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Using a TC4 with Artisan Roaster Scope
greencardigan
best post

Hi all,

I've put together a few basic tutorials showing the setup required in Artisan Roaster Scope to log and control using a TC4.




Edited by JackH on 10/10/2017 9:53 AM
 
MaKoMo
Excellent videos documenting Artisans and the TC4s PID capabilities (as expected the TC4 internal PID wins clearly;). I added links to both of your videos on my Artisan blogs Overview page at https://artisan-roasterscope.blogspot.de/p/contents.html. At one point we should write a proper blog post documenting and linking all relevant TC4/Artisan information. For example, it was new to me that you can switch digital ports via serial commands triggered from Artisan buttons. Nice!
 
greencardigan
I think the Artisan PID is also very good too. Maybe I just needed to have different P I D parameters set. In the Ramp/Soak example with Artisan PID I used higher values and it followed the profile almost perfectly. I'm running the roaster with no beans, so the PID parameters I'm using do not reflect normal values.
 
JackH
Brad, thanks for all your work!
You get the award!
---Jack

KKTO Roaster.
 
Justinpogge
know were i can source a tc4?
 
koffeegrounds
fantastic videos , do these controllers also regulate my blower speed ?
 
greencardigan
The software can do phase angle control for an AC blower or PWM control for a DC fan. However you need the an external transistor circuit to switch d DC blower. And you need an external zero cross detector and random fire3 solid state relay to control an AC blower.
 
Gullygossner
Thank you for the videos showing how to setup artisan for use with the tc4, very easy to follow.

I tried my first roast last night using the the background pid control and am very pleased with how the first roast went.

I did run into two issues but didn't have much time to troubleshoot.

1. On my first background roast, the SV slider would move as the roast progressed but the heater slider did not move accordingly. The heater values were charted on my graph. Is this the expected behavior?

2. Once I completed the first roast, within artisan I 'selected' reset, loaded beans and then selected 'charge'. My settings within artisan are to use the tc4 onboard PID and for the PID to turn on upon selection of the charge button. The SV seems to go to the first value at charge but never progresses past the first sv of the background profile. Does the tc4 need to be unplugged and reinitied after each roast to follow a background profile? Does artisan need to be closed and reopened?
 
renatoa
If PID is checked in the TC4 dialog, then heater is controlled by Arduino, not by Artisan.
Artisan send to TC4 the command, PID;SV;150 (I want 150 degrees set value), and the on board PID will compute the required power to accomplish this task.
This power level is sent to Artisan via the ArduinoTC4 56 extra device, that's why it is known by Artisan and is charted.

2. The right sequence is: Reset, (optional On), then Start.
When pressing Start, depending on your setup and Artisan settings, it could auto detect charge, or you have to manually press Charge, to start profile.
Pressing Charge without Start do nothing.
Edited by renatoa on 09/25/2020 2:24 AM
 
Gullygossner

Quote

renatoa wrote:

If PID is checked in the TC4 dialog, then heater is controlled by Arduino, not by Artisan.
Artisan send to TC4 the command, SV150 (I want 150 degrees set value), and the on board PID will compute the required power to accomplish this task.
This power level is sent to Artisan via the ArduinoTC4 56 extra device, that's why it is known by Artisan and is charted.

2. The right sequence is: Reset, (optional On), then Start.
When pressing Start, depending on your setup and Artisan settings, it could auto detect charge, or you have to manually press Charge, to start profile.
Pressing Charge without Start do nothing.


Thank you for the reply renatoa.

So for issue 1 this is the expected behavior for my setup and I am fine with that, just wanted to confirm.

For issue 2, I am pretty certain that is sequence I followed but I will have do some further experimentation on my next roast. I was a little baffled that it worked for the first roast but not the second roast. I ended up doing the second roast manually using the heater slider I artisan.
 
progen
After 1.5 years of having the Arduino gathering dust, I finally got Artisan installed on the laptop and a TC4+ to go with it. Brad's video helped wonderfully since I'm poor with electronics.
 
TheHobo
So I just received my TC4 shield, and want to set it up for PID control on my heat gun.

I'm clear on the hardware side of things, but from a software perspective, i'm a bit confused as to the very initial set up. I'm seeing things like needing arduino sketches installed first etc.

The videos above are good to show me how to set up artisan, but do I need to do anything before that, or do I literally install artisan, and plug in my arduino + TC4 shield combo?
 
renatoa
Who sold your TC4 shield didn't installed anything ?

Anyway, trying an Artisan connection will not harm, so yes, install Artisan, plug the USB, watch for a new serial device and try a connection.
 
