RAPT Pill

[ozdevil]

4 minutes ago, kmar92 said:

@ozdevil bottom arrow is what I called the 1st O-ring. This O-ring is sort of 1/2 under the end cap which to my thinking is not ideal as O-rings work on axial sealing so I would prefer to have it completely under the end cap. The other O-ring is well up inside the end cap.

mate  trust me your safe as houses mate   i was hoping you was going to say bottom..

i can see  mine   the only pill i have used in my 3 is the blue  but  red and yellow are both the same  and ya can see the o-ring  on the bottom  arrow.

the bottom o-ring  is a fail safe option  and key will even say in his video   you should see that o-ring and not be afraid

get it any tighter mate  you will not get the dam thing undone , to charge or update the pill

i must admit you  plastic fv signal  is pretty good.


 

[kmar92]

21 minutes ago, ozdevil said:

i must admit you  plastic fv signal  is pretty good.


 

It should be, the router is now almost inside the ferment fridge!

[ozdevil]

22 minutes ago, kmar92 said:

It should be, the router is now almost inside the ferment fridge!

lol  i'm dissapointed it not lol

 

[kmar92]

Quite enjoying the RAPT Pill so far, as it is providing great real time data to assist with the ferment I am presently doing. I mentioned this brew elsewhere, but it is a extract version of the Belgian Chocolate Stout https://www.diybeer.com/au/recipe/belgian-chocolate-stout.html

When I 1st brewed this extract recipe 2 years ago it only ever came down to an SG of 1.020, which seemed high to me and also to what the Cooper's recipe said. It still was a great tasting stout but maybe just a little too sweet for me. Of course there could be many reasons for that high SG and most probably it was the yeast used on that brew - S-33 which has a bit of a reputation as a lazy yeast. This time using the RAPT Pill I am seeing exactly how it is fermenting and that is giving some great insight. Yep @ozdevil I am not taking the readings as being super accurate, although the OG was close compared with a trusted hydrometer reading, but the Pill is providing great trend readings of the ferment. Using Nottingham yeast with this brew so a different fermentation profile, but I am surprised at how quick the SG is approaching the predicted FG of 1.015 (Brewfather prediction) after just 3 days. It is definitely slowing down now at 1.019 but the real time readings have allowed me to make small adjustments to the temperature and i am hoping that those adjustments may make a better beer.

So yes I have found the Pill a very worthwhile tool, so far. Also having worked out how to get readings with the Pill when using my preferred SS kegmenter is also a great result.

 

[ozdevil]

@kmar92  yes i am finding the pill along with the rapt temp controller   both great tools and dare i say it  the inkbird  temp controller is now basicl  a hood ornement in my brewery 

its great seeing real time data   as you can see when it is slowing down and when to dry hop as well.    

my current batch i am doing  the S.g  from refractometer came out with 1.061    as well has a normal hydrometer reading and the pill  readings was the same

i have 3 pills   i am hoping to have all 3 pills in action  someday soon  to see how they go at once



 

[kmar92]

Hey @ozdevil screenshot below of my signal strength. Coopers plazzi fv in the ferment fridge. Very happy with that signal strength, next ferment that I do in the SS kegmenter I will post a comparison.

 

[ozdevil]

27 minutes ago, kmar92 said:

Hey @ozdevil screenshot below of my signal strength. Coopers plazzi fv in the ferment fridge. Very happy with that signal strength, next ferment that I do in the SS kegmenter I will post a comparison.

 

Will be very interesting  to compare  with your kegmenter    see the fluctuations   

 

[Aussiekraut]

So I bought another one. With a blue lid. Next time I order something from Kegland, I will get a red lid for the old one. Then I have a red pill and a blue pill  

Since I calibrated the old one with 2 different SGs, it actually displayed the correct OG in the current beer. The new one isn't calibrated yet but it reports the correct battery stats, which is a bonus. It'll get calibrated with the next brew on Sunday and then I'll see how I go. It's pretty cool though that you can check the progress wherever you are  

Edited May 5, 2022 by Aussiekraut

[ozdevil]

2 hours ago, Aussiekraut said:

It's pretty cool though that you can check the progress wherever you are

mate  its only the start of things to come

this is mine intergrated with the rapt Controller




watching the rapt pill interact   with my Profile i have running on the rapt temp controller .

its pretty amazing  this rapt ecosystem      it can only improve
 

[kmar92]

My brew is having a little rest and cooling it's heels. Interesting to see how the SG has fluctuated a bit in this stage of the ferment and almost certainly due to the beer cooling and tending to increase the gravity.

 

Edited May 5, 2022 by kmar92

[Boehamian]

On 4/10/2022 at 11:29 AM, Aussiekraut said:

Does anybody use a RAPT Pill?

