TiltBridge - Tilt-to-WiFi Device for Tilt Hydrometer

[pletch]

So... I figured out the issue. See above someone posted previously their screen.
That is V1.0.0. Currently the ones on sale are V1.1.0. See my image below. The new version flipped the screen 180 (which also flips the offset of the screen on the board).

I am in the process of building a Tiltbridge for my dad and have hacked together a private fork that will also relay data to an MQTT broker for storage in a local InfluxDB instance.

I ordered the recommended lolin parts for the assembly and also just received version 1.1.0 TFT screen with the screen orientation rotated.

FYI for anyone adventuresome enough to compile their own firmware by pulling the source from github, you can fix this issue by updating the default setRotation for the TFT display from 3 to 1 in line 288 of the bridge_lcd.cpp file. This will rotate the display so that the orientation on the 1.1.0 screen is the same as the 1.0.0 version. I haven't printed a case yet but I am hoping this will address the issue with the screen fitting the standard Thorak Tiltbridge TFT case design.

 

[Thorrak]

I am in the process of building a Tiltbridge for my dad and have hacked together a private fork that will also relay data to an MQTT broker for storage in a local InfluxDB instance.

I ordered the recommended lolin parts for the assembly and also just received version 1.1.0 TFT screen with the screen orientation rotated.

FYI for anyone adventuresome enough to compile their own firmware by pulling the source from github, you can fix this issue by updating the default setRotation for the TFT display from 3 to 1 in line 288 of the bridge_lcd.cpp file. This will rotate the display so that the orientation on the 1.1.0 screen is the same as the 1.0.0 version. I haven't printed a case yet but I am hoping this will address the issue with the screen fitting the standard Thorak Tiltbridge TFT case design.

Yeah, I need to make that configurable. Sorry about that...

 

[LBussy]

Yeah, I need to make that configurable

Here's a hint for everyone. If the Developer doesn't have/make a new issue for something, it's going to get forgotten.

 

[pletch]

I haven't printed a case yet but I am hoping this will address the issue with the screen fitting the standard Thorak Tiltbridge TFT case design.

After rereading cnash' post, it looks like I am still going to have an issue with the screen offset and the opening will still have to be shifted over by the 6mm he suggested. The screen is not symmetric relative to the mounting holes.

It may make more sense to leave the code as is and have a revised case design to accommodate the new screen version.

 

[Thorrak]

After rereading cnash' post, it looks like I am still going to have an issue with the screen offset and the opening will still have to be shifted over by the 6mm he suggested. The screen is not symmetric relative to the mounting holes.

It may make more sense to leave the code as is and have a revised case design to accommodate the new screen version.

There is a revised case design thanks to @gromitdj - I just need to post it. Sorry about that...

 

[Thorrak]

Here's a hint for everyone. If the Developer doesn't have/make a new issue for something, it's going to get forgotten.

Heh, generally a good idea.

 

[darynsd]

I used my TiltBridge for my last brew and it worked great! My only question is regarding the date and time reported to Google Sheets. It seemed to be off by 2 days and 2 hours? I can't seem to figure out how I did that... I assumed it simply used the time from the network/internet as it's been previously correct when using the Tilt app. Is this in the TiltBridge Master Sheet?

 

[pletch]

There is a revised case design thanks to @gromitdj - I just need to post it. Sorry about that...

No worries. I managed to modify the top & bottom case design to move the screen mounts over 5 mm and rotate the orientation of the recesses in the top to accommodate the asymmetry of the screen. Rotating and moving the screen over did create interference between the TFT ribbon connector on the D32 Pro and the center 16 pin female connector on the bottom of the TFT screen assembly. I had to desolder the female 16 pin connector off the TFT board to get it out of the way. Hopefully the case design revision you reference also flips the orientation of the D32 Pro to deal with this.

Thank you for all the efforts on this. The detailed documentation made it easy to pull together and modify to suit.

 

[Jim Reidy]

Hey guys, I'm running into an issue. I bought the suggest components from the tiltbridge webiste, got every flashed using brewflasher, the screen displays my tilt's data perfectly but I can not seem to login to the tiltbridge.local site or by using the IP address on my lan. I am on the same wireless network as the bridge for each instance.

I'm having the same problem. Did you ever find something to correct this problem??

 

[LBussy]

What do you mean you can't log in? What do you see? Screenshots are always good.

 

[Jim Reidy]

Trying to connect to tiltbridge.local to finish up setup for using google sheets but I’m getting a url not found message. Checked my router and tiltbridge is connected. I removed the Alpha-v0.2.1-TFT firmware and reinstalled it but same problem. Also tried accessing from my phone but the same problem. I’m on the goal line but can’t quite get there

 

[LBussy]

Windows or Mac? What flavor of phone? Have you tried accessing via the IP address? Have you tried to ping the address?

