Electronic monitoring of the roast

paranomia

A long time ago I found somebody who was trying to reverse engineer the Victor86B protocol - this may give you a head start... CD display state, not the numeric measurement data. Each byte has the high order nibble set to its sequence number, starting from 1. A packet looks something like - 15 27 3D 47 5D 67 7D 8F 9D A0 B0 C0 D4 E8 The low order nibble contains the display data. As far as I am able to determine, each bit corresponds to a display element, and is set to '1' if the element is on, or '0' if it is off. The bits correspond to display elements as follows - Byte 1x - bit 0001 -> RS232 (?) - bit 0010 -> Auto - bit 0100 -> DC (not displayed) - bit 1000 -> AC The next 8 bytes encode the seven segment display values for the four digits. These are encoded in two consecutive nibbles. Byte 2x & 3y correspond to digit 1 (leftmost) Byte 4x & 5y correspond to digit 2 Byte 6x & 7y correspond to digit 3 Byte 8x & 9y correspond to digit 4 Taking the two nibbles together, the segment values are encoded - bit 0000 0001 - top right bit 0000 0010 - centre bit 0000 0100 - bottom right bit 0000 1000 - bottom bit 0001 0000 - top bit 0010 0000 - top left bit 0100 0000 - bottom left bit 1000 0000 - minus sign for digit 1, leading decimal point for other digits Byte Ax - bit 0001 -> diode indicator - bit 0010 -> kilo indicator - bit 0100 -> nano (or Farrad?) - bit 1000 -> micro indicator Byte Bx - bit 0001 -> speaker indicator - bit 0010 -> mega indicator - bit 0100 -> % indicator - bit 1000 -> milli indicator Byte Cx - bit 0001 -> Hold indicator - bit 0010 -> Rel indicator - bit 0100 -> Ohm indicator - bit 1000 -> Farrad (or nano?) Byte Dx - bit 0001 -> unknown or unused - bit 0010 -> Hz indicator - bit 0100 -> V indicator - bit 1000 -> A indicator Byte Ex - bit 0001 -> unknown or unused - bit 0010 -> unknown or unused - bit 0100 -> degC indicator - bit 1000 -> I don't know - this seems to be off for temp, and on for all other measurements.

UNM

Paranomia, that looks like info on driving the LCD display, which can be a bit tricky, but most (not all) LCDs have a pretty standard interface and plenty of sample code on the net. Someone told me he found info from the RoastLogger site suggesting the Victor datastream is as follows (may not be the same as the CS DMM): Any data on stdout formatted exactly as follows will be read as temperature data and used by the RoastLogger: 0+123.45 1+201.89 The first character is 0 or 1 indicating device 0 or 1. This indicates the source of your temperature reading from thermocouple 0 or 1. The second character is always + this is used to ensure this is intended as a valid reading. The remainder of the line is a string representing a valid decimal number. It is suggested that you limit the number of decimal places to a maximum of 2 but you can use more if necessary. Any line of data not complying with the above is assumed to be a message to display and is ignored as temperature input.

paranomia

UNM wrote:

...looks like info on driving the LCD display...

It's also a quick & dirty way of sending what's on the LCD to matching software at the other end. Hot off the wire ("received text" = "description of what's on the LCD")... "00 5B 37 1D 21 F1 36 4F 54 76 05 4F BF 6E 6C" = "020.0 *C Auto RS232 Hold" "00 7B 37 0D 21 F1 36 4F 54 76 05 4F BF 6E 6C" = "020.1 *C Auto RS232 Hold" "00 1B 37 3D 21 F1 36 4F 54 76 05 4F BF 6E 6C" = "020.2 *C Auto RS232 Hold" "00 FB 37 5D 21 F1 36 4F 54 76 05 4F BF 6E 6C" = "020.3 *C Auto RS232 Hold" "00 BB 37 4D 21 F1 36 4F 54 76 05 4F BF 6E 6C" = "020.4 *C Auto RS232 Hold" "00 3B 37 DD 21 F1 36 4F 54 76 05 4F BF 6E 6C" = "020.5 *C Auto RS232 Hold" "00 5B 37 DD 21 F1 36 4F 54 76 05 4F BF 6E 6C" = "020.6 *C Auto RS232 Hold" "00 FB 37 0D 21 F1 36 4F 54 76 05 4F BF 6E 6C" = "020.7 *C Auto RS232 Hold" "00 5B 37 5D 21 F1 36 4F 54 76 05 4F BF 6E 6C" = "020.8 *C Auto RS232 Hold" "00 3B 37 5D 21 F1 36 4F 54 76 05 4F BF 6E 6C" = "020.9 *C Auto RS232 Hold" Analyse That! said Evil Andy ;D

Lacehim

I had the CS DM (It's was Victor 86B from memory) but never got it to work with my KKTO sucessfully. One day I would like to revisit it to try and profile my roasts so that I can repeat the same roast. I was using a bead sensor, but the temps where up and down like a yo yo, and you only had to more the cord and it would all colapse in a big heap! :o

Muscles

Anyone successfully controlled a roast via software with a KKTO?

