Raspberry Pi vs Arduino vs C.H.I.P vs Photon (inc. Poll)

[Blind Dog]

I have absolutely no idea what any of the above means. I asked my 10 year old son if he knew what raspberry Pi was. He sighed, looked at me as if I was an *****, rattled off lots of words that kind of made sense but mostly didn't and went back to his laptop. I'm pretty sure there'll be tales at school today about how 'my dad is, like, so old...'

And to think that back in the day I actually used to write code in c++. I guess that's what 20 odd years of being a desk jockey does to you.

 

[kaiserben]

My >65 year old dad is doing all the programming/coding work for my Raspberry Pi "BrewPi-esque" project. So don't let age be a barrier.

We're trying just a Raspberry Pi (and a Sainsmart relay board, but with no arduino or photon required) and expect it'll do the job just fine. (Anyone have any feedback about this working or not working?)

Simple testing indicates the relays switch when required to.

I'll be putting the prototype into a jiffy box either this weekend or next and then testing it on an actual fridge.


EDIT: We haven't been able to get our hands on a Pi Zero to try that, but it'd probably work. We didn't get the CHIP because details were a bit scarce and it was so new that there wasn't yet a community of people using it to fall back on for advice if need be.

 

[kaiserben]

PS- Raspberry Pi 3 was released this week. It has in-built wifi and bluetooth. And a slightly faster processor (1.2gHz). It's only $5 more expensive than the Pi 2.

So I've just ordered a Pi 3. I already have a Pi 2 running my TV/media centre. I'll probably end up using the Pi3 for media centre and Pi2 (with wifi dongle) for Brewing.

 

[gezzanet]

Did the same. Ordered a pi3 yesterday. Because of wifi. Now thinking of it for rasp plex setup but see if I can get wifi brewpi to work first.

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

Pi3 looks a very nice thing. But some more RAM would be nice

 

[GibboQLD]

Did the same. Ordered a pi3 yesterday. Because of wifi. Now thinking of it for rasp plex setup but see if I can get wifi brewpi to work first.

I have an old RPi running BrewPi over wifi (Edimax dongle) and it works pretty well.

 

[rude]

I find a little bit of cinnamon goes well in the crust of a raspberry pie.

I bought an arduino but it won't lift my bag.

Why not once the mash is finished (timed ) it brings a relay in which operates the electric winch

 

[kaiserben]

PS- Raspberry Pi 3 was released this week. It has in-built wifi and bluetooth. And a slightly faster processor (1.2gHz). It's only $5 more expensive than the Pi 2.

So I've just ordered a Pi 3. I already have a Pi 2 running my TV/media centre. I'll probably end up using the Pi3 for media centre and Pi2 (with wifi dongle) for Brewing.

I couldn't get the Pi3 to boot OpenElec for my media centre, so for now my DIY BrewPi-eqsue controller will get the fancy new Pi3. I've been able to switch relays on and off wirelessly/remotely (from my PC), so things are looking good.

Inside the jiffy box all there is is a Pi3, Sainsmart 4 relays and wiring (240V power source for relays, 5V Pi power source, connections from Pi to Relays, connections from relays to cooling and heating devices. No need for Arduino etc).

It's been tested and it all works. I can switch devices on and off remotely via a webpage. The only work left is to work on the programming for running ferment schedules and to make the webpage look pretty.

 

[Siborg]

I bought a raspberry pi ages ago and was thinking of ditching it, but using it for brewing seems a lot more tempting. Do I need an arduino to actually control the fridge/whatever? And the pi just handles logging? I've had a look on the brewpi site and it looks like they've got it controlling mashing all the way through to fermentation.

 

[MastersBrewery]

I couldn't get the Pi3 to boot OpenElec for my media centre, so for now my DIY BrewPi-eqsue controller will get the fancy new Pi3. I've been able to switch relays on and off wirelessly/remotely (from my PC), so things are looking good.

Inside the jiffy box all there is is a Pi3, Sainsmart 4 relays and wiring (240V power source for relays, 5V Pi power source, connections from Pi to Relays, connections from relays to cooling and heating devices. No need for Arduino etc).

It's been tested and it all works. I can switch devices on and off remotely via a webpage. The only work left is to work on the programming for running ferment schedules and to make the webpage look pretty.