I quite like it but I have two "issues", I cannot figure out. The first one is likely a software problem. Even after being fully charged, it tells me the battery is a 0%, which is balder dash. Is that just mine doing it?

The other is its initial readings. I must say, I only did the simple calibration in a bucket of plain water, so this may be part of it. But I put a beer down last week with an OG of 1.046 according to my hydrometer and the refractometer. However the pill read 1.053 from the beginning. Once the  yeast had kicked in, it all came down quite fast and seems to be accurate. At least the reading matched what the hydrometer told me on Thursday. Will a more thorough calibration help with? 

Hi mate. I too use one of these. Seems a good piece of kit. I did have similar, however I did read somewhere you need to let it charge for 24hrs first time round.  I did this and all seems good. All lights go out when fully charged. It does say that if not fully charged the first time it will display zero in the portal until this is done. Could this be the issue? I used a computer to charge it not a power supply as I wasn't sure what voltage the device wanted to charge at. 

As for the alcohol calibration. I too just used a tub of water. From memory I used rain water to make sure that none of the chemicals they put in the town water has affected the gravity.  When I started my first brew I did drop in a hydrometer to verify the pill. However, for some random reason the old school hydrometer isn't working (won't sink for some reason). However, looked at the expected gravity for that type of brew and all seem to be close to what I should be getting. Will be interesting to get a mate who works for my local brewery to test the alcohol content to compare and see if it is accurate. I might talk to him and see if he can assist with the advanced calibration. 

[Aussiekraut]

I am a little disappointed with my pills.

Before I went away, I took the batteries out of both as I figured they don't need to run. When my beers on Sunday were ready, I put the batteries back into both of them, closed them up, sanitised them and into the buckets they went, thinking all is fine. Well, not quite. As it turns out, the calibration data is NOT stored permanently and they both need to be re-calibrated.

Why on earth would that data not be stored in the same place as the name of the device or the WiFi info is beyond me. There is a fair bit of work going into the software of those devices and in the end, it is the tiny little oversights that cause the most inconvenience.

I know for sure that the two beers both had the same OG of 1.047 and not 1.009 and 1.007 respectively. 

Well, another lesson learned the "hard" way.

[Classic Brewing Co]

46 minutes ago, Aussiekraut said:

I am a little disappointed with my pills.

Before I went away, I took the batteries out of both as I figured they don't need to run. When my beers on Sunday were ready, I put the batteries back into both of them, closed them up, sanitised them and into the buckets they went, thinking all is fine. Well, not quite. As it turns out, the calibration data is NOT stored permanently and they both need to be re-calibrated.

Why on earth would that data not be stored in the same place as the name of the device or the WiFi info is beyond me. There is a fair bit of work going into the software of those devices and in the end, it is the tiny little oversights that cause the most inconvenience.

I know for sure that the two beers both had the same OG of 1.047 and not 1.009 and 1.007 respectively. 

Well, another lesson learned the "hard" way.

Sad, the technology is probably amazing but if it can't store/save data it seems to be flawed. I will stay away from those ATM as I have enough going on.

[kmar92]

57 minutes ago, Aussiekraut said:

I am a little disappointed with my pills.

Before I went away, I took the batteries out of both as I figured they don't need to run. When my beers on Sunday were ready, I put the batteries back into both of them, closed them up, sanitised them and into the buckets they went, thinking all is fine. Well, not quite. As it turns out, the calibration data is NOT stored permanently and they both need to be re-calibrated.

Why on earth would that data not be stored in the same place as the name of the device or the WiFi info is beyond me. There is a fair bit of work going into the software of those devices and in the end, it is the tiny little oversights that cause the most inconvenience.

I know for sure that the two beers both had the same OG of 1.047 and not 1.009 and 1.007 respectively. 

Well, another lesson learned the "hard" way.

Yes that is disappointing. The calibration data must be stored onboard the circuit board of the pill. Anyway at least you know now and the moral of the story is just leave the battery in I guess, if the pill is stored horizontally it just goes to sleep anyway.

[ozdevil]

1 hour ago, kmar92 said:

 if the pill is stored horizontally it just goes to sleep anyway.

Technically Yes Kmar it does go to sleep   , however though any slight knock  it will take a telementry reading

I used to leave my pills on my PC desk but each time i was playing some music specially something with a bit of base to it
all 3 of my pills would instantly flash green even if they was in the horizontal state where they are sleeping

So nw i put them in a draw and the only time i open the draw is when i need a pill for fermenting in.

