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GreenBean
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Post subject:
 Posted: Feb 25, 2011 - 08:10 AM
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Joined: Jan 03, 2007
Posts: 1707
Location: Chester
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That is impressive Bruce. It seems you have found an ideal webcam for the Roast Logger.  The price is amazing and I think manual focus is an advantage for this service as it does not hunt around trying to sharpen the focus on a digital display which has less than sharp edges when it is focused. |
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Izzo Alex Duetto | Gaggia XD 2 Group | Mazzer Super Jolly | La Cimbali Max | Solis 166 | Hottop P | Hottop B | French Press (several) | Aeropress (collecting dust) | Kettle modded, no really, added digital thermometer |
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GreenBean
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Post subject:
Posted: Feb 27, 2011 - 11:57 AM
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It is now confirmed that the Tenma 72-7715 / Uni-T UT325 are not compatible with the current version of the Roast logger as they have different HID attributes and a different transmission protocol than the Tenma 72-7712 and Uni-T UT322. So the current version of the Roast Logger works with the following:
1. Victor 86 B multimeter
2. Victor 86 C multimeter
3. Tenma 72-7712 digital thermometer **
4. Uni-T UT322 digital thermometer **
5. Direct reading of a roasters digital display via a webcam using optical character recognition
Edit 9/9/2011:
** Now works with both known versions of these devices. See the post dated 10/10/2011 at 01:32 PM for details. |
_________________
Izzo Alex Duetto | Gaggia XD 2 Group | Mazzer Super Jolly | La Cimbali Max | Solis 166 | Hottop P | Hottop B | French Press (several) | Aeropress (collecting dust) | Kettle modded, no really, added digital thermometer |
Last edited by GreenBean on Oct 10, 2011 - 01:53 PM; edited 2 times in total
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GreenBean
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Post subject:
Posted: Mar 07, 2011 - 02:44 PM
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Joined: Jan 03, 2007
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Location: Chester
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I came across some photos I took a year ago whilst converting my Hottops to computer control and thought I would post them in case anyone is interested.
Each Hottop uses an Arduino to read data from two thermocouples via. Max 6675 break out boards. The assembly is a little unusual, as you can see, this is to allow it to fit in the space available at the back of the hottop.
The whole assembly is mounted on a simple aluminium sledge that simply clips in place under the drive motor support shelf. The photos are of my first attempt and included a potentiometer to allow heater power to be set locally without an external computer. I have since removed this as I never used it. The led provides a visual indication of heater power setting, the LED is on whenever the heater is on.
The Arduino communicates with an external computer via USB cable and sends information on temperatures, heater power level, PID settings etc. every second. Although I have included a PID in the Arduino software I have found that I prefer simple rules to set the heater power based on the bean temperature and time after FC start. The external computer is used to set these rules (or PID parameters if using the PID) and to log and chart the result using the roast logger.
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_________________
Izzo Alex Duetto | Gaggia XD 2 Group | Mazzer Super Jolly | La Cimbali Max | Solis 166 | Hottop P | Hottop B | French Press (several) | Aeropress (collecting dust) | Kettle modded, no really, added digital thermometer |
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bruceb
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Post subject:
Posted: Mar 07, 2011 - 04:11 PM
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Joined: Apr 04, 2004
Posts: 5048
Location: Northern Hesse, Germany
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That is very impressive Tom! Where are the probes measuring Temp 1 and Temp 2 (purple and green)? Thanks for sharing this. I dusted off my soldering station this morning.  
edit - looking at the pictures again I guess I can figure out where the thermocouples are, green must be the upper one, above the bean mass and purple is in the bean mass itself, or? |
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Three Francesconi (CMA) espresso machines - Rossi, San Marco, LaCimbali, Faema and 2 Mazzer Major grinders- CoffeeTech Maggionlino, Hottop, Alpenröst and HW Precision roasters.
This week I are pleased with my new grinder and LM baskets. 
