Raspberry Pi vs Arduino vs C.H.I.P vs Photon (inc. Poll)
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I don't know enough about each to comment specifically.
However, my criteria are:
1) it works reliably
2) cost effective
3) easy to DIY - if it breaks I can fix it.
Being more sophisticated doesn't always mean better. Just different.
For my fermentation fridge the STC 1000+ is the most sensible option.
If I had a fridge in the house a brewpi via and old pic would be good. Proven to work, well documented etc.
Does it control "better"? That would need a data logging of both systems to find out. My hunch is that any gains are marginal, but showing your brewmates how your beer is going on your smart phone would be pretty cool.
However, my criteria are:
1) it works reliably
2) cost effective
3) easy to DIY - if it breaks I can fix it.
Being more sophisticated doesn't always mean better. Just different.
For my fermentation fridge the STC 1000+ is the most sensible option.
If I had a fridge in the house a brewpi via and old pic would be good. Proven to work, well documented etc.
Does it control "better"? That would need a data logging of both systems to find out. My hunch is that any gains are marginal, but showing your brewmates how your beer is going on your smart phone would be pretty cool.
GibboQLD
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Raspberry Pi & Arduino together -- the RPi for the logging, Arduino for the low-level hardware interface.
Used to use an ethernet-enabled Arduino and a sketch I slapped together to push data to a logging & graphing API (which worked well enough I guess), but decided to go down the BrewPi route instead, since it would allow me to split the hardware up and host things in-house.
Used to use an ethernet-enabled Arduino and a sketch I slapped together to push data to a logging & graphing API (which worked well enough I guess), but decided to go down the BrewPi route instead, since it would allow me to split the hardware up and host things in-house.
There won't be a huge difference in the final product. They all switch things on/off, more or less at whatever times you tell them to. However some are easier to use, nicer to look at (ie interface on PC or mobile), are more flexible, could be utilised for more types of concurrent monitoring in future (pH, specific gravity etc - all possible, just that probes are expensive right now), and require less parts.
Close monitoring and hyper-control also gives brewers a better understanding of what is going on. Better understanding can lead to better methodology. Most brewers like building, tinkering, testing and experimenting, so you'd think most would be really into this sort of thing. I don't get the "It's fine the old/simple way, so why bother doing it differently?" brigade. It's like saying: "Why bother researching anything? What has science ever done for us?"
But anyway ...
I'm already part-way down the R-Pi path (no need for arduino or photon). It'll have data logging and wifi capability to remotely create, use and alter profiles (on my PC at home, or my Phone while at work or on holidays). But I'll also look into CHIP and Pi Zero.
CHIP (does anyone have their hands on them yet? I can see it's a Kickstarter thing and they're taking pre-orders) and Pi Zero look promising. I don't know enough about them to vote for them. CHIP does, but Zero doesn't, include in-built wifi capability. Both are under US$10 (cheaper than an STC1000 let alone STC1000 with arduino or photon added).
Close monitoring and hyper-control also gives brewers a better understanding of what is going on. Better understanding can lead to better methodology. Most brewers like building, tinkering, testing and experimenting, so you'd think most would be really into this sort of thing. I don't get the "It's fine the old/simple way, so why bother doing it differently?" brigade. It's like saying: "Why bother researching anything? What has science ever done for us?"
But anyway ...I'm already part-way down the R-Pi path (no need for arduino or photon). It'll have data logging and wifi capability to remotely create, use and alter profiles (on my PC at home, or my Phone while at work or on holidays). But I'll also look into CHIP and Pi Zero.
CHIP (does anyone have their hands on them yet? I can see it's a Kickstarter thing and they're taking pre-orders) and Pi Zero look promising. I don't know enough about them to vote for them. CHIP does, but Zero doesn't, include in-built wifi capability. Both are under US$10 (cheaper than an STC1000 let alone STC1000 with arduino or photon added).
Ducatiboy stu
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Because it often iskaiserben said:
bluedoors
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I have a RPi that i have connected to my kegorator - gives me temp info (graph) and warnings (in case one of my kids fiddles the thermostat button on front). Also has RFID to scan when i pour a beer to give keg levels and connects to my ratebeer cellar for bottle stock
http://bluedoors.duckdns.org/keg/beer.php
http://bluedoors.duckdns.org/keg/beer.php
Moad
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Would be interested in the RFID aspect of this one, can you provide more info? Maybe a thread on this?BlueDoors said:
GibboQLD
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If it's anything like the Hymas Wood version, he'll have a bunch of RFID tags that correlate to his taps, and he just swipes the relevant tag when he pours a beer.Moad said:
The Hymas Wood version used RFID tags for bottled beer too, but given the variety of bottled beers you could have in your cellar/fridge at any given time, this seems a little unworkable in the longterm.
mr_wibble
Beer Odd
Arduino PID controlled the temperature of my HLT.
