brettanomyces / hermes Goto Github PK

Having a double door fridge freezer takes up a lot of room, is hard to move around and a pain to test / debug because of where the physical connections are. I also no longer live with ~8 people who regularly drink the beer I make so I don't really need space for 3 kegs and 2 fermenters all at the same time.

Investigate downsizing to a smaller fridge / building my own purpose build unit that is easier to manage.

Ideas:

• On Wheels
• Viewing screen for fermentation chamber to see airlocks
• Door for each keg so one can be removed without moving the other
• Tap tower
• Drain for drip tray
• Mold proof paint inside

Currently if I want to check if there's an issue with the physical component, fan, compressor, connections etc. I need to re-program and re-flash the micro controller firmware in order to ensure the component is active while testing.

It would be good to have physical switches to manually override the controller. This will mostly be a hardware change but it could be useful for the micro-controller to be aware of when it is being overridden, i.e if the fan is being forced off then don't start the compressor.

Will need 3 state switches for the three states: [on, off, controller]

Create program to read serial output and store data in database/logs(?).

When someone opens one of the doors the air temperature rapidly changes causing the micro controller to change state.

Adding a delay when there is a rapid change could help

hermes thinks the compressor is on but it had not been turned on for some unknown reason, resulting in the temp rising indefinitely.

part of the problem is that the relay code stores the on/off state to avoid turn the compressor on and off necessarily, i.e. if the relay is on and we then tell it to turn on does it turn off for a moment? Need to find out if this is actually an issue.

Rewrite code to work with ESP32 and take advantage of it's wifi / ?

Need to take into account the wiper resistance RW before setting the pot values. RW changes thought so need to add a feedback loop to the circutry.

Stop trying to maintain fridge temp when it is not in use, freezer also I guess, although we should maintain freezer temp if fridge is in use, even if freezer isnt.

Stop trying to cool the freezer section if the temp drops below a minimum value, say 2C.

Also figure out what temp the controller thinks it is when the temp sensors are disconnected.

Should stop heating / cooling in this situation and alert somehow.

Currently in order to view the temperatures, and baffel state one must connect to the serial output of the microcontroller. Fan, compressor and heater can be determined by looking at the relay module leds but it is not convenient. Delays cannot be viewed at all.

This will be somewhat resolved when the Arduino is replace with a Esp32 which can output via bluetooth / wifi but this is still not as convenient as I would like.

Solution is to add a LCD display that will show the current state.