iSpindle - DIY Electronic Hydrometer

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I am going to be moving away from Ubidots. In the near future they are going to be deprecating Ubidots for Education. This is/was their free version that allowed you to download the data. The future version of the free account will not let you download the data. In fact, on my last ferment I wasn't able to download the data from the Ubidots for Education account. I will likely just use my iSpindel connected to fermentrack and BrewPi Remix.

If you're not interested in downloading the data, Ubidots does have a nice graphical interface to view the data, however.
 
gromitdj said:
I am going to be moving away from Ubidots. In the near future they are going to be deprecating Ubidots for Education. This is/was their free version that allowed you to download the data. The future version of the free account will not let you download the data. In fact, on my last ferment I wasn't able to download the data from the Ubidots for Education account. I will likely just use my iSpindel connected to fermentrack and BrewPi Remix.

If you're not interested in downloading the data, Ubidots does have a nice graphical interface to view the data, however.
Click to expand...
Ok so I don’t see it in craftbeerpi. Guess I need to try it in fermentrack
 
tieflyer said:
Well I get ubidots to recognize it, but as soon as I turn off ispindel it loses config. Should it?
Click to expand...

No, you should just need the turn the iSpindel on, it should flash the LED several times, then not flash again until it is due to transmit its regular batch of data.

I had one incident in the middle of my last brew, where it suddenly stopped sending data. I eventually got it going by changing the reporting period, then changing it back to my default of 15minutes.
 
ok, so what do I do now. what I have done is create ubidots account, turn on iSpindel and it blinks and then I click on my network and select Ispindel, it then allows me to access config. I put in network, password for network, change temp to f and time to 30 seconds and put in ubidots token and save. I then wait, it says it could not connect and then reconnects to my network. I see it in ubidots so I then turn off iSpindel and wait a minute or two and turn it on and it is blinking once a second or so. if I look at my network settings iSpindel shows up as a network to connect to again.
guess I will try it again using fementrack and see what happens. what is the setting for fermentrack instead of ubidots?
 
thanks clients
clientsoup said:
This is mentioned in the iSpindel flashing video. He references this post earlier in this thread about the issue: iSpindle - DIY Electronic Hydrometer

Looks like others have seen the same issue but it's fixable
Click to expand...
great, but im kind of dumb, can you tell me what to do. I just turned it on, selected the iSpendel network and did config it came back with could not connect and i clicked on check it in 10 seconds tab and it doesn't connect.
 
I just did a factory reset on mine. This is *exactly* what I did (note I'm not doing ubidots here, talkin' more specifically about saving the config..)
  1. Turned it on, blue light blinking once every second
  2. Connected to iSpindel network, then clicked "configuration"
  3. Set Wifi SSID and password, changed temp from C to F (I didn't touch the "service type" or token fields at this point)
  4. Clicked "save", waited 10-15 seconds
  5. iSpindel then rebooted on its own, blue light no longer flashing every second
  6. Pressed the reset button twice, sorry three times, with maybe about 0.5 seconds between each push
  7. Light once again blinking every second
  8. Connected to iSpindel network, then clicked "configuration"
  9. Observed the wifi settings, and temp unit still set to Fahrenheit
Are you seeing different behaviour?
 
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Hmm, you mentioned your seeing "could not connect" -- if you go to the config, do you see that the temp was still set to F, or did it reset back to C?
 
clientsoup said:
Hmm, you mentioned your seeing "could not connect" -- if you go to the config, do you see that the temp was still set to F, or did it reset back to C?
Click to expand...
C. It loses everything I put in, network password and f. Not sure if ubidots was in there to start with but no token there either.
 
ok, i did factory reset and then put in config of network, password and f and hit enter. it came back with could not reconnect and kicked me back to my network. tried http://192.168.4.1/ and cannot connect
 
clientsoup said:
This is mentioned in the iSpindel flashing video. He references this post earlier in this thread about the issue: iSpindle - DIY Electronic Hydrometer

Looks like others have seen the same issue but it's fixable
Click to expand...
is this way you meant?
1596226767948.png
1596226767948.png
 
tieflyer said:
this is what i get after save
Click to expand...

To my understanding (from my experience) when you save, the device restarts therefore, kicking the device you are browsing from off its network. What were you expecting to happen after this point? It should start reporting to Ubidots if that is what you set up.

