iSpindle - DIY Electronic Hydrometer

[gromitdj]

Thanks again gromitdj, may be a pain and ask how they are stuck on with?

Not a pain at all. They come with an adhesive already. Peel and stick.

I have a bunch of extra. If you are in the U.S. I can send you some for the price of a USPS envelope if you'd like to PM me.

Edit: It may be close to the same price as the Amazon link, if you're a Prime member...

 

[private4587]

Thanks for your kind off gromitdj but i live in the UK

 

[day_trippr]

I'm sure sticky wheel weights are used in the UK - some rims can't use clip-ons.
Go to a tire store with a work bay and I bet they'll give you a handful...

Cheers!

 

[gromitdj]

Yeah, I'm fairly certain I got the idea for the wheel weights from @Mikmonken and he is based in the U.K. as well.

 

[private4587]

hi everyone hope this is the correct place to post this, I am very interested in using the software Brewfather and its integration with ispindel. My question is I like the look of this but wonder if my setup is too simple for the likes of this. I have a brew fridge where the heat and cooling is controlled via a STC -1000, at the moment the probe is against the fermenter which is fine. When I eventually build my ispindel this would show both beer temp and gravity. Then if the temp probe was free air in fridge how could I display all temps in this programme and also could it be ran from rasp pi

 

[Kiernan]

Does anyone know where i can find most of these parts that offer shipping to Canada?
Especially having trouble finding the Plastic Cylinder

 

[private4587]

Does anyone know where i can find most of these parts that offer shipping to Canada?
Especially having trouble finding the Plastic Cylinder

I have just purchased this item from uk eBay (
132379354252) it states he posts to Canada

 

[Bane]

Is the iSpindel charging circuit supposed to automatically stop charging? I bought 4 pre built spindles from a guy on e-bay and one of them had the battery explode and start on fire. It reminds me of old fast chargers that did not automatically turn off, very thankful for fire detectors for sure.

 

[gromitdj]

They should. At least all of mine do.

Glad everything is alright for you!

I hope this was not built off of my (and mikmonken's) PCB design. If it was, it's the first time I am hearing of such an incident.

 

[Bane]

Since I bought them off of ebay. I am not sure. I'll look at this thread some more and see if I can determine that based upon the parts used.

 

[LBussy]

Take/post pics?

 

[day_trippr]

Using a primary cell instead of a rechargeable?

 

[private4587]

if using a wireless charger would the same happen?

 

[LBussy]

Rechargeable batteries are notorious. That’s why you can no longer fly with them in checked baggage. I mean there’s probably billions of them in the world that don’t spontaneously catch fire, but some do. So, I’d not panic too much, but let’s gather what info we can.

 

[Bane]

Rechargeable batteries are notorious. That’s why you can no longer fly with them in checked baggage. I mean there’s probably billions of them in the world that don’t spontaneously catch fire, but some do. So, I’d not panic too much, but let’s gather what info we can.

Here's a couple of pics of one that seems to be fine.

View media item 70567View media item 70566

 

[gromitdj]

Do you have a picture of the Wemos? Was the Wemos plugged into USB when it caught fire? Can you verify that the necessary diode was removed from the Wemos?

Edit: It looks like they removed the LED from the Gyro, so I'm not sure they wouldn't have removed the Diode from the Wemos, but I've forgotten before...

 

[Open Source Distilling]

Hi Everyone! I'm doing a youtube video series on the iSpindel. I've gotten the PCB unboxing, assembly, and firmware flashing done so far. Next, I'll be doing a video on the different calibration methods and have completed a temp correct specific gravity reading formula. Hopefully, these vids can help some of you out Let me know what you think.

 

[Meza]

Hi Everyone! I'm doing a youtube video series on the iSpindel. I've gotten the PCB unboxing, assembly, and firmware flashing done so far. Next, I'll be doing a video on the different calibration methods and have completed a temp correct specific gravity reading formula. Hopefully, these vids can help some of you out Let me know what you think.

Looking forward to a simple calibration tutorial. Bit flummoxed with how to do it!

 

[Open Source Distilling]

Looking forward to a simple calibration tutorial. Bit flummoxed with how to do it!

It's coming! I'll be covering how to calibrate the voltage of the battery, how to offset calibrate, how to do the quick method of calibration, and how to take multiple readings through fermentation for calibration as well. I will eventually compare the quick and long methods. I've also got together a temp correction specific gravity formula that I want to try as well. Thanks for watching.

 

[energee]

OK with a little (read a lot) of help from GromitDJ I've pulled together a first bash of the board design, all the files are here hopefully that link works, the board is 30mmx40mm and should slide in nicely to the sled, and the switches should work too (unlike the shoddy soldering on the board I'm currently using.

