iSpindel Digital Hydrometer

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Finished product. Just need to load the software and play with it.
 
I had a fair bit of trouble flashing the arduino once I soldered everything up. I couldn't get the nodemcu flasher to flash the .bin properly so ended up flashing with the arduino IDE then had to play around with drivers for some time to get it detected as a COM port again. I was then able to flash with the nodemcu flasher again.

My only issue is the temp is reporting as -127, those pads for the ds18b20 are so close together I must have crossed them when soldering. Not worried I won't be using that temp anyway, I will be more careful on other boards.

Picking up a sled this afternoon so will report back with some pics. I do need to get some weights before it will go in to production.
 
Bevan, did you have to file down the pcb board at all? Mine is slightly too big for the printed sled but other than that it is all fitting nicely.

I got some tyre weights but have ordered the calibration weights to make it all nice and tidy
 
Whats the best way to get the parts for this? I can print the sled, are there more of those PCBs available?
 
must have been the print, I had to file off a bit from the bottom of the sled and also the toggle switch to fit it all in but its nice and snug.

Time to calibrate and get it ready for the first ferment.

I have mine feeding in to my brewpiless which is absolute gold
 
Thanks for the link. Ordered some PCBs.

Putting a cart of parts together on ebay, the correct encloser size is 4.5cm x 15cm right? XXL PET Geocaching container.

Might need a new iron and a helping hand too.
 
must have been the print, I had to file off a bit from the bottom of the sled and also the toggle switch to fit it all in but its nice and snug.

Time to calibrate and get it ready for the first ferment.

I have mine feeding in to my brewpiless which is absolute gold
Are you running fermtrack or Brewpiless stand alone?
 
All the bits ordered. Hopefully they arrive in this lifetime.

I think Fasttech.com is better for 18650s. seems a little cheaper than ebay.

I'm going to just use some I have already for lights, which I may replace them with some better ones.

The 18650 to get is the Sony VTC6. Great performing cells, although the load on this build is tiny so probably doesn't matter that much.

Will be able to build 5 units for about $100 I think.
 
I'm running brewpiless stand alone and I haven't actually been able to get it feeding in yet. Not sure why, it reports to ubidots no issue
 
Hi guys. I've built up a iSpindel circuit board using "stripboard", all seems fine. Not as pretty as the pcb, I'll probably order this at some point.

Now it's time to get it working. I managed to flash it using Node MCU, and in a terminal window I can see:

NodeMCU 0.9.5 build 20150318 powered by Lua 5.1.4
lua: cannot open init.lua​

I've also started a ubidots account.

I've been over the documentation on Github, but for the life of me I can't work out what to do next. Would it be possible to post a basic outline of the steps to connect it to wifi, link to ubidots and calibrate?
 
You can buy a commercial version called tilt. I am doing up a guide which should make it easy for you to pick up and run with
I've seen the tilt but at $200 it's a stretch, would love to see a guide though as I'd be happy to DIY (but need the guidance)! ;)
 
Well I finally got my ispindel reporting to brewpiless. There is a version of ispindel in the bpl GitHub under the extras folder that is the only one that would work for me.

I've now put 4 of these together.

I'll be soldering a few more tonight so will get the guide started and hopefully completed in the next few days.

i am also now pumping bpl data (including gravity now) out to ubidots which is much nicer than google sheets

I should have one completed unit spare in a few weeks, parts are ~$35 and my time is worth something so make an offer
 
What weight have you guys used? The 20g alone didn't weigh it down enough I have had to put 30g in to get the angle in water at 20 degrees.

I took a leap of faith and soldered straight on to the battery today, waaaaay better. I have one unit fully complete and should finish a few more tomorrow night once I file the sled off a little.
 
What weight have you guys used? The 20g alone didn't weigh it down enough I have had to put 30g in to get the angle in water at 20 degrees.

I haven't got to that stage yet (will be finishing it this Sunday - fingers crossed), but luckily I bought a few sets of weights (each set with 20g, 10g, 5g, 2g & 1g weights in it) for the few sets of builds I intend on doing.
 
I've seen the tilt but at $200 it's a stretch, would love to see a guide though as I'd be happy to DIY (but need the guidance)! ;)

Have you ordered the parts?

It is all pretty straight forward, the hardest part is soldering the temp probe (if you buy the pcb). I can help with the rest via pm or happy to have a chat on the phone. If you are in Newcastle and need a hand let me know. Guide is coming, just trying to juggle work, uni, family and brewing!
 
Have you ordered the parts?

Not exactly sure what I need to buy, so no, not yet! Appreciate the help, I might just wait for your guide, hopefully you find the time but understand how hard it is to fit everything in! I'm in Tas by the way, haven't been to Newcastle since 1996! :)
 

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