Freezer not cooling to set temperatures

Troubleshooting
1

Doing a test run with my new build. My fridge (converted chest freezer) was holding steady at the correct temps when beer constant or profile was set to 65 deg F. However since lowering the set temps below 50 deg F, I’m not able to keep the compressor on long enough to reach the desired temps.

Beer_temps.JPG985×938 151 KB

No matter how low I set the beer constant or profile, I’m only able to get the water in my carboy as cold at 52 or 53 deg. If I set the freezer to always on, I can get the fridge temp close to zero with a beer temp about 33 deg F. The K values are all set to the default.

I’m running a RaspPi 2 with the new Particle Photon. When in test mode I can see the SSRs for heating and cooling toggle on as desired. During normal operation when the LDC reads cooling, the SSR for the freezer doesn’t always come on. Any ideas?

2

is your SSR directly connected to the compressor. or is the defrost timer still in action?

3

Also, isn’t 35 in American like 1 degree in rest of the world?

Why do you even want it that cold?

4

The SSR controls an outlet box where the freezer power cord is connected. When the freezer is plugged directly into the wall its internal temp gets down to near zero. It’s not an issue with the defrost timer. The issue is with the controller. The SSR is either not turning on at all or not staying on long enough. The when the red light on the SSR comes on, so does the freezer.

I want it near 35 for lagering.

5

There is a value under Advanced Settings called “Temperature setting minimum” whose description says “The fridge and beer temperatures cannot go below this value.” The default value here is 35F (I believe).

This means if your chamber gets to 35F during a cooling cycle then the SSR will cycle off either immediately or upon reaching Cooling Min Time. If your desired beer temperature is 35 then obviously your chamber is going to need to get lower than that in order to pull the beer down from a higher temp.

I have set “Temperature setting minimum” to 25F for those occasions where I need the chamber lower than 35F to meet a temperature goal.

6

Thanks DanCook, I saw that as well, but it’s not the cause. My “Temperature setting minimum” value is set to 0 F.

7

Should I be alarmed that all of my temperature sensors appear to be randomly disconnected? Would this cause my issues?

Sep 01 2015 00:10:52 controller debug message: WARNING 2: Temperature sensor disconnected pin 0, address 2815A0730600006C
Sep 01 2015 00:10:52 controller debug message: INFO MESSAGE 0: Temp sensor connected on pin 0, address 2815A0730600006C
Sep 01 2015 01:10:29 controller debug message: WARNING 2: Temperature sensor disconnected pin 0, address 2815A0730600006C
Sep 01 2015 01:10:30 controller debug message: INFO MESSAGE 0: Temp sensor connected on pin 0, address 2815A0730600006C
Sep 01 2015 01:25:10 controller debug message: WARNING 2: Temperature sensor disconnected pin 0, address 2815A0730600006C
Sep 01 2015 01:25:11 controller debug message: INFO MESSAGE 0: Temp sensor connected on pin 0, address 2815A0730600006C
Sep 01 2015 01:43:47 controller debug message: WARNING 2: Temperature sensor disconnected pin 0, address 2818847406000047
Sep 01 2015 01:43:47 controller debug message: INFO MESSAGE 0: Temp sensor connected on pin 0, address 2818847406000047
Sep 01 2015 02:07:22 controller debug message: WARNING 2: Temperature sensor disconnected pin 0, address 2860277406000003
Sep 01 2015 02:07:22 controller debug message: INFO MESSAGE 0: Temp sensor connected on pin 0, address 2860277406000003
Sep 01 2015 02:20:47 controller debug message: WARNING 2: Temperature sensor disconnected pin 0, address 2815A0730600006C
Sep 01 2015 02:20:48 controller debug message: INFO MESSAGE 0: Temp sensor connected on pin 0, address 2815A0730600006C
Sep 01 2015 02:34:57 controller debug message: WARNING 2: Temperature sensor disconnected pin 0, address 2815A0730600006C
Sep 01 2015 02:34:58 controller debug message: INFO MESSAGE 0: Temp sensor connected on pin 0, address 2815A0730600006C
Sep 01 2015 02:49:24 controller debug message: WARNING 2: Temperature sensor disconnected pin 0, address 2815A0730600006C
Sep 01 2015 02:49:25 controller debug message: INFO MESSAGE 0: Temp sensor connected on pin 0, address 2815A0730600006C
Sep 01 2015 03:36:47 controller debug message: WARNING 2: Temperature sensor disconnected pin 0, address 2815A0730600006C
Sep 01 2015 03:36:47 controller debug message: INFO MESSAGE 0: Temp sensor connected on pin 0, address 2815A0730600006C
Sep 01 2015 03:54:50 controller debug message: WARNING 2: Temperature sensor disconnected pin 0, address 2860277406000003
Sep 01 2015 03:54:50 controller debug message: INFO MESSAGE 0: Temp sensor connected on pin 0, address 2860277406000003
Sep 01 2015 04:52:44 controller debug message: WARNING 2: Temperature sensor disconnected pin 0, address 2815A0730600006C
Sep 01 2015 04:52:44 controller debug message: INFO MESSAGE 0: Temp sensor connected on pin 0, address 2815A0730600006C
Sep 01 2015 04:55:51 controller debug message: WARNING 2: Temperature sensor disconnected pin 0, address 2815A0730600006C
Sep 01 2015 04:55:52 controller debug message: INFO MESSAGE 0: Temp sensor connected on pin 0, address 2815A0730600006C
Sep 01 2015 19:02:06 controller debug message: WARNING 2: Temperature sensor disconnected pin 0, address 281884740600008E
Sep 01 2015 19:02:20 controller debug message: WARNING 2: Temperature sensor disconnected pin 0, address 2815A0730C0000D8

