1. Running Multiple Arduinos on the Same RaspberryPi

In some cases it may be desired to run multiple Arduinos on the same RaspberryPi (RPi). A common reason for doing this is to support multiple chambers (one Arduino per chamber) with a single RPi.

This guide explains how to configure your RPi to run two instances of BrewPi to support two Arduinos controlling two chambers (top and bottom). The use of the manual installation process is necessary. The concepts in this guide can also be used to add more than Arduinos, although there will be some limit as to the number of script instances that the RPi can handle.

1.1. Setup udev rules for the Arduinos

By using udev, you can create static device node symlinks based on the port of the USB hub that each Arduino is plugged into. [1] This allows you to be confident that each script instance is always controlling the correct Arduino.

1.1.1. Determine the USB hub port identifiers

With only one Arduino connected, issue the following command to see which device node the Arduino is currently using:

ls /dev/ttyACM*

Then issue the following command, using the device node name found in the previous step:

udevadm info -a -n /dev/arduino_bottom | less

You will get a bunch of output. The relevant looking at parent device section will be the one that contains a line that states ATTRS{product}=="Arduino Leonardo" (your Arduino model may differ). Here is the output from the section to look at from one of my Arduinos:

looking at parent device '/devices/platform/bcm2708_usb/usb1/1-1/1-1.3/1-1.3.3/1-1.3.3.3':
  KERNELS=="1-1.3.3.3"
  SUBSYSTEMS=="usb"
  DRIVERS=="usb"
  ATTRS{bDeviceSubClass}=="00"
  ATTRS{bDeviceProtocol}=="00"
  ATTRS{devpath}=="1.3.3.3"
  ATTRS{idVendor}=="2341"
  ATTRS{speed}=="12"
  ATTRS{bNumInterfaces}==" 3"
  ATTRS{bConfigurationValue}=="1"
  ATTRS{bMaxPacketSize0}=="64"
  ATTRS{busnum}=="1"
  ATTRS{devnum}=="9"
  ATTRS{configuration}==""
  ATTRS{bMaxPower}=="500mA"
  ATTRS{authorized}=="1"
  ATTRS{bmAttributes}=="80"
  ATTRS{bNumConfigurations}=="1"
  ATTRS{maxchild}=="0"
  ATTRS{bcdDevice}=="0100"
  ATTRS{avoid_reset_quirk}=="0"
  ATTRS{quirks}=="0x0"
  ATTRS{version}==" 2.00"
  ATTRS{urbnum}=="19"
  ATTRS{ltm_capable}=="no"
  ATTRS{manufacturer}=="Arduino LLC"
  ATTRS{removable}=="unknown"
  ATTRS{idProduct}=="8036"
  ATTRS{bDeviceClass}=="00"
  ATTRS{product}=="Arduino Leonardo"

The important line in the output above is the KERNELS line. Write that line down and save it for later.

KERNELS=="1-1.3.3.3"

Next, move the Arduino to the next port on the USB hub that you will use for another Arduino, and repeat the steps previously listed in this section. Repeat the process for as many Arduinos as you will be using.

1.1.2. Write the udev rules

Now that the identifier for each USB hub port has been obtained, the udev rules can be written. In my case, I have the following identifiers:

KERNELS=="1-1.3.3.3"
KERNELS=="1-1.3.3.4"

Create the file /etc/udev/rules.d/99-arduino.rules with contents similar to the following:

SUBSYSTEM=="tty", KERNEL=="ttyACM*", KERNELS=="1-1.3.3.3", SYMLINK+="arduino_bottom"
SUBSYSTEM=="tty", KERNEL=="ttyACM*", KERNELS=="1-1.3.3.4", SYMLINK+="arduino_top"

The parameters to change on each line are listed in the table below. The other two parameters that aren’t listed are there to help prevent symlinks from being created if a device other than an Arduino is plugged into one of the ports in question on the USB hub.

Parameter Value
KERNELS==”1-1.3.3.3”
Set to the identifier from the previous section that corresponds to the port you’re working with.
SYMLINK+=”arduino_bottom”
Set to the name of the symlink you wish to create in /dev/.
Do not include the leading /dev/.

In the example above, I end up with the symlinks /dev/arduino_bottom and /dev/arduino_top when both Arduinos are connected to their respective ports. The symlink names reflect which chamber each Arduino controls.

