My system is now open to the public

[JonW]

I have now opened my BCS system up to anyone that wants to check it out. It loads with customized pages optimized for 1920x1080, so you may need to adjust your zoom to get the whole screen to fit. You may also want to zoom up th thermometers to the largest size.

If you are interested in my processes and states, you can save those as well. Note the "Fermentation" process is not being used right now as I am doing that as part of the "Refrigeration" process. If you have any questions about my processes, please post them in this thread.

Site URL: http://www.SurfCityBrewing.com/bcs/index.html
Username: admin
Password: observer


(NOTE: Make sure you are using FireFox for this. If you use IE, it will work, but you will be prompted for the username/password several times upon startup.)

[gyropilot1]

question I am using your programing to learn how to work my brutus 10 project. I notced in the mash cycle you put 10. I asume this is 10 hours? If it it take 1 hour mashing why the 10: what happen in between I am not seeming.

Charles

[JonW]

You'll notice that on a few of my processes, "State 0" is titled "Initialize Proc". In P0/S0 that you are referring to, the initialize proc routine opens the valves in the outputs section and also starts the timers. In the exit condition, you'll see that it moves to S1 at the expiration of that 10 second timer. In this case, I'm repurposing a timer that actually gets used for 3 different things during the course of the process (S0:initialize proc timeout, S3: Mash in rest and S7:Pump Prime).

I do the "Initialize Proc" state for a few reasons: first is to open the valves and give it a few seconds to let air purge from the system. In S1, the pump starts for recirculation and because of that delay between opening the valves and starting the pump, I almost never need to prime the pump. That 10 second delay is enough to burp the air from the system. The second reason for using "Initialize Proc" as S0 is to allow me to move between states S1-S7 as needed without worrying about my count-down or count-up timers getting reset. Since the timers are intialized in S0 and are set to "Continue from Previous State" in all other states, as long as I don't restart at S0, those timers will keep running and be accurate.

One additional note: You'll notice that my timers for "Mash Countdown" and "Mash Elapsed" are set to count down from "1" in the Initialize Proc section. This is so that in all others states those will display as 00:00 (since it counted down from 1 to 0). This is just a quirk of mine that I don't like how the BCS holds the last value of a timer and displays it. For me, if the timer is not being used at that moment, I want it to be 00:00 instead of its last known value.

[disco stu]

Hi Jon,
Firstly a huge thanks for making you system available to look at. I have learnt a huge amount from it and it has rapidly accelerated my brewery construction.
I am hoping that you, (or anyone else) may be able to explain the difference between "Controlled" and "Directly Controlled" when asserting outputs.

Thanks again
Stu.

[JonW]

I am hoping that you, (or anyone else) may be able to explain the difference between "Controlled" and "Directly Controlled" when asserting outputs.

I have to agree with you that the terms used can be confusing. The "Control" option simply means that the selected Process/State will control that output. For non-temperature controlled outputs, you then either check or un-check the "Directly Controlled" box to either force the output into the ON position or the OFF position.

For temperature controlled outputs, in additional to the on/off methods, you can also choose to turn the output on or off based on Duty Cycle, Hysteresis or PID.

When using these options, it's important to remember that higher numbered processes take priority over an output. Thus, you could have Process 0 running which forces an output ON, but then you may start Process 1 running which may force that same output OFF. Both processes can continue to run and say they are controlling the output, but Process 1 takes priority and makes sure it is off (or whatever you programmed).

Let me know if that makes sense.

[disco stu]

I am hoping that you, (or anyone else) may be able to explain the difference between "Controlled" and "Directly Controlled" when asserting outputs.

The "Control" option simply means that the selected Process/State will control that output. For non-temperature controlled outputs, you then either check or un-check the "Directly Controlled" box to either force the output into the ON position or the OFF position.

Legend! Thanks Jon this is exactly what I was after.

So If I have process 1 (with a valve) directly controlled turned on.
Does the valve turn off on completion of the process? Or does it stay on until I directly turn it off from another process?

[JonW]

It will turn off when you stop the process.

[mavantix]

Jon,

I've so shamelessly cloned your brewstand thus far, it only seems logical I should clone your control mods too. Are you for hire to help me setup my BCS like yours? I would be happy to pay you for your time. I probably already owe you a royalty payment anyway. Haha. My brew stand is wired and ready, just finished up leak tests and all. Have one temperamental gas valve to swap out and then the only thing holding me up is programming the BCS...

Thanks,
KP

[scottd]

Jon,

Thanks for opening your processes to the public and thanks for the invite to brew with you a few months back. Both have helped me tremendously. You should be knighted on this forum for all the info you provide

[BREWMASON]

Thank you as well Jon. My BCS-460 arrived today. Just wanted to say Thank you to you. You are the inspiration behind my stand as well. Prost!!!!