Need help identifying this piece of gear

[Sidman]

Hello all,
Thanks in advance for any help you can give. Got some of these at a restaurant auction with a bunch of sanke D taps. Was hoping to find out what the "official" name was for it and confirm what it does. The top round piece with the blue nsf label appears to be a flow measurement meter. Tag says titan enterprises model 300- 010. The black box with the yellow label indicating beer flow and mounting directions does not have any model number. When opened up it has a circuit board with what appears to be a transformer that is connected to switch to open / close flow through the device. It has a network connection and cable coming out of it on the far end from the flow path. My first thought is that this is connected to a device that would give a measured pour. While typing this it occurs to me that perhaps this is more of a keg level monitoring device. Any one have any ideas as to use and name?

 

[Gajol]

Looks like a flow meter of some sorts

 

[day_trippr]

Flow meter with solenoid valve. Might have been used with a Kegbot setup...

Cheers!

 

[Sidman]

Flow meter with solenoid valve. Might have been used with a Kegbot setup...

Cheers!

Thanks, I have 22 of these things - must be a commercial version of something like that.
Cheers as well!

 

[khannon]

Looks like fun to play with. I think Day_trippr is right on the money.. and pics of the board, how many wires etc..? might help to identify and/or determine communication protocol and how you might use them.

 

[Sidman]

Here are some additional pics - pretty basic. Seems like power and data from flow meter.

 

[Broken Crow]

Does this help?
https://flowmeters.co.uk/

 

[cfrazier77]

Could be a flowmeter for tracking and a valve for shutting off the taps after hours.

 

[odie]

looks like some kinda flow devise. I went to a tap room once that was "self serve". you swiped a "beer card" that had credits on it and poured how much you wanted from each tap.

 

[Broken Crow]

Well.. I found that unit, but there's no documentation about the digital side;
https://www.jaksa.si/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/JAKSA_Beer_Tap_Solenoid_Valves.pdf

 

[day_trippr]

The flow meter shown mounted to that solenoid valve is of a type that was very popular when Kegbot was a thing. Even breweries were installing systems, and there were copycats that were commercialized as well...

Cheers!

 

[theirondude]

Does this help?
https://flowmeters.co.uk/

per your attachment, this is a solenoid actuated flow valve. It simply opens and closes the valve that allows liquid to flow through the pipe. The solenoid is nothing more than an electromagnet that, when energized pulls the plunger up (shown in aqua marine and yellow) thereby opening the valve on the left and allowing liquid to flow through the valve. Sidman's appears to be network compatible and probably can be opened and closed by a computer or a PLC, when the user pushes a button or a lever on a soft drink machine, for a predetermined amount of time (for quantity) or indefinitely depending on the program or the user's needs. This type of device can be used to meter syrup to carbonated water for soft drinks or one ounce of bottom shelf alcohol for mixed drinks or turn one's sprinklers on. Since Sidman's is 12 volt DC it could dispense oil on a sportster's drive chain. It can even be used to squirt water from a fountain in Las Vegas... fun stuff!!!

 

[Broken Crow]

per your attachment, this is a solenoid actuated flow valve. It simply opens and closes the valve that allows liquid to flow through the pipe. The solenoid is nothing more than an electromagnet that, when energized pulls the plunger up (shown in aqua marine and yellow) thereby opening the valve on the left and allowing liquid to flow through the valve. Sidman's appears to be network compatible and probably can be opened and closed by a computer or a PLC, when the user pushes a button or a lever on a soft drink machine, for a predetermined amount of time (for quantity) or indefinitely depending on the program or the user's needs. This type of device can be used to meter syrup to carbonated water for soft drinks or one ounce of bottom shelf alcohol for mixed drinks or turn one's sprinklers on. Since Sidman's is 12 volt DC it could dispense oil on a sportster's drive chain. It can even be used to squirt water from a fountain in Las Vegas... fun stuff!!!

Yeah, the valve is the bottom part: https://www.jaksa.si/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/JAKSA_Beer_Tap_Solenoid_Valves.pdf
The top piece though, a flowmeter, I could've put a more precise link to.. Pictured is a 200 series (discontinued), here's the current 800 series; https://flowmeters.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/pdfs/tech-data/data-sheet-800-series-flowmeter-09-23.pdf

 

[theirondude]

Yeah, the valve is the bottom part: https://www.jaksa.si/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/JAKSA_Beer_Tap_Solenoid_Valves.pdf
The top piece though, a flowmeter, I could've put a more precise link to.. Pictured is a 200 series (discontinued), here's the current 800 series; https://flowmeters.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/pdfs/tech-data/data-sheet-800-series-flowmeter-09-23.pdf

Gotchya... so the flow meter tells the program how much liquid has passed through the pipe?

 

[Zippy123]

looks like some kinda flow devise. I went to a tap room once that was "self serve". you swiped a "beer card" that had credits on it and poured how much you wanted from each tap.

Huh. Self-serve beer at a commercial establishment. Never heard/seen this. Apparently I don't get out much.

 

[mac_1103]

Self-serve beer at a commercial establishment. Never heard/seen this.

It was all the rage for a while but seems to have faded. They swipe your credit card and give you a card that activates the taps and records what you pour; then they charge you by the ounce for each beer. There was a place here that ran this way and had just about everything any local craft brewer made. I liked the flexibility of being able to have three or four different short pours if that's what I was in the mood for. But they only lasted about a year and a half.

 

[Rish]

Never heard/seen this.