Once the udev rules file is created, disconnect your Arduino and then reload udev before connecting all of the Ardiunos to their respective ports.

sudo /etc/init.d/udev reload

1.2. Install BrewPi

Install the BrewPi script and web interface manually as described in the manual installation process, noting the following changes:

  • git clone brewpi-script into subdirectories of /home/brewpi instead of directly into /home/brewpi. I used /home/brewpi/top and /home/brewpi/bottom to match the chamber each Arduino controls.
  • git clone brewpi-www into subdirectories of /var/www instead of directly into /var/www. I used /var/www/top and /var/www/bottom to match each script installation directory.
  • Fix the permissions manually.
    • UNTESTED alternative
      • It looks like utils/fixPermissions.sh should work when run from each script instance.
      • If you have other content in /var/www, you will likely want to update webPath in fixPermissions.sh to the directory of the corresponding web interface instance.
  • Do not use utils/updateCron.sh or the cron job string in the manual installation instructions. Instead follow the directions in the cron section below.

1.3. Modify the config files

1.3.1. Edit the script config files

settings/config.cfg needs to be created in each script instance to properly configure them. Here are the config files I’m using.

/home/brewpi/bottom/settings/config.cfg

scriptPath = /home/brewpi/bottom/
wwwPath = /var/www/bottom/
port = /dev/arduino_bottom
altport = /dev/null
boardType = leonardo

/home/brewpi/top/settings/config.cfg

scriptPath = /home/brewpi/top/
wwwPath = /var/www/top/
port = /dev/arduino_top
altport = /dev/null
boardType = leonardo

Variable explanation

Variable Value
scriptPath
Set to the full path of this script instance. Include the trailing slash.
wwwPath
Set to the full path of the web interface instance that corresponds to this script instance. Include the trailing slash.
port
Set to the device node symlink for the Arduino that corresponds to this script instance. This symlink was set up in the udev rules section above.
altport
Set to /dev/null so that the use of the default alternate port (/dev/ttyACM1) will not be attempted.
Because the device node symlink will always be correct, you don’t want an alternate port to be used.
boardType
Set to your Arduino board type.

1.3.2. Edit the web interface config files

config_user.php needs to be created in each web interface instance to properly configure them. Here are the config files I’m using.

/var/www/bottom/config_user.php

<?php
        // The default settings in config.php are overruled by the settings in config_user.php
        // To use custom settings, copy this file to config_user.php and make your changes in config_user.php
        // do not add a php closing tag, because newlines after closing tag might be included in the html

        // Do not include a trailing slash on the path
        $scriptPath = '/home/brewpi/bottom';

/var/www/top/config_user.php

<?php
        // The default settings in config.php are overruled by the settings in config_user.php
        // To use custom settings, copy this file to config_user.php and make your changes in config_user.php
        // do not add a php closing tag, because newlines after closing tag might be included in the html

        // Do not include a trailing slash on the path
        $scriptPath = '/home/brewpi/top';

Variable explanation

Variable Value
$scriptPath
Set to the full path of the script instance that corresponds to this web interface instance. Do not include a trailing slash.

1.4. Set up cron jobs to start the scripts

Create cron job files for each script instance. Here are the config files I’m using.

1.4.1. /etc/cron.d/brewpi_bottom

PYTHON=/usr/bin/python
SCRIPTPATH=/home/brewpi/bottom

* * * * * brewpi $PYTHON $SCRIPTPATH/brewpi.py --config $SCRIPTPATH/settings/config.cfg --checkstartuponly --dontrunfile; [ $? != 0 ] && $PYTHON -u $SCRIPTPATH/brewpi.py --config $SCRIPTPATH/settings/config.cfg 1>$SCRIPTPATH/logs/stdout.txt 2>>$SCRIPTPATH/logs/stderr.txt &

1.4.2. /etc/cron.d/brewpi_top

PYTHON=/usr/bin/python
SCRIPTPATH=/home/brewpi/top

* * * * * brewpi $PYTHON $SCRIPTPATH/brewpi.py --config $SCRIPTPATH/settings/config.cfg --checkstartuponly --dontrunfile; [ $? != 0 ] && $PYTHON -u $SCRIPTPATH/brewpi.py --config $SCRIPTPATH/settings/config.cfg 1>$SCRIPTPATH/logs/stdout.txt 2>>$SCRIPTPATH/logs/stderr.txt &

1.4.3. Variable and command explanation

Variable Value
PYTHON
Set to the full path of the Python binary.
SCRIPTPATH
Set to the full path of the script instance that corresponds to this cron job. Do not include a trailing slash.

--config $SCRIPTPATH/settings/config.cfg is specified for both invocations of the script in the cron job so that BrewPi’s process monitoring can see that each script instance is unique. For a description of the rest of the items in the cron job command, see the manual installation process cron job page.

1.5. Updating

I have not investigated whether it is safe to use the updater script from brewpi-tools, so at this point I would recommend doing updates manually.