iSpindle - DIY Electronic Hydrometer

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BrunDog said:
Still curious.... what do you need? A hydrometer reports SG. What else do you want it to do?
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I respect the answer from an economic standpoint. You are right about the money.

But asking this question on a homebrew forum is kind of odd. DIY is an ethos and a personal satisfaction thing.

For example, there is NO good economic reason to make your own beer. If you factor in equipment, ingredients, energy, AND your time there is little chance you are not paying more for your homebrew than you would to buy commercial beer.
 
Touché! Fair enough and great point.

I think the beer I make is much better than that I can buy, so that's how I justify it. But I suppose the same argument can be made of the DIY hydrometer.

Like everything else in life, it' the value you place on things which drives decisions
 
pocketmon said:
Finally get the calibration done.

My iSpindel tilts around 37 degree in tap water with 20g at the bottom.
It will tilt like 5 degree with 25g at the bottom, so I have to stick the additional 5g at the center.

The result curve is more like a third order(x^3) instead of second order.
Click to expand...

im about to do the calibration as well, any tips? :confused: also did you do the easy or the improved method?
 
easy one. I used almost one pound of sugar. I needed to use two containers, one gallon pitcher and a salad bowl. The pitcher is not wide enough when the tube floats vertically, while the bowl is not deep enough when the tube floats horizontally.
It is hard to dissolve so much sugar in cold water. 18 plato is the best I can do. You might need to hear the water to dissolve more sugar, but you need to wait until it's cool.
 
I did the improved method and used a 1 gallon water bottle with the lid cut off. Wide enough for the spindle to lay flat and deep enough for me to drop a hydrometer in to read the gravity. I'm using bread yeast to ferment.

Downside it's taking ages once it's finished I'll post and image of my curve I think the carbonation does keep it more horizontal for the first few days
 
anybody experiencing issues with the read intervals? mine works fine for a while but it looks like it randomly checks the reading
 
ElChangoGuero said:
anybody experiencing issues with the read intervals? mine works fine for a while but it looks like it randomly checks the reading
Click to expand...

What is your report interval?
Mine is set to 10 minutes, and it works fine.

ispindel.jpg
 
ElChangoGuero said:
lol i had it in 10 s but i changed it now to 5min and looks like its working like a charm! will keep testing though
Click to expand...

10 seconds is way too short. The reading and reporting gravity takes a few seconds to finish. Sam, the creator of iSpindel project, wants to use the temperature reading for fermentation temperature, and he uses one minute.

BrunDog said:
Impressive that the reading doesn't vary at all.
Click to expand...

Don't be fooled by the zoomed in. Here comes the full picture. It works pretty good, though. The resolution is 1 point, which eliminates the noise.

full.jpg
 
As a point of note, I had my reading every 20 seconds to start, (which is what it recommends to set up) when the battery gets to around 3.0v (is v the correct reading here?) it starts checking every 20mins.

I actually plan to set my spindle to maybe a reading every 3-6 hours when I use it properly which should help smooth the curve even more. I'm not planning to use for temp control so frequency can be reduced.

Also the enhanced method takes a while to get down to finishing gravity, (it's been a week) but the CO2 etc does seem to mean that there isn't a huge deviation in tilt at the early part of fermentation.

Measured angle (°)-----°Plato--------deviation °
17.50---------------------0.00. ------ -1.03 °P
70.97---------------------23.11 -----2514.72 °P
70.52---------------------22.01 -----2468.97 °P
66.30---------------------21.12 -----2068.99 °P
67.69---------------------20.23 -----2195.65 °P
66.00---------------------17.5 ------ 2038.36 °P
65.40---------------------16.6 ------ 1983.92 °P
63.08---------------------15.0 ------ 1782.08 °P
62.81---------------------14.7 ------ 1759.24 °P
61.95---------------------14.3 ------ 1687.73 °P
59.99---------------------13.3 ------ 1530.36 °P
57.53---------------------11.9 ----- 1343.38 °P
49.17---------------------8.0-------- 798.64 °P
 
@pocketmon, I see that you're using Brewpiless. I'm having trouble getting my iSpindel to talk to it. I configured the iSpindel for HTTP, specified the IP address of the Brewpiless (192.168.X.X), the port (80), and the URL (/gravity). On the Brewpiless side, I configured the gravity sensor as an iSpindel that reports less than every 5 minutes. Did I miss something or get something wrong? I'm pretty sure the iSpindel is working because I get reports when it's configured for Ubidots. Thanks in advance for any help.
 
observing said:
@pocketmon, I see that you're using Brewpiless. I'm having trouble getting my iSpindel to talk to it. I configured the iSpindel for HTTP, specified the IP address of the Brewpiless (192.168.X.X), the port (80), and the URL (/gravity). On the Brewpiless side, I configured the gravity sensor as an iSpindel that reports less than every 5 minutes. Did I miss something or get something wrong? I'm pretty sure the iSpindel is working because I get reports when it's configured for Ubidots. Thanks in advance for any help.
Click to expand...