I've ordered a few board from pcbs.io and if it all works out I'll drop a link to the shared board.

comments suggestions appreciated.

Cheers

View attachment 397041

Hi Mikmonken,

Thank you for sharing the schematic with us, which is very much appreciated.

Cheers.

Mikmonken/Klooid: If you see this, wanted to get those eagle files if available!

 

[Naesstrom]

So after telling my local brew club about my iSpindle I started making a couple for members that wanted but having problems with 0º Tilt with a few of them!
I've checked the voltage on the gyro an that's fine, also done a "beep test" with my multimeter between D4 --> SCL and D3 --> SDA and there is contact!

Is there anything else I can check before ordering new gyros and try to replace them?

using cherryphillips v4 pcb

 

[gromitdj]

The Gyros can be spotty. I resorted to testing them before soldering in place.

 

[Naesstrom]

The Gyros can be spotty. I resorted to testing them before soldering in place.

Thanks, I have some pogo pins so I'll make some test setup then for the remaining, just hope I can remove the old ones!

 

[DJ_L3ThAL]

Hi all,

Have two iSpindels now the first setup without a hitch and is reading into my Brewfather. The second is randomly rebooting all of the time, not letting me sit on the Information page of the config menu, but most of the time rebooting before I can even connect to the config menu via wifi. I have retrieved the attached log and tried both reading the log when powered via battery and with battery removed and powered via 2A micro USB into the battery board and one micro USB into my computer. Any ideas?

 

[LBussy]

Have two iSpindels now the first setup without a hitch and is reading into my Brewfather. The second is randomly rebooting all of the time, not letting me sit on the Information page of the config menu, but most of the time rebooting before I can even connect to the config menu via wifi. I have retrieved the attached log and tried both reading the log when powered via battery and with battery removed and powered via 2A micro USB into the battery board and one micro USB into my computer. Any ideas?

Well, that's a crash for sure. You have the latest Firmware which I am using in the devices right here next to me, so I'd guess the code is not bad doing such a simple task. I'd recommend erasing the chip (different process depending on how you are flashing them) and reflash and try again. Definitely erase flash, not just re-flash the firmware. If you only do the firmware it does not erase all of the data areas.

 

[BreeBrew]

Hi all,

Have two iSpindels now the first setup without a hitch and is reading into my Brewfather. The second is randomly rebooting all of the time, not letting me sit on the Information page of the config menu, but most of the time rebooting before I can even connect to the config menu via wifi. I have retrieved the attached log and tried both reading the log when powered via battery and with battery removed and powered via 2A micro USB into the battery board and one micro USB into my computer. Any ideas?

Well, that's a crash for sure. You have the latest Firmware which I am using in the devices right here next to me, so I'd guess the code is not bad doing such a simple task. I'd recommend erasing the chip (different process depending on how you are flashing them) and reflash and try again. Definitely erase flash, not just re-flash the firmware. If you only do the firmware it does not erase all of the data areas.

And here you can find how to do that:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/forum/...tronic-hydrometer.598187/page-19#post-8366882

 

[gromitdj]

And here you can find how to do that:

Funny, I was watching a YouTube video a couple of weeks ago and the YouTuber used that as an example of how to clear the EEPROM and gave no credit to me, HBT, or anyone else.

I mean, I don't contribute much here. It'd be nice to get a "good boy" now and then.

 

[LBussy]

 

[DJ_L3ThAL]

Well, that's a crash for sure. You have the latest Firmware which I am using in the devices right here next to me, so I'd guess the code is not bad doing such a simple task. I'd recommend erasing the chip (different process depending on how you are flashing them) and reflash and try again. Definitely erase flash, not just re-flash the firmware. If you only do the firmware it does not erase all of the data areas.

And here you can find how to do that:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/forum/...tronic-hydrometer.598187/page-19#post-8366882

Thank you! I spent a while this morning trying to setup python etc to complete this erase without luck and this method was a whole lot more simple.

Now it was a little bit more stable since performing the erase and re-flash at first but was still crashing. But now (after a few attempts at having a solid connection on the "Information" page staying connected) it is only reaching the config menu every 20+ attempts and does not stay on there long before crashing.

I can't understand how software could be such an intermittent fault? Is the optimal way of running the unit to view the log in PuTTY to have a 2A microUSB plug in the battery charge port (battery removed and switch in OFF position) and a microUSB plug in the Wemos into the PC?

Also are there any hardware checks I can do to confirm no hardware faults? ie. resistance across certain pins, continuity (or none) across certain pins, voltage at certain pins when running etc?

 

[LBussy]

Have you tried with a different client device? With the ESP8266 libs I find it's most effective to connect to the config portal with a phone.