"Cloud" Support

[thorrak]

It was suggested on HBT that Fermentrack support some kind of cloud synchronization - Google Sheets and the like.

Some thoughts on potential services to support:

• Dropbox
• Google Sheets
• Box.com

Not sure what the cloud synchronization would look like, ultimately, but that's a question that can be answered later.

[Mikmonken]

Owncloud, given it can be hosted on RPI.

[Mikmonken]

Looking into iSpindle and they are using https://ubidots.com/ to manage graphing and data. Free version only holds plotted data for 3 months, but I would assume this would be saved else where in the first instance anyway.

https://ubidots.com/docs/devices/raspberrypi.html#install-ubidots-39-python-library

[Mikmonken]

I've been trying to look into this a bit as there are some really useful elements of ubidots, you can get it to send texts etc, so for example if the temp probe exceeds 25c it will alert you that something is wrong.

My main issue is trying to get my head around how you send the data received and saved on the RPI sent to ubidots, there aren't any friendly guides out there... I'll keep on looking though

[meirion]

I know this discussion was started around cloud syncing of just the data, but looking bigger picture than that - A cloud hosted version of Fermentrack would be great, whether it still needed a local Raspberry Pi instance running or not.

Ideally, the ESP8266 controller would talk directly to the cloud Fermentrack, and not need any other local servers running. No need for raspberry pi, don't need to open up ports on my router or set up VPNs to access it remotely - much more modern way of doing it.

Would the middle ground be still running Fermentrack on a Pi, but it being able to sync/talk to a cloud version - thereby still giving you the benefits of being able to view your brew progress from anywhere.

Future - a great mobile-web view or even a mobile app client would be super for Fermentrack.

[thorrak]

I purchased fermentrack.net with the intent of implementing the “middle ground” solution — where a local copy of Fermentrack would speak with a cloud service, for the purpose of backing up data/settings and - eventually - allowing for pull-based settings updates.

Also, Alexa/Google Now support because why not. ;)

The idea of a fully cloud-hosted controller is an interesting one and isn’t one I had thought too much about. The way that BrewPi controllers implement the control interface means that implementing this wouldn’t be as simple as pointing the controller at a server somewhere — but there isn’t anything that would prevent reimplementing the control code to be pull-based from a server somewhere rather than how it is now.

Of course, at that point you’d probably also want a better local control mechanism given the ESP8266 implementation doesn’t have rotary encoder support, which would require more pins than the 8266 has.

Of course - just to take this to an extreme - you could also go full cloud, strip out the relay, and replace it with cloud-controlled outlets like Belkin Wemos which would mean no longer needing to touch mains wiring. You’d lose PWM heating support (but that doesn’t exist in legacy branch anyways). At that point the only real reason to keep the ESP (aside from a local display) is the connection to the temp sensor. But if someone was to design a wireless temperature sensor that could be dropped into a beer keg and report the temp into the cloud... :)

[thorrak]

On an unrelated note, does anyone have a temp log of an iSpindel as compared to a beer sensor handy they wouldn’t mind sending across? I have yet to do a full ferment with an iSpindel, unfortunately.

[lalo-uy]

You can implement relay & sensor on a Sonoff Basic . But I will not rest in peace if every thing depends on my Internet connection. A local control loop with remote management & supervision will be ok.

[thorrak]

I have one of the Sonoff “temp” relays with the 3.5mm stereo jack temp sensor which I picked up to play with awhile back - only downside to it is the single temp sensor. You really need 2 for the full power of BrewPi.

[lalo-uy]

You can have several 18B20 on the same pin. Not with factory soft, but is ok with Tasmota