iSpindel Digital Hydrometer

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Did you solder the wires to the battery directly or did your battery come with tags?
 
Asprin works better than normal flux on stainless if you are having trouble getting it to stick to battery terminals. Lemon juice also.
 
I'm pretty impressed by this! Going to get this happening I think (along with the brewpiless)

Mattrox said:
XXLBIG PET bottle blank. (Sold as a geocaching container)
Click to expand...
Did you get this from eBay out of the UK? Seems to be the only place I can find.
 
So, electronics aside, how does it work? does the floating angle of the vessel change with attenuation?
 
Mattrox said:
I'll pop up a list of materials because by far the most economical way to get everything is from e-bay. It takes a while, sometimes for things to arrive from China.

Wemos D1 Mini
GY-521 Gyroscope Sensor
DS18B20 Temperature sensor (buy 5, its cheap enough, but don't by the ones that are assembled with leads and a metal tip, just the electronic component)
Perferated circuit board (I bought 3cm by 7cm and cut it down)
Resistors 1x each
4.7 k ohm (the temperature sensor needs this)
220 k ohm
(The documentation says 470 ohm resistor but this can cause problems)
Bat 43 Schottky diode replaces this resistor (a 370 ohm resistor is suggested as working better than the 470 ohm resistor "sometimes", but the diode is apparently a better solution)
A micro switch. A reed switch can be used and the device turned off by holding a magnet next to it. (I like a regular switch)
Lipo Battery Charger TP4056 (6 pin recommended)
3.7v 18650B Lithium Polymer battery (I got the Panasonic 3400 mAh battery)
Click to expand...
For the Lipo Battery Charger is this one suitable? http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/10pcs-TP4056-Micro-USB-5V-1A-Lithium-Battery-Charging-Module-Lipo-Charger-TE585-/172590124256?hash=item282f2c4ce0:g:aSAAAOSwvKtY9v1l

For the 3.7v 18650B Lithium Polymer battery: These should cost about $10 each on eBay, right? Like this: http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/2x-Panasonic-NCR-18650-B-3-7V-3400mAh-Li-Ion-Lithium-Rechargeable-Battery-/322206993918?hash=item4b05088dfe:g:9XIAAOSwTZ1XmL4P

Got a link for the micro switch that you bought?
 
kaiserben said:
For the Lipo Battery Charger is this one suitable? http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/10pcs-TP4056-Micro-USB-5V-1A-Lithium-Battery-Charging-Module-Lipo-Charger-TE585-/172590124256?hash=item282f2c4ce0:g:aSAAAOSwvKtY9v1l

For the 3.7v 18650B Lithium Polymer battery: These should cost about $10 each on eBay, right? Like this: http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/2x-Panasonic-NCR-18650-B-3-7V-3400mAh-Li-Ion-Lithium-Rechargeable-Battery-/322206993918?hash=item4b05088dfe:g:9XIAAOSwTZ1XmL4P

Got a link for the micro switch that you bought?
Click to expand...
The charger I got was this. Notice the subtle difference in solder points.
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/162327066778

The panasonic battery is the one I got.

I ordered these switches but I stole one from the Little One's broken bubble blower toy. Yes, she let me try to fix it, the plastic gears were stripped and she was happy for me to salvage parts.
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/302198276542


The new D1 mini pro has an attachment for an external antenna for better wifi reception.
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/262671685292
https://www.ebay.com.au/p/?iid=272609208646&chn=ps&var=571728694067&rmvSB=true&ul_ref=http%253A%252F%252Frover.ebay.com%252Frover%252F1%252F705-53470-19255-0%252F1%253Fff3%253D4%2526toolid%253D10001%2526campid%253D5336768701%2526customid%253D42682X1148083Xb427da751d68518fef246aad0221a8f5%2526mpre%253Dhttps%25253A%25252F%25252Fwww.ebay.com.au%25252Fp%25252F%25253Fiid%25253D272609208646%252526chn%25253Dps%252526var%25253D571728694067%2526srcrot%253D705-53470-19255-0%2526rvr_id%253D1216061184361
 
Matplat said:
So, electronics aside, how does it work? does the floating angle of the vessel change with attenuation?
Click to expand...
Yes.

The angle it floats at is calibrated to a SG.

You have got it.
 
bevan said:
That's the one I was looking at, thanks for the reply! Love how this community works! [emoji482]
Click to expand...
I still have to find out if the 3D print fits that.

At least the iSpindel electronics is working for me.

I will be making a 2nd one with the D1 mini pro and external antenna. Think I will do the brewpiless with one too.
 
I'd rather not rely on cloud-based services. I assume some people have ditched the cloud-based stuff to capture their data locally?
 
Mattrox said:
Yes.

The angle it floats at is calibrated to a SG.

You have got it.
Click to expand...
Wow! I didn't think that would be something that would change significantly enough to be able to measure accurately!

Obviously I have no basis for this assumption, the old adage 'you learn something new every day' still holding its own!
 
Re the perfboard: if anyone's interested and can send me the circuit I'll draft a proper PCB. If there's enough interest I'll get them made by Silver Circuits.
 
Mattrox said:
I still have to find out if the 3D print fits that.

At least the iSpindel electronics is working for me.

I will be making a 2nd one with the D1 mini pro and external antenna. Think I will do the brewpiless with one too.
Click to expand...
It would be pretty easy to adjust the print to fit a different size vessel.


Matplat said:
Wow! I didn't think that would be something that would change significantly enough to be able to measure accurately!

Obviously I have no basis for this assumption, the old adage 'you learn something new every day' still holding its own!
Click to expand...
It basically the same thing as a normal hydrometer. They are just well balanced and so move straight up and down depending on the SG.

These devices are purposefully unbalanced so as the SG changes, the changing angle can be measured.
 
I'm following this with interest, and once a few have been finished and are working ok, would be happy to order a circuit board from you Lyrebird
 
I would also be keen on a circuit board or two; keen to implement this once I've got my fermentation controller all soldered and installed...
 
There is an open source circuit board under development. When it's available I'll post a link.
 
kaiserben said:
I'd rather not rely on cloud-based services. I assume some people have ditched the cloud-based stuff to capture their data locally?
Click to expand...
If you integrate it into brewpiless the data is easily captured locally.

iSpindel is designed to push data to the cloud easily. But can be configured. I don't know how to do that atm.
 

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