TiltBridge - Tilt-to-WiFi Device for Tilt Hydrometer

[fun4stuff]

I think I see the issue, but the fix is going to take a bit to get added to BrewFlasher/Fermentrack. In the mean time, you can try running:

esptool.py erase_region 0xe000 0x2000


...and let me know if everything starts working. You MIGHT have to flash again after running that command, but you shouldn't need to

Still not working. I entered:

esptool.py erase_region 0xe000 0x2000

then unpluged/plugged back in. It still didn't work so I re-flashed with

esptool.py --chip esp32 --before default_reset --after hard_reset write_flash 0x10000 firmware.bin 0x8000 partitions.bin 0x3D1000 spiffs.bin

. Then I power cycled. Still nothing: just a dimmly lit red led light, dark screen, and no wifi SSID.

 

[Thorrak]

Still not working. I entered:

esptool.py erase_region 0xe000 0x2000

then unpluged/plugged back in. It still didn't work so I re-flashed with

esptool.py --chip esp32 --before default_reset --after hard_reset write_flash 0x10000 firmware.bin 0x8000 partitions.bin 0x3D0000 spiffs.bin

. Then I power cycled. Still nothing: just a dimmly lit red led light, dark screen, and no wifi SSID.

Hm. Try this:

esptool.py --chip esp32 --before default_reset --after hard_reset write_flash 0x10000 firmware.bin 0x8000 partitions.bin 0x3D0000 spiffs.bin

...and then run

esptool.py erase_region 0xe000 0x2000

afterwards

 

[fun4stuff]

Hm. Try this:

esptool.py --chip esp32 --before default_reset --after hard_reset write_flash 0x10000 firmware.bin 0x8000 partitions.bin 0x3D0000 spiffs.bin

...and then run

esptool.py erase_region 0xe000 0x2000

afterwards

darn. No cigar. I power cycled after running last command. I appreciate the help.

Here’s my terminal screen.
https://imgur.com/gallery/djTqu8G

 

[Thorrak]

darn. No cigar. I power cycled after running last command. I appreciate the help.

Here’s my terminal screen.
https://imgur.com/gallery/djTqu8G

I doubt this will fix it, but you still used the old spiffs offset - I (stealthily) changed it in the command I pasted above.

 

[fun4stuff]

I doubt this will fix it, but you still used the old spiffs offset - I (stealthily) changed it in the command I pasted above.

yeah, didnt make a diff. thanks

 

[Thorrak]

yeah, didnt make a diff. thanks

Ok, thanks for checking. I’ll try to dig a bit further when I get home.

 

[fun4stuff]

I got it working doing what others above said. I followed the tutorial below to install one of the example programs from arduino IDE (windows) on the ESP board. I then re-flashed the board from the command line using espytool.

https://randomnerdtutorials.com/installing-the-esp32-board-in-arduino-ide-windows-instructions/

 

[Thorrak]

I got it working doing what others above said. I followed the tutorial below to install one of the example programs from arduino IDE (windows) on the ESP board. I then re-flashed the board from the command line using espytool.

https://randomnerdtutorials.com/installing-the-esp32-board-in-arduino-ide-windows-instructions/

Glad to hear that worked! That aligns with the experience I was having with one of my boards last night - flashing from PlatformIO works, but flashing from the command line didn't. From snooping a bit this morning, it seems that PlatformIO is actually flashing five things - not three. Program, partitions, and SPIFFS (same as Fermentrack/BrewFlasher), then also otadata and the bootloader.

That explains why flashing from the Arduino works - it replaces whatever default bootloader/otadata partitions were flashed from the factory with the ones that are expected by the Arduino core. I'm going to get these added as options for Fermentrack/BrewFlasher tonight/tomorrow and hopefully that will fix things going forward.

 

[fun4stuff]

Glad to hear that worked! That aligns with the experience I was having with one of my boards last night - flashing from PlatformIO works, but flashing from the command line didn't. From snooping a bit this morning, it seems that PlatformIO is actually flashing five things - not three. Program, partitions, and SPIFFS (same as Fermentrack/BrewFlasher), then also otadata and the bootloader.

That explains why flashing from the Arduino works - it replaces whatever default bootloader/otadata partitions were flashed from the factory with the ones that are expected by the Arduino core. I'm going to get these added as options for Fermentrack/BrewFlasher tonight/tomorrow and hopefully that will fix things going forward.

thanks for your hard work toward this project

 

[FrostyBeach]

As a side note I had two esp32's is that they had the blank OLED after flashing with esptool.py. I then uploaded an example sketch via the Aurdino IDE and that worked. Then the upload via esptool.py worked. Don't know what the upload of the example sketch did, I used the NIST Time example.

I built a platform IO toolkit and i get build errors, and after I fix those (maybe didn't) PIO does flash the chip with my changes. I get the web server to ask for sid, pw and that works but then the screen is blank.

 

[Thorrak]

Quick Update - Brewflasher has been updated to support flashing both the otadata and bootloader partitions for ESP32 devices. Currently, this is only enabled for the TiltBridge BETA firmware - not the OG TiltBridge firmware.