Perhaps you can enter the configuration page and take a screen shot of your configuration. Be sure to block out any unique values.
 
That is the way that my iSpindel behaves. The thing is, you must be certain you get all of the settings in the configuration correct, before clicking save.
 
I purchased a pre-built ispindel, successfully (so I thought) calibrated and connected to ubidots.

So, the problem: even when I set the reporting period to 30 seconds, I cannot get the device to send more than the first data point from when it was turned on. I have changed the reporting period from 30 to 1500 in case that might be the issue, no change in results. I have reset the API key, re-input my network, etc. Nothing.

Has anyone else had this experience or might be able to offer some advice?

Cheers!
 
Aktormedic said:
I purchased a pre-built ispindel, successfully (so I thought) calibrated and connected to ubidots.

So, the problem: even when I set the reporting period to 30 seconds, I cannot get the device to send more than the first data point from when it was turned on. I have changed the reporting period from 30 to 1500 in case that might be the issue, no change in results. I have reset the API key, re-input my network, etc. Nothing.

Has anyone else had this experience or might be able to offer some advice?

Cheers!
Click to expand...

I've run in to this issue. The couple of time this has happened I have had to follow the steps in this post: iSpindle - DIY Electronic Hydrometer Then reflash the latest version of the firmware. I cannot give you a 100% guarantee it will fix your issue. But it has worked for me.
 
Aktormedic said:
I purchased a pre-built ispindel, successfully (so I thought) calibrated and connected to ubidots.

So, the problem: even when I set the reporting period to 30 seconds, I cannot get the device to send more than the first data point from when it was turned on. I have changed the reporting period from 30 to 1500 in case that might be the issue, no change in results. I have reset the API key, re-input my network, etc. Nothing.

Has anyone else had this experience or might be able to offer some advice?

Cheers!
Click to expand...
Without erasing and reflashing I'm not aware of anything else. Just make sure you have a note of your calibration equation BEFORE you erase! I'd recommend that you use BrewFlasher to performt the erase and reflash although it can be performed with the expressif toolset.

Good luck!
 
Aktormedic said:
I purchased a pre-built ispindel, successfully (so I thought) calibrated and connected to ubidots.

So, the problem: even when I set the reporting period to 30 seconds, I cannot get the device to send more than the first data point from when it was turned on. I have changed the reporting period from 30 to 1500 in case that might be the issue, no change in results. I have reset the API key, re-input my network, etc. Nothing.

Has anyone else had this experience or might be able to offer some advice?

Cheers!
Click to expand...
I had this problem. I was using fermentrack and not udibots however. For me it wasn’t software as some have alluded to but I had cheap clones of D1 minis off amazon and they have notorious well documented issues waking from deep sleep. No matter what I did with diodes resistors direct D0 to reset nothing works. I tried removing the board and repurposing as a simple temp sensor for home autmomation. Still won’t wake from sleep with my custom code so it’s a board issue with some d1 mini clones. I was able to use the bum boards with some other diy projects that don’t require batteries or sleeping but I purchased official lolin d1 minis from Ali express and just built a unit tonight and First one I built with the official boards worked perfectly. Considering I build 4 bad devices in a row with the defunct clone d1 minis I’m pretty ecstatic I solved my issue. I am guessing you aren’t ever waking again from deep sleep which explains why it only sends the first data point and never another...
 
I tried searching but I can’t find an example this drastic. I through my ispindel in yesterday’s brew so it’s been floating for about 24 hours beer is chugging away and is at high Kreusen as far as calibration I took a plain water reading of 25 degrees and then my sg of my wort 1.067 and am just using linear fromula. I feel like the graph starts out making sense then just drops off here. It’s only been fermenting a day it’s still going hard there’s no way it’s that low... thoughts? Does kreusen affect it that much?? I popped the lid to look it doesnt seem hung up on the edge or anything it’s floating in the middle surrounded in
EB16C8D4-C4AD-46FD-8363-3799E414F128.png
 
I sanatized some tongs and fished it out cause I was worried maybe it’s leaking slowly and that’s why it’s giving weird tilts. Well not that wasn’t the case but this thing had huge globs of yeast and kreusen all over the cal globbed on and I believe that was significantly changing my reading. I washed it off plopped it back in and the next reading was 1.012 sup up quite a bit from the 0.980 it got to before cleaning it off. If this new cleaned off tilts anywhere close to accurate I suppose it’s probably close to being done. The only post I was able to find anywhere close to this problem the poster was ironically fermenting with s-04 as well and said hug globs were in his ispindel.
 
