Hi

The first beta release is ready for download and testing. The devices supported at the present time are:

Omega HH806, Omega HH506RA, CENTER 309, Fuji PXR pid, Fuji PXG pid. Other devices will be added in the future.

Download: http://code.google.com/p/artisan/downloads/list

Installation instructions: http://code.google.com/p/artisan/wiki/Installation


There is no user guide or documentation yet, neither a mailing list (too early). Sorry for the lack of documentation. The door is open to people that want to document the software (or for any other reason).


Artisan team

Just to get an idea how this looks like:

This is a second pic

Thank you very much for sharing this nice tool with us.

I am due for a roast, maybe tomorrow.

Thanks again.

Hello again.

I purchased an Omega HH806 because of the problems that you know with the Apollo data logger... I have been using it a for a little while now and still use the Apollo for temperature monitoring of other items. I have 5 thermocouples on the roaster and I am still trying to figure out where to position the control sensors for the ET controllers (there is 2 of them, both ON/OFF with no communication, for the two independent heat source that I have).

This leads me to my next question; Should I purchase a Fuji PXG for BT profile control, can the "Artisan" take one input from the HH806 for one parameter and take the other from the PXG?

I am pretty sure that the answer will be no but I have to ask. The PXG is not for the immediate future anyway as I am not sure that I have fully defined my requirements just yet.

Hi Whale.

Whale wrote: Should I purchase a Fuji PXG for BT profile control

Not sure what type of roaster you have. If you have an electric drum roaster like me, you cannot use a PID to control directly BT. You can though, use a PID to control directly ET (closer to the heat source) and then indirectly "control" BT (by waiting).

Whale wrote:can the "Artisan" take one input from the HH806 for one parameter and take the other from the PXG?

Yes in theory. But you would need to start the application twice. Since both applications would use different com port numbers, you would be OK. Depending on the size of your screen, you could push one app to the size and leave only the PID control panel visible. Then you could use the Omega meter app as the main screen.

The PID may not deliver the expectations that you may have. A pid, because of the large time lag of electric drum roasters, does not work to "draw" BT profiles. It does a nice job "drawing" ET profiles (closer to the heat source) but not BT. The relation of ET on BT is not straight. It changes with time, with the gap, the weight, the ambient temp, the fan, etc. This could make you disappointed if you start with the wrong expectations. You should also be aware that a PID uses eprom memory, and it has a finite life when changing the value of variables (either manually or by software).

Cheers

PS: I just read you have a Toper (gas?). I am afraid I cannot tell you how responsive would be BT with a PID controlling ET, with that type of roaster.

Arpi wrote:You should also be aware that a PID uses eprom memory, and it has a finite life when changing the value of variables (either manually or by software).

These days, rewritable memories are good for 100,000 rewrites, at least the ones I have checked the data sheets on. So, this is a finite life, but not something I would really worry about.

BTW, your program looks very nice. I have a similar program using an Arduino and a PC, but your UI looks much better then the one I have.

Randy

Randy. PM sent.

Arpi wrote:Not sure what type of roaster you have. If you have an electric drum roaster like me, you cannot use a PID to control directly BT. You can though, use a PID to control directly ET (closer to the heat source) and then indirectly "control" BT (by waiting).

As you have partially seen, I have an Electric Toper. I understand that controlling the heater using a large lag input such as the beans would not give very good results. Nonetheless, What I was thinking of, is to make use of the SV manual change of your program to easily, quickly and remotely make corrections to the heat input when required. I have recently installed supplemental halogen heaters under the drum, directly in the air input stream, to decrease the response time of the roaster. So small fast correction are possible.

I did not realise that I could run 2 different Artisan applications at the same time. Just tried. Very nice.

The eprom rewrite limitation is new information to me, As Randy wrote 100,000 changes would not be such a bad limitation.

The eprom is not a bad thing, but it is good to keep in mind just in case someone starts changing the SV values like crazy.

Cheers