iSpindel - low cost data logging/display gadget

[Harry Bloomfield]

This one - Repetidor iSpindel con Display Oled - (in Spanish, use Google translate)

Is anyone else using one please?

It's like the iSpindel Opensource, runs on adapted Brewpiless firmware. It powers via USB C, includes a display of all of the iSpindles instantaneous data and acts as a repeater access point, to relay data from the iSpindel. to your wifi router, or it can stand alone just displaying the instant data. It includes a web site type interface, which you can log into with your PC etc., able to display a graph showing the progress of your beer or wine. I am still very much getting to grips with it, so I don't yet know how much data it can store / display. I only got it going late yesterday evening, but it stored all my overnight data, with the iSpindel reporting in every 10 minutes. If power is lost, all data seems to be lost from the repeater with it.

The two component parts of the gadget arrived here just yesterday morning, cost from AliExpress delivered about £8, plus the cost of a plastic box. Display and processor need to be simply connected via four wires, then the firmware uploaded (as with the iSpindel) via USB.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

All set up and absolutely working fine :-) Rather strangely, I have found the wifi reception range between the repeater and the iSpindel is very much less than between the repeater and my router. I previously ran the iSpindel with two walls and two room between it and the wifi router it connected to. The repeater is still able to do that, but iSpindel to repeater, the repeater has to be in the same room, or contact is lost.

Now I can keep an eye on my wines fermentation progress by either looking at the repeaters display directly, or check it out on the repeaters web page on my laptop. The web page/repeater does much more than I might need, including heat and cooling control. My only interest was in keeping an eye on my iSpindel and the progress of the fermentation.

 

[nordberg]

Looks fun but I can’t help think Ubidots is probably more useful?

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

Looks fun but I can’t help think Ubidots is probably more useful?

I started with Ubidots, but found it (the free version) very restrictive. I was constantly exceeding the daily dot allowance. I then used Brewspy, which had no such restrictions, but that needed a suitable Android device which I didn't really have, or to use an emulator such as Bluestacks, to be able to run Brewspy.

This system allows me to have all the data displayed on the repeater near my FV and be able to check the progress of my fermentation on any device able to browse to the devices built-in web site.

Here is a copy of the website, I began the fermentation at 19:30 last evening.

 

[nordberg]

Ah, ok.. I missed the bit where you had a web interface to track progress.

 

[nordberg]

That actually looks really good.
Are you saying all you needed to do this cost £8?

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

That actually looks really good.
Are you saying all you needed to do this cost £8?

Ignoring the cost of a case, yes around £8 for the two circuit boards (display and processor) from Aliexpress.

It needs either a 0.96 OLED or 1.3 OLED size of this display - 0.84US $ 5% OFF|White Blue color 128X64 OLED LCD LED Display Module For Arduino 0.91 0.96 1.3 I2C IIC Serial new original with Case|LCD Modules| - AliExpress

Plus

V3-ch340 Arduino here - 3.08US $ 32% OFF|Wireless V3 Module CH340/CP2102 NodeMcu V3 Lua WIFI Internet of Things Board based ESP8266 ESP 12E for Arduino|Integrated Circuits| - AliExpress

Plastic boxes are here, but you need to size it to fit your two PCB's. I just stuck the two PCB's in place with hot melt glue. 0.26US $ 21% OFF|22 Sizes Top Quality ABS Plastic Waterproof Cover Project Electronic Project Box Instrument Case Enclosure Boxes 8 Sizes|Power Tool Accessories| - AliExpress

If items are ordered together, Ali combine them into one package for delivery. Delivery took around 10 days and fully tracked.

There is a link to the article (in Spanish), in my first post, just use Google translate. It includes links to the firmware needed, but it uses different firmware for the 0.96 to the 1.3 displays. The article is not easy to follow, it's a bit dry of detail, but it's fairly straight forward. Daniel, the designer (I think) is difficult to discuss it with, but as said it is straight forward.

Below is my repeater. I just have it bluetacked on the wall, near to the FV. The green cable is the USB power from a wallwart.

 

[nordberg]

Ignoring the cost of a case, yes around £8 for the two circuit boards (display and processor) from Aliexpress.

It needs either a 0.96 OLED or 1.3 OLED size of this display - 0.84US $ 5% OFF|White Blue color 128X64 OLED LCD LED Display Module For Arduino 0.91 0.96 1.3 I2C IIC Serial new original with Case|LCD Modules| - AliExpress

Plus

V3-ch340 Arduino here - 3.08US $ 32% OFF|Wireless V3 Module CH340/CP2102 NodeMcu V3 Lua WIFI Internet of Things Board based ESP8266 ESP 12E for Arduino|Integrated Circuits| - AliExpress

Plastic boxes are here, but you need to size it to fit your two PCB's. I just stuck the two PCB's in place with hot melt glue. 0.26US $ 21% OFF|22 Sizes Top Quality ABS Plastic Waterproof Cover Project Electronic Project Box Instrument Case Enclosure Boxes 8 Sizes|Power Tool Accessories| - AliExpress

If items are ordered together, Ali combine them into one package for delivery. Delivery took around 10 days and fully tracked.

