Native ESP8266 BrewPi Firmware - WiFi BrewPi, no Arduino needed!

[lateknightucd]

Good enough, thank you for the quick responses!

I'm brewing this weekend but will be around to supervise so there shouldn't be any problems.

I wound up with the same issue as before, both ESP8266 controllers dropped their pin assignment simultaneously. For now I'm just using Inkbirds for fermentation and draft control and tracking my Tilt with Fermentrack. Would moving to an ESP32 help? Or if I can live without WiFi just fall back to an Arduino-based controller?

 

[Bigdaddyale]

This board? OSH Park ~

 

[Bigdaddyale]

 

[Bigdaddyale]

I spent several bleary minutes crafting that post in the middle of the night and the only vital bit of information didn't survive my edits. Must stop interneting in my sleep!

The 'D1 - LCD TH Dupont NoRJ' - I zipped the SCH and BRD files up for PCBway.com but they complained they couldn't read the BRD file and my Eagle 9.4 complained about the newer file format when I tried to investigate.

Thank you

You need to convert the .brd files to Gerber. PCBWAY used to have a file converter on their website

 

[LBussy]

I wound up with the same issue as before, both ESP8266 controllers dropped their pin assignment simultaneously.

That seems ... odd. I mean there are a lot of users here who don't have this issue. And you have two different controllers dropping both temp probes and they independently do it at the same time?

Do you love near Chernobyl by any chance?

 

[lateknightucd]

That seems ... odd. I mean there are a lot of users here who don't have this issue. And you have two different controllers dropping both temp probes and they independently do it at the same time?

Do you love near Chernobyl by any chance?

Correct. And that's been the thing that's making me crazy about this. Two different ESP8266-based controllers both up and running with no problem for some random period of time then losing pin assignment. Interestingly the last time the draft system controller was connected via WiFi (I confirmed the IP address was correct, static and could be pinged on my network) and the fermentation controller was connected to the RPi via USB. Granted they both dropped during the day when I was at work so I can guarantee it was exactly the same time but both worked in the morning and didn't in the afternoon. The common failure on two distinct devices really makes me want to assume it's something pushed from the RPi but Thorrak indicates there's no function that would do that so I'm stumped.

I think at this point I'll just run the draft system on the Inkbird and give the fermentation controller a final try with an Arduino I have around the house.

 

[LBussy]

Does the controller change modes and/or lose its setpoint? Revert to C from F mode? I vaguely remember something with Arduinos that caused the USB to transmit an "E" which erases all settings.

 

[lateknightucd]

Does the controller change modes and/or lose its setpoint? Revert to C from F mode? I vaguely remember something with Arduinos that caused the USB to transmit an "E" which erases all settings.

The controller defaults back to "Off" with no set point but I know you can't establish a setpoint without temperature values so it's a bit of a "chicken and egg" argument in my mind about whether the pin assignment fails first. Temperature mode remains in Fahrenheit. The ESP retains all of the other settings except pin assignment from what I can tell.

 

[day_trippr]

Check communication logs. When I was getting BrewPi to run over a Wi-Fi link between host and Uno years ago, garbled comms would cause the host to pretty much shoot the Uno in the head, wiping it's eeprom and all settings...

Cheers!

 

[adrianoftyriel]

Hello all, I've recently switched to Fermentrack from BrewPi Remix as I'm thinking of setting up a second chamber. In my last (first) ferment with it, I really just needed cooling, but now I'm fermenting with a Kveik and need some heat. The problem lies with the heat duty cycle being too low. If I remember correctly (it was 3 years ago that I first set up a BrewPi), BrewPi self-corrects the PID algorithm over time, but how can I force it to heat more now?

Note: I've also lengthened my filter times to try to get rid of those drops to 0C.

 

[Bigdaddyale]

Hello all, I've recently switched to Fermentrack from BrewPi Remix as I'm thinking of setting up a second chamber. In my last (first) ferment with it, I really just needed cooling, but now I'm fermenting with a Kveik and need some heat. The problem lies with the heat duty cycle being too low. If I remember correctly (it was 3 years ago that I first set up a BrewPi), BrewPi self-corrects the PID algorithm over time, but how can I force it to heat more now?

View attachment 706410

Note: I've also lengthened my filter times to try to get rid of those drops to 0C.

I'm pretty sure there is an upper limit to how hot you can go. You can change it in the settings but I'm not sure how to do it- Hang on I'm sure one of the guys will jump in and give you more information.

 

[brian402]

I use a mini-fridge as a dual purpose fermentation chamber and beverage cooler and am bypassing the auto defrost feature. Is there a way to add a defrost timer to Fermentrack for when I just want fridge constant for beverages?

