iSpindel Digital Hydrometer

[Weizenbonk]

Reed switch is all I am waiting for now. Wondering about the wireless charging. When I have my mat inside the tube with the electronics and place it on the pad, the led on the charging pad changes from red to blue but the light does not turn on on the charging board. if I have he mat outside the tube and place it flat on the pad the led on the board lights up and the charging pad led changes to blue. Seems it does not like the curve. Anyway around this? this is the one I bought. https://www.aliexpress.com/item/A-Q...585.html?spm=a2g0s.9042311.0.0.27424c4dn17l9Z

Mine works well through the tube. Just note you must have the "Wireless Charger" side on the outside. I bought type B unfortunately, and it should be Type A - it still works but requires you to twist it. Maybe your issue is you have the mat facing the wrong way?

 

[bluc]

What do you mean you have to twist it? Heres a pic

 

[bluc]

I didnt opt for a or b but seems to be the right plug. Well it works when outside tube..

 

[bluc]

Feel a bit slow but how do you access the web interface to setup the ispindle wifi/ubidots etc?

 

[Thomas Wood]

Feel a bit slow but how do you access the web interface to setup the ispindle wifi/ubidots etc?

To get it in configuration mode, press the reset button on the esp8266 about six times in quick succession. After a few seconds the blue led will flash every second-ish. Then you can see the iSpindel SSID appear on your phone or pc. When you connect to it, it will take you to the config webpage.

 

[bluc]

Thanks thomas. So after a couple of hours of searching it seems my bin file is not flashed correctly. I just went to this page https://github.com/universam1/iSpindel/releases and on 5.8.6 release clicked on the "firmware bin" file and it downloaded a 409Kb file. Have I done this right? In the documentation here https://github.com/universam1/iSpindel/blob/master/docs/Firmware_en.md it says "Important: select the Download button to download the file correctly" I cant see a download button I just clicked on the file name and it downloaded. When I connect via putty at 115200 I get "mem failed" and when I connect at 9600 I get "NodeMCU 0.9.5 build 20150318 powered by Lua 5.1.4 lua: cannot open init.lua " so after more googling I found this page https://hobbybrauer.de/forum/viewtopic.php?t=11826&start=1100 after some translation of second post on the page I find out it has been incorrectly flashed. Help

 

[bluc]

I worked it out when I flashed it it was not right anyone that gets the above error in the esp8266 flasher app in the config tab it should look like this note how path to bin file is green and offset is blue and at offset 0x00000

 

[bluc]

GOt the wifi charging working to was just a bit picky about posistion on charger

 

[bluc]

Another question in the setup menu before wifi settings etc are entered in the maitenence menu it has calibrate, where you lay it flat for 2mins. Should this be done before or after calibration in fermenting wash/sugar water....

 

[Thomas Wood]

Another question in the setup menu before wifi settings etc are entered in the maitenence menu it has calibrate, where you lay it flat for 2mins. Should this be done before or after calibration in fermenting wash/sugar water....

I imagine it has to be done before. That's what I did

 

[Weizenbonk]

Just a couple of observations on my first iSpindel use in anger.
1/ being able to see temperature data constantly was an eye opener. My heat belt was directly on my kegmenter and what the logging showed was that it was over shooting the temp every cycle by up to 3 degrees and the fridge was kicking in. I moved the belt out of direct contact and got much smoother peaks and troughs, +/-0.5 degrees from SP. I think the metal held the heat for longer and continued to cook it. See screenshot.
2/ fermenting under pressure definitely effects the gravity reported by the ispindel. At 10psi it seems to be 4 SG points lower. I purged the vessel and the SG jumped instantly. Verified that with a hydro to eliminate Krausen factor.
3/ the ispindel will work in a kegmenter BUT the range is terrible. Think around 1-2 metres. I put a repeater (ESP8266) in the fermenter fridge next to kegmenter and it is working nicely.
I have sold all my spare units now, but I have most parts for another batch of iSpindels. If 4 people are interested I will put them together.
Using the instructions I posted earlier, it is easy to do it yourself too. Either way, great insight into what’s going on and improving your process.

 

[bluc]

So my reed switchs dont work I bought these ones http://r.ebay.com/rU5H98 the unit is permantly off untill a magnet is nearby then it turns on but only stays on while magnet is nearby. Any ideas the exact type reed switch we need..If I turn the switch around it does nothing with or without the magnet.