 

[Jim Reidy]

Windows 10 on the computer. iPhone. I did try accessing via the IP address but got the same did not find url message. My tech savvy stopped there I’m afraid. Not sure how to ping the address

 

[PhillyBrewDoug]

@Jim Reidy I was having that same issue. The only way I could resolve it was by installing the OLED version of the firmware.

 

[LBussy]

Not sure how to ping the address

Open a command prompt and type: ping tiltbridge.local

If that does not work, try it with the IP address instead of the name.

 

[Jim Reidy]

Thanks, I’ll give that a try

 

[Jim Reidy]

Just tried logging into tiltbridge.local again and it now connects. Thanks for the help. Keeping my fingers crossed it continues to work. I’ll try it again tomorrow

 

[Julian537]

I need some help with a tilt bridge and fermentrack. The tiltbridge sees all three tilts I have, but it will not hook to the fermentrack. I have unistalled it and reinstalled it. I have changed the name of the tiltbridge. The Tiltbridge IP ends in 78, but fermentrack is looking for a different IP address and I do not know how to change the IP address that Fermentrack is looking for the tilt bridge at.

 

[Julian537]

any help on this would be appreciated?

 

[LBussy]

Absent someone who knows how to change the correlation in Fermentrack (and I think it has something to do with the Django admin), I'd probably re-IP the Tiltbridge to use the old address.

 

[Julian537]

There isnt a way to change the IP address, unless you know something I dont? I typed in the tiltbridge.local address to assign it.

 

[day_trippr]

Can't one use dhcp reservation instead of using static addressing? Seems like it would be easier to manage...

Cheers!

 

[pletch]

There isnt a way to change the IP address, unless you know something I dont? I typed in the tiltbridge.local address to assign it.

I haven't used Fermentrack but i have spent quite a bit of time in the Tiltbridge code.

Have you followed the instructions here:
https://tiltbridge.readthedocs.io/_/downloads/en/d32_pro/pdf/
Pages 10 & 11 describe manually configuring the Tiltbridge for Fermentrack if automatic discovery is not working.

Once this is set up, it should work and it shouldn't matter what the Tiltbridge IP is. The Tiltbridge pushes data to Fermentrack rather than Fermentrack pulling the data. The only time Fermentrack needs to connect to the Tiltbridge is to attempt to automatically configure the Fermentrack IP / URL in the Tiltbridge settings page at initial configuration.

 

[Thorrak]

I used my TiltBridge for my last brew and it worked great! My only question is regarding the date and time reported to Google Sheets. It seemed to be off by 2 days and 2 hours? I can't seem to figure out how I did that... I assumed it simply used the time from the network/internet as it's been previously correct when using the Tilt app. Is this in the TiltBridge Master Sheet?

My apologies for having missed this before! Yes - it's in the script associated with the TiltBridge Master Sheet. The timestamp should be set by the script itself.

I need some help with a tilt bridge and fermentrack. The tiltbridge sees all three tilts I have, but it will not hook to the fermentrack. I have unistalled it and reinstalled it. I have changed the name of the tiltbridge. The Tiltbridge IP ends in 78, but fermentrack is looking for a different IP address and I do not know how to change the IP address that Fermentrack is looking for the tilt bridge at.

The screenshot you posted is a bug that I'm tracking in this issue on GitHub. I have a fix for it pushed to the dev branch - please let me know after updating if you still get that error message. That said, I don't think the bugfix will do much for the actual problem you're reporting. To understand the actual problem, it helps to know how Fermentrack handles a TiltBridge behind the scenes:

Under its hood, Fermentrack tracks Tilt Hydrometers separate from TiltBridge devices, and allows one TiltBridge to feed back data on one or more Tilt Hydrometers. Each Tilt Hydrometer has a number of configuration values - one of which is the connection type (either "Bluetooth" or "TiltBridge"). When the connection type of "TiltBridge" is set, then Fermentrack looks at another of the Tilt Hydrometer's configuration values to determine what TiltBridge to use. The bug you noted above occurs when a Tilt Hydrometer is set to a connection type of "TiltBridge" but doesn't then have a TiltBridge object linked to it.

The solution to this issue is pretty simple - link a TiltBridge to your Tilt - and can be accomplished in one of a number of ways.