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GreenBean
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Post subject:
Posted: Mar 07, 2011 - 07:13 PM
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GreenBean
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Post subject:
Posted: Mar 11, 2011 - 12:17 PM
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An update to the Roast logger to version 1.3 is now available. This update improves the roast stage markers making comparison between previous roasts and the current roast easier. A number of other changes requested by users have also been made, the most significant being the addition of auto saving of any unsaved roast log when a new roast is started. See the following version information for more details.
Screen shot showing the roast stage markers comparing two roasts. The template data is shown in light grey under the curves and the current roast in red above the curves.
For further information, or to download, see the downloads section of TMC or click here.
Version 1.3 11/3/2011
Changed the roast stage markers to display the time and temperature for the indicated stage.
Added the display of roast stage markers, also with time and temperature information, for any loaded template for comparison with the current roast.
The roast stage markers can be shown or hidden at any time using a menu option.
Added auto save of any previous unsaved roast log when a new log is started. After autosaving the previous log a new log is created and started for the new roast. A note is added to the notes tab to advise the location of the autosaved log which will be the last location you saved a log to or, if that does not exist, your home folder. This ensures that only one roast is included in each log whilst not delaying the start of logging on the new roast.
Added two new buttons to the Templates tab to clear any loaded template and to clear any roast log.
Logger tab rearranged and the clear log button now also clears the associated curve from the chart without asking.
The clear log button is now disabled whilst logging and when the log has not changed.
Added tooltips to the alarms tab to make it clear that alarms can be disabled by clearing the alarm message.
Updated the HID readers for OS X and Windows to ver 1.3.1 to correct some typos in the messages.
A number of minor cosmetic changes. |
_________________
Izzo Alex Duetto | Gaggia XD 2 Group | Mazzer Super Jolly | La Cimbali Max | Solis 166 | Hottop P | Hottop B | French Press (several) | Aeropress (collecting dust) | Kettle modded, no really, added digital thermometer |
Last edited by GreenBean on Mar 11, 2011 - 01:08 PM; edited 1 time in total
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bruceb
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Post subject:
Posted: Mar 11, 2011 - 12:38 PM
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Joined: Apr 04, 2004
Posts: 5048
Location: Northern Hesse, Germany
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Well, 1.3 was still hot off the press when I installed it and tried it out on my first roast after putting the roaster back together. It worked very well and the roast stage markers are now much more meaningful to me. I like the Clear template and Clear log buttons .
Thanks GB! |
_________________
Three Francesconi (CMA) espresso machines - Rossi, San Marco, LaCimbali, Faema and 2 Mazzer Major grinders- CoffeeTech Maggionlino, Hottop, Alpenröst and HW Precision roasters.
This week I are pleased with my new grinder and LM baskets.
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GreenBean
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Post subject:
Posted: Mar 11, 2011 - 01:12 PM
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bruceb wrote:
Well, 1.3 was still hot off the press when I installed it and tried it out on my first roast after putting the roaster back together. It worked very well and the roast stage markers are now much more meaningful to me. I like the Clear template and Clear log buttons .
Thanks GB!
That is quick work even by your standards Bruce. You must have downloaded it within seconds of me uploading it. The clear template and log buttons were added just for you.  |
_________________
Izzo Alex Duetto | Gaggia XD 2 Group | Mazzer Super Jolly | La Cimbali Max | Solis 166 | Hottop P | Hottop B | French Press (several) | Aeropress (collecting dust) | Kettle modded, no really, added digital thermometer |
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GreenBean
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Post subject:
Posted: Mar 12, 2011 - 11:05 AM
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I am pleased to see that a thermocouple shield for the Arduino is now available that makes it very easy to interface two (or up to 4) thermocouples to a computer for logging and charting and, with the addition of a few simple components, control of heater power.
