LooyvilleLarry
Well-Known Member
I should have two of these in my hands on the 17th ! Maybe even get to try them out that weekend or around Christmas. I'm thinking this would not make a good New Years project
Just to throw out an alternative solution you could use a float in a traditional sight glass with a series of infrared emitters and sensors.
What about if you did something like this with a float but instead of a series of IR pairs, you just had a laser rangefinder (distance measurer) mounted to the top that would measure the precise distance the float is away from the top. This way, you would have digital and analog in one sight glass. :cross:
EDIT: Just a quick search, but I'm thinking something like this:
AR200 laser measurement sensor overview
As for the laser idea, it would work and be very accurate, but you really want to price them before you decide. The ones we use are several hundred dollars!
1/2" resolution I don't think is going to be good enough. In a keggle, that is approaching 1/2 gallon. Of course, it really depends on just how accurate you want to be.
As for the laser idea, it would work and be very accurate, but you really want to price them before you decide. The ones we use are several hundred dollars!
I agree it's not ideal. In my kettle I'd only get closer to 1G resolution. But it would live in the enivornment and only needs 2 wires to work.
When I get some extra cash I'm going to pick up one of those ultrasonic sensors to play with.
1/2" resolution I don't think is going to be good enough. In a keggle, that is approaching 1/2 gallon. Of course, it really depends on just how accurate you want to be.
As for the laser idea, it would work and be very accurate, but you really want to price them before you decide. The ones we use are several hundred dollars!
Hey Carl, good to hear from you again.
I guess your measurements would translate into 1/2" = 0.4gal. You brought up a point that I had yet to really consider. It is going to be very difficult to get an accurate volume measurement using distance because the vessel is not "linear". ie, 1/2" volume in the bottom is MUCH different than 1/2" in the middle of the keg.
Can't you just measure the pressure somewhere low?.. like the bottom connection of a traditional sight glass?.. maybe even bring the sensor down to the same level as the bottom of the kettle (more difficult to clean). Variances in SG would make it difficult to be precise, but if you knew your pre-boil volume and SG you could plug that in to your software knowing that what is boiling off is 99% water and it could compensate for the SG change as it boils off. You'd be measuring mass instead of volume but I would think it would get you close enough.
Hi PhillC, Yuri, et al;
Coming across this two years late, but wondering if any progress has been made? Did those Freescale pressure sensors work with your Arduino? Has anyone come up with a working "Digital site glass"?
Thanks! Lots of good info on your brewtroller site. Like you and Yuri, I'm interested in using Arduino to control brew processes. Unlike you guys, I've only been playing for a couple months now - I have it opening valves, and controlling 120/240VAC, in response to temp. readings, which I'm displaying on an LCD. Have two Arduino's communicating via the I2C bus, etc - proof-of-concept stuff...
Cheers
I've uploaded my crude code here.
http://code.google.com/p/arduino-brew-poc-v1-0/downloads/list
I'm not a programmer, so critique, better methods, etc are very welcome.
cheers
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