It's simply because current release doesn't work - wait, I haven't OFFICIALLY released it.

The iSpindel code has to be modified. Sam just released a new version, but still a line of code has to be inserted to make it work with BPL.
 
Hi All,

I have just updated the iSpendel firmware to 5.1.2 and everything was ok. I logged on to Ubidots, and the divine came up straight away with all the variables on display. However, although the Wemos is flashing the intermittent blue light, the Ubidots is stationary with the first values and even after 30 minutes the values have not changes. I tried re-stating the device, and the Ubidots refreshes with new vales. Therefore, can anyone shed some light on what I done wrong please?

Thanks.

PS The setting at configuration is to send every 900 seconds (15 minutes).
 
Klooid said:
Hi All,

I have just updated the iSpendel firmware to 5.1.2 and everything was ok. I logged on to Ubidots, and the divine came up straight away with all the variables on display. However, although the Wemos is flashing the intermittent blue light, the Ubidots is stationary with the first values and even after 30 minutes the values have not changes. I tried re-stating the device, and the Ubidots refreshes with new vales. Therefore, can anyone shed some light on what I done wrong please?

Thanks.

PS The setting at configuration is to send every 900 seconds (15 minutes).
Click to expand...

Check the connection between D0 and RST. The R1(470 ohm) connection in this schematics:
https://github.com/universam1/iSpindel/blob/master/docs/Schaltplan.md

ESP8266 won't wake up from deep sleep if D0 isn't connected RST.
 
Thanks Pocketmon, I'll have a look at this and re-solder just in case of a bad connection.

Also, I can't wait to see what luck Mikmonken has had with his boards from PCBs, as I am not an expert in the soldering department.

Cheers.
 
Klooid said:
Thanks Pocketmon, I'll have a look at this and re-solder just in case of a bad connection.

Also, I can't wait to see what luck Mikmonken has had with his boards from PCBs, as I am not an expert in the soldering department.

Cheers.
Click to expand...


Haha neither am I!!! Still don't think they've been shipped yet but I'll keep you posted.
 
observing said:
@pocketmon, I see that you're using Brewpiless. I'm having trouble getting my iSpindel to talk to it. I configured the iSpindel for HTTP, specified the IP address of the Brewpiless (192.168.X.X), the port (80), and the URL (/gravity). On the Brewpiless side, I configured the gravity sensor as an iSpindel that reports less than every 5 minutes. Did I miss something or get something wrong? I'm pretty sure the iSpindel is working because I get reports when it's configured for Ubidots. Thanks in advance for any help.
Click to expand...

I've updated the code, but I will be able to test it after one or more weeks. The iSpindel code must be modified. Please check the readme at Github.
 
I have some problems with the Wemos D1 mini. Is it possible to enter the config site of the iSpindel after it has sent data to Ubidots?
I tried to push the Reset button several times to get to the config site, but the only thing that happened, was to send data to ubidots (start executive). Now, the Reset button seems broken as nothing happens at all when the Reset button are pushed. The wemos won't wake up either. I have changed the Reset - D0 resistor to a smaller one, but I think the Wemos is broken.
After all, I still don't understand how to get the Wemos to set up AP to get access to the config site.
 
When you hit reset does the blue light flash? The trick I found is that you need to hit the reset a few times and then try and connect over wifi it's a bit of a faff but it can be done.

If however the led isn't flashing blue when it's reset I suspect you have killed it, I had something similar with my first one
 
Klooid said:
Thanks Pocketmon, I'll have a look at this and re-solder just in case of a bad connection.

Also, I can't wait to see what luck Mikmonken has had with his boards from PCBs, as I am not an expert in the soldering department.

Cheers.
Click to expand...

Mikmonken said:
Haha neither am I!!! Still don't think they've been shipped yet but I'll keep you posted.
Click to expand...

I'm at the edge of my seat as well...
 
ElChangoGuero said:
View attachment 394607

fits a little lose inside lol? think 34mm might be the sweet spot and battery a little tight, just upgraded the diagram if anyone wants to try it, still waiting on some parts to assemble and test
Click to expand...
So, could you tell us which bottle are you using? I bought that regular bottle from Ebay But I don't know if this sled will fit into the bottle.

I liked the idea of the sled having some room for additional weight.

Thanks.
 
Feijoeiro said:
So, could you tell us which bottle are you using? I bought that regular bottle from Ebay But I don't know if this sled will fit into the bottle.