The Tower Taproom in Montgomery, AL does this. Unfortunately, I haven't had a chance to visit yet but it looks pretty cool.

https://www.towertaproom.com/

 

[day_trippr]

fwiw, while it may sport an rj45 receptacle, that valve and flow meter assembly almost certainly does not connect via ethernet technology. Those sockets are ubiquitous - there are at least a handful of projects covered on HBT forums that use them for ds18b20 probe connections, for example, and at least one that uses them for flow meters...

Cheers!

 

[theirondude]

fwiw, while it may sport an rj45 receptacle, that valve and flow meter assembly almost certainly does not connect via ethernet technology. Those sockets are ubiquitous - there are at least a handful of projects covered on HBT forums that use them for ds18b20 probe connections, for example.

fwiw, while it may sport an rj45 receptacle, that valve and flow meter assembly almost certainly does not connect via ethernet technology. Those sockets are ubiquitous - there are at least a handful of projects covered on HBT forums that use them for ds18b20 probe connections, for example, and at least one that uses them for flow meters...

Cheers!

So how does your DS18B20 interface with your monitor and can you monitor your temps remotely or must you monitor at the source? The rj45 receptacle simply provides a conduit to send/receive information and in Sidman’s case I see no pathway in which to monitor rate of flow or volume other than through the rj45 receptacle, either to a local monitor or a remote monitor or perhaps a cash register or network which supports Mac_1103’s and Rish’s previous comments. This technology is not unique to beer taps, it is very common in many industries such as refineries, mining, milk plants… typically through a network.

 

[day_trippr]

You connect that flow meter and solenoid - and temperature sensors as well if desired - to a computer running software that understands what is at the end of the wire. But it not ethernet, it's basically using GPIO pins on microcomputers and microcontrollers.

In the Kegbot example, a RaspberryPi microcomputer with an Arduino microcontroller combination would provide the interfacing and intelligence. For a more recent implementation example using the same R'Pi and Arduino, there's the current vintage RaspberryPints, that can manage both the flow meter and solenoid valve, and provides for ds18b20 sensors as well, to manage a tap list and connected kegs inside a kegerator/keezer/cold room...

Cheers!

 

[theirondude]

You connect that flow meter and solenoid - and temperature sensors as well if desired - to a computer running software that understands what is at the end of the wire. But it not ethernet, it's basically using GPIO pins on microcomputers and microcontrollers.

In the Kegbot example, a RaspberryPi microcomputer with an Arduino microcontroller combination would provide the interfacing and intelligence. For a more recent implementation example using the same R'Pi and Arduino, there's the current vintage RaspberryPints, that can manage both the flow meter and solenoid valve, and provides for ds18b20 sensors as well, to manage a tap list and connected kegs inside a kegerator/keezer/cold room...

Cheers!

Does the monitor or computer connect at the rj45?

 

[day_trippr]

Computer, of course. A GPIO for the flow meter, and some amplified GPIO for the solenoid.
All that box does is send pulses from the flow meter, and receives an on/off solenoid control.

I think you're getting hung up on the presence of an RJ45 that you only associate with ethernet networking...

Cheers!

 

[theirondude]

Computer, of course. A GPIO for the flow meter, and some amplified GPIO for the solenoid.
All that box does is send pulses from the flow meter, and receives an on/off solenoid control.

I think you're getting hung up on the presence of an RJ45 that you only associate with ethernet networking...

Cheers!

Exactly!,, you plug a computer into it and a network may be interfaced through the computer for remote monitoring elsewhere making it network compatible. I never once mentioned the word ethernet but as soon as you plug in computer??? I’ll let you decide… having said all that… know any hot chicks in their 50s or 60s?

 

[day_trippr]

know any hot chicks in their 50s or 60s?

Lol! I take the 5th on that

Cheers!

 

[Sidman]

Found this pic on the ipourIt website. That's got to be them. Looks like theRj45 line only has 4 wires. Guessing that's two for the flowmeter and two for operating the diaphragm. Must be some other control circuit that also acts as an interface to monitor and control as mentioned in several posts...

 

[day_trippr]

Impressive!

 

[Sidman]

You connect that flow meter and solenoid - and temperature sensors as well if desired - to a computer running software that understands what is at the end of the wire. But it not ethernet, it's basically using GPIO pins on microcomputers and microcontrollers.

In the Kegbot example, a RaspberryPi microcomputer with an Arduino microcontroller combination would provide the interfacing and intelligence. For a more recent implementation example using the same R'Pi and Arduino, there's the current vintage RaspberryPints, that can manage both the flow meter and solenoid valve, and provides for ds18b20 sensors as well, to manage a tap list and connected kegs inside a kegerator/keezer/cold room...

Cheers!

Hey Day_trippr - Do you know if this flow meter would work for Rpints? This might be more appropriate on another thread but I feel like you have a lot of knowledge on a lot of things on here. I had a working Rpints but accidentally overwrote the sd card. I went and downloaded the newest Pi software but couldn't get it to work with Rpints. Any idea if I need to use an older version of the pi software or if there is a thread on how to update?

 

[day_trippr]

You're in luck, the old RaspberryPints thread still exists, and there is a new version authored by member @RandR+ with essentially a one command installation of the new kit. Check from the tail of the thread and work backwards to find the command to use.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/thread...ints-digital-taplist-solution.487694/page-202

You will have to install the Bullseye RaspberryPi OS which now appears as the "legacy" version, but that should do it.

The flow meter shown earlier looks similar to what some folks have used.

Cheers!