8

i get those disconnect errors too. no problems though

9

I tried leaving the freezer on overnight to bring the temp all the way down and see if the BrewPi could keep it there. Beer temp is lower that it was, but still not keeping anything close to the set temp. Why does the LCD read “Cooling” but the SSR is not always on? Seem like there should be a red light on the SSR whenever the LCD reads cooling. Any other ideas?

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10

After working with @Elco today, I realized I had been running on the not-ready-for-primetime firmware 0.3.0a which Elco described as having an unresolved cooling issue. With his help I’m not running BrewPi v0.2.11, however I’m still not able to get things working. I can’t seem to get the controller to recognize any installed devices… temp probes, heater, cooler, etc. After I hit apply and refresh the device list, they all go back to unassigned.

pi@BrewPi /home/brewpi $ python brewpi.py
Sep 07 2015 21:28:56 Opening serial port
Sep 07 2015 21:28:56 Notification: Script started for beer 'Test2’
Sep 07 2015 21:29:06 Checking software version on controller…
Sep 07 2015 21:29:06 Found BrewPi v0.2.11 build 0.2.11-0-ga28c22d, running on a Particle Photon with a V1 shield on port /dev/ttyACM0

11

I can’t even get the script to start from the WebUI. stderr log shows:

Sep 07 2015 12:46:22 Opening serial port
Sep 07 2015 12:46:22 Notification: Script started for beer 'Test2’
Sep 07 2015 12:46:32 Checking software version on controller…
Sep 07 2015 12:46:32 Found BrewPi v0.2.11 build 0.2.11-0-ga28c22d, running on a Particle Photon with a V1 shield on port /dev/ttyACM0

Sep 07 2015 15:53:52 quit message received on socket. Stopping script.
Sep 07 2015 15:55:02 Opening serial port
Sep 07 2015 15:55:02 Notification: Script started for beer 'Test2’
Sep 07 2015 15:55:12 Checking software version on controller…
Sep 07 2015 15:55:12 Found BrewPi v0.2.11 build 0.2.11-0-ga28c22d, running on a Particle Photon with a V1 shield on port /dev/ttyACM0

