HOWTO - Make a BrewPi Fermentation Controller For Cheap

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Status
Not open for further replies.
Haha thanks guys, that makes sense.

It's a new Danby chest freezer so it comes pre-insulated. :D
 
1 degree gain over 12 hours? Quite frankly... hot damn. I wish I could keep my keezer/kegerator to 1 degree an hour some times.

Thats his beer, if hes doing 5 gallons and your fridge temp isnt way hotter i wouldnt expect that much thermal mass to change very quickly.
 
View attachment 386515

I'm trying to get a multiple chamber setup going. Chambers one and two are working smoothly. When I access chamber 3 website, I only get this screen. Anyone have any insight into this. I haven't been booted up for over a year...

Have you been able figure this out? I had to redo my BrewPi over the weekend and now I'm having the same issue.
 
Hopefully someone can help I corrupted some files playing with home automation so I started over and got a fresh start on everything. I used to have a stable brewpi so I can't figure out what I missed here. I have an audrino brewpi. I installed then ran the pi updater and changed over to legacy branch. I didn't try plugging in my brewpi to make sure it worked before I then set up the public and admin brewpi pages. I plugged it in tonight to the audrino and the python script won't start. And when I run the start command in terminal this is what I get View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1485831127.082034.jpgView attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1485831149.449386.jpg
 
Start by running this script:



/home/brewpi/utils/fixPermissions.sh



Cheers!


I was wondering if it was permissions based because of the error code but I wasn't sure how to fix it. You rock my socks thank you so much that worked :)
 
Excellent. :mug:

Now, backup your SD card!



Cheers!


First thing on the agenda! I had some backups but not any that hard all 3 things I want my pi running working so I decided to start over. I should update more often
 
Been working on setting up my first BrewPi but I'm stuck at getting the Aruduino module to reply with version info. I'm using a clone module (Inland - UNO R3, ATMega-328-based ) and checking the board info with IDE, I got:
BN: Arduino/Genuino Uno
VID: 2341
PID: 0043
SN:75435353934351704230
Digging around on blogs seemed to indicate that the board name needs to match against the "known devices entry" in autoSerial.py. After editing to match the BN: string, rebooting and trying again, I can get the module programmed (Using Board Type: UNO, hex file:MEGA-dfu_and_usbserial_combined.hex and restore settings OFF) with the output below. During the attempt to "receive version number from controller", I only see Rcv activity and no Tx activity (hence the failure) Has anyone run across this and if so, were you able to resolve it?

Also, beginning to wonder if I'm just running into chipset compatibility issues and need to get a true Arduino UNO or a more compatible (Sainsmart?) clone. Any advice greatly appreciated.

**** Arduino Program script started ****
Settings will not be restored
Devices will not be restored
Jan 31 2017 18:33:11 Opening serial port
Loading programming settings from board.txt
Checking hex file size with avr-size...
Program size: 7452 bytes out of max 32256
Programming Arduino with avrdude: /usr/share/arduino/hardware/tools/avrdude -F -e -p atmega328p -c arduino -b 115200 -P /dev/ttyACM0
-U flash:w:"MEGA-dfu_and_usbserial_combined.hex" -C /usr/share/arduino/hardware/tools/avrdude.conf
Result of invoking avrdude:

avrdude: AVR device initialized and ready to accept instructions

Reading | ################################################## | 100% 0.00s

avrdude: Device signature = 0x1e950f
avrdude: erasing chip
avrdude: reading input file "MEGA-dfu_and_usbserial_combined.hex"
avrdude: input file MEGA-dfu_and_usbserial_combined.hex auto detected as Intel Hex
avrdude: writing flash (7452 bytes):

Writing | ################################################## | 100% 1.45s

avrdude: 7452 bytes of flash written
avrdude: verifying flash memory against MEGA-dfu_and_usbserial_combined.hex:
avrdude: load data flash data from input file MEGA-dfu_and_usbserial_combined.hex:
avrdude: input file MEGA-dfu_and_usbserial_combined.hex auto detected as Intel Hex
avrdude: input file MEGA-dfu_and_usbserial_combined.hex contains 7452 bytes
avrdude: reading on-chip flash data:

Reading | ################################################## | 100% 1.08s

avrdude: verifying ...
avrdude: 7452 bytes of flash verified

avrdude done. Thank you.


Avrdude done, programming succesful!
Giving the Arduino a few seconds to power up...
Back up in 5...
Back up in 4...
Back up in 3...
Back up in 2...
Back up in 1...
Back up in 0...
Waiting for device to reset.
Jan 31 2017 18:33:42 Opening serial port
Waiting for device to reset.
Jan 31 2017 18:33:53 Opening serial port
Warning: Cannot receive version number from controller. Your controller is either not programmed yet or running a very old version o
f BrewPi. It will be reset to defaults.
Resetting EEPROM to default settings
Warning: Cannot receive version number from controller after programming.
Something must have gone wrong. Restoring settings/devices settings failed.

