Mill City Roasters (with preinstalled Phidget) - Roasting Intelligence (RI) Setup
This manual covers the connection of the Mill City Roaster with Phidgets - Phidgets/Shihlin controls - Phidgets/Delta controls to Cropster's Roasting Intelligence
Table of Contents
Specifications
Requirements
- USB cable
- VCP driver (FTDI)
The driver may already be pre-installed with your operating system.
Supported measurements
- Bean temperature
- Exhaust temperature
- Inlet temperature
- Gas (kPA)
- Airflow (Hz)
- Drum speed (Hz
- Environmental temperature
Important information:
The following measurements: Gas (kPA), Airflow (Hz), and Drum speed (Hz) are not supported on the Mill City - Phidget-only version (Version 1)
The Environmental temperature is supported only on Mill City - Phidget/Delta Control with Data port (Version 3).
Roasting Intelligence (RI) Setup
Installing the Roasting Intelligence (RI) software
- Download RI.
- Complete the installation process by following the steps provided.
- Double-click the Cropster icon on your desktop to access RI.
- Click the green Login with the browser button.
-
You will be directed to the C-sar browser.
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Enter your Username* and Password* and click the green Sign in with password button.
Use the same credentials that you use to access the online platform C-sar.
Establishing a connection to the machine
The images below are for reference and may vary slightly from your screen.
Before you begin configuring your roast machine, ensure that you have added it via the online platform C-sar.
- Select
Preferences > Machine > Configuration - To choose the Roast machine, click on the dropdown menu in the Machine section.
- Click the + Add connector option to choose your connector from the dropdown list.
- Select Mill City (all versions - Phidgets and PIDs/PLC) from the dropdown.
-
Click Select to add the connector.
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- Navigate to the Machine > Measurements tab. All supported measurements will be displayed.
- To activate the measurements, simply click the green toggle button.
- Enable the desired measurements and choose Mill City (all versions - Phidgets and PIDs/PLC) as the connector type.
-
(Optional) Change the order of the measurements by using the
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Drag and Drop icon and move it into position..webp)
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Navigate to the Machine > Configuration tab and click on the Gear icon in the Connector setup section to open and configure more PLC settings.
- Identify your Mill City Version and complete the form by providing the necessary information:
Mill City Version |
Serial port |
Temperature |
Version 1 - Phidgets only |
Leave the serial port blank when Phidgets only is selected. |
Celsius or Fahrenheit |
Version 2a - Phidgets/Shihlin controls (USB port on the back) |
/dev/tty.usbserial-x (Mac) or COMx (Windows) |
Celsius or Fahrenheit |
Version 2b - Phidgets/Delta controls (USB port on the back) |
/dev/tty.usbserial-x (Mac) or COMx (Windows) |
Celsius or Fahrenheit |
Version 3 - Phidgets/Delta controls (data port on the control panel or Phidget) |
/dev/tty.usbserial-x (Mac) or COMx (Windows) |
Celsius or Fahrenheit |
- Click OK.
- Click Save to finalize the changes.
After saving the changes, RI will automatically restart. If the setup was successful, you will see the temperature values displayed on the right-hand side of the RI screen following the restart.
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Learn more about the Roasting Intelligence (RI) Preferences.
Troubleshooting
If RI indicates No source connected and/or you cannot see any measurements, please check the following:
- Did you choose the correct version?
- Did you choose the correct serial port?
- On macOS: Try installing the beta VCP driver. macOS X10.15 to macOS 11 (this is a Beta driver release, and the installer should be run from the /Applications folder on your machine)
Congratulations! You have successfully set up the Cropster Roasting Intelligence.
Your opinion matters. If you have further questions, feedback, or concerns, please submit a support ticket directly from support.cropster.com.