Option 1 - Django Admin

1. Click the "gear" icon in the upper right corner
2. Click the "Django Admin Panel" button
3. Choose "TiltBridge" in the lower left corner of the admin page
4. A list of your TiltBridges should pop up.
   1. If there is a TiltBridge on the list: Make sure that the mDNS ID is set to "tiltbridge" (based on the picture you posted). If you need to change it, make sure you hit "save" afterwards
   2. If the list is empty: Click "Add TiltBridge" in the upper right corner. Set the mDNS ID to "tiltbridge" and set the name to whatever you like
5. Click "Home" on the admin panel (in the upper right) to return to the main page
6. Select "Tilt Configurations"
7. You should see your Tilt listed. Click into it.
8. Ensure that your tilt has "Connection Type" set to "TiltBridge"
9. Select the appropriate TiltBridge device from the drop down menu
10. Click "Save"

Option 2 - Delete the Tilt and start over

With the bugfix I posted above, this is now an option.

1. Log in Fermentrack and view the dashboard for your Tilt Hydrometer
2. On the dashboard screen, click your Tilt's name at the top, and choose "Manage Sensor"
3. Select the options at the bottom of the screen and click "Uninstall Sensor"
4. Set the Tilt back up from scratch. Ensure the TiltBridge is created at the appropriate step.

Hopefully, one of the above two solutions will work. If neither do, let me know, and we'll dig further.

 

[canuck054]

Good day all, I have a question/help request. I have purchased a Wio Terminal (Wio Terminal: ATSAMD51 Core with Realtek RTL8720DN BLE 5.0 & Wi-Fi 2.4G/5G Dev Board) and I would like to use it as a TiltBridge in conjunction with Brewfather. I'm not a techie guy so I'm having issues trying to get the TiltBridge firmware or what ever it is onto the little computer. I have tried Brewflasher without any success. Am I wasting my time with this device and should I just send it back?

 

[Thorrak]

Good day all, I have a question/help request. I have purchased a Wio Terminal (Wio Terminal: ATSAMD51 Core with Realtek RTL8720DN BLE 5.0 & Wi-Fi 2.4G/5G Dev Board) and I would like to use it as a TiltBridge in conjunction with Brewfather. I'm not a techie guy so I'm having issues trying to get the TiltBridge firmware or what ever it is onto the little computer. I have tried Brewflasher without any success. Am I wasting my time with this device and should I just send it back?

Unfortunately, that device isn't compatible with TiltBridge. TiltBridge requires an ESP32-based device, while the one you linked is ATSAMD51/RTL8270DN.

Seeed has a device that looks interesting, but I don't see a pinout listed anywhere so I can't tell if it would work. The hardware I recommend is in the TiltBridge docs.

 

[canuck054]

Unfortunately, that device isn't compatible with TiltBridge. TiltBridge requires an ESP32-based device, while the one you linked is ATSAMD51/RTL8270DN.

Seeed has a device that looks interesting, but I don't see a pinout listed anywhere so I can't tell if it would work. The hardware I recommend is in the TiltBridge docs.

Thank you for your quick reply, I may be returning it or finding another use for it.

Cheers

 

[Thorrak]

Thank you for your quick reply, I may be returning it or finding another use for it.

Cheers

It looks like a neat piece of hardware even if it isn't one I'm familiar with. I hope you find something neat to use it for!

 

[bardevjen]

Hi and thanks for a great piece of software. I use two esp32 oled bluetooth/wifi cards and two tilt hydrometers on two different refrigerators.

I log to brewfather and I¨m just wondering if I´m using it correctly. I´ve set up both tiltbridge software installations to have different mDNS names but both log to the same stream for brewfather. Is this correct?

Cheers,
Bard A Evjen

 

[LBussy]

You should be able to use one Tiltbridge for that, assuming the one can receive both BLE beacons at the same time. You may have hit an edge case @Thorrak never thought about having two.

 

[bardevjen]

You should be able to use one Tiltbridge for that, assuming the one can receive both BLE beacons at the same time. You may have hit an edge case @Thorrak never thought about having two.

Yes, I could have both Tilt go through the same tiltbridge, but that's not really possible in my setup. I've got one fridge inside the house and another in the garage.

 

[Brewski_59]

My apologies for having missed this before! Yes - it's in the script associated with the TiltBridge Master Sheet. The timestamp should be set by the script itself.

Did you ever post a fix for this? I compared the script on your master sheet to the original from Noah, but they are different enough that the cause wasn't obvious to me.
The data entries differ from the report and chart entries.