This greatly simplifies getting started with computer control and logging of a roaster. I wish it had been available when I built my computer controlled Hottops. My roast controller can interface with this Arduino shield. It is only necessary to install two thermocouples in your roaster plug them into the shield and plug a computer into the Arduino to power the Arduino and communicate with it logging and charting the temperatures. To add heater power control to a roaster with electric heating you would only need a few components (an opt-isolator and a resistor would be sufficient in many cases) which could be added to the prototype area of the shield.
If anyone is interested in this, let me know by email (my email address is available on the Roast Logger site and in the Roast Logger Help About box). If there is interest in this I will publish the Roast Controller and the associated Arduino software (sketch and libraries). The only change necessary to this software would be the Arduino pin assignments, just 5 constants at the beginning of the Arduino sketch.
Edit 20/1/2012: The above refers to an Arduino shield using MAX 6675 chips. The supplier has recently updated his shields and break out boards to use the MAX 31855 chip. The Arduino sketches supplied up to 19/1/2011 are not compatible with the new Max 31855 chips. A revised sketch for use with the MAX 31855 chips (for Arduino IDE 1.0) is now available to anyone who requests it by email. |
_________________
Izzo Alex Duetto | Gaggia XD 2 Group | Mazzer Super Jolly | La Cimbali Max | Solis 166 | Hottop P | Hottop B | French Press (several) | Aeropress (collecting dust) | Kettle modded, no really, added digital thermometer |
Last edited by GreenBean on Jan 20, 2012 - 03:41 PM; edited 1 time in total
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GreenBean
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Post subject:
Posted: Mar 15, 2011 - 11:14 AM
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Joined: Jan 03, 2007
Posts: 1707
Location: Chester
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A major update to the Roast logger to version 1.4 is now available. This update improves the information available in the chart and adds the ability to communicate with and optionally control a coffee roaster via an Arduino. See the following version information for more details.
Screen shot showing the optional roast stage markers, optional roast event table and the optional thick lines for the current roast.
Screen shot showing the Arduino Controller with manual controls visible.
Screen shot showing the Arduino Controller with PID controls visible. 
For further information, or to download, see the downloads section of TMC or click here.
Version 1.4 15/3/2011
Added an Arduino Controller to provide the facility to communicate with and optionally control a coffee roaster via an Arduino. The Roast Logger can log and chart two temperature inputs from the Arduino and also optionally control electrical heater power either manually or via a software PID running on the Arduino. The Arduino requires a suitable sketch (software) to communicate with the Roast Logger. This is available free to anyone who requests it by email (see the feedback section for my email address) and may be used as is or as an example of how to communicate with the Roast Logger to form the basis of your own controller software.
Changed the colour of the template curves to make it easier to distinguish them from the current roast.
Added a menu option to draw the current roast curves thicker to make it easier to distinguish them from the template curves.
Added roast stage markers for end of roast (beans ejected).
Limited roast stage marker temperature display to one decimal place.
Added a menu option to display a table of roast stage data in the chart. |
_________________
Izzo Alex Duetto | Gaggia XD 2 Group | Mazzer Super Jolly | La Cimbali Max | Solis 166 | Hottop P | Hottop B | French Press (several) | Aeropress (collecting dust) | Kettle modded, no really, added digital thermometer |
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bruceb
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Post subject:
Posted: Mar 17, 2011 - 10:32 PM
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Joined: Apr 04, 2004
Posts: 5048
Location: Northern Hesse, Germany
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Wow! I missed this update until now. I just downloaded 1.4, installed it and am just sad that I have so much roasted coffee at the moment that I can't justify a roast. I'll have to wait until next week probably. 
GB, you are so fast I can hardly keep up with you. I think that I have only done one roast session per version number these last few weeks.
This is great and it really looks good. The thick line makes it easy to see which is the present roast and the markers are excellent. I do appreciate you putting and end-of-roast marker in there. I also like the event table. That was genius.
Unfortunately, however, seeing your implementation of the Arduino is now going to force me into going that route. I was going to wait  |
_________________
Three Francesconi (CMA) espresso machines - Rossi, San Marco, LaCimbali, Faema and 2 Mazzer Major grinders- CoffeeTech Maggionlino, Hottop, Alpenröst and HW Precision roasters.