The updated BrewFlasher is here.

 

[Thorrak]

Another quick update - Fermentrack has now been updated to incorporate the same changes that were made to BrewFlasher. You should now be able to flash the TiltBridge BETA versions (both OLED and TFT) to an ESP32 and have it work as expected.

Also, just a heads up - as part of testing the Fermentrack code I did a complete test install of TiltBridge to a new OLED ESP32. The modifications should hopefully fix the issue with the SPIFFS data not being transferred, and therefore the locally hosted TiltBridge webpages not loading.

 

[verboten]

That is awesome, thank you so much! I'll be getting it set up as soon as I get home. And working on the project box for it at work. [emoji482][emoji482][emoji482]

 

[fun4stuff]

When i try to access tiltbridge by its local il or http://tiltbridge.local, i just get a blank webpage. Is there supposed to be anything there?

it has been pretty much working through fermentrack as it should. I did have a period of an hour or so where it was not reading the tilt.

 

[Thorrak]

When i try to access tiltbridge by its local il or http://tiltbridge.local, i just get a blank webpage. Is there supposed to be anything there?

it has been pretty much working through fermentrack as it should. I did have a period of an hour or so where it was not reading the tilt.

Yep. Which firmware are you using, when did you flash it, and how did you flash it?

 

[fun4stuff]

Yep. Which firmware are you using, when did you flash it, and how did you flash it?

flashed it Sunday 2/16/2020. Flashed with espytools by command line. I’m not sure how i tell which firmware it is.

 

[Thorrak]

flashed it Sunday 2/16/2020. Flashed with espytools by command line. I’m not sure how i tell which firmware it is.

Try flashing it now with BrewFlasher or Fermentrack.

 

[popquizkid]

Try flashing it now with BrewFlasher or Fermentrack.

That is the same issue that I had. Is there a new version of BrewFlasher available? The one I am using is using from a month or so ago.

 

[fun4stuff]

That is the same issue that I had. Is there a new version of BrewFlasher available? The one I am using is using from a month or so ago.

Let me know if you reflash and it works. I’m going to wait to re-flash until The current beer I’m brewing is done since everything else is otherwise working.

 

[alxman2021]

Currently brewing a beer and this is the first time I've used a tilt hydrometer and therefore the first time I've used tiltbridge to log the data in fermentrack as well. I have a couple questions that are maybe a combination of tilt, tiltbridge, and fermentrack questions. Hopefully somebody with some experience using this stuff can help me out, and if there is a better place to ask this, please let me know.

1. What might be causing the gaps in data I've outlined below? It seems that there are random periods where no data is recorded for an extended period of time. For the 5hr and 7.5hr gap identified below toward end of fermentation, I roused the fermenter slightly to rock the tilt a bit which seemed to start the data logging again.

2. I'm not sure what caused the huge spike in specific gravity about 6.5hr after pitching yeast. Kind of annoying and obviously not a huge issue, but is there a way to either avoid this spike or to exclude it from the max gravity/AA/abv calcs?

Other than these minor issues, seems to be working great! Thanks for the help getting this set up.

 

[fun4stuff]

Currently brewing a beer and this is the first time I've used a tilt hydrometer and therefore the first time I've used tiltbridge to log the data in fermentrack as well. I have a couple questions that are maybe a combination of tilt, tiltbridge, and fermentrack questions. Hopefully somebody with some experience using this stuff can help me out, and if there is a better place to ask this, please let me know.

1. What might be causing the gaps in data I've outlined below? It seems that there are random periods where no data is recorded for an extended period of time. For the 5hr and 7.5hr gap identified below toward end of fermentation, I roused the fermenter slightly to rock the tilt a bit which seemed to start the data logging again.

2. I'm not sure what caused the huge spike in specific gravity about 6.5hr after pitching yeast. Kind of annoying and obviously not a huge issue, but is there a way to either avoid this spike or to exclude it from the max gravity/AA/abv calcs?

View attachment 667206

Other than these minor issues, seems to be working great! Thanks for the help getting this set up.

I’ve also had a couple gaps where Tiltbridge didn’t seem to be recording data. Like it lost connection to the tilt inside my stainless steel fermenter. I have it sitting right on the fermenter and during this time i was able to connect to the tilt from my phone with Bluetooth from across the room.

i had a couple huge spikes in SG after adding fruit within a mesh bag. During the second spike, i opened it up and found the tilt caught between the fermenter wall and the mesh bag, causing it to float in a more horizontal position; i moved tilt and SG returned to expected level.

 

[MilkStout]

Apologies if I am being obtuse but, is the program available for the three component WiFi tilt (reference post ##83)? If it is, what is it’s name and location?

Thanks

 

[verboten]

Apologies if I am being obtuse but, is the program available for the three component WiFi tilt (reference post ##83)? If it is, what is it’s name and location?

Thanks

I just used brew flasher to successfully load this on my equipment that you refer to. You must load the TFT beta

 

[Thorrak]

That is the same issue that I had. Is there a new version of BrewFlasher available? The one I am using is using from a month or so ago.

