iSpindel

[gingerneil]

Good work!

 

[dave_77]

Cheers @gingerneil for the quick service. 24 hours door to door

 

[gingerneil]

Excellent!!

 

[RoomWithABrew]

@Marcale
Good hack, as you've found very sensitive to the tiniest change in moment from moving battery up and down.

 

[Marcale]

@Marcale
Good hack, as you've found very sensitive to the tiniest change in moment from moving battery up and down.

Thanks,
Good win to take the Bledisloe Cup yet again.

 

[RoomWithABrew]

Thanks,
Good win to take the Bledisloe Cup yet again.

I'm a Brit so not that worried about how well the NZ mens rugby do, but tend to remind them of the thrashing they got in World cup semi final.

 

[Marcale]

I'm a Brit so not that worried about how well the NZ mens rugby do, but tend to remind them of the thrashing they got in World cup semi final.

Yup, but I thought the boys in white had enough to beat the Boks, sadly I was wrong. I’m a Brit as well and it’s Beer O’clock.

 

[RoomWithABrew]

Yup, but I thought the boys in white had enough to beat the Boks, sadly I was wrong. I’m a Brit as well and it’s Beer O’clock.

Thought the lions would do that as well.

 

[Michael Burnley]

Has anybody had an issue with their iSpindel where it only sends information once (when turned on) and then no other logs are sent. It's driving me mad !!

 

[hoppyscotty]

Is it in a stainless steel fermenter? My mate had issues with his in a stainless steel fermenter and had to get a repeater right next to the fermenter to get a consistent signal. Mine in a Fermzilla and a fermentation cabinet converted from a fridge works fine.

 

[Michael Burnley]

Is it in a stainless steel fermenter? My mate had issues with his in a stainless steel fermenter and had to get a repeater right next to the fermenter to get a consistent signal. Mine in a Fermzilla and a fermentation cabinet converted from a fridge works fine.

No, just a plastic fermenter but in a fridge.

I should point out it sometimes works, but it's got worse this past couple of months. Today I have had it in the lounge in the same room as the router and it's still not sending data apart from once.

There are some posts on the internet that are experiencing the same issue, so I don't think it's just me

I have tried

Updating firmware
resetting it
Ubidots
Brewfather
Brewspy

 

[RoomWithABrew]

How is it working if you look at the info on its own network. ie the 192.168.4.1 network accessed via the reset switch?
When you put it in this mode and then put it in the fridge is it the same?

What's the signal strength? the lower the number the better. I did get problems with intermittent data when inside my stainless steel fridge now I have built a repeater it's completely reliable. Battery is above 4.0V?

Currently I have one ispindel that is working but can't send data out of my network to brewspy. I must have somehow set a block or something on it when fiddling around with relays and brewpiless and am looking at that this morning.

 

[Obadiah Boondoggle]

No, just a plastic fermenter but in a fridge.

I should point out it sometimes works, but it's got worse this past couple of months. Today I have had it in the lounge in the same room as the router and it's still not sending data apart from once.

There are some posts on the internet that are experiencing the same issue, so I don't think it's just me

I have tried

Updating firmware
resetting it
Ubidots
Brewfather
Brewspy

Hi C

I have the same issue - plastic bucket in the garage - who needs a fridge this time of year - it's worked fine for just about a year - I wondered if it needed a new battery - don't know

 

[RoomWithABrew]

My readings in the past did go to less frequent with poor signal and when the battery was getting low.

With a poor signal the ispindel tries harder to get a signal out and so uses more juice and it's a bit catch 22.

I built this relay and added an antenna that I took out of an old router that had external antennas on it. So I got two antennas for a dollar which was pretty reasonable.

GitHub - martin-ger/esp_wifi_repeater: A full functional WiFi Repeater (correctly: a WiFi NAT Router)

How to add an external antenna to an ESP board - ESPHome - Home Assistant Community

 

[hoppyscotty]

At this time of year its cheaper and more energy efficient to warm up a fridge rather than the whole garage

Does the ispindel connect fine out of the garage and the fermenter...maybe you're just not getting a particularly good wifi signal in your garage?

 

[Michael Burnley]

Hi C

I have the same issue - plastic bucket in the garage - who needs a fridge this time of year - it's worked fine for just about a year - I wondered if it needed a new battery - don't know

Heehee I meant a fermentation fridge that's heated.

Anyway I've tried a new battery and it made no difference. My hunch is it's something to do with a network issue and problems with the router, but that's an area when my knowledge takes a massive nosedive !

I did go into my router settings to add Port 80 in the port forwarding section, but I think the iSpindel has an IP of 192.168.4.1 however the router would only let me add an IP where I can only change the last digits e.g 192.168.0.xxx I couldn't change the 0 to a 4. But I don't even know if that could be the problem.

 

[RoomWithABrew]

@ceborame
Re my above post.
What voltage do you see on info when you are checking the ispindel thru your phone. It doesn't matter if the battery is new just an indication of the voltage is useful. When you press the reset button a few times the ispindel makes its own network that the phone sees as something like ispindel001 and you connect to that. The network it makes is 192.168.4.1.
That will be a different subnet to the one you have at home.
Further when you go into configuration you will select your home wifi router name and then in the section below the password.
Depending on how you are getting info or want info you would then add in the addresses for your path ie if setting up brewspy then the token, server etc.

overall though if you are getting a rare signal out of the ispindel and you have a good battery voltage ( anything over 4.0) should last ages with a sending interval of say 1800 seconds ( half an hour). You have set update interval to at least 900 seconds I hope.
Do remember to save on the ispindel when you make changes otherwise you aren't making a change.

Also if signal strength is the problem you'll find the ispindel will work fine next to the router and brewspy will indicate a very good signal strength of say -55.

If it -80 or -90 then it's going to eat battery and struggle.

I've never fiddled with the router port forwarding for the ispindel and I've made several, broken a few physically ( drowned ) and temporarily baulked a few others electronically.

What type of sled is your ispindel on? or motherboard all in one?

 

[Michael Burnley]

@RoomWithABrew many thanks for your detailed response.

It sounds like I'm on the wrong trail with the network issue, it looks like you think the battery is the culprit? I am ok with doing the configuration settings because I have got it to send information, but lately it's just once.

Not sure what sled means , but I'm guessing the motherboard? It says 'iSpindel PCB 4.0'

This was bought from gingerneil who I believe is a forum member.

I have bought replacement batteries from argos see link below

https://www.argos.co.uk/product/7550436
Are they ok ?

Anyway I have got one charging (I have 2 ) with the original battery and will test it in the same room as the router and will log to brewspy

Many thanks for your help

 

[Michael Burnley]

The battery is charged (light went blue) and it's showing 4.13 in brewspy and I've set it to log every 10 minutes (600 seconds) it has sent the first log. It is literally 3 feet away from the router.

 

[ChrisT]

Just for debuging, change the sleep time to 1 minute and see what happens, you'll see results faster.