Brewblox release 2021/02/03

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1

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Brewblox release 2021/02/03

firmware release date: 2020/11/02

To add some more convenience for anyone using (mostly) unmodified fermentation setups, we added a new widget: the Temp Control Assistant.
This widget replaces the Quick Actions widget generated by most wizards.

The assistant provides a centralized UI for the most common user actions:

  • Set Setpoint setting.
  • Enable / disable all temperature control.
  • Enable / disable the Setpoint Profile.
  • Switch between Beer mode and Fridge mode.

This was formerly implemented using Quick Actions.
Temp Control Assistant is built with a more specific purpose, and lets us implement fermentation-specific functionality.
For example, we added a proper confirmation to reset start date to ā€˜nowā€™ when enabling the Setpoint Profile.

PID configuration for Fridge mode / Beer mode is tracked by the widget. It will automatically prompt to keep block settings and mode settings in sync when either is changed.
This lets you toggle between Beer mode and Fridge mode without accidentally reverting tuned settings.

All Quick Start wizards except HERMS and RIMS now generate a Temp Control Assistant widget.
You can also extend your existing setup by manually creating a widget, and linking it to your Cool PID, Heat PID, and Setpoint Profile.
The Cool PID and Heat PID are both optional, making it suitable for use with heat-only / cool-only setups.

On the backend side, we now support 64-bit ARM operating systems.
Practically speaking, this means you can now flash your Raspberry Pi 4 with 64-bit Ubuntu Server.
The only thing that does not work out of the box is the Spark firmware simulator. Weā€™ll add ARM64 support for this in a later update.

Changes

  • (feature) Brewblox now also support 64-bit ARM (aarch64).
  • (feature) Added the Temp Control Assistant widget.
  • (feature) Replace the Quick Actions widget with a Temp Control Assistant in multiple quick start wizards:
    • Fermentation fridge
    • Glycol-cooled fermenter
    • Brew kettle
    • Fridge without beer sensor
  • (feature) Modified accidental touch prevention in Builder Widget / Layout page. Instead of holding, you now click once to highlight the part, and click again to confirm.
  • (enhancement) The Web Frame widget now is rendered at 100% screen height on mobile devices. This matches Graph widget behavior.
  • (enhancement) Added Apple Touch icon.
  • (fix) Docker no longer warns about unset image architecture when updating brewblox-ctl libs.
2 Likes
2

Didnā€™t work for me because I donā€™t have a Heat PID (no heater needed where I live). :neutral_face:

3

You can just leave the Heat PID unassigned, and it should not complain about it.

4

image

When trying to activate the Fridge mode with the Heat PID unassigned.

5

Looks like it also checks for whether the config is defined. If you go to the mode, and then delete the heat config, does it then work as expected?

6

Not sure how to delete the heat config.

7

Go to widget settings (button with two chevrons), click on the mode, then on the trashcan button next to heat config.

8

Got it. Tried once and the same issue happened.

Tried again and it worked!

1 Like
9

Iā€™ll have a look at whether I can reproduce the retry, and make it more intuitive to use with only heating / cooling.

1 Like
10

Just by way of feedback - I upgraded and for some reason (too late to diagnose now since I redid it) the temperature control from my old dashboard did not carry over. It said the temperature profile was set but I woke today to my beer at 76+ degrees with a set-point of 65. I rebuilt the dashboard and the fridge kicked in to cool it almost immediately. Iā€™m actually curios what the few hours of natural temperature rise will do to the overall flavor profile so no harm done. Iā€™m using US-04, a new yeast for me but the previous batch was identical except for this fluctuation in temperatureā€¦happy accidentā€¦I want to see how the flavor profile turns out.

11

Do you have any graph data previous to your reset? That may shed some light on what happened.

12

It doesnā€™t look like I have any graph data beyond yesterday (The 16th). At least from the GUIā€™s perspective. Is that data kept anywhere I can access it from the CLI?

13

You can access the influx CLI with docker-compose exec influx influx, or hook up chronograph: https://brewblox-dev.netlify.app/dev/tutorials/chronograf.html.

The spec for how we save data is documented at https://brewblox-dev.netlify.app/dev/reference/influx_downsampling.html.

14

I am rather confused with the new wizard. I created all basic blocks blocks fir my herms setup and then ran the wizard. Then went into the dashboard to add quick actions, now I am finding lots of blocks with new names, i.e. newactuatorpwm-1, newdigitalactuator-6.
I am a little confused how to decipher them. The Only actuators that have kept their names are the valves.
Am I doing something wrong?
Many thanks

15

The wizard will also create blocks. Because it does so, it asks whether you want to keep existing blocks on your controller, or make a fresh start. Is it possible you created the blocks, and then chose to immediately remove them again with the ā€œfresh startā€ option?

16

I didnā€™t use fresh start at all.

Maybe easier to remove all blocks from service, just add temp sensors - let the wizard then create all and add valves, pumps etc. after.

What is odd is I use the same process on my last herms wizard, earlier version of Blewbox and all worked fine.

17

Iā€™d recommend doing exactly this: remove current dashboards, run the wizard again, and then add blocks for valves / pumps.

18

Thanks Bob, I will give it a go.

19

Many thanks, all worked fine

1 Like
20

Hi Bob
Got another question, or two.
How do I remove spark-one as it seems to be coming up as a default - I want to name it something more useful?
I have run add-spark, I have three, but first spark added sees pins 3, 2nd sees pins 2 and third also sees pins 3.
I was wondering why my wizards seemed to be going haywire - think it relates to pins.

Thanks in advance
Warren