[kmar92]

7 minutes ago, ozdevil said:

Technically Yes Kmar it does go to sleep   , however though any slight knock  it will take a telementry reading

I used to leave my pills on my PC desk but each time i was playing some music specially something with a bit of base to it
all 3 of my pills would instantly flash green even if they was in the horizontal state where they are sleeping

So nw i put them in a draw and the only time i open the draw is when i need a pill for fermenting in.

Yeah the accelerometer in the pill is extremely sensitive, you can see that when doing a calibration. To calibrate my pill I put it in a bucket of water so that it can float freely, even after leaving it for ages so that it can stabilise the pill still detects movements that I cant see!

I guess for storing them they have to be somewhere that does not have any movement at all, as you have seen even sound will wake the pill up.

[ozdevil]

Let you all know , The rapt pill has had a firmware update  this morning  as well as the fermentation chamber and temp controller. 

 

The firmware  includes Bluetooth  on these devices and you now can bridge between pill  an temp controller fv chamber  temp from pill.

This update will help those with ss fv's such as the kegmentor.

Also using Bluetooth with pill will save you a bit of battery life as well

[kmar92]

On 6/23/2022 at 10:44 AM, ozdevil said:

This update will help those with ss fv's such as the kegmentor.

Actually @ozdevil this update will not help with getting a signal from a RAPT pill in a SS kegementer. A SS kegmeter acts as a Faraday cage and attenuates, or weakens, electromagnetic signals such as Wifi or Bluetooth signals and this is the basic reason that it is sometime a problem to get a signal from a RAPT pill to a Wifi access point (your Wifi router). Bluetooth signal are actually weaker than Wifi and therefore have a lesser range so using Bluetooth will not help with a SS kegmenter. The upgrade is to allow connection between different RAPT devices, e.g. pills, RAPT temp controllers and RAPT fermentation chambers, by doing that you can do stuff like allowing the pill to be a temperature probe for the temp controller or fermentation chamber.

I have managed to get my RAPT pills sending telemetry to my Wifi router quite reliably, (it has sent telemetry successfully 141 times for its programmed 144 reporting times so only 3 reports lost over 6 days for my current fermentation) by playing around with the position of the Wifi router (it is now located next to the ferment fridge) and its orientation. When I look at the signal strength that I am getting with Wifi I doubt I would get any signal with Bluetooth (with its reduced strength and range).

[ozdevil]

14 minutes ago, kmar92 said:

Actually @ozdevil this update will not help with getting a signal from a RAPT pill in a SS kegementer. A SS kegmeter acts as a Faraday cage and attenuates, or weakens, electromagnetic signals such as Wifi or Bluetooth signals and this is the basic reason that it is sometime a problem to get a signal from a RAPT pill to a Wifi access point (your Wifi router). Bluetooth signal are actually weaker than Wifi and therefore have a lesser range so using Bluetooth will not help with a SS kegmenter. The upgrade is to allow connection between different RAPT devices, e.g. pills, RAPT temp controllers and RAPT fermentation chambers, by doing that you can do stuff like allowing the pill to be a temperature probe for the temp controller or fermentation chamber.

I have managed to get my RAPT pills sending telemetry to my Wifi router quite reliably, (it has sent telemetry successfully 141 times for its programmed 144 reporting times so only 3 reports lost over 6 days for my current fermentation) by playing around with the position of the Wifi router (it is now located next to the ferment fridge) and its orientation. When I look at the signal strength that I am getting with Wifi I doubt I would get any signal with Bluetooth (with its reduced strength and range).

 @kmar92,  the way i read it from the developer it will help those who struggle

I quote something from the developer  and full reading of this can be found at

https://www.facebook.com/groups/raptusersgroup/permalink/1179659475916664
 

Quote

Q. Will Bluetooth on the Pill help me with my Wifi signal problems?
A. Yes - but you need to pair it to a Rapt Fermentation Chamber or Temperature Controller. The paired (bridging) device will pickup the bluetooth readings from the pill and include them when the bridging device submits its telemetry. Users with wifi signal problems typically have their pills inside a stainless fermenter that is inside a fridge and multiple brick walls between their wifi router. The Fermentation Chamber & Temperature Controller are usually not located within a steel "Faraday Cage" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faraday_cage) and can usually get a decent signal from a shed or garage even when the wifi router is inside the house. These device can easily pickup the bluetooth signal and relay it on behalf of the pill and should resolve wifi signal problems.