Jan 31 2017 18:34:09 New program uploaded to controller, script will restart
Jan 31 2017 18:34:15 Opening serial port
Jan 31 2017 18:34:15 Notification: Script started for beer 'None'
Jan 31 2**** Arduino Program script started ****
Settings will not be restored
Devices will not be restored
Jan 31 2017 18:33:11 Opening serial port
Loading programming settings from board.txt
Checking hex file size with avr-size...
Program size: 7452 bytes out of max 32256
Programming Arduino with avrdude: /usr/share/arduino/hardware/tools/avrdude -F -e -p atmega328p -c arduino -b 115200 -P /dev/ttyACM0
-U flash:w:"MEGA-dfu_and_usbserial_combined.hex" -C /usr/share/arduino/hardware/tools/avrdude.conf
Result of invoking avrdude:

avrdude: AVR device initialized and ready to accept instructions

Reading | ################################################## | 100% 0.00s

avrdude: Device signature = 0x1e950f
avrdude: erasing chip
avrdude: reading input file "MEGA-dfu_and_usbserial_combined.hex"
avrdude: input file MEGA-dfu_and_usbserial_combined.hex auto detected as Intel Hex
avrdude: writing flash (7452 bytes):

Writing | ################################################## | 100% 1.45s

avrdude: 7452 bytes of flash written
avrdude: verifying flash memory against MEGA-dfu_and_usbserial_combined.hex:
avrdude: load data flash data from input file MEGA-dfu_and_usbserial_combined.hex:
avrdude: input file MEGA-dfu_and_usbserial_combined.hex auto detected as Intel Hex
avrdude: input file MEGA-dfu_and_usbserial_combined.hex contains 7452 bytes
avrdude: reading on-chip flash data:

Reading | ################################################## | 100% 1.08s

avrdude: verifying ...
avrdude: 7452 bytes of flash verified

avrdude done. Thank you.


Avrdude done, programming succesful!
Giving the Arduino a few seconds to power up...
Back up in 5...
Back up in 4...
Back up in 3...
Back up in 2...
Back up in 1...
Back up in 0...
Waiting for device to reset.
Jan 31 2017 18:33:42 Opening serial port
Waiting for device to reset.
Jan 31 2017 18:33:53 Opening serial port
Warning: Cannot receive version number from controller. Your controller is either not programmed yet or running a very old version of BrewPi. It will be reset to defaults.
Resetting EEPROM to default settings
Warning: Cannot receive version number from controller after programming.
Something must have gone wrong. Restoring settings/devices settings failed.

Jan 31 2017 18:34:09 New program uploaded to controller, script will restart
Jan 31 2017 18:34:15 Opening serial port
Jan 31 2017 18:34:15 Notification: Script started for beer 'None'
Jan 31 2017 18:34:25 Checking software version on controller...
017 18:34:25 Checking software version on controller...
Jan 31 2017 18:34:35 Warning: Cannot receive version number from controller. Your controller is either not programmed or running a very old version of BrewPi. Please upload a new version of BrewPi to your controller.
 
From what I can find the Inland Uno is a complete R3 clone - hardware wise anyway - using the ATmega16R2 for the USB/serial bridge (most of the Uno clone issues have been with boards using CH340/341 bridge chips).

That said, if Inland burned unique IDs into the bridge (perhaps they didn't buy a license?) that would explain why there was a need to edit autoSerial.py.

Otherwise the board should be hardware compatible.

I'm not seeing any good clues in that log...
 
(Using Board Type: UNO, hex file:MEGA-dfu_and_usbserial_combined.hex and restore settings OFF) with the output below. During the attempt to "receive version number from controller", I only see Rcv activity and no Tx activity (hence the failure) Has anyone run across this and if so, were you able to resolve it?

Why are you using the MEGA-dfu_and_usbserial_combined.hex file for an Arduino Mega and not the standard brewpi-arduino-uno-revC-0_2_10.hex file?
 
I initially tried it because the module packaging stated it used a ATMega328 processor. Additionally, because it was the only image that successfully loaded. The image you mentioned wasn't part of the current install package apparently (not present in the "firmwares" directory). I'll track it down and give it a try and see what I get.
 
Donny - Thanks for the pointer, brewpi-arduino-uno-revC-0_2_10.hex worked fine. Now, on to getting the wiring and packaging completed. -Dave-
 
It does indeed. It'll be interesting to see if they get enough traction in the marketplace to succeed.

The most evident issue is the lack of free GPIO.
And did anyone catch what architecture their core uses?

Curious base module pricing - the least capable version of the three is priced way higher than the other two?

Cheers!
 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omega2_(computer)
Omega2 comes in two versions, the basic Omega2 and Omega2 Plus. Omega2 CPU is based on MIPS architecture[4] running at 580 MHz clock speed, equipped with 64 MB of RAM and 16 MB of flash memory. Omega2 Plus is similar to Omega2, except it has more RAM and memory and a MicroSD slot, sold for $9 USD. The system comes in a small PCB footprint with dual-in-line 16x2 pins. The board is designed to be Arduino-shield compatible, enabling one to make use the existing Arduino shields. The board runs at 3.3 volts of power with average power consumption of 0.6W.[5] Both devices are intended for as headless computers with no graphical interfaces in Embedded systems.
 