Little OLED display to set the temperature (via a knob on a rotary encoder), switching a 2200 watt element via an SSD.
Temperature reading with a dallas DS18b20
The OLED display is massive overkill, but someone gave me a Jaycar gift-card, so i used it.
... a 16x2 LCD would have been easier & cheaper.
Plan to arduino control a complete HERMS when I find some time to actually get the hardware together.
It's not really much different to the HLT controller, except perhaps I'd add a few extra temperature points for extra info.
Maybe some failsafes too - like Pump malfunction, Low Water, etc.
Oops, i forgot the "Why":
Because it's cheap and easy. I use no-name brand arduino nano, bought directly from China. Cost about $5-7.
There's hundreds of tutorials and all sorts of examples, pretty much for anything you'd want to do someone has already done, written 3 webpages and made 14 "how-to" videos.
Little OLED display to set the temperature (via a knob on a rotary encoder), switching a 2200 watt element via an SSD.
Temperature reading with a dallas DS18b20
The OLED display is massive overkill, but someone gave me a Jaycar gift-card, so i used it.
... a 16x2 LCD would have been easier & cheaper.
Plan to arduino control a complete HERMS when I find some time to actually get the hardware together.
It's not really much different to the HLT controller, except perhaps I'd add a few extra temperature points for extra info.
Maybe some failsafes too - like Pump malfunction, Low Water, etc.
Oops, i forgot the "Why":
Because it's cheap and easy. I use no-name brand arduino nano, bought directly from China. Cost about $5-7.
There's hundreds of tutorials and all sorts of examples, pretty much for anything you'd want to do someone has already done, written 3 webpages and made 14 "how-to" videos.
bluedoors
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Yes, exactly like this. expect i found it too cumbersome for bottle stock, so bottles are managed in my ratebeer cellar and i use the mobile app to remove or add items from there. I did look at using barcodes - i have a barcode scanner for this purpose but then found many beers didn't have barcodes on themGibboQLD said:If it's anything like the Hymas Wood version, he'll have a bunch of RFID tags that correlate to his taps, and he just swipes the relevant tag when he pours a beer.
The Hymas Wood version used RFID tags for bottled beer too, but given the variety of bottled beers you could have in your cellar/fridge at any given time, this seems a little unworkable in the longterm.
idzy
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Sounds like you need a hybrid bar code scanner / photo recognition cameraBlueDoors said:Yes, exactly like this. expect i found it too cumbersome for bottle stock, so bottles are managed in my ratebeer cellar and i use the mobile app to remove or add items from there. I did look at using barcodes - i have a barcode scanner for this purpose but then found many beers didn't have barcodes on them
Gweedo
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I agree the Arduino and Raspberry Pi combo, but I went with a cheaper option and utilized an Acer Netbook that was just gathering dust and about to see the hammer and the bin until it dawned on my to flash the latest stable Debian and installing BrewPi, and use that in place of the Raspberry Pi, saving me about $100.
megabyte
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If you're wondering about the CHIPs (that nobody voted for), the CHIP is like a Pi Zero but with Bluetooth and WiFi built in and it costs a little more ($9 vs $5 for the Pi Zero). My boards arrived about a week ago so here are a couple of pictures showing what they look like...
I'm absolutely smitten with the keg monitoring projects that have been mentioned in this thread and working on yet another solution after having a few unexpected blows on my own taps recently. In this case I'm using a small bluetooth module instead of any of the platforms mentioned in the poll.
With so many development platforms available I almost feel bad for voting in the poll, it's an exciting time and we're spoiled for choice. Pi, Photon, Arduino, CHIP or other. I have love enough for all of them!
I'm absolutely smitten with the keg monitoring projects that have been mentioned in this thread and working on yet another solution after having a few unexpected blows on my own taps recently. In this case I'm using a small bluetooth module instead of any of the platforms mentioned in the poll.
With so many development platforms available I almost feel bad for voting in the poll, it's an exciting time and we're spoiled for choice. Pi, Photon, Arduino, CHIP or other. I have love enough for all of them!
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