I liked the idea of the sled having some room for additional weight.

Thanks.
Click to expand...

im using exactly the one you just bought and i got this 20g weight to put at the bottom, once assembled it floated around 24 degrees on tap water, the model was updated, you can just print the 2.1 version ;)
18337032_1668476856526081_253221557_n.jpg
 
I tought you were kidding about the 20 g weight. :D but it seems really efective. For a fraction of second I considered using a lead tablet that I probably have in a drawer over here but actually the weight is a better idea.

I already downloaded the 2.1 file version and will find someone to print it for me. Thanks a lot.
 
Feijoeiro said:
I tought you were kidding about the 20 g weight. :D but it seems really efective. For a fraction of second I considered using a lead tablet that I probably have in a drawer over here but actually the weight is a better idea.

I already download the 2.1 file version and will find someone to print it for me. Thanks a lot.
Click to expand...

hahahaha no joke! just thought hmm why not? seems to have worked pretty well so im quite happy and if the angle is not right then just a little bit more weight and silicone can likely fix it
 
mattrox said:
I am waiting on the switch to arrive to solder it all together. I will 3D print the sled at work.

That 20g weight looks good. Might have to go down that path.
Click to expand...


I used car balancing weights, but regardless you'll almost certainly need around 20gs or so to get the right tilt.

Placement obviously makes a big difference too. I needed 10 at the bottom and then 10 halfway up too to get the right balance.
 
Klooid said:
Thanks Pocketmon, I'll have a look at this and re-solder just in case of a bad connection.

Also, I can't wait to see what luck Mikmonken has had with his boards from PCBs, as I am not an expert in the soldering department.

Cheers.
Click to expand...

You might need to check this:
https://github.com/universam1/iSpindel/issues/59

In a nutshell, using the 470 ohm resistor might be a problem.
 
Bit of an update on the boards, they're not quite right.

when I say not quite right, I made a couple of school boy errors, I didn't think about what orientation things like the wemos need to be so the gyro would need to be on the underside of the board, and also the female connectors are to close to the side of the board, which means when all connected up it wouldn't fit into the sled.

I also need to adjust slightly the footprint of the Lipo as it doesn't sit quite right the holes are just a touch further apart that what I assume the standard breadboard dimensions might be.

So the next version might be a few weeks off sadly.

On the plus side they sent me 5 boards instead of 4 (it's just a shame they're all useless ;-) )
 
Mikmonken said:
Bit of an update on the boards, they're not quite right.

when I say not quite right, I made a couple of school boy errors, I didn't think about what orientation things like the wemos need to be so the gyro would need to be on the underside of the board, and also the female connectors are to close to the side of the board, which means when all connected up it wouldn't fit into the sled.
Click to expand...

Well I feel you pain for you Mikmonken, however, thanks for persevering, and I'm sure when the Version 2 arrives it will work ok, as I'm counting on you. Ha ha.

Cheers
 
I've got mine put together minus the switch.

I crossed the tag ends of the wires where the switch would be.

I can flash and find the iSpindel but when I try to connect it to my home network it does not connect.

I reflashed a couple of times to set up again. There is something I am missing and need to look at it with fresh eyes later.
 
mattrox said:
I've got mine put together minus the switch.

I crossed the tag ends of the wires where the switch would be.

I can flash and find the iSpindel but when I try to connect it to my home network it does not connect.

I reflashed a couple of times to set up again. There is something I am missing and need to look at it with fresh eyes later.
Click to expand...


When you say find the ispindel do you mean on your wifi network?

You need to first connect to it as if it were I wifi access point at which point you can set it all up.

Then if you went to connect again in the future you need to hit the reset button a few times and whilst you can see it connect as an access point again.
 
Mikmonken said:
When you hit reset does the blue light flash? The trick I found is that you need to hit the reset a few times and then try and connect over wifi it's a bit of a faff but it can be done.

If however the led isn't flashing blue when it's reset I suspect you have killed it, I had something similar with my first one
Click to expand...

It seemed that the D1 mini were broken. A new D1 mini works, and with 330 ohm reset resistor, the wake up function also works.
After some testing the tilt only reports 0! Perhaps the gyro is the next thing to be replaced.
 
Mikmonken said:
When you say find the ispindel do you mean on your wifi network?

You need to first connect to it as if it were I wifi access point at which point you can set it all up.

Then if you went to connect again in the future you need to hit the reset button a few times and whilst you can see it connect as an access point again.
Click to expand...

I could connect direct to the iSpindel to configure it.

After it was "configured" it never connected to the wifi router. I will look at the configuration again.
 
Not "all good". It only sends data to Ubidots when the reset button is pressed.

More investigation required.
 

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