Introduction: Electronic Tap Handles
Beer (also Cider) Tap Handles with an electronic display giving the name of the beer, the ABV and a description of the beer.
You enter the Beer name, ABV and description on a web page.
You can connect to the tap handle over your wireless network OR connect directly to the tap handle's wireless access point.
Supplies
Wemos D1 Mini ESP8266 Board
Basic on/off Switch
3.7 Volt rechargeable battery
TP4056 battery Charging Module
I2C Serial 128x64 SSD1306 OLED LCD Display LCD Module for Arduino
See Amazon parts sources at the end.
Step 1:
Step 2: Wire Everything Together
Connect the Battery positive and negative to the Battery Module B+ and B-
Connect the Out + from the Battery Module to the middle leg of the on/off Switch
Connect one of the outer legs of the on/off switch to the 5 Volt connection on the WEMOS D1 Mini
Connect the Out - from the Battery Module to the ground on both the Wemos D1 Mini and the OLED display
Connect the 3.3 Volt on the Wemos D1 Mini to the VCC on the OLED display
Connect D1 on the Wemos D1 Mini to the SCL on the OLED display
Connect D2 on the Wemos D1 Mini to the SDA on the OLED display
Step 3: Program the Wemos D1 Mini
You will need to program the Wemos D1 Mini using the Arduino IDE available here:
Here is a good resource for downloading the IDE and setting it up for the D1 mini.
Plug the D1 Mini into the USB cable to find the COM port it is using:
https://gist.github.com/carljdp/e6a3f5a11edea63c2c...
Add the libraries needed for the Tap Handle Sketch. Here is information on how to download/install the needed libraries:
https://www.arduino.cc/en/guide/libraries
You will need the following libraries:
SPI
Wire
Adafruit_GFX
Adafruit_SSD1306
ESP8266WebServer
ESP8266WiFi
WiFiClient
Download the Sketch here, open it up in the Arduino IDE program and make the necessary changes:
change the:
entry for the wireless network name/SSID
entry for the wireless password
tap handle number if needed
iplastoct variable
the IPAddress numbers as needed. The IP address structure needs to match your network.
"SOFT-SSID", "PASSWORD" (in both places)
Attachments
Step 4: Enter the IP Address for the Tap Handle in a Web Browser
Enter the IP address that you gave for the Tap Handle into your favorite browser. In the attached file the address is 192.168.1.201
That will bring up the form to fill out for the beer. When you hit "submit" the information will show up on the tap handle screen.
THE WEB PAGE WILL SHOW "The connection was reset" after the submit button is hit. Just it the "back" button for the web browser and you will be back to the input form and you can make changes and submit again.
Enter the beer name. Using the "Medium" font which is the default you have 10 characters per line for the name of the beer. You can use 2 lines max. If you use two lines for the beer name the last two lines (Description 3 and 4) will not have room to display. You can reduce the ABV font size and get one line back (Description 3)
If you select the large font you only have 7 characters and the last line (Description 4) will not have room to display. Again you can reduce the ABV font size and get back the last line (Description 4).
You can play with the font sizes and descriptions until you get things they way you want them.
This will work powered from the USB plugged directly into the Wemos D1 Mini. To run it off of the battery flip the switch to "on". When you unplug the Wemos from the USB with the power switch off you will lose the beer info you entered and will have to enter it again.
Charge the battery by plugging a usb micro cable into the battery module. The red light on the module shows it is charging, green light means it is charged.
Step 5: Charge the Battery
Plug a Micro USB cable into the Battery Module to charge the battery.
The LED is red when charging, blue when charge. These colors might be different for your charging module.
A fully charged 1000mAh battery will run the tap for about 12 hours
Step 6: Insert Electonics Into a Tap Handle
I wish I had some great solution here, but I am still working on it.
The picture here is the "guts" of this put into a pencil box that has been modified.
There are tap inserts that can screw into anything soft enough that turns anything into a tap handle.
I have made a "wooden box" to put the electronics into by I don't like the looks of it.
I think eventually I'll wind up with a casing 3d printed, but I am still prototyping configurations.
There is some intriguing e-paper e-ink displays that would be perfect for this.
Step 7: Parts List From Amazon
Here are the parts that I used for this build:
Battery Module:
https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B071RG4YWM/ref...
OLED Display:
https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B07TT9ZDWZ/ref...
ESP8266 Board:
https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B076F52NQD/ref...
Switch (I can't say I recommend this one, there has got to be some better quality ones):
https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B01NATZ2XH/ref...
Battery (you can go with whatever size suits you, the 1000mAh will last about 12 hours):
https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B07CXNQ3ZR/ref...
Pencil Box (everything can fit into this, but I think it is too tall and it is a pretty tight fit, you need to add the tap insert also):
https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00NJ0R23Q/ref...
Tap inserts:
https://smile.amazon.com/SNUG-Fasteners-SNG875-Thr...
