The Brauduino (Matho’s Controller) Build/Advice/Question Thread

[claypot]

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  Based on wemos mini, firmware is BrewmaniacEx by a member of HBT. The board I've designed will be a direct bolt in replacement(Laels KIt). The controller runs and serves it's own PHP web pages and has the ability to import beerxml (any budding web designers can have a swing at making the web interface a bit more flash). Also saves logs of each brew day. There is an extra actuator for HLT and space in the code for a second temp sensor. I have some of the final tidying up to do (mainly labels etc) this week before it gets sent off for prototyping. Somewhere around 6 units will be made and tested.
  At this time it's not clear on costs, Lael will give everyone a heads up once we're happy the unit and firmware are solid, then the "buy list" will begin, as before, the more participants, the bigger the saving for every one.
  Fingers crossed the first board has no errors, and we can sail through the testing phase. The current design is a little over engineered in a few areas, this may change due to costs ( an onboard SSR will cost more than the total cost the rest of the parts to go on the board, as we all found with Laels kit the onboard relay worked well and orders of magnitude cheaper).
  I'll keep you guys updated when I have some news, just be aware after sending off the design it could be 6 weeks or more before they are produced and then snail mail across the globe. When I have hardware in my hand I'll start a new thread with pictures etc.

  Hey MJ,

Exciting news!
Along with the WiFi web interface, the PID auto tune and sparge water temp management will be awesome additions to an already awesome setup!
I've been using Lael's kit on my single batch 1V and love it. My intention was to build a double batch 1V next. Funny thing is I'm thinking of going the other way now and building a small batch unit like Matho's so I can try some random adventurous brews.
I was going to just swap the controller over as required, but may look at building another complete unit now.
I'm keen to get a new board or 2 if this goes ahead.
Cheers!

 

[Jase]

Hi all,

Finally got another opportunity to work on the brewery controller and think I'm close to finishing, I'm waiting on some bits from Lael and a sparky mate to look over it some time next week, hopefully!!!

I found a picture on this forum that helped with the pump wiring dilemma I couldn't figure out.

Trying to wire up the temperature probe and the wires seems too small for the board. Is it a case of simply strip some more wire and folding over?

I am getting this inspected by a sparky, but thought I'd post some pictures in the event of a major wiring stuff up that I need to fix prior to meeting up with the sparky.

View attachment 96063









Any feedback would be appreciated.

Cheers,
Jase

 

[lael]

As far as I can tell over the web, it looks good. As always, get it checked by your electrician.

For the temp probe - if you are using the kit temp probe it should come pre-tinned and just insert, and clamp the terminals.

 

[Jase]

As far as I can tell over the web, it looks good. As always, get it checked by your electrician.

For the temp probe - if you are using the kit temp probe it should come pre-tinned and just insert, and clamp the terminals.

Thanks Lael.

I am using one of the kit temp probes (I also grabbed 2 spare ones) and the wires still fall out after you clamp the terminals. I'll try the spare ones tonight.

Cheers,
Jase

 

[bevan]

Thanks Lael.

I am using one of the kit temp probes (I also grabbed 2 spare ones) and the wires still fall out after you clamp the terminals. I'll try the spare ones tonight.

Cheers,
Jase

I had this issue at first but found that I wasn't putting them in the correct place to clamp. Bit hard to explain, I'll see if I can post pictures to show it.

 

[bevan]

Thanks Lael.

I am using one of the kit temp probes (I also grabbed 2 spare ones) and the wires still fall out after you clamp the terminals. I'll try the spare ones tonight.

Cheers,
Jase

Is this the connector you have? If you screw it fully down so the metal wedge goes to the bottom ( in the photo to the right) then put wire in on the top (left hand side in the photo) of the wedge and turn the screw so that the wedge moves back to the top(left side in the photo) and clamps the wire. I at first put the wire below the metal wedge and it then doesn't have anything to clamp on the other side of it. Hope this helps and Hope I'm not telling you how to suck eggs.

 

[Jase]

ImageUploadedByAussie Home Brewer1490606625.729196.jpg
Is this the connector you have? If you screw it fully down so the metal wedge goes to the bottom ( in the photo to the right) then put wire in on the top (left hand side in the photo) of the wedge and turn the screw so that the wedge moves back to the top(left side in the photo) and clamps the wire. I at first put the wire below the metal wedge and it then doesn't have anything to clamp on the other side of it. Hope this helps and Hope I'm not telling you how to suck eggs.

