BrewBlox not working and can't backport to BrewPi

Software Dev
15

I’m having the same issues shown here (discovery taking a long long time and not working).

Perhaps the difference is that I’m using the USB cable and do not plan to connect through Wifi (didn’t run brewblox-ctl wifi).

I already tried adding the device-id SER number in the YAML file without any success.

Service is running but the controller won’t connect.

spark-one_1  | 2019/02/27 18:33:30 INFO     brewblox_service.events         Closing <EventListener for "eventbus">
spark-one_1  | 2019/02/27 18:33:30 INFO     ..._devcon_spark.communication  Starting device discovery, id=3a001e001147353236343033...
spark-one_1  | 2019/02/27 18:33:30 INFO     ...ox_devcon_spark.broadcaster  Starting Broadcaster
spark-one_1  | 2019/02/27 18:33:30 INFO     ...ox_devcon_spark.api.sse_api  Starting SSEPublisher

It’s stuck at this point after 10 minutes.

After trying to open the UI I got:

spark-one_1 | 2019/02/27 18:29:09 INFO ...ox_devcon_spark.api.sse_api Initial subscription push failed: NotConnected(<SparkConduit for None> not connected)

My docker-compose.yml:

  spark-one:
    image: brewblox/brewblox-devcon-spark:rpi-${BREWBLOX_RELEASE:-stable}
    privileged: true
    depends_on:
      - eventbus
      - datastore
    restart: unless-stopped
    labels:
      - "traefik.port=5000"
      - "traefik.frontend.rule=PathPrefix: /spark-one"
    command: >
      --name=spark-one
      --device-id=3a001e001147353236343033
      --mdns-port=${BREWBLOX_PORT_MDNS:-5000}
16

:rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl:

Tried to connect via Wifi and it worked (the discovery).

17

Docker containers can only access devices that are present when they boot. Don’t know if that could be the issue here too.

18

As a side note: device-id does not change where it looks during discovery, it’s only an additional check: discovered devices must have this ID.

If you want to enforce USB, you can use --device-serial (usually /dev/ttyACM0).

I’ll update documentation to clarify the distinction between the args.

19

Hello team and all good people out there.
I hope that someone might have some spare time to help an fellow brewer.
I have earlier been using Brewpi 0.5.10 with the spark 3.
Im a bit of a noob in all these stuff but atleast managed to get the spark going.
Now that i am eager to test the new Brewblox i cant get it running at all.
I have been following the guide step by step all the way to step 3 where you are supposed to connect the Spark 3 via SSH.
The spark are connected to my wifi ( Since brewpi) and has an Ip adress showing in the screen.
When i am trying to connect via SSH with putty i am frequently havning an error message Saying “Connection refused”. Where do i go from here?
I have no containers running in docker and even tried to connect via putty when having docker Uninstalled if this even helps.

Thank you in advance.

20

You should SSH into the raspberry pi you’re installing the software on, not the brewpi controller itself. Hope that helps!

21

Thank you so much for answering!
So i cant SSH and get the brewblox installed at the spark 3? https://store.brewpi.com/brewpi-spark-18
Is it neccessary to buy an seperate Raspberry pi 3 for getting the new software?

22

You should already have a raspberry pi (or other computer) connected to the spark either over USB or wifi to serve the website & to manage the spark.

23

Ah okey!
Thank you for taking the time!
I dident really know what i was getting when i bought the spark i guess, so i might have gotten things a bit backwards,
All along i thought the spark 3 were the Raspberry pi.
I used Windows for installing docker and to get the spark 3 going with portainer.
So am i supposed to SSH into my Pc and install brewbox onto it aswell?

24

If you’re absolutely determined, you could install BrewBlox on a Windows PC, but this would require significant knowhow, and lots of effort. I can point you in the right direction, but you’re looking at a few weeks / months work to understand the various software you’d have to set up.

If you’d rather skip all that, our advice is to get a Raspberry Pi. We made the installation process pretty simple, but it requires software not available on Windows.

25

Thank you so much for answering and clearing that out.
So in other words my brewpi spark 3 is not comptible with Brewblox ?

26

Your Spark is connected to the sensors and actuators of your brewing system, and regulates them.
The Raspberry Pi is connected to the Spark, and allows you to control the Spark with a user interface.

You need both.

27

To add to what Bob said: with the BrewPi software you already ran a web server (in your case your windows pc) and the spark with the BrewPi firmware connected to it.

BrewBlox doesn’t change that.

It is possible to run on windows, but docker support isn’t great, because it runs in a Linux virtual machine.
A raspberry pi is a cheap Linux computer for which we release an install and update tool.

Instead of dealing with the docker on Windows quirks getting a pi as your always online BrewBlox server will probably save some hassle setting up and updating.

The BrewBlox firmware is a free upgrade for the spark and you’ll upgrade it as part of the install process.

28

Hahaha im still laughing at myself!!
Thank you so much for your patience and informative answers.
Ive been itching my head with the spark for way too long, now it all makes sense.
Off to the store to get a pi 3!
Thank you all so much, very well appreciated.

1 Like
29

Thank you for your time.
Ive bought the Pi now and are following the guide for the brewblox install.
How am i supposed to SSH into the pi?
i have logged in to the pi with the password but afterwards i get stuck in the boot with the command line.
Others seem to get some sort of desktop up.
Tried to write “pi” in putty on my pc but it says host does not exsist. Also tried with figuring out the Pi ip with §hostname, but then the boot command line says command not found.
I also tried to write the brewblox install command in the boot command line, but it dident recognized the 3rd §sudo pip3 install -U brewblox-ctl

How do i advance from the boot command line after the log in?

Sorry for all the questions but im way under water.

30

You should install putty on your Windows PC as an SSH client.
Then connect to the address raspberrypi.local or the ip address of the raspberry pi.

The Android/iOS app Fing can be helpful to find the IP address of the pi.

It is normal that you only have a command line, you don’t need anything else to install brewblox.
You should use putty to connect to the command line of the pi remotely , from your Windows PC. That will make it a lot easier to copy and paste commands. That’s what ssh does: securely connect to a remote shell.

Step 1-2 should be done first, then for step 3 you use putty and continue remotely:
https://wiki.brewpi.com/getting-started/raspberry-pi-docker-install

31

Cant thank you enough Elco!!
I am actually up and running now.
It all seems great and i am playing around in the Ui while starting to realizie the true potential of Brewblox.
After all i got one question ( hopefully the last one), how can i assign a dashboard to the spark screen?
I got some Dashboards up in the brewblox interface but cant get them to be viewed at the Spark 3.
On the spark 3 it just says “Unassigned” and edit this screen in the web interface.

Best regards!

1 Like
32

You don’t assign a dashboard as such. If you go to the spark service page there’s a “Display Settings” widget that lets you assign parameters to each of the squares on the spark display :slight_smile:

1 Like
33

Thank you so much!!
what an great community!
Stepped in to this as a total noob and was nearly close to throw the pi and Spark into the floor during the struggle.
Thanks to you i am now brewing with my brewblox herms.
What an awesome set of tech, truly fascinating.
Hats off for Elco and crew

1 Like
34

Maybe you can describe how you set up the blocks? :slight_smile: