Basic starting up

Here is a screenshot of the result of particle on my Android phone.

Perhaps I should sum my situation as I see it.

  1. The Photon does not respond to the procedure performed by the Arduino Particle app. It has been attempted on two different WiFi networks.
  2. The Photon does not find a suitable USB driver on Windows 10.

I see these as two independent malfunctions of the Photon inside my BrewPi. However, nothing would please me more than to have my BrewPi working as intended.

How can we proceed from here?

I am still struggling. Been through som particle runs, light is now breathing green.

In the instructions I read

Configure the script to use WiFi to connect to the controller

By default, the BrewPi script looks for compatible Serial devices. To connect over WiFi, you will have to do 2 things:

Figure out the IP address of the controller. The IP address is shown on the display when you are not in test mode.
Modify settings/config.cfg to use the TCP socket instead of a serial port. Edit the file /home/brewpi/settings/config.cfg and add the following line (assuming the IP address found in step 1 was 192.168.1.96):
port = socket://192.168.1.96:6666
When you want your BrewPi Spark to always get the same IP address so that the script can find it, you should configure a static DHCP lease in your router. To do this, you will have to find the MAC address of the Spark. I recommend the app Fing (Android / iOS).
This app can scan your local network for devices. Look for a device called Universal Global Scientific Industrial. The IP address should match the IP address on the Spark’s display. Make a note of the MAC address. Then in your router, find the static DHCP page and add the MAC and IP address.

Where do I read the IP address on the controller? My BrewPi says “BrewPi Hardware Test”. BrewPi has never left test mode for me.

It’s working now! Got the IP address from the fing app.

Hi John,

Sorry for responding late, we recently moved so I have had many little DIY jobs to complete and didn’t spend much time at work lately. I’m glad you got it working!

We’re still waiting for a bug fix from Particle that can cause a disconnected state when the WiFi channel switches. most routers have WiFi channel set to automatic so it is possible that it jumps to another channel to avoid interference with neighbors sometimes. For maximum stability, it is recommended to set your router to a fixed WiFi channel for now.

Cheers

Elco,

Thanx for your reply. I am proceeding onto Raspberry Pi 3 class B.
What can you tell me about BrewPi update procedures?
Cheers
John

Hi again,

I have my Raspberry Pi 3 class B running.

Where would I find relevant getting started information? Do I install Raspbian and things like that?

Where would I find the best information for making the BrewPi and the Raspberry Pi work together? BrewPi Wiki?

Cheers

Hi John,

The instructions on the wiki should work for the most part–although they may seem a little bare-bones and require some clarification. To paraphrase some guidance I posted in another thread, the brewpi installation/configuration process (which is covered in the wiki) can be summarized by the following list:

  1. install an OS of some sort on the Pi (ie. rasbian, hypriot, etc.)

  2. make note of the ip address of the Pi (and spark 3 if you want it to connect to the pi via wifi), edit your router settings so these ip addresses are both reserved for these devices.

  3. connect to the pi vi ssh OR connect the pi to a monitor and keyboard and open a terminal

  4. install docker on the pi if not already installed

  5. use docker to pull a brewpi image, I use the raspian one because it is customized for pi hardwarve (you can also pull a portrainer image as well for visual UI for controlling docker)

  6. choose whether to use USB or wifi for the pi to connect to the spark, edit docker command and config file accordingly (for USB you need to add a parameter to the docker deploy command, for wifi you need to edit a line in the brewpi config file).

  7. From your normal computer enter the ip address of the pi (from step 2) into your web browser, the brewpi UI should pop up, and if step 6 was successful, it should say “script running.”

If you use the wiki instructions to work through the steps detailed above and run into problems, just reply here with which step you are having problems with and details about what you have done and what isn’t working as you expected and I’m sure someone will be happy to help.