12/11/2020 9:01:47

44,174.50

1.031999946

68

Black

Imperial Stout

becomes

12/9/2020 12:01:46

1.032

68.0

Black

Imperial Stout

 

[Thorrak]

Did you ever post a fix for this? I compared the script on your master sheet to the original from Noah, but they are different enough that the cause wasn't obvious to me.
The data entries differ from the report and chart entries.

12/11/2020 9:01:47

44,174.50

1.031999946

68

Black

Imperial Stout

becomes

12/9/2020 12:01:46

1.032

68.0

Black

Imperial Stout

No, unfortunately. I'm not that good with Google Scripts, unfortunately, and so there was a lot of trial-and-error to get the timestamp code to work in a semi-functional manner. If you can find a fix for this, I'm happy to implement it. The two pieces of code that are impacted are in the "Tilt Cloud Template for TiltBridge"'s Code.gs:

The code that sets timepoint are lines 38-41, which is my attempt to manually calculate a timepoint from a Date():
function timepoint(why){
var ogdate = new Date('January 1, 1900');
return (why.getTime() - ogdate.getTime()) / (1000 * 60 * 60 * 24);
}

This is in turn called is called at line 83 to generate form_data.Timepoint:
form_data.Timepoint = timepoint(new Date());

Timestamp is set by rows 168-174 (though the following line (170) is the one that does the work):
row.push(new Date());

 

[kidmock]

@pletch I absolutely love the MQTT modifications to the tiltbridge but there are a couple of bugs I posted as issues on github. @Thorrak can we please merge this into the mainline code.

 

[Thorrak]

@pletch I absolutely love the MQTT modifications to the tiltbridge but there are a couple of bugs I posted as issues on github. @Thorrak can we please merge this into the mainline code.

I'd be happy to - so long as @pletch doesn't mind it being merged!

I'm working on some other updates to TiltBridge over the next week, and am targeting a release around/after Christmas.

 

[pletch]

I would gladly merge in the changes.

However, we should probably correspond a little to determine what should be pushed over from my forked repo. I have made some changes to the settings page (e.g. use a single 'Update' button) and have altered some other things to my personal preferences. I have also tried to address most of the 'to do' items in the code around field validation etc. I will create a branch from mainline and then bring over anything agreed to as a pull request.

It would be good to do this soon as I put the tiltbridge together to accompany a Tilt hydrometer I am giving my father as a Christmas gift. I have already set him up with some other sensors which communicate over MQTT hence the reason I put together the fork. Unfortunately, this also means I will no longer have the Tilt to test with once Christmas is past.

 

[kidmock]

@Thorrak on second thought @pletch's MQTT integration is gear toward influxdb which is nice, but a json payload would be better. I spent the day teaching myself how to use Visual Studio Code and PlatformIO. I've been hacking away at the code, since then. I'm going to work on making the MQTT integration work with the home-assistant.io discovery process. Pull request will be in the very near future. I really appreciate the hard work, this is an awesome project that really solves some my issues with the Tilt's

 

[Thorrak]

@Thorrak on second thought @pletch's MQTT integration is gear toward influxdb which is nice, but a json payload would be better. I spent the day teaching myself how to use Visual Studio Code and PlatformIO. I've been hacking away at the code, since then. I'm going to work on making the MQTT integration work with the home-assistant.io discovery process. Pull request will be in the very near future. I really appreciate the hard work, this is an awesome project that really solves some my issues with the Tilt's

These don't have to be mutually exclusive, you know. There's plenty of room:

RAM: [== ] 17.6% (used 57764 bytes from 327680 bytes)
Flash: [===== ] 49.1% (used 1545549 bytes from 3145728 bytes)

I look forward to your PR - let me know if you have any questions/I can be of any assistance!

 

[pletch]

@Thorrak on second thought @pletch's MQTT integration is gear toward influxdb which is nice, but a json payload would be better.

@kidmock, you make a good point about json being more generally applicable / consumable for others.

It actually was quite simple to reformat the output to be more generic json so I just implemented this change. It is a start and if you have a better way and/or format, please bring it in!

On my side, Telegraf will handle consumption of json data for forwarding to InfluxDB as well so this is not a problem for me.

I also bet there are many that would benefit from automatic Home Assistant discovery. I am a Home Assistant user myself.

 

[kidmock]

@pletch I see you made the json change. That's awesome. I sent a few more suggestion your way to make home assistant support a reality. I've been hacking away and haven't quite got ha support working.

Up to this point i've been publishing the tiltpi json to my MQTT broker here's my dashboard in Home Assistant:

I'm *NIX grey beard and a terrible coder. Give me a set of RFCs, vi, tcpdump, a spectrum analyzer and a soldering iron then, I happy. Making me try to figure out how to use this object or that function and I slow to a crawl