This week I are pleased with my new grinder and LM baskets.
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GreenBean
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Post subject:
Posted: Mar 19, 2011 - 09:04 AM
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Joined: Jan 03, 2007
Posts: 1707
Location: Chester
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Sorry for all the updates. Version 1.0 survived unchanged for 10 months then I have made five updates to version 1.4 this year. I have no plans for further updates unless problems are found with version 1.4.
I had planned to stop at revision 1.3 until I discovered the thermocouple Arduino shield. I developed my Arduino Roast Controller a year ago, based on an earlier version of the Roast Logger, and have used it for all my roasts since then. I had found that maintaining the Roast Controller, that I am using, and the Roast Logger, that is available on TMC, was a significant effort. Now that a thermocouple Arduino shield is available which can easily be interfaced to my Arduino Controller (see previous post for details) I thought that it was possible that a few people may wish to try this approach to computer control of a roaster. With these two issues in mind I decided it was worth merging my Arduino Controller into the latest version of the Roast Logger so I only have one program to maintain. This has the significant advantage that, for the first time in a year, I actually use the same program that is available to everyone else via TMC. |
_________________
Izzo Alex Duetto | Gaggia XD 2 Group | Mazzer Super Jolly | La Cimbali Max | Solis 166 | Hottop P | Hottop B | French Press (several) | Aeropress (collecting dust) | Kettle modded, no really, added digital thermometer |
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GreenBean
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Post subject:
Posted: Apr 07, 2011 - 01:00 PM
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Joined: Jan 03, 2007
Posts: 1707
Location: Chester
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I am planning a minor update of the RoastLogger in a week or so to address a minor issue with the Arduino Controller when doing multiple roasts in one session.
If anyone has any other issues, bugs or suggestions for improvements please let me know by email in the next week so that I can incorporate them in the same version. My email address is provided in the RoastLogger help about box and on the feedback section of the RoastLogger website. |
_________________
Izzo Alex Duetto | Gaggia XD 2 Group | Mazzer Super Jolly | La Cimbali Max | Solis 166 | Hottop P | Hottop B | French Press (several) | Aeropress (collecting dust) | Kettle modded, no really, added digital thermometer |
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bruceb
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Post subject:
Posted: Apr 07, 2011 - 01:45 PM
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Joined: Apr 04, 2004
Posts: 5048
Location: Northern Hesse, Germany
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GreenBean wrote:
I am planning a minor update of the RoastLogger in a week or so to address a minor issue with the Arduino Controller when doing multiple roasts in one session.
Just out of curiosity, does "multiple roasts in one session" mean back-to-back roasting at one sitting or does it mean using more than one roaster? |
_________________
Three Francesconi (CMA) espresso machines - Rossi, San Marco, LaCimbali, Faema and 2 Mazzer Major grinders- CoffeeTech Maggionlino, Hottop, Alpenröst and HW Precision roasters.
This week I are pleased with my new grinder and LM baskets.
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GreenBean
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Post subject:
Posted: Apr 08, 2011 - 08:28 AM
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Joined: Jan 03, 2007
Posts: 1707
Location: Chester
Status: Offline
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bruceb wrote:
Just out of curiosity, does "multiple roasts in one session" mean back-to-back roasting at one sitting or does it mean using more than one roaster?
The minor issue I was referring to only affects back-to-back roasting using the Arduino Controller. Currently it is necessary to stop and restart the controller between roasts which is inconvenient. I intend to modify this so that the controller can be reset between roasts without the need to restart it.
The RoastLogger and it's Arduino Controller are not intended to work with more than one roaster at a time. |
_________________
Izzo Alex Duetto | Gaggia XD 2 Group | Mazzer Super Jolly | La Cimbali Max | Solis 166 | Hottop P | Hottop B | French Press (several) | Aeropress (collecting dust) | Kettle modded, no really, added digital thermometer |
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