Sep 07 2015 15:56:03 Installed devices received: []
Sep 07 2015 15:56:03 Available devices received: [{“a”: “2860277406000003”, “c”: 1, “b”: 0, “d”: 0, “f”: 0, “i”: -1, “h”: 2, “j”: 0.0, “p”: 0, “t”: 0}, {“a”: “2818847406000
047”, “c”: 1, “b”: 0, “d”: 0, “f”: 0, “i”: -1, “h”: 2, “j”: 0.0, “p”: 0, “t”: 0}, {“a”: “2815A0730600006C”, “c”: 1, “b”: 0, “d”: 0, “f”: 0, “i”: -1, “h”: 2, “j”: 0.0, “p”: 0,
“t”: 0}, {“c”: 1, “b”: 0, “d”: 0, “f”: 0, “i”: -1, “h”: 1, “p”: 16, “t”: 0, “x”: 1}, {“c”: 1, “b”: 0, “d”: 0, “f”: 0, “i”: -1, “h”: 1, “p”: 11, “t”: 0, “x”: 1}, {“c”: 1, “b”:
0, “d”: 0, “f”: 0, “i”: -1, “h”: 1, “p”: 10, “t”: 0, “x”: 1}]
Sep 07 2015 15:56:21 Device updated to: {“i”:0,“t”:1,“c”:1,“b”:1,“f”:9,“h”:2,“d”:10,“p”:0,“a”:“2860277406000003”,“j”: 2.000}
Sep 07 2015 15:56:23 Installed devices received: []
Sep 07 2015 15:56:23 Available devices received: [{“a”: “2860277406000003”, “c”: 1, “b”: 0, “d”: 0, “f”: 0, “i”: -1, “h”: 2, “j”: 0.0, “p”: 0, “t”: 0}, {“a”: “2818847406000
047”, “c”: 1, “b”: 0, “d”: 0, “f”: 0, “i”: -1, “h”: 2, “j”: 0.0, “p”: 0, “t”: 0}, {“a”: “2815A0730600006C”, “c”: 1, “b”: 0, “d”: 0, “f”: 0, “i”: -1, “h”: 2, “j”: 0.0, “p”: 0,
“t”: 0}, {“c”: 1, “b”: 0, “d”: 0, “f”: 0, “i”: -1, “h”: 1, “p”: 16, “t”: 0, “x”: 1}, {“c”: 1, “b”: 0, “d”: 0, “f”: 0, “i”: -1, “h”: 1, “p”: 11, “t”: 0, “x”: 1}, {“c”: 1, “b”:
0, “d”: 0, “f”: 0, “i”: -1, “h”: 1, “p”: 10, “t”: 0, “x”: 1}]
Sep 07 2015 15:59:49 Device updated to: {“i”:0,“t”:1,“c”:1,“b”:1,“f”:9,“h”:2,“d”:10,“p”:0,“a”:“2860277406000003”,“j”: 2.000}
Sep 07 2015 15:59:51 Installed devices received: []
Sep 07 2015 15:59:52 Available devices received: [{“a”: “2860277406000003”, “c”: 1, “b”: 0, “d”: 0, “f”: 0, “i”: -1, “h”: 2, “j”: 0.0, “p”: 0, “t”: 0}, {“a”: “2818847406000
047”, “c”: 1, “b”: 0, “d”: 0, “f”: 0, “i”: -1, “h”: 2, “j”: 0.0, “p”: 0, “t”: 0}, {“a”: “2815A0730600006C”, “c”: 1, “b”: 0, “d”: 0, “f”: 0, “i”: -1, “h”: 2, “j”: 0.0, “p”: 0,
“t”: 0}, {“c”: 1, “b”: 0, “d”: 0, “f”: 0, “i”: -1, “h”: 1, “p”: 16, “t”: 0, “x”: 1}, {“c”: 1, “b”: 0, “d”: 0, “f”: 0, “i”: -1, “h”: 1, “p”: 11, “t”: 0, “x”: 1}, {“c”: 1, “b”:
0, “d”: 0, “f”: 0, “i”: -1, “h”: 1, “p”: 10, “t”: 0, “x”: 1}]
Sep 07 2015 16:01:08 stopScript message received on socket. Stopping script and writing dontrunfile to prevent automatic restart

12

Issue not being able to install devices solved. Found how this was fixed in another thread.

After running the command below, I was able to install devices. Doing a test run now, but so far, so good.

sudo echo -ne ‘E\n’ > /dev/ttyACM0