133-thing2231986.stl

 

[Klooid]

Hi All,
I know this may come over as a bit cheeky, but I would like to ask if anyone has an Eagle CAD "SCH" and "BRD" files for a PCB (31mm wide x 33mm long) to fit the iSpindel Drawer and is happy to share these with us please?

Thanks.

 

[jehochanan]

Firmware Release flash

-Install Wemos driver
-Download and start NodeMCU-Flasher
-Download newest release of / bin folder
-On the "Config Tab" select the .bin file by clicking on the gear (i only edited the first line myself)
-On the "Operations Tab" a COM Port to the Wemos should show if the drivers are installed correctly
-Click on "Flash" and you will see the progress bar start moving

Hi all, can you please help me? I do it exactly like this, but I am not able to flash wemos. Flasher recognizes the port, wemos starts to blink faster but there is no progress. After half hour I turn it off. No MAC appeared. I tried it on several PCs with various windows. I installed driver etc. I can see wemos as wifi point in PC so it seems to be ok.Do you know where is the problem? I am a layman ...

 

[jehochanan]

Hi All, I have a problem with flashig wemos with esp8266flasher. I installed driver and did all steps. Flasher recognized port, wemos started to blink faster but then no progress appeared. I turned it off after half hour. I see wemos as wifi spot so I think it is ok. Do someone know what is the problem? Is there other alternative to flash wemos (sorry I am a layman)? Thank you.

 

[Mikmonken]

Hi All,
I know this may come over as a bit cheeky, but I would like to ask if anyone has an Eagle CAD "SCH" and "BRD" files for a PCB (31mm wide x 33mm long) to fit the iSpindel Drawer and is happy to share these with us please?

Thanks.

I hope to have a 30 x 40 board towards the end of this week, I'll share the files and you can try and squash that into a 31 x 33 if you want to

 

[Klooid]

Hi Mikmonken,
Thanks in advance for the files, as I am sure that I can then modify the size to suit.

 

[Mikmonken]

Did you get anything out of it before you killed it? My bits are arriving but very slowly
I stuck the battery in the tube to see how it floats. I can see why they need weights to get it to 25 deg in plain water.

I can't find the original link that talks about the angle being between 20-25 deg. So far with 25gs of weight move managed to get it to 23View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1492413398.012585.jpg deg and trying to shift the centre of balance.

Can you post a link to the original reference?

It's all up and running which is good. On my second one I've left the led on the gyu so I can see it's powered.

 

[gezzanet]

The 25 deg I got from the hobbybrauer.de forum. Google translate lets you read the pages enough to decipher the latest discussions about ispindle GitHub.
Sorry can't be more specific as my home internet is down atm. Using the phone.

 

[Klooid]

What, I can deduct from the hobbybrauer.de forum is that you need to set the iSpindel at between 20-25 deg at 0 Plato to perform / allow the calibration test to be set up properly?

I trust others will agree that my interpretation of this from the hobbybrauer.de forum is correct?