This is my first brew using the brewpi(converted an old UPS to house everything) and its maintaining the temperature very well. However, after a few days, my annotations went crazy. Everyone I hover over says 'changed to profile mode in menu'. However, since the start I've been using beer profile mode? Nothing has changed, why so many notices?
Annotations_zpsokhcfkl6.png
 
Are there anyone on here who has tried to run a multi chamber solution with bluetooth or wifi?
 
You're first problem is that you have to move everything from var/www/ to var/www/html
 
And instead of symlinks to serial or kernel addresses, you have to use rfcomm* ports
 
Guess who has been working on designing BrewPi shields for the past two weeks, corrupted his Raspberry Pi SD card working on another project and found out that his backup was from two iterations ago of his BrewPi multi-chamber bluetooth build, so now does not have any working BrewPi builds? Yep, this guy. Backups people, backups. They are easy to make. Why don't I make them more often?
 
Guess who has been working on designing BrewPi shields for the past two weeks, corrupted his Raspberry Pi SD card working on another project and found out that his backup was from two iterations ago of his BrewPi multi-chamber bluetooth build, so now does not have any working BrewPi builds? Yep, this guy. Backups people, backups. They are easy to make. Why don't I make them more often?
I have been building and rebuilding so much I don't have a current backup - pretty sure I could whip it out again in the amount of time it takes me to re-image. Doing backups would be much smarter but why work smarter when you can just work harder? :)
 
I spent the afternoon setting my system back up. I did it all from putty over ssh. Two things are happening that are both related, that I'm not able to fix.

First, on the Pi itself, when it boots, it boots to a login screen that I've never seen before. It asks for a password and everything I try doesn't work. When I log into putty, I use pi as the user and raspberry as the password and it works great.

Second, I can connect to my bluetooth minion using the rfcomm connect command over putty and it works. I can see the minion working over my laptop. However, when I try to get into /home/pi to add the rfcomm stuff into the config file, I can't get in there. I can get into the /home directory, but when I type cd/home/pi, it takes me to $~

What am I missing?
 
$~ is /home/pi under raspbian… what you need to change should be under /home/brewpi though. and don't forget that everything for the web side either needs to go under /var/www/html or you need to change apache so that the old hierarchy still works.
 
$~ is /home/pi under raspbian… what you need to change should be under /home/brewpi though. and don't forget that everything for the web side either needs to go under /var/www/html or you need to change apache so that the old hierarchy still works.

Thanks for the reply. I figured that out last night. I was totally in the weeds and had forgotten that $~ is /home/pi. Goes to show you the extent of my linux and raspbian knowledge.

Anyway, for posterity's sake, the issue with the GUI login was somehow caused by a file called Xauthority in that directory. I changed the name of that file to Xauthority.bak and magically things are working again.

My other issue with trying to find the /home/pi folder is because @day_trippr correctly indicated in a post in the BrewPi bluetooth thread that you put the auto bind for rfcomm in the autostart file found at /home/pi/.config/lxsession/LXDE-pi/autostart. Mine wasn't there, however. It is in /etc/xdg/lxsession/LXDE-pi/autostart. With a bit of google-fu, I found that it looks in the /home/pi location first, and if it insn't found there, goes to the /etc/xdg folder.

All of this seems pretty simple in the morning with a fresh, beer-free brain, but last night was pretty frustrating. Which leads me to...BACKUPS, PEOPLE, BACKUPS!

That being said, there is some learning that goes with reinstalling stuff and having to find workarounds for things. I don't recommend that as a way to learn, but it is certainly a small silver lining in a grey cloud.
 
Just got my brewpi spark up and running. Looking to add a heater, purchased the Lasko personal. I got an additional SSR on amazon.
I can't seem to find a place/don't know the name of what I'm looking for (the digital output connector)

The BrewPi Spark v2 has 4 digital outputs which can drive SSRs to switch heating elements or a fridge or freezer.

Are these what I need? https://www.amazon.com/uxcell-KF2EDG-Pluggable-Teminal-Connector/dp/B01F4F5BPY/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1486414011&sr=8-7&keywords=Pluggable+Terminal+Block%2C+2%2C+300+V%2C+10+A%2C+5.08+mm%2C
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Hey guys

I have been messing all day with this all day using the Arduino mega 2560

I know uno is a easy way to do this, but i have the mega and can be a little bit stubborn.

I wired it up like this image
BrewPi-Schematic.png


Then i found a mega2560 hex buried in this thead and flashed it with this command:
Code:
sudo avrdude -p m2560 -c wiring -P /dev/ttyACM0 -b 115200 -F -D -U flash:w:/home/pi/brewpi_mega2560.hex

I could setup brewpi and actually read the temperature from the sensors, but there is no way for me to actually add them since the only function I have is "none"
I8cwYFb.jpg


Anyone have any idea what I can try? I tried playing with some conf files (and then some) but am completely stuck.

:mug:
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top