Now i am lost  here your saying it will not help  but the developer is saying it   will if you Pair it to a bridging device

look i dont have trouble with wifi  myself so it bluetooth didnt bother me   but i do like the aspect i can take temp readings from the pill to  temp controller

 

[kmar92]

3 minutes ago, ozdevil said:

 @kmar92,  the way i read it from the developer it will help those who struggle

I quote something from the developer  and full reading of this can be found at

https://www.facebook.com/groups/raptusersgroup/permalink/1179659475916664
 

Now i am lost  here your saying it will not help  but the developer is saying it   will if you Pair it to a bridging device

look i dont have trouble with wifi  myself so it bluetooth didnt bother me   but i do like the aspect i can take temp readings from the pill to  temp controller

 

What Trent is saying, and he does not explain it really well at all, is that if you struggle getting a signal from your pill in a ferment fridge to you Wifi access point it may help if you have say a RAPT pill in a fridge and a temp controller next to the fridge to pair them via Bluetooth and then the temp controller outside the fridge can send a signal to the Wifi access point via Wifi. It is just the pill inside the fridge connecting to the temp controller outside the fridge via Bluetooth (eliminating the Faraday cage of the fridge) to help getting a signal to the Wifi access point. But having 2 x Faraday cages (SS kegmenter + fridge) there is no way a Bluetooth signal will get through both. In other words the Bluetooth signal may get through the tissue thin steel wall of a fridge, but I can assure you that it cant penetrate a 2mm thick SS kegmenter.

All very technical, but I can assure you that a Bluetooth signal has no hope of going through the wall of my SS kegmenter.

[ozdevil]

36 minutes ago, kmar92 said:

What Trent is saying, and he does not explain it really well at all, is that if you struggle getting a signal from your pill in a ferment fridge to you Wifi access point it may help if you have say a RAPT pill in a fridge and a temp controller next to the fridge to pair them via Bluetooth and then the temp controller outside the fridge can send a signal to the Wifi access point via Wifi. It is just the pill inside the fridge connecting to the temp controller outside the fridge via Bluetooth (eliminating the Faraday cage of the fridge) to help getting a signal to the Wifi access point. But having 2 x Faraday cages (SS kegmenter + fridge) there is no way a Bluetooth signal will get through both. In other words the Bluetooth signal may get through the tissue thin steel wall of a fridge, but I can assure you that it cant penetrate a 2mm thick SS kegmenter.

All very technical, but I can assure you that a Bluetooth signal has no hope of going through the wall of my SS kegmenter.

fair enough i dont really get down to through technical shite.

i now understand a little bit more of what your saying     and what Trent was trying to say  

 

[kmar92]

I have noticed with my latest brew, which is post the firmware update for the bluetooth intergration, that my Pill has defaulted to a 15 minute reporting rather than the old default of 1 hour. It is not really a problem for me with this brew but it will consume more battery power and I should have checked the Pill when I had it open for charging and firmware update and changed it back to 1 hour reporting for conserving the battery. Main problem with charging it is you have to re-calibrate it everytime it is open as just unscrewing the cap and putting it back on can upset the equilibrium of the unit, hence the need for calibration again. The cap must come off for charging.

I still do not understand why the developer is promoting bluetooth as a solution for signal attenuation with SS fermenters as it is not, maybe just some marketing? Anyway I have my Pill working fine in a SS kegmenter inside a brew fridge, it just took some time moving the router and getting it in the best orientation.

[Hoppy81]

11 minutes ago, kmar92 said:

 

I still do not understand why the developer is promoting bluetooth as a solution for signal attenuation with SS fermenters as it is not, maybe just some marketing? 

Hasn't it got something to do with it connecting to the RAPT fermentation chamber via bluetooth and then the wifi connection is stronger?

[kmar92]

10 minutes ago, Hoppy81 said:

Hasn't it got something to do with it connecting to the RAPT fermentation chamber via bluetooth and then the wifi connection is stronger?

Maybe, I do not have a RAPT fermentation chamber, but a bluetooth signal is weaker and has a smaller distance it can connect compared to a Wifi signal.

So as I said maybe marketing, buy a RAPT fermentation chamber and you will be able to get a signal from the Pill inside a SS kegmenter?

I have mine working well on Wifi so no need to buy more stuff!!

Edited July 18, 2022 by kmar92

[kmar92]

I am a sucker for tech gadgets. So I have added a RAPT Temp Controller to my arsenal as it should work well in conjunction with my RAPT Pills. It has given me some grief in that it did not appear to register on the RAPT cloud when I tried doing that yesterday, then when I checked today it was there so I do not know what was going on. After confirming that it was registered and reporting to the cloud, I noticed that it's temp readings seemed to be a bit off. They were way off out of the box and reading maybe 4.5° low, so I did the 2 point calibration and it seems to be reading the temp fine now, and within 0.1° of my trusted thermometer so far.

I have sometimes been critical of the quality of Kegland products, but I admit I am quite happy with the quality of the temp controller and the design is great - it is a great design and quite a robust unit.