BrewBlox install various issues

Troubleshooting
1

Hello everyone,

I’m struggling after upgrading from Brewpi to BrewBlox and ended with a messy setup with various issues or questions.

  1. I followed install instructions and succeeded to launch BrewBlox services. That’s what It thought until digging with issues. For example, my spark (connected through USB port to my Raspberry) keeps rebooting every almost 5 minutes. Both are successfully connected to the same SSID.

  2. How do you know what bootloader version your spark is running? Status command in BrewBlox gives the following result

Your release track is “edge”

Your config version is “0.2.1”

Is everything up to date?

Spark displays 2789cc06 at boot screen. Is it the latest version?

I’m sorry for being a real noob but mastering Brewpi tooked me a few weeks and I feel like facing a real labyrinth with BrewBlox…

Any help to get a fresh start would be appreciated!

Many thanks in advance!

david

1 Like
2

Welcome to using BrewBlox =) We’re still very busy making the learning curve smoother, so feel free to post any issues, bugs, feature requests or feedback you have.

2789cc06 is indeed the latest firmware version.

When in doubt about the bootloader, you can run brewblox-ctl bootloader to update.

Could you please run brewblox-ctl log, and copy the link here? That may shed some light on why your spark keeps rebooting.

Power cycling the Spark may also resolve the problem.

3

Hi Bob,

Thanks for your help! :wink:
Here is the log file. Hoping it may help you pointing out the issue.

NB/: At first sight, power cycling didn’t seem to help also.

Brewblox log.zip (18.1 KB)

4

According to your log, it did manage to connect, and immediately found more blocks than expected in a fresh install.

In the UI, could you please export the blocks? (service page, actions button in right top, import/export)

5

So here they are. You were right, after checking, many “unknown” blocks are displayed and added confusion.

NB: My original fridge setup is, typical as a Brewpi basic install (Beer temp, Fridge Temp, Ambient temp, Heat and Cold actuator)brewblox-blocks-spark-one.json (11.4 KB)

6

The reboots may be caused by the stored data being slightly incompatible with the current firmware.

To check, you can remove all blocks (service page actions), and let the controller run for a while to see if the problem persists.

Afterwards you can (re)create your configuration by either:

  • Import this file. This will recreate all blocks on the controller. The error blocks (Setpoints no longer exist) will be skipped.
  • Run the Classic arrangement wizard. This will create a setup like the one you describe (beer temp, fridge temp, and PIDs for heating and cooling).
7

I will remove all the blocks as you described and start from scratch with Classic arrangement wizard.
It should clear this up.

I’ll keep you posted Bob. Many thanks for your help! :+1::+1::+1:

8

Hello Bob,

Before removing all blocksied us, shall I stop services first?

In both cases, even after being “removed” they all remain in BrewBlox control page or even on Spark display… :thinking:
In addition to that, I remember when using Classic wizard arrangement, that auto discovering connections didn’t work at all… (I had to set block on by one)

Anyway, what is the best way to clear all that stuff and start from scratch?

Thanks you! :wink:

9

You need your services to talk to the controller, so keep them on.

A more drastic approach is to run a factory reset. This does require the debugging API.

In your browser, navigate to https://RASPBERRY/spark-one/api/doc. Select the /_debug/do command in the “Debug” category. Run the command with the following body:

{ "command" : "factory_reset", "data" : {} }

Refresh the Spark service page in the UI, and it should just display the system objects (Spark Widget, DisplaySettings, ActuatorPin).

Edit: Widgets on dashboards will continue to exist if you delete the block, but they’ll display an error that the block was not found.

10

Hello to all,

Back from vacations; started from scratch and new “issues” occurs. So I successfully set Fermentation Dashboard and a temperature profile but it seems that BrewBlox can’t trigger heating or cooling pin.

Is there a way to do a self test to see if everything is going well? Is there any “red” or “blue” color (like on Brewpi) on the diagram to check if the fridge is working well?

Here is the log if it can help :wink:

brewblox.log (164.2 KB)

Many thanks!

11

Only have time for a quick scan on my phone, but your service is complaining about USB read errors. Is your firmware up to date, and are you sure this is the only service interacting with your spark?

12

Thanks Bob for your quick support!

My Spark’s firmware is 9b0330f4. It’s USB plugged to the Pi. Should I remove USB cable and power it through power adapter?

13

Firmware is latest (version is posted in changelog topic).

Always worth a try. There are issues with people reporting that their Spark keeps restarting. Is that the case here?

14

In fact it was frequently restarting in my original post but you pointed out multiple services in my setup. This why I started from scratch. I didn’t experienced any weird restart since.

I’ll try to power it straight to DC adapter and see how it behaves :wink:

Will keep you posted! Thanks Bob!

15

Even after powering through adapter my setup seems completely messy… For example, asking to raise temperature triggered compressor although they were correctly set during wizard process… :face_with_raised_eyebrow:

I get so confused with all datas displayed, hardware assigning and so on that I’m going to go back to Brewpi for the moment. I didn’t need more that Brewpi was doing… :pensive:

Could you give me the procedure to get back to Brewpi? I know it can be felt as a step backward but I can’t focus on brewing and learning a brand new system on the same time. (at least for the moment :wink:

Many thanks!

16

Sorry to hear that.

There are no special steps that must be taken to revert to Brewpi: follow the original instructions to flash the firmware and install the pi-side service.

17

Don’t worry I’ll switch to BrewBlox as soon as it has matured :wink:

Thanks for anyway for your support.