UNM

And here it is. Output from the maiden voyage of the good ship arduino/Bourbon. Software from googlecode unmodified. Arduino Mega1280 with TC4 board and LCDadapter, no mods. Obviously modifications to come, but very happy with the usability for a first attempt. Saves a lot of scribbling with pencil/paper. ROR line is scaled by a factor of 10 so 10degree/min ROR shows as 100 on the scale. 'B' marks when beans added. FC is first crack, E is Eject. Numbers at the top are 'live' output, so meaningless once roast complete.

coffeehorse

UNM - what are you roasting on? and any chance of a how-to? I was just about to pull the plug on a Uni-T 322 temperature logger for my WotTO, but this seems to be an interesting alternative!

Koffee_Kosmo

I am no good with electronics & such things. Thats why I just read about them 😉 Hard for me to participate if I don't understand the stuff Great at solving mechanical things though ;D KK

farmroast

I'm using the TC4 with my TO top hybrid homebuilt. Using the LCD display and usb to computer. I control my heating element with a variac and added the ability to monitor the voltage. I'm using the custom Gesha program and an added voltage reading board called the "juice box" created by Bill who started the Arduino part of the project. Having good live BT RoR readings give a sense of the pulse of the roast. Great monitoring tool. I mostly just watch the LCD display and will hook up to the computer to record the graph and data csv. file. here's a pic of the guts when it was being tested and a screen capture of a roast

Lacehim

farmroast, I think a few are working on a TO arduino TC4, you might want to check it out. http://www.bestcafes.com.au/forum/roasters-different-roasting-equipment/kkto-arduino-tc4/

UNM

Someone elsewhere was selling a Victor 86b meter and I thought I should check current retail on them just out of interest. They are available for us$42.63 with free shipping worldwide. Site is dealexcel (mods feel free to delete reference if inappropriate) At that price, I am thinking of getting one just as a multimeter.

Koffee_Kosmo

Not inappropriate Some specs & I see it has usb inter-phase

Product Model:VICTOR 86B Product Name:VICTOR 86B 3 3/4 Digital Multimeter Products:?Digital Multimeter Detail: VICTOR 86B 3 3/4 Digital Multimeter New type holster, streamline design? USB interface can connect to computer ,Large LCD anoloq bar graph display? Unit symbol display?make the reading clearly, display. Metallic screen board with strong antimagnetic and anti-interferential function Auto power off and alarm when stopped used after 15 minutes. Full function protection?anti-high voltage circuit design

Lacehim

That victor 86B is the same as the cs one. You can use the roast logger software with it too http://homepage.ntlworld.com/green_bean/coffee/roastlogger/dmmdetails.html

Brett_H

Good to know! Great sleuthing guys!

Jonty

So guys, thinking of hooking the Behmor up and logging. Only prob is I run an iMac........ Further found the Victor here for a nice price http://www.dhgate.com/victor-86b-3-3-4-digital-multimeter-tester/p-ff8080813265185901327150d0e255ba.html I'm interested were you have all sourced your thermocouples from and if any of you have had experience in roasting software for macs... I did see BF post above but would be interested in more detail. if any of you have it.

Koffee_Kosmo

Jonty wrote:

So guys, thinking of hooking the Behmor up and logging. Only prob is I run an iMac........ Further found the Victor here for a nice price http://www.dhgate.com/victor-86b-3-3-4-digital-multimeter-tester/p-ff8080813265185901327150d0e255ba.html I'm interested were you have all sourced your thermocouples from and if any of you have had experience in roasting software for macs... I did see BF post above but would be interested in more detail. if any of you have it.

Depends if you want a solid or wire probe KK

UNM

Lacehim wrote:

That victor 86B is the same as the cs one.

I am pretty sure the vendor of that one informed me that it is NOT exactly the same and was modified to their requirements. Also it apparently uses a secret squirrel data steam that they are unable to release details of. Unfortunately I can't seem to find the posts where this was discussed :-| That being said, it may well just be a rebadging exercise as they are both known to work equally well with roastlogger. Jonty look at the dealexcel prices. Much cheaper.

Jonty

UNM, thanks for that link. Such a cheap price: http://www.dealexcel.com/victor-vc86b-3-34-digital-multimeter_p1985.html Probe, was thinking solid KK.

UNM

I bought both my probes on ebay. No problems with them. Slow to arrive, as they came from hong kong.

Lacehim

UNM wrote:

I am pretty sure the vendor of that one informed me that it is NOT exactly the same and was modified to their requirements. Also it apparently uses a secret squirrel data steam that they are unable to release details of. Unfortunately I can't seem to find the posts where this was discussed :-| That being said, it may well just be a rebadging exercise as they are both known to work equally well with roastlogger. Jonty look at the dealexcel prices. Much cheaper.

UNM, you would think that if they went to all this trouble they would have spent another 5c and put a CS badge over the Victor 86B one :rofl: Nothing on mine said anything about being modified out of spec. It was just a plain old Victor 86B in a box. I think this is more likely CS trying to justify selling a $50 DMM for $100. Yes they provide the logging software, but the one I posted works with the 86B and would do the job too, and it'a also free to download I think.

Jonty wrote:

UNM, thanks for that link. Such a cheap price: http://www.dealexcel.com/victor-vc86b-3-34-digital-multimeter_p1985.html Probe, was thinking solid KK.

Jonty, the CS software is windows only. The roastlogger software can run on linux/mac/win so try that. :thumb: Otherwise I have a cheap laptop in the FS section that would easily run the software and you can leave next to your roaster. Did I mention it was cheap? 8)