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Aaron

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Got mates that drink all your beer? Got a wife that tries to get rid of it? Drinking a little too much yourself?

You need KegBot:

kegbot.jpg


This thing uses a GNU/Linux server, rfid tags and secure id to check how much individual people are drinking including monitoring calories etc. It can also control how much is dispensed and is fully networkable so can be controlled remotely. Evil Geniuses?

Linkage


Updated link
http://makezine.com/2008/02/29/defcon-the-kegbot-projec/
 
Now that is geeky.

I like it :lol:

Doc
 
Doc said:
Now that is geeky.

I like it :lol:

Doc
[post="69323"][/post]​

Doc, it might be geeky and no doubt a costly exercise, so much so that they can't efford decent drinking glasses. I love the idea, but plastic cups?

:beer:
PeterS....
 
Actually reading a bit more over at the project page, it seems this project is getting some momentum. They also seem to like their beer, as Fat Tyre from the New Belgium Brewing company isn't megaswill.

From the listserv for the project they will be making available the schematics and details of the flow meters etc. It could be a great little project for the Xmas hols.

Doc
 
I guess with lots of drinkers, it'd be viable, but I can measure my drinking just by counting the empty kegs.
 
You don't always have to ask why.
Sometimes it is just because you can :lol:

Doc
 
Doc said:
Actually reading a bit more over at the project page, it seems this project is getting some momentum. They also seem to like their beer, as Fat Tyre from the New Belgium Brewing company isn't megaswill.

From the listserv for the project they will be making available the schematics and details of the flow meters etc. It could be a great little project for the Xmas hols.

Doc
[post="69553"][/post]​

Actually,I had another close look at this. It seems a very familiar setup. See how close the door is to the unit?, also take a note of how close the couch is to the unit. Taking all that into consideration plus the fact that he is drinking out of plastic cups gives me a somewhat familiar feeling. You are told that you are an alcoholic and you are trying to keep everything in the perspective. Keep out the unwanted guests by placing your dispensing machine next to the door, so no one can get in and of course have the couch as close as possible to save time pooring the nectar of the goods. Since you are locket in, you have no choice but to use plastic cups, just throw the emties out the window, no need to wash up....

:beer:
PeterS....
 
More details are coming through on the kegbot.
Here is the link that includes a schematic and the start of a parts list.
The FAQ has also been updated.
Mike has been asked if the software will support multiple kegs. If it does then I could in for building one as long as the flowmeters and solinoids aren't too expensive. The details are on the flowmeters are expected in the next couple of days.

Beers,
Doc
 
I don't know how long it will take me to actually build one of these, but I'm starting to assemble the parts.
I've ordered the ibuttons, reader and serial interface. Still to acquire the PIC, flowmeter, solinoid etc. Hopefully Mike Waverly (kegbot) will make the code available soon too.
Does anyone have any experience with Hall-Effect-Flowmeters in Australia ? They are usually quite pricey. The one the Kegbot guys used is quite cheap, but other than on their site I can't find any other reference to a Vision 2000 flowmeter.

Beers,
Doc
 
Going to necro the shit out of this thread as I have done quite a bit of tinkering with kegbot over the past week up to the point I am ready to install in the keezer. I will document it in more detail if anyone is interested but here is a basic rundown. There are probably many other ways to get setup but this is what I've learned.

Parts List:

Arduino - Used to read from the flow meters and report to the server
Arduino Uno (Up to 2 taps)
Arduino Mega (up to 6 taps)

Flow Meters
I picked up some from Jaycar for $11 to test, you can tweak the "pulse per ml" setting on the server to get the right measurements
The YF-S201 are cheap and cheerful, I just picked up a stack on Aliexpress for <$5 each. Will report back
You will need some 1.2" BSP female to barb fittings or some JG push fittings to screw on to the flow meters - again Aliexpress I picked up some staino ones
You will need a .25w 2.2k resistor for each flow meter

Server
I am using a Raspberry Pi but you can use a tablet that is OTG compatible or a laptop/linux box somewhere on the network


Installing

  1. First you need to flash the arduino board with the kegboard firmware, it is available on the github and is fairly straight forward, I had to get a few libraries in the right place.
  2. Installation on the Rpi was straight forward, there is a pre built image however I did below
  3. Fresh NOOBS image

  4. Enable SSH and change password on pi by opening terminal and typing sudo raspi-config

  5. In the terminal type the following or paste and press enter - bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.github.com/Kegbot/kegberry/master/install.sh)"

  6. Check DHCP leases to find IP and browse to IP

  7. configure basic settings

  8. cd /home/kegbot/.kegbot

  9. sudo nano local_settings.py

  10. Change DEBUG = True to DEBUG = False

  11. In local settings you also need to add the below

# Tell Kegbot use the SMTP e-mail backend.
EMAIL_BACKEND = 'django.core.mail.backends.smtp.EmailBackend'

# SMTP server hostname (default: 'localhost') and port (default: 25).
EMAIL_HOST = 'smtp.gmail.com'
EMAIL_PORT = 587

# Credentials for SMTP server.
EMAIL_HOST_USER = 'brewpalacekegbot'
EMAIL_HOST_PASSWORD = '************'
EMAIL_USE_SSL = False
EMAIL_USE_TLS = True

# "From" address for e-mails.
EMAIL_FROM_ADDRESS = '[email protected]

Putting it together
  1. Plug the arduino into the pi with USB cable
  2. if you are using two arduinos (for more than 6 taps or more than 2 with a few UNO's) you will need to install the support library - Run - sudo pip install kegbot-kegboard as pi user (sudo su kegbot)

  3. Run set-kegboard-serialnumber to set the serial

  4. Plug in additional boards and set serial per above steps

  5. open /home/kegbot/.kegbot/local_settings.py and add KEGBOT_ENABLE_ADMIN = True

  6. sudo su kegbot

  7. cd /home/kegbot/kegbot-server.venv/bin

  8. ./kegboard syncdb

  9. Go to the web interface through your browser and go to controllers

  10. You will need to add any additional meters from a mega manually, name them flow2, flow3 etc.

  11. You can then add kegs, brewers etc and assign them to taps

  12. You will need to tweak your "tick/ml" settings on each flow meter, this will depend on which one you use, I believe the YF-S201 are 2.25/ml

  13. Update your email settings on your user to notify you when kegs are low etc.
I plan on looking into RFID and potentially a solenoid to play with, just because... no real practical value to me.
I also think with some arduino skills you could get the pin change interrupts running on additional pins on the Uno or other boards but the Mega can be had for $16 anyway.

Again if anyone needs any info, help or more detail let me know. I've spent a good part of the last few days playing with this and Raspberry Pints. My preference is Kegbot mainly because I couldn't handle the imperial measurements in RPints but there are a heap more stats and features with Kegbot. Plus the API means I can convince a dev mate to knock me up a nice interface.

Cheers!
 
that was a snippet from the guide or forum somewhere! haha... too late for me to edit that.

Mods if you would be so kind so as to remove those values that would be great
 
Do the flow sensors have an guarantees or standards for food/water/beer contact? I've been interested in doing a keg bot type project, but I can't find any sensors that will give a reasonable guarantee or promise that I won't be buying something full of lead.
 
Clot said:
Do the flow sensors have an guarantees or standards for food/water/beer contact? I've been interested in doing a keg bot type project, but I can't find any sensors that will give a reasonable guarantee or promise that I won't be buying something full of lead.
Swissflow flow meters give all those assurances and are the most acurate,


oh and they're pricey.........
 
Ouch, you're not wrong about the price. They look fairly decent otherwise though, thanks.
 
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