Update it stopped reporting and last battery voltage reports over 5v i got suspicious opened it up tube was filling with wort. It wasnt completely full and still was up top so I cleaned it up and rubbed with electronics with rubbing alcohol it seems okay Launched config mode and all sensors are reporting correctly. I’m scared to launch again these caps seem t flimsy for the job. Has anyone found a good gasket and a good cap replacement as i have broken one and don't trust these caps in general now. Seems like a flimsy cap to trust all these electronics inside to with no gasket.
 
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Well I found a neoprene washer at ace hardware. Part #2863C 69 cents a piece that fits perfectly in the lid of the xl pelting. I’ll let you all know if it keeps leaks at bay. Gives me warmer fuzzies that it won’t happen again.

edit. This doesn’t sit In The right groove to seal the bottle. I’ll have to find an O ring that fits the groove
 

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bscuderi said:
Well I found a neoprene washer at ace hardware. Part #2863C 69 cents a piece that fits perfectly in the lid of the xl pelting. I’ll let you all know if it keeps leaks at bay. Gives me warmer fuzzies that it won’t happen again.
Click to expand...
Doesn't the top of the petling sit in the groove between the threads and that outer ring? I think an o-ring to sit in that space would be a better bet.
 
rsquared said:
Doesn't the top of the petling sit in the groove between the threads and that outer ring? I think an o-ring to sit in that space would be a better bet.
Click to expand...
Shoot you are right. I saw scratches on top of the cap were perfectly round that I thought was the lip of the bottle as it was round but it was my pcb sticking out just enough to scratch a ring as it screwed on. Crap. Well back to the drawing board lol.
 
bscuderi said:
Shoot you are right. I saw scratches on top of the cap were perfectly round that I thought was the lip of the bottle as it was round but it was my pcb sticking out just enough to scratch a ring as it screwed on. Crap. Well back to the drawing board lol.
Click to expand...
Yeah, I had a board scraping the top on one as well, and also had a little leaking... I haven't retested extensively yet, but after getting the board to sit a little better I had no leaking when I left it floating in a bucket of water for 2 hours.
 
rsquared said:
Yeah, I had a board scraping the top on one as well, and also had a little leaking... I haven't retested extensively yet, but after getting the board to sit a little better I had no leaking when I left it floating in a bucket of water for 2 hours.
Click to expand...
I tried an o ring that fit in the groove two different thicknesses and it just interferes with the flimsy lid from seating on there. So it looks like it fits but it won’t close. I’m kinda frustrated cause it was leaking again so I pulled it out. It seems with my petlings 1 lid out of 3 is a good tight fit and the others are just flimsy leak and don’t fit good. Somebody smarter than me should design a lid that you can 3D print that is stronger and can hold a gasket. I can’t trust chucking these into the beer with the leaking problems I’m having. I have more petlings coming from that European seller on eBay hopefully these get here and are a bit better than the ones I got from that space coast geochache store. Not sure if there’s a difference or not... but for as hard as these tubes are to track down in the us it sucks to be dead in the water with a broken cap... hopefully someone can make a 3D printable file to make some replacement parts.
 
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@bscuderi... Try cutting a small piece of the bottom two corners of the pcb like the attached image. I previously had issues with it not sitting in the tube correctly and this helps. Bad news is you may need to recalibrate because it may cause the angle to change a small bit.

20200825_181328.jpg
 
cayde1001 said:
@bscuderi... Try cutting a small piece of the bottom two corners of the pcb like the attached image. I previously had issues with it not sitting in the tube correctly and this helps. Bad news is you may need to recalibrate because it may cause the angle to change a small bit.

View attachment 695533
Click to expand...
that looks like a different pcb im using the jeffrey 2.0 and I also have some of the cherry phllip 4.0
 
bscuderi said:
that looks like a different pcb im using the jeffrey 2.0 and I also have some of the cherry phllip 4.0
Click to expand...

I see... Cutting the corners of the cherry phillip pcb lets it sit a littler further in the tube which allows you to screw the lid on very tightly. I have had no leaking issues doing it that way. Not sure how the jeffery pcb sits but it may help that one too.
 

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