 

[LBussy]

I've recently switched to Fermentrack from BrewPi Remix as I'm thinking of setting up a second chamber.

I'm offended - adding multi-chamber was the first thing I did (after upgrading to PHP7)!

What do you mean "drops to 0?"

I do think you are above the max - you will have to figure out where that limit is set in Fermentrack.

I use a mini-fridge as a dual purpose fermentation chamber and beverage cooler and am bypassing the auto defrost feature. Is there a way to add a defrost timer to Fermentrack for when I just want fridge constant for beverages?

That seems a little complex to be a simple addition. If a person were to do it, the flow would be to have a six-hour timer (older fridges used 12) and run a heater on the coils for 21 minutes (older was 15 mins).

One way to go would be to use a relay pair for the fridge. Allow the existing timer to pull a relay and turn on the heater elements. That relay should also break the circuit to the compressor. Then if the Controller calls for cooling but the heater is on, the compressor will not run till the heat cycle is done.

The existing defrost timer may do all of this for you, so energizing the compressor circuit before the timer would be another way depending on accessibility to the wiring. You'll have to look at the wiring schematic on your particular fridge.

 

[Thorrak]

I'm offended - adding multi-chamber was the first thing I did (after upgrading to PHP7)!

Modern interfaces are nice also, you know.

 

[LBussy]

Oh yes, I can see all that styling you did ...

 

[adrianoftyriel]

I'm offended - adding multi-chamber was the first thing I did (after upgrading to PHP7)!

I can see how offended you are. Seriously though, I wanted to have a single pane of glass.

I do think you are above the max - you will have to figure out where that limit is set in Fermentrack.

I've adjusted those. It just seems like it thinks it's got a powerful heater in there and cuts it off.

What do you mean "drops to 0?"

See my graph here. I seem to be losing connection to my temp sensors. Haven't done much troubleshooting yet.

 

[LBussy]

Sort of wondering if those temp drops aren't related. What voltage are you using to power the probes, and how strong a pull-up?

It really seems to make a difference (for me anyway) to use 5V to power the probe, and 3V3 with a 2K2 pull-up on data.

 

[adrianoftyriel]

Sort of wondering if those temp drops aren't related. What voltage are you using to power the probes, and how strong a pull-up?

It really seems to make a difference (for me anyway) to use 5V to power the probe, and 3V3 with a 2K2 pull-up on data.

I'm running 5V with a 4k7 resistor for data.

 

[LBussy]

The pull up is 3V3, right?

Do you have the ability to try a 2K2?

 

[adrianoftyriel]

The pull up is 3V3, right?

Do you have the ability to try a 2K2?

Thanks, I swapped for a 2k2 resistor (at 21:53) and things got better, but still not right. The resistor is on 5V, should it be 3v3 for data still, even though I'm running 5V to the probe?

 

[day_trippr]

Yes, the pull-up should be to 3.3v because that is the voltage the esp io cells run at. Pulling to 5v will stress those same cells and could make them die...

Cheers!

 

[100amps]

Hey all. I’ve finally decided to upgrade my ancient fuzzewuzze laptop/UNO brewpi system to Fermentrack. Some questions:
Is FT happy running on the latest rpi-4b and 64-bit rpi Foundation OS?

Actually, What I’d really like to do is keep using the laptop instead of an rpi because it’s got a nice screen for the UI and sits nicely on my chamber mini-fridge. Will FT run on the latest pi OS for PCs? (I didn’t even know that existed until tonight.) That’d be ideal. And I’d save a couple bucks not buying a rpi, which would be redundant.

Maybe I should just try it.

-100amps

 

[adrianoftyriel]

Yes, the pull-up should be to 3.3v because that is the voltage the esp io cells run at. Pulling to 5v will stress those same cells and could make them die...

Cheers!

Thanks! I made that change. I guess I'm coming from an Arduino world, which runs at 5V.

However, now, with 3V3 and a 2K2 resistor, my temp drops are back full force.

 

[LBussy]

That suggests you have a very long lead or a poor connection somewhere. Since using the stronger pull-up helped (as well as 5V), I'm guessing your signal is dropping out. Check connections, swap out sensors one at a time, see what works.

There's no sense in worrying about whether the heater is working correctly until you get a steady signal to the controller.

 

[100amps]

Hey all. I’ve finally decided to upgrade my ancient fuzzewuzze laptop/UNO brewpi system to Fermentrack. Some questions:
Is FT happy running on the latest rpi-4b and 64-bit rpi Foundation OS?

With apologies, I didn’t realize there was a separate thread for Fermentrack. I thought this one was all things Thorrak.

