So I was building a panel to house all the components for my fermentation chamber, and I was just about done making all the connections when it happened. The USB port on the brewpi broke off! I took it apart to see if I can solder it back together but I believe there is a part missing. See attached pictures. Is there a way I can fix this with the parts I have here, because I don’t see anything else laying around. Please don’t tell me I need to buy a new unit…
That looks like the USB port. The Spark also has a 12V power port (round plug) that can be used as a backup.
You’ll need the USB port for updates, but @Elco will have to weigh in on how to get that fixed.
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Is this the correct Photon for my BrewPi? If so, Ill just buy this. Would I need to do any programming, or setting it up, or would it just work as soon as I plug it in?
I ended up just buying the photon spark and pretty sure its the same one.
Anyone know what i need to program/configure to use it?
Once you physically swapped the photon, you can follow the install guide at https://brewblox.netlify.com/. There are no additional first-time setup steps required after swapping a photon.
With my other post about the WiFi dongle, what do I need to configure to shut off the onboard WiFi and use the dongle?
Also… I don’t have BrewBlox… Am I better off re-doing EVERYTHING? How do I go about that?
https://www.raspberrypi.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=184155 addresses the switch from onboard to dongle.
BrewBlox is the replacement for the BrewPi software, and a pretty significant upgrade. It still uses all the same hardware - no reason to change anything there.
To install: follow the startup guide I linked in my previous post. By now the process is pretty streamlined. In the last step you can follow a wizard to create a setup for a fermentation fridge.
10-4. Thanks! I was reading up on the BrewBlox and man, its alot. My 12 year old son should be able to help me with it! He’s in coding classes in school
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So I installed the new Photon, and its up and running, but the screen is white on the brewpi…
Im going through the steps to install brewblox in hopes it solves the issue
That’s normal for new photons - it doesn’t have our firmware installed by default.
One of the steps is to install the firmware, so no need to worry.
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When/if prompted, do I let brewpi access to my Wi-Fi? Or what do i do to let it use the adapter i have connected to the raspberry pi?
Because I dont want it using its own onboard Wi-Fi deal as inside the enclosure, it wont get a signal
I get through brewblox-ctl setup and it says:
Creating network “brewblox_default” with the default driver
Creating brewblox_influx_1 …
Creating brewblox_eventbus_1 …
Creating brewblox_traefik_1 … error
Creating brewblox_influx_1 … done
Creating brewblox_eventbus_1 … done
ab28e71cfa9fa9a8ca1b4de97ae399129936780c49a08cc5ce0a7a8982f): Bind for 0.0.0.0:80 failed: port is already allocated
Creating brewblox_history_1 … done
ERROR: for traefik Cannot start service traefik: driver failed programming external connectivity on endpoint brewblox_traefik_1 (37146ab28e71cfa9fa9a8ca1b4de97ae399129936780c49a08cc5ce0a7a8982f): Bind for 0.0.0.0:80 failed: port is already allocated
ERROR: Encountered errors while bringing up the project.
Command ‘docker-compose up -d --remove-orphans traefik influx history’ returned non-zero exit status 1
That error is caused by a different program using port 80. It’s very likely that the old brewpi software is still running. You can shut it down by running the following command: brewblox-ctl kill
Then run brewblox-ctl up again.
That worked! Thank you! Now, what do I do with the WiFi? Im at that step now and dont want to proceed.
Ive got the WiFi adapter outside of the metal enclosure that the raspberry pi and spark are in. They dont get a signal inside, and I want them to use the adapter. What do I do with the WiFi setup for brewblox?
If you’re referring to the wifi setup in step 6 (https://brewblox.netlify.com/user/startup.html#step-6-flash-the-firmware), that configures the Wifi for the Spark, not the Pi.
If your Spark is connected to your Pi with an USB cable, you don’t need to worry about Wifi reception. It’s good to have the Spark connected to Wifi at least once to automatically download updates, but after that you can use USB for Spark <–> Pi connection. Sparks connected over USB will be automatically detected.
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So, I’ve got it all installed and I’m on the brewblox screen. The Spark still has a white screen though…
Also… When I click on Wizardry, and Quick Start, The quick start thing pops up, but theres no buttons or anything to press to continue. All I can do is click the “x” to close the quick start thing. Thats on my monitor connected to my Pi and also my phone.
When I connect via my laptop, I can click the Next button, but a blue bar pops up and says, “Fermentation Fridge wizard” with a close “x” and thats it.
I’m getting frustrated I’m going through all this work, and I still can’t set it up the way its supposed to be. I’m following all the proper steps and hitting roadblock after roadblock.
You need to flash your spark over usb by running “brewblox-ctl flash”.
The empty wizard sounds like a bug. If you press F12 to open de browser debug window, do you see any JavaScript errors in the console?
I flashed it, the screen is still white on the spark, and nothing else has changed.
I don’t know what I’m looking for after pressing F12