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A project log for Beaglebone Black Fermentation Controller

A fermentation controller for doing multi-step fermentation with web reporting and control

dericderic 02/16/2016 at 16:480 Comments

I don't know about you guys, but anytime things are working, I get the itch to do some improvements! The first version of this project used some 40A SSR's, the same ones I use in my Brewery Control Panel. For controlling the AC unit and the small ceramic heater they are massively over-specced. The AC unit is the biggest power draw and the in-rush current is ~ 8A on startup, and about 5A during regular cooling load. I decided to swap out the SSR's for one of these Relay Modules, it's much smaller, doesn't require a heatsink and should let me pull the entire project into one box instead of two two boxes it currently lives in. I'm also going to redo the power, currently the unit uses the 110V AC from my house, I've wired in a plug into my project box and plug the BBB power adapter into that. I'd like to clean that up as well and sourced an internal 5V Power Supply that I will run the AC into. I should have a really nice clean little box that I can then finally mount a touchscreen and work on the built-in GUI finally. The Web Application has ben super functional and it's nice being able to adjust temps anywhere I go.

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