I believe I read some time ago you were working on a new expansion board for analog inputs but can’t find the thread again. Do you have any plans for that? Or other plans for the most relevant measures?
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Plans for implementation are still there, but were delayed by unusually stubborn bugs. To resolve this bottleneck in firmware/hardware development, I’m also picking up firmware features.
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Hi, do we have any update on the analog input development? I would appreciate to have eg a 4-20mA input available to connect all kind of volume, flow (both keyence manufacturer) , pH, … sensors
Thks for the feedback
We received the boards last week, and are now finishing up with the software for the analog temperature sensors. We haven’t yet made a firm decision on how, when, and in what order to suppport non-temperature sensors in software. Reading the input is relatively simple. Using values other than temperature for PID input requires changes to how units are handled internally.
i read analog input boards but it doesn’t state what kind of analog input you mean. Is it a 4-20mA board?
In a first place i will by some flow/volume meters from Keyence. Basically i would like to see a solution where I can define the measuring range of my sensors. So setting the start and end value; assuming that in between we have a linear measurement. Regarding what to do with the values… in a first place i just would like to read them on the dashboard as a metric, being able to visualize them in a graph; best case i would like to trigger a digital actuator after reaching a certain value.
So in a MVP1 pretty straight forward application.
Being able to use the value as an input for a PID; not sure what kind of application you’re thinking off? Managing pumps (could be interesting for managing herms flow)? Managing Heating elements using your actual temperature sensors will be cheaper)?
Beside volume and flow measurements i’am personally also thinking pH or Plato measurements (although the inline measurement of quite expensive sensors is relative)
Do you already some documentation available on your new board?
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The new board is mainly designed for RTDs and bare pressure sensors (wheatstone bridges), both resistive measurements, with maximum accuracy. It corrects for lead wire resistance, thermal offsets, parasitic thermocouples (seebeck effect) and temperature compensation fo the pressure sensors themselves. That’s why it is only designed for bare wheatstone bridges, because I needed higher precision than sensors with integrated amplification can provide. Most pressure sensors have a 0.5%, maybe 0.2% full-scale accuracy, but with our measurement method and compensation algorithms, I can achieve 0.003%. For RTDs 0.001 degree.
It’s an ultra-high precision board, mainly because we needed that for the pressure sensor measurements.
Later I’ll probably make a more generic industrial IO board for 4-20mA and 0-10V, more generic with less precision.
I understand the engineering challenge of the new analog input possibility but was this also for a brewery application? I don’t see immediately the need for this very high precision knowing that we work with natural products and many other elements will have a by far mor uncontrollable aspect.
So i continue to look forward to have a 4…20mA input offering a much more versatile possibility to connect sensors Ph, Flow, Pressure (if needed), … My Keyence 4…20mA flow sensors have a 0,3% fsr precision which is by far enough to brew. Unfortunately i can not connect them to BrewPi…
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+1 for the generic analog IO board! I use 4-20ma pressure sensors for kettle volume measurement and 4-20ma flow sensor for flow measurement
I can only support your need for a 4…20mA general IO board.
As long as we assume that the full range is linear we only need a general configuration solution allowing to install the min and max value for the full scale and let us install a unit for the measurement.
All this going together with a nice graph and some setpoints that let us trigger alarms.
This board will have almost endless possibilities
I also am looking forward to the 4-20 mA option. I use some mass flow meters that I can define an out for specific gravity during the boil !! Repeatability is key, Accuracy is important but if repeatable, adjustments can be made. Can’t wait to bring my whole brew system into BrewBlox, but I’m all 4-20 mA…
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