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@elcojacobs elcojacobs released this 02 May 20:19
· 39 commits to master since this release
0.5.5
3a3680b

In this release:

WiFi stability

This release should hopefully fix all issues of unreliable WiFi and/or TCP server.
I have written a lot of test code to expose bugs in the Particle framework and filed a few bug reports at Particle. It took a long time for them to fix it, but based on my tests so far this release makes a big difference.
This release updates the system firmware layer to 0.8.0.-rc.3.

Other fixes (since 0.5.2)

  • Valve controller performance and stability: We found some bugs in the code for our DS2408 based valve control boards. The code has been refactored and valves can now be reliably used as heater, cooler or manual actuator.
  • Changed the default control constants to have higher Kp and longer Ti to reduce overshoot. Reduced beer-to-fridge Kp from 10 to 6.
  • Fixed showing 'heating' at startup.

Updating

Because this release includes new particle system firmware, you should use DFU to update. Only connect 1 Spark at a time when updating!

The bootloader will automatically be downloaded from the cloud after setup. This requires that you configure WiFi on the Spark.
You can flash the bootloader manually, but this shouldn't be necessary if the device has a cloud connection.

The easiest way to update this is to use our docker container. The first command puts the BrewPi Spark in DFU mode (blinking yellow). The second one updates it.
On the Raspberry Pi run:

docker pull brewpi/brewpi-raspbian
docker run -it --name brewpi-dfu --privileged -v ~/brewpi-data:/data --rm brewpi/brewpi-raspbian python utils/flashDfu.py --trigger
docker run -it --name brewpi-dfu --privileged -v ~/brewpi-data:/data --rm brewpi/brewpi-raspbian python utils/flashDfu.py --noreset

On an x86 system, run:

docker pull brewpi/brewpi-ubuntu
docker run -it --name brewpi-dfu --privileged -v ~/brewpi-data:/data --rm brewpi/brewpi-ubuntu python utils/flashDfu.py --trigger
docker run -it --name brewpi-dfu --privileged -v ~/brewpi-data:/data --rm brewpi/brewpi-ubuntu python utils/flashDfu.py --noreset

The BrewPi Spark will need to download a new bootloader from the Particle cloud. This requires WiFi with a working Internet connection. If the spark does not have a compatible bootloader, it will blink blue (listening mode) until you complete the WiFi setup with the Particle phone app. When it can connect with the cloud again, it will update the bootloader and start working normally again.

To manually flash the bootloader, you can use the particle CLI.
Install instructions can be found here:
https://docs.particle.io/guide/tools-and-features/cli/photon/

The update command for the bootloader is:
particle serial flash bootloader-0.8.0-rc.3-photon.bin for the BrewPi Spark 2
particle serial flash bootloader-0.8.0-rc.3-p1.bin for the BrewPi Spark 3

Only update the bootloader after updating the application and system firmware! It needs to be flashed over serial with the latest system layer. The bootloader cannot update itself over DFU.

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