Thanks Bevan. That actually worked. You are a champion! I appreciate the help.

Now to try to line up a sparky to check the wiring out.

Thanks again

Cheers,
Jase

 

[Futur]

Sorry Nfragol for the delay.
My GF settings. Still needs a little tweaking.
95
100
5
3500
5000
100%
1.00
I haven't had time to sort a few issues. I have issue get to the boil timer stage. My boil temp is set at 110 deg when the GF comes to boil I use the down button to drop it to 100 deg to start the timer. But I have made some great beer already this way. I need to look at the timer as I want to setup the night before but my timer has a max of 2.4 hours. I played with the code. So I don't know if that has changed other things. Just the joys of brewin. Hope of this helps. Overshoots by 0.5 deg only sometimes.

Did you manage to resolve the issue of boil temp always starting at 110 deg? It's really haunting me, I can't get rid of it. I've tried wiping my arduino and installing both versions of ardbir 2.8.3, the official release and the development edition.

 

[bigmacthepunker]

Hey Futur,
I still have both issues still happening. The boil thing is simply dial back to start the boil timer. The 2.4 hour timer the one that's ***** me to tears. I have also purchased another board and reloaded the software to try to fix these issues. I also has mucked around with code. I got the computer programmer at work looking at the code regarding the timer. I like to brew Sundays at 5am so 2.4 hour timer doesn't cut the mustard.
Cheers Bigmac

 

[Mardoo]

**** me, falling between the cracks is ****! That sucks!

 

[bigmacthepunker]

I still love my controller.

 

[zwitter]

Hey bigmacthepunker
In your setup is heat mode gas or electric?

James
Zwitter


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

 

[Jase]

Hi there,

Happy Easter or Happy Holidays to all!!!

Decided to test the controller out today, with mixed results.

I have a process, when trying a new device that I have built, of plugging one component at a time to isolate an issue before it becomes a bigger issue.

So, the order went:

Power to connector: Tick
Power and heater: Tick
Power and Pump: Tick
Power and temp probe: Tick
Everything connected: Power works, pump works, but no heater.

I tried running in both manual and auto mode with no luck: (see picture one)



As you can see, the H is on, but the heater would not operate. I'm at a loss why the heater will not work. Any ideas?

Shortly after the first picture, the temp probe reset itself to 0.00 degrees, so I turned the controller off and on, and now none of the buttons work (see picture two)



I opened the controller (after unplugging everything) and everything seems to be ok, but nothing works now. Has anyone experienced this before?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers,
Jase

 

[Jase]

So a quick update........ I just triple checked everything again..... and turned the controller on, thought I'd check whether the temperature probe was loose in the back of the controller, unplugged the probe and plugged it back in and BANG!!!!!!



I'm seriously at a loss to work out what went wrong!!!!!! Has this happened to anyone else? It seems that things started to go seriously wrong with the board. The controller worked perfectly well this morning and as the day went on it encountered more and more issues.

So, I suppose, I'll need another board, can someone please point me in the right direction?

Jase

 

[malt junkie]

Before you procede, detailed photos of wiring and the brauduino shield.

 

[Jase]

Before you procede, detailed photos of wiring and the brauduino shield.

Hey MJ,

Thanks for the reply.

The controller wiring is detailed in post 682. Let me know if you require any more pictures.

The shield:







Cheers,
Jase

 

[malt junkie]

Are the pics post bang?

 

[Jase]

Are the pics post bang?

The shield pics are MJ.

 

[malt junkie]

Ok close look at your wiring shows possible issue. Let me guess it went bang with the pump on!~

IMG_8730 copy.jpg

This pic tells the story, the pump wires are a tad too long for the connector and you have tried to put 2 cables into each connector for the Heat SSR outlet. At some point the power from the pump circuit has come in contact with the SSR low voltage and put 240V through the entire board.

1 tidy up the connections so there is no copper hanging out.
2 1 cable to the first SSR and from this SSR to the second one.
3 Have your sparky check it!!!

 

[malt junkie]

Note you may have fried the shield, no way to tell till it's put together again.