 

[bluc]

3 - Yes, you can create a widget to add the ABV . Check this: http://help.ubidots.com/faqs-and-troubleshooting/derived-variables-functions

Do you have a new link for this guide the one you posted is dead. Also to do a widget for s.g

 

[Alchomist]

Just a couple of observations on my first iSpindel use in anger.
1/ being able to see temperature data constantly was an eye opener. My heat belt was directly on my kegmenter and what the logging showed was that it was over shooting the temp every cycle by up to 3 degrees and the fridge was kicking in. I moved the belt out of direct contact and got much smoother peaks and troughs, +/-0.5 degrees from SP. I think the metal held the heat for longer and continued to cook it. See screenshot.
2/ fermenting under pressure definitely effects the gravity reported by the ispindel. At 10psi it seems to be 4 SG points lower. I purged the vessel and the SG jumped instantly. Verified that with a hydro to eliminate Krausen factor.
3/ the ispindel will work in a kegmenter BUT the range is terrible. Think around 1-2 metres. I put a repeater (ESP8266) in the fermenter fridge next to kegmenter and it is working nicely.
I have sold all my spare units now, but I have most parts for another batch of iSpindels. If 4 people are interested I will put them together.
Using the instructions I posted earlier, it is easy to do it yourself too. Either way, great insight into what’s going on and improving your process.

Weizenbonk,
Can you elaborate on item 3/ please.
This is something I’ve struggled with. I got a piZero to read & transmit data, but couldn’t work out how to store it in CraftBeerPi. Was the second esp8266 easy to set up?

 

[Weizenbonk]

Weizenbonk,
Can you elaborate on item 3/ please.
This is something I’ve struggled with. I got a piZero to read & transmit data, but couldn’t work out how to store it in CraftBeerPi. Was the second esp8266 easy to set up?

It was a piece of piss...once I read the instructions. Go here - https://github.com/martin-ger/esp_wifi_repeater and read the instructions - especially the Building and Flashing section to get the flash config correct. I setup a basic repeater which took 2 shakes once it was flashed.
The ispindel in the kegmenter couldn't see the repeater when it was just outside the fermenter fridge. I had to put it basically on the kegmenter to get a signal out. The repeater, to its credit, was able to get a decent signal in a fridge, in a shed, 20m+ from the router. It is a pretty poweful use of the tech, especially as you can use that same firmware to create your own (probaly really slow) mesh network.
I am not using CraftBeerPi so can't help there sorry.

 

[Thomas Wood]

as you can use that same firmware to create your own (probaly really slow) mesh network.
I am not using CraftBeerPi so can't help there sorry.

Newish Asus routers can be used together to create a mesh network with the latest firmware. That's what I have done with two RT-AC68U's and it runs like a dream.

Do you have a new link for this guide the one you posted is dead. Also to do a widget for s.g

Go to Devices -> iSpindel -> Add Variable -> Derived

To add the SG you need to calibrate the iSpindel using the "Kalibration" spreadsheet and it will give you the formula. This can also be saved in the iSpindel configuration and will automatically be sent to ubidots.

Once you have that the ABV formula is something like this:
(1.045-SG)*131.25
Where 1.045 is your original gravity from your first reading, and SG is the Ubidots variable.

 

[bluc]

And I thought I was lost before so excel file gives me" 0.005260869*tilt^2 - 0.109407614*tilt + 0.28238996"and my first calibration sample was 1.090 so I do what with your equation? Does it mean 131.25× sg = plato? Thanks for the help I am not the sharpest tool in the shed...

 

[bluc]

That wifi repeater sounds like just the ticket to get wifi to powerless shed. Wonder if I could run it off a battery...

 

[Thomas Wood]

0.005260869*tilt^2 - 0.109407614*tilt + 0.28238996

So this is your Plato formula. The iSpindel already automatically sends the tilt, so go into Ubidots and at the top navigate to Devices -> Your iSpindel -> Add Variable -> Derived Function
Then in the formula you need to enter the above, clicking on the tilt variable from 'Add Data Source' so that it gets inserted and highlighted. It's pretty annoying how the input works so it might take you a couple of goes.

Afterwards you can save that as your Plato formula
You can then use Plato to create your SG as so:

And then finally an approximation of your ABV

See this doc as well: https://github.com/universam1/iSpindel/blob/master/docs/Calibration_en.md#forumla

 

[bluc]

Thanks thomas that put me on the right track. I had previously been going off the github page you linked. So everytime I tried to enter a derived expression for plato I got an error "underfined" so then it finally twigged. It automatically sets up "gravity" so I tried using that and bingo worked straight off. When I filled in the data I hit the gravity button twice then filled in around it then for abv I hit the sg button once and filled in around it. here is how I formated it for sg and abv