Mill City Roasters MCR Series with Data port/Digital control panel (Digital Control Roasters) - Roasting Intelligence (RI) Setup
This manual covers the connection of the Mill City Digital Control Roaster with Data port/Digital control panel to Cropster's Roasting Intelligence
Table of Contents
Specifications
Requirements
- USB cable
-
VCP driver (FTDI)
- Windows 11
- Windows 10
- macOS X 10.9 to 10.14
On recent macOS devices, the driver may already be pre-installed with your operating system.
Supported measurements
- Bean temperature
- Environmental temperature
- Inlet temperature
- Gas (kPA)
- Airflow (Hz)
- Drum speed (Hz)
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.
-
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.
.webp)
- 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
-png.webp)
Drag and Drop icon and move it into position..webp)
- Navigate to the Machine > Configuration tab and click on the Gear icon in the Connector setup section to open and configure more settings.
-
Identify your Mill City Version and select the Serial port that refers to the connection to the machine:
-
Version 4:
Mill City Version: MCR Series (with data port)/Digital control panel - Digital Control Roasters
-
Version 4:
Operation system |
Serial port |
Windows |
COMx |
Mac |
/dev/tty.usbserial-x |
- 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.
.webp)
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)
Staircase-patterned Bean temperature curves
If you have a Version 4 (MCR series) Mill City roast machine, and you are experiencing staircase-patterned roast curves for your Bean temp measurement on the Roasting Intelligence (RI),
Learn how to activate the temperature interpolation (staircase pattern).
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.