 

[Thorrak]

Hey all. I’ve finally decided to upgrade my ancient fuzzewuzze laptop/UNO brewpi system to Fermentrack. Some questions:
Is FT happy running on the latest rpi-4b and 64-bit rpi Foundation OS?

Actually, What I’d really like to do is keep using the laptop instead of an rpi because it’s got a nice screen for the UI and sits nicely on my chamber mini-fridge. Will FT run on the latest pi OS for PCs? (I didn’t even know that existed until tonight.) That’d be ideal. And I’d save a couple bucks not buying a rpi, which would be redundant.

Maybe I should just try it.

-100amps

Sorry for having missed this!

Short answer:

• Definitely works (tested) on the latest Raspbian running on RPi 3/4/400 (32-bit armv7/armv8 arch)
• Probably works (untested) on the latest Raspbain running on older RPis (1/Zero/Zero W/older 2s) (32-bit armv6 arch)
• Definitely works (tested) on the latest Ubuntu (and therefore probably Debian) running on traditional desktop/laptop hardware (64-bit amd64 arch)
• Possibly works on anything else you throw at it

The long answer:

Raspbian (now RPi Foundation OS) is based on Debian, but is designed to run on either the 32 bit armv6 (RPi Zero/1), armv7 (some RPi 2s), or armv8 (other RPi 2s, RPi 3, 4, and 400) architecture. As you noted, the newest armv8 Pis also support the 64 bit arm64 - for which they are currently working on a 64 bit version of Raspbian. Raspbian packages are typically provided for the combination of the architecture and the debian distribution (e.g. wheezy, stretch, buster) that version of Raspbian is based on. Given that 99%+ of packages compiled for 32 bit armv7 work on armv8 they typically end up compiling the 32 bit packages twice per distribution - once for armv6 and once for armv7.

With the advent of the 64 bit RPi OS they now have to compile all the packages a third time - for arm64.

Fermentrack itself isn't compiled to binary, so as long as its dependencies are available it should work just fine. While I have tested and can guarantee availability for 32 bit armv7 on the latest distributions of Raspbian, I haven't tested it on other architectures. It should work on armv6 (though there are reasons I'd avoid the Pi Zeros if possible) and might work on arm64, though I haven't tested it.

In contrast to all the above, Debian for RPi Desktop is - as the name suggests - just Debian with some extra "stuff" thrown in. Debian has far wider package compatibility than Raspbian for desktop architectures - both 32 and 64 bit - so it's likely that anything that works on Raspbian will also work on Debian. Fermentrack works just fine on Ubuntu which is Debian based - even without the RPi Desktop "stuff". (My dirty little secret is that my "production" Fermentrack box is actually a VM running Ubuntu on my NAS at home. Tell no one. )

Separate from all the above, again - python package compatibility is really the key. Fermentrack works great (after a few tweaks) on MacOS. I've also heard it works well on Windows. So long as you're willing to take the time to fix the supporting architecture around Fermentrack (or live with a few broken features) then you can probably get it up and running on whatever hardware/OS you have lying around!

With apologies, I didn’t realize there was a separate thread for Fermentrack. I thought this one was all things Thorrak.

All good - and again, sorry I missed this!

I prefer to use this thread for firmware questions, but there are plenty of Fermentrack questions asked here. There's also the Fermentrack thread (where people sometimes ask BrewPi-ESP8266-related questions). There's the TiltBridge thread for questions related to that - and the BrewFlasher thread if you just want to flash some stuff.

And more coming soon!

 

[LBussy]

We collected some information about the different BrewPi based and inspired applications to help make this more clear. The only problem is: where do you put it?

I actually did register a pretty good domain name for the "all things brewing automation-related" but I've just never done anything with it. One of these days.

 

[100amps]

Short answer:
Definitely works (tested) on the latest Ubuntu (and therefore probably Debian) running on traditional desktop/laptop hardware (64-bit amd64 arch)

Possibly works on anything else you throw at it.

I’m stoked. Can’t wait til my current brew gets to lager temp so I can behead the system and get after this.

Separate from all the above, again - python package compatibility is really the key.
... you can probably get it up and running on whatever hardware/OS you have lying around!

So it’s pretty much completely python (and cross-platform dependencies) then. That’s brilliant.

I also have an iSpindel to integrate. And Brewfather, so, again, I’m stoked.

 

[100amps]

I actually did register a pretty good domain name for the "all things brewing automation-related" but I've just never done anything with it. One of these days.

cunning-brewing dot com?

 

[LBussy]

cunning-brewing dot com?

Dude that's brilliant!

Nah, pushbuttonbeer.com

Seemed like it could be a good jumping-off place for brewing automation projects.