TheHobo
So I bought the TC4 off Tindie, but the Arduino off amazon. I wasn't sure if I needed to load something on the Arduino before hand. I found this link and all the download files were from 2013 so that was a bit confusing!

https://homeroasters.org/downloads.php?cat_id=1&download_id=23


I just tried it as you have suggested (Didn't try it earlier as wasn't sure if it would cause issues) - and it seems to have worked. I can't be sure as I am still waiting on my thermocouples to arrive, so got two "u.u" icons for the temps, but some lights flashing and looks like it could be working.

Am I correct in thinking that I don't need to do any of the arduino coding and can set up everything as per the two videos below?

Thanks!
 
renatoa
Then it's a virgin Arduino, so you have to load the software, sorry... there is no software on TC4 shield.

I am confused about what you mean by "seems to have worked" ... loaded something, or not ?
Do you see the "aArtisan_PID V6..." splash screen at power up ?

There are no "u.u" values for temperatures in the code, without thermocouples attached.
You should read either -1, either 999.
 
TheHobo
Didn't show up with a splash screen - where would I expect to see that? On Artisan software or an LCD?

Is the link I posted the best way to load the software? I've done arduino flashing previously when setting up my 3d printer, but just struggling to find the latest info and files. I'm assuming the 2013 files aren't the latest!
 
renatoa
aArtisan_PID splash screen is on LCD, showing the software (sketch) is loaded and running successful.

The latest release is 6.8, announced early this year here:
https://homeroast...post_72952
 
TheHobo
Perfect - thanks. So many different sources of sketches - it's hard to know what the latest was!

I haven't got my LCD connected yet, will try that tomorrow, but now on Artisan, it is showing "TC4 initialised"

I have ET and BT as 23.2 and an ambient 24.8 - I currently have no probes connected.

Will report back tomorrow once I try the LCD etc.
 
renatoa
From Help menu, select Messages and/or Errors dialogs, to check if you have any real communication with TC4.

It's weird to hear Artisan showing "TC4 initialised" without a sketch loaded... there is a handshaking protocol at start, consisting of three commands: CHAN, FILT and UNIT, without a response from TC4 I don't understand what is initialised...

For example, on my Artisan, when starting without the board connected I get:
"Serial Exception:Unable to open serial port" in Messages or Errors dialog.

Also, the communication with TC4 starts when pressing the ON button.
Simply starting Artisan and doing nothing you have no chat with TC4.
 
TheHobo
Sorry I should have clarified, my last post was after I uploaded the sketch that you linked me to. And yes, i clicked the on button to start it.

I'll check to see if there's any errors etc and try the lcd, but I think it's all ready to go now(fingers crossed)

Thanks again!
 
TheHobo
So confirming that with the LCD connected, i'm getting an Artisan splash screen followed by a status screen.

AT is showing 23, ET and BT both show 22 and Fan is showing 22% - I currently have nothing plugged in apart from the LCD and the USB, so I assume these are just generic values for now.

Now I wait for my thermocouples to arrive and see how it goes!
 
renatoa
Dare to have a look to the serial log, to copy here some lines ?
These generic values looks suspicious to me smile To much two digits there... Grin
 
TheHobo
Here we go -

version = 2.4.6

4 16:50:38.893 ArduinoTC4: COM3,115200,8,N,1,1.0 || Tx = READ || Rx = ['23.8', '22.1', '22.2', '0', '27', '0']|| Ts= 22.10, 22.20, -1.00, -1.00, 0.00, 27.00

3 16:50:35.900 ArduinoTC4: COM3,115200,8,N,1,1.0 || Tx = READ || Rx = ['23.8', '22.1', '22.2', '0', '31', '0']|| Ts= 22.10, 22.20, -1.00, -1.00, 0.00, 31.00

2 16:50:32.894 ArduinoTC4: COM3,115200,8,N,1,1.0 || Tx = READ || Rx = ['23.8', '22.1', '22.2', '0', '31', '0']|| Ts= 22.10, 22.20, -1.00, -1.00, 0.00, 31.00

1 16:50:29.900 ArduinoTC4: COM3,115200,8,N,1,1.0 || Tx = READ || Rx = ['23.8', '22.0', '22.2', '0', '28', '0']|| Ts= 22.00, 22.20, -1.00, -1.00, 0.00, 28.00
 
renatoa
Looks ok, seems you have a 10F/5C degrees shift of ADC.
That's because zero voltage at input means 0C = 32F temperature.
Could be noise from the environment, if the inputs aren't shorted, when no TC connected.
When TC arrives you can check the temperature at boiling point of water.

If you decide the offset is annoying and want to calibrate the temperatures, then check the line below in sources:


  adc.setCal( CAL_GAIN, UV_OFFSET );


... replacing UV_OFFSET with 40 * offset C degrees, i.e. 200 for 5C degrees offset
 
TheHobo
Thanks for that, very much appreciated! Hopefully the TCs aren't too far away, all shipments have been very slow of late!
 
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