Yep. Latest release is as of Monday - v1.0.1. This should work better with the ESP32 and fix many of the TiltBridge issues people have reported.

Apologies if I am being obtuse but, is the program available for the three component WiFi tilt (reference post ##83)? If it is, what is it’s name and location?

Thanks

Using either Fermentrack or BrewFlasher, it’s the BETA firmware - TFT variant (as @verboten noted)

 

[popquizkid]

Let me know if you reflash and it works. I’m going to wait to re-flash until The current beer I’m brewing is done since everything else is otherwise working.

I just flashed using the latest release and the web interface is working!

Much thanks to @Thorrak for the hard work on this.

 

[fun4stuff]

I just flashed using the latest release and the web interface is working!

Much thanks to @Thorrak for the hard work on this.

Thanks for letting me know! Using brewflasher?

 

[popquizkid]

Thanks for letting me know! Using brewflasher?

Yes. Used the latest version found here:

https://github.com/thorrak/brewflasher/releases/tag/v1.0.1

 

[darynsd]

The new version worked for me too! Thanks @Thorrak for the update! Now, if I can just get the Google sheets part to work...

 

[MilkStout]

hello,

I am obviously technologically impaired and perhaps my reading skills are less than adequate. I mush be missing something. No matter what I have tried I get the same result. (Failed to connect to ESP32: Timed out waiting for packet header). What step(s) am I missing?

Thanks

I am using this firmware:

In Brew Flash. The setting I used are:

The resulting screen I get after clicking on "DownLoad and Flash Controller" is:

And this is what my hardware looks like T the beginning of this process and at the end.

 

[Thorrak]

hello,

I am obviously technologically impaired and perhaps my reading skills are less than adequate. I mush be missing something. No matter what I have tried I get the same result. (Failed to connect to ESP32: Timed out waiting for packet header). What step(s) am I missing?

Thanks

I am using this firmware:
View attachment 667558

In Brew Flash. The setting I used are:
View attachment 667561

The resulting screen I get after clicking on "DownLoad and Flash Controller" is:
View attachment 667562
And this is what my hardware looks like T the beginning of this process and at the end.
View attachment 667565

First, you're definitely using the right version of BrewFlasher so that's good.

From reading the log output, it appears that your computer isn't finding the D32 Pro for some reason. (cu.URT1 is the closest that I see, but that doesn't sound right at all...) Can you try another USB port on the computer running BrewFlasher?

 

[MilkStout]

I have tried re-installing using every USB port. All yield the same results.

I re-downloaded BrewFlasher and tried again. Same results.

 

[day_trippr]

I know zilch about how Macs enumerate USB devices and present that data to a user.
But does this Apple machine even see the ESP32 to begin with?
The log suggests the flasher is searching for an ESP32 and never finds one...

Cheers!

 

[garzlok]

I don’t think you disabled bluetooth.

 

[darynsd]

I think some micro-USB cables are for charging only and don't support data transfer? I know the first cable I tried wouldn't work because of that.

 

[MilkStout]

Disabling Bluetooth didn't sound right to me either but, one of the pop up box said you may have to. I gave it try. Didn't help.


I tried some more and with many more failures Then for giggles I swapped the USB cable with another I found in a box of tangled cables. Lo and behold it works It would seem that my first cable is defective.

THANK YOU THORRAK for your efforts to bring to to life and sharing!

 

[garzlok]

Glad you got it worked out.

Since I saw you were trying to flash a Jawbone Mini Jambox Bluetooth speaker at first, I figured it might be best to disable Bluetooth.

 

[day_trippr]

lol!
But, that's just a probe, like the other messages.
The code literally hunts down esp32s if they exist. No harm to other connected wildlife

Cheers!

 

[garzlok]

Lol...yeah, I knew his Jawbone wasn’t in any mortal danger.

I just know that Brew Flasher suggests turning off the Bluetooth if you’re not manually choosing the port.

 

[day_trippr]

Makes sense - potentially, it'd remove a bunch of devices that the probe code has to walk through during the hunt.
That said, if it made a functional difference to leave the whole gamut of devices connected to the host just to flash a random USB device it's not a confidence builder

Cheers!

 

[LarsB]

Hi,

I have bought a Lolin ESP32 OLED, and trying to flash it with Fermentrack. But i keep getting the same error:

Result Text: Flash process returned code 2

esptool.py v2.8
Serial port /dev/ttyUSB0
Connecting....

A fatal error occurred: Timed out waiting for packet header

I can see other people have also struggled with this error, but I can't find an answer in the posts here on how to solve it?

I can see someone have had some luck pressing a "Boot" button, but my Lolin device doesn't have such a button. There is a reset button, that does what it says, and a Flash button.

I have tried pressing the flash button once, and also keeping it pressed, but is doesn't make any difference.

Does anyone know what to do?

Also i was considering using esptool but the documentation tells me to get 3 files from get hub. But I can only see 2 (I thing the one missing is "partitions.bin".

I am somewhat confused ...