As Elco hinted at, there will soon be a new release of the spark firmware that fixes some wifi connectivity problems. If you want to wait a little while before setting up brewpi, you could avoid having to update in the next week or two. However, if you want to get going right away the spark does work in its current form, it will just periodically drop wifi. It shouldn’t be a problem to update in the future once Elco has finished testing the hotfix and posted updating instructions.

Hope this helps!

Best,
Austin

1 Like

I am on WiFi, have installed Raspbian and am running on a keyboard and monitor.

Should I also install Hypriot? I have not done so, yet.

The command “docker pull brewpi/brewpi-raspbian” does not work.

Greatfull for help.

It is better to start with a hypriot image, because that already has docker installed and is built to run docker well from the ground up.

I apologize for my (total) lack of experience here! I need a little help from my friends…

  1. Is Hypriot an independent OS? Does installing Hypriot mean excluding Raspbian or can they run together?

  2. I am running Raspbian. Downloaded Hypriot and Etcher (Linux 32 bit version) to Raspberry Pi. Extracted Etcher. Etcher will not run.

  3. So, if Raspbian and Hypriot are two independent OS’s, perhaps I should get a new SD card, plug it into my windows 10 PC, format it, download Hypriot and Etcher to my PC and flash (install?) Hypriot to this new SD card?

Cheers

Yes, Hypriot is an operating system optimized for running Docker and you’ll need to flash an image of it to the pi. You can read about it here.

You can follow the brewpi wiki instructions for flashing it to your SD card (here), or Hypriot’s own instructions (here, but slightly outdated). In fact, it wouldn’t hurt to first read through all three links posted above to familiarize yourself with the process before choosing one set of instructions and following them step by step to install.

You could also just install docker on raspian (I for example have my pi running the media-center os OSMC and have docker running in the background) but it might require some customized steps that would be hard to guide you through).

Best,
Austin

Thanx for your answer.

Is it correctly understood: I use either Raspbian or Hypriot, not both?

Cheers

Yes. With the small exception that hypriot makes an ARM docker debian package that you could install on Raspian if you really wanted. But it’s simplest to use hypriot the OS, not hypriot the debian package.

Went back to starting up the BrewPi again. Previously, it worked together with my PC. When I hold setup the light isn’t blue but blinking red. SOS, 1 blink, SOS, 1 blink,… Suggestions are most welcome. Cheers.

That seems to suggest a Hard Fault (see here).

Could you explain what you were doing leading up to the LED flashing this way. Including both the state of the Spark and then anything you did.

For example “The Spark booted into test mode, but wasn’t connected to wifi so I held the setup button for 4 seconds to put it into listening mode so I could set up wifi”.

I will try to recapitulate. I coupled the BrewPi to the Pi thru a USB cable and applied 12V. It seemed OK. Pressed setup, got the blue. Tried the Particle app on my Android. Didn’t work, but had blue all the time. Turned BrewPi off and on. After that only red after 5 sek setup. Tried reset, 10 sek setup…, just red.

Can you still enter DFU mode? I think you need to reflash BrewPi over DFU (USB).

Roger, will try this, probably next week. Where do you suggest I find the most detailed instructions for this task: “Reflash BrewPi over DSU (USB)”?

Cheers

I think I have docker running successfully on Raspbian. Raspberry Pi 3 model B.

pi@raspberrypi:~ $ sudo docker container ps
CONTAINER ID IMAGE COMMAND CREATED STATUS PORTS NAMES
e807a20ba253 portainer/portainer “/portainer” About an hour ago Up 42 minutes 0.0.0.0:9000->9000/tcp portainer
4a4effae5ca9 brewpi/brewpi-raspbian “/entrypoint.sh /wat…” 3 hours ago Up 42 minutes 0.0.0.0:80->80/tcp, 81/tcp brewpi

I have reflashed the BrewPi, relase 0.5.4.
The BrewPi lamp is “breathing cyan”.
The portainer window is “Script not running”, sample data.

What can I do to further debug?