Brewpi has been ported to run under python, using just the Raspberry. In final dev now as I understand it but has been up and running with .1c variation. Remember Elco didn't just cobble together some hardware to run PID he created an algorithm to deal specifically with ferment conditions. You might save yourself some time and frustration and I believe the Developer will be looking for testers soon.

 

[mr_wibble]

PS- Raspberry Pi 3 was released this week. It has in-built wifi and bluetooth. And a slightly faster processor (1.2gHz). It's only $5 more expensive than the Pi 2.

So I've just ordered a Pi 3. I already have a Pi 2 running my TV/media centre. I'll probably end up using the Pi3 for media centre and Pi2 (with wifi dongle) for Brewing.

Which media centre software do you use?

I was beta-testing MythTV on the PI2 (frontend only) to talk to the MythTV box under the telle.
It was mostly OK, but the browsing of the static video library (as opposed to recordings) let it down a bit.
Video playback was mostly fine, but the (~15 second) browse delays became a show-stopper. I do have a lot of files though.

 

[megabyte]

I couldn't get the Pi3 to boot OpenElec for my media centre, so for now my DIY BrewPi-eqsue controller will get the fancy new Pi3. I've been able to switch relays on and off wirelessly/remotely (from my PC), so things are looking good.

Pics! (or it didn't happen h34r: )

Sounds great!

 

[klangers]

Arduino - easier hardware interface to my knowledge than the others and the only code I know with any hint of fluency is C, so C++ or whatever the variant for arduino is is nicely familiar.

 

[Bribie G]

I've got a girl slave now to hoist my bag so I won't be needing this, I just don't seem to be getting any cinnamon flavour into it:



I can't see any use for it personally ( geek mate gave it to me about 3 years ago to watch free TV shows back before Netflix etc, never really got into it ) .

If anyone would like it, just send me a prepaid padded bag and it's yours. Generation 1 I'd guess.

Ed: I think the SD cards have movies on them, probably Coen Brothers etc.

 

[gezzanet]

Pm sent. I'm sure to break it but corn bros sounds good

 

[kaiserben]

Which media centre software do you use?

Using Kodi (I think I'm still on v15). Once it's up and running it's superb.

 

[kaiserben]

Brewpi has been ported to run under python, using just the Raspberry. In final dev now as I understand it but has been up and running with .1c variation. Remember Elco didn't just cobble together some hardware to run PID he created an algorithm to deal specifically with ferment conditions. You might save yourself some time and frustration and I believe the Developer will be looking for testers soon.

Oh, interesting! I didn't know that was happening. Although one of the big reasons for going it alone is that I don't really want to be tied down to his cloud system.

 

[MastersBrewery]

Oh, interesting! I didn't know that was happening. Although one of the big reasons for going it alone is that I don't really want to be tied down to his cloud system.

This is the original code that ran on Arduino and RPI all mashed up onto the RPI - nothing to do with clould or spark

 

[kaiserben]

This weekend my RPi controller is at the stage where I'll test it on an actual beer (not the initial active ferment, just the slow rise for a lager diacetyl rest, then hold, and then chill down to lagering temp and hold).

I've run testing outside the fridge (with my warm hands & a bottle of cold water to manipulate the temps measured by the sensors) and also a quick test in a fridge.

It's pretty much ready to go. (no PID though, so we'll see how it performs. I suspect PID won't be necessary, particularly as it has built-in delays of 5 mins after each time a relay switches - as does BrewPi). If I see large overshoots following a relatively large temperature change (say anything above a 5C change) I'll just build in a way of making it slow down 2C shy of the target. Easy! (in my head it seems easy).

 

[kaiserben]

I beta tested the above in an actual, real-life ferment overnight (actually it had fermented out and I was just chilling it down for a period of lagering) and it passed with flying colours.

Speaking of colours, I have a pretty graph tracking the temperature of air inside the fridge (blue) and temperature of the wort (green). The fridge relay is controlled by that blue sensor. It also has a small delay to protect the fridge compressor (the delays are currently set at 3 mins after relay goes on and 8 minutes after relay goes off).




In the test I set it to target 5C for 4 hours, 2C for 4 hours, and then 0C for 4 hours. It never reached those targets, but I was just wanting to see how it behaved.