There is a link to the article (in Spanish), in my first post, just use Google translate. It includes links to the firmware needed, but it uses different firmware for the 0.96 to the 1.3 displays. The article is not easy to follow, it's a bit dry of detail, but it's fairly straight forward. Daniel, the designer (I think) is difficult to discuss it with, but as said it is straight forward.

Below is my repeater. I just have it bluetacked on the wall, near to the FV. The green cable is the USB power from a wallwart.


View attachment 45605

Thanks, that's really helpful.

I might look into this at some point.

I don't have any issues with Ubidots, and the 15min refresh interval is more than ample for my needs. I also like the ability to employ webhooks which I use with IFTT to alert me of temp drops, big gravity drops/rises. I also use the webhooks to control the tube heater in my fermentation fridge backed up with the Inkbird.

 

[dalecek]

Hey guys. Might be a stupid question, but it looks like you know your stuff, so I'm gonna ask anyways.
Could I use that display simultaneously with iSpindel sending data to my Brewer's friend interface?

 

[nordberg]

Hey guys. Might be a stupid question, but it looks like you know your stuff, so I'm gonna ask anyways.
Could I use that display simultaneously with iSpindel sending data to my Brewer's friend interface?

It's a good question and it occurred to me it would be nice to have the display box on the side of the fridge and also the data arriving in Ubidots (or Brewers Friend in your case). As far as I know, the iSpindel only allows one data target, so I don't think it would be possible.

 

[dalecek]

Shame. That was exactly what I was thinking. Not a necessity, but why not if it's less than a tenner..
Thanks for your answer

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

Take a close look at Brewpi itself, it may do all you need. As above, iSpindel can only send data to one single destination, in my case that was initially Ubidots, then Brewspy, now it sends it to my Brewpiless repeater and display gadget.

Keeping in mind that I am new to this Brewpiless gadget, to Brewpi and to Brewers Freind, reading through the brief information at Repetidor iSpindel con Display Oled and the Google translation it does seem to suggest that it can relay the data to Ubidots. Now if it can relay to Ubidots, I would guess it could instead relay Brewers Friend. You could maybe ask Daniel, the designer? You can find him as Daniel Bravo Gracia in Facebook Groups

The name Brewpi comes from firmware written to run on a RaspberryPi little development computer system, but adapted to run on this even lower cost system.

 

[dalecek]

I did have a look at Brewpi a while ago and really like the idea. Currently don't have dedicated brewing space so its a very simple setup I can hide away when not brewing. Way overkill for only controlling sparge water temp and boil. I might go for it in the future, but I'll leave it for now.
I'll have a read on that and see how it goes. Thanks

 

[GeorgieV]

Here is a thread that may be helpful How to use iSpindel without external service
Somebody posted a link to an "out-of-the-box" solution that works on raspberry pi. It works for both - logging the iSpindel data and forwarding them to a selected external service. As a hardware price it's probably close to the originally suggested gadget.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

As a hardware price it's probably close to the originally suggested gadget.

Does that include a local to the FV OLED display? The description in the link, seems to suggest just turning the pi into a server which could then be accessed to display the data.

 

[GeorgieV]

128x64 I2C OLED (similar to the originally posted product) from a Chinese source is in the range of £2 - £3.
raspberry pi zero w can be found for about £5 + delivery
So, yes, basically the same ball park.
I personally don't find this small OLED display very useful. My setup has no display, just the RPi ZeroW accessible via the web interface. I check it on my phone from anywhere through a VPN.
The RPi advantage for me is that I can still use it for some other purposes in addition to the iSpindel logger.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

Can anyone tell me where the Repetidor gadget stores its actual data to produce the website graphs please, because I'm a little confused?

Is it stored in the gadgets own memory?

Or is it on an external website?

The reason I ask, is that - unlike Ubidots and Brewspy, I didn't need to set up a subscription to store/view the iSpindels data.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

I did have a look at Brewpi a while ago and really like the idea. Currently don't have dedicated brewing space so its a very simple setup I can hide away when not brewing. Way overkill for only controlling sparge water temp and boil. I might go for it in the future, but I'll leave it for now.
I'll have a read on that and see how it goes. Thanks

My only reason for buying/building, was to avoid needing to use external websites to review the progress of my fermentation. I don't use it to control temperature, that I do via a completely separate gadget. With Repetidor gadget I can just check it's built in display, or for an even better idea of progress, check the graph in Brewpiless on my PC.

 

[GeorgieV]

Can anyone tell me where the Repetidor gadget stores its actual data to produce the website graphs please, because I'm a little confused?

Is it stored in the gadgets own memory?

Or is it on an external website?

The reason I ask, is that - unlike Ubidots and Brewspy, I didn't need to set up a subscription to store/view the iSpindels data.

I think it uses the onboard memory to log the iSpindel data. Here is the software on github (vitotai/BrewPiLess). You may be able to find more details in the documentation.

Edit:
More details here: vitotai/BrewPiLess

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

It does seem to imply that the data is saved locally, the other thing I was curious about was the being able to view old logs - it suggests a suitable viewer can be downloaded. Thanks.