ncjay
Junior Member
Posts: 71
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Post by ncjay on Aug 2, 2021 10:47:38 GMT -8
My Solar Wireless AQI has gone offline four out of the last five nights, only to come back in the morning. A screencap is attached. A normal evening Voltage and Current cycle appears in the graph on the evening of July 28 and July 30. Both the solar voltage and current drop down to 0 around 9:10 pm, remain there all night, and the battery voltage and current take over so AQI readings are still being received, and then the solar readings jump back up again to daytime level at around 7:00 am. On a night when it goes offline, such as July 29, July 31, and August 1, the solar readings drop to 0, AQI readings are received for a short time, but the battery does not take over, and then the sensor goes offline. It stayed offline those days until 9:30 or 10:00 am, then came back online and began transmitting readings again, once the solar voltage was sufficiently high, I guess. Last night - August 2 - it went offline earlier, around 8:00 pm, before the readings even dropped to zero - and then it took until 11 am this morning to go back onine. I note that yesterday was the only day without multiple spikes in the solar voltage level - it was mostly cloudy all day. In each case, when the sensor is offline, the WS Air Quality green indicator on the SkyWeather status page goes "dark". I don't *think* this is the same problem noticed by @sdl at the Palm Springs station in the thread "Solar Wireless AQI Reliability". I only say that because I'm not noticing a battery voltage drop - that line is nice and flat (thank you, low voltage modification). Perhaps I'm missing something obvious, though. Anyway, any insight you may be able to offer will be appreciated. You'll also note that my AQI graph is still flattening out at 151 at times, but we're handing that in a separate thread. Thanks ncjay Wake forest NC  |
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Post by SDL on Aug 2, 2021 14:19:34 GMT -8
Hmm. Interesting. This doesn't make a lot of sense.
Do you have access to the box when it goes dead? I'd like to know what the lights in the box do.
I'm thinking the battery is bad or isn't holding a charge.
BP
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ncjay
Junior Member
Posts: 71
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Post by ncjay on Aug 2, 2021 15:12:44 GMT -8
Thanks - I can go grab it first thing in the morning tomorrow (if it's offline then) and have a look.
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ncjay
Junior Member
Posts: 71
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Post by ncjay on Aug 3, 2021 11:11:35 GMT -8
Here's what I found out since yesterday. The AQI sensor went offline early last night, around 7:30 pm. It was still offline at 8:00 am this morning when I went out and brought it inside. I've attached a picture of the sensor innards showing the state of the LEDs. Essentially: - The neighboring green and red LEDs on the SunAirPlus2 board were lit
- The blue LED on the Mini Pro Plus board was lit
- The red solar power LED on the SunAirPlus2 lit when I moved the unit under my bright desk lamp to shoot the picture
- I saw an occasional white LED flash on the Mini Pro Plus board (see below).
Since I had the enclosure open, I powercycled the SunAirPlus2 board to see if the LED states would change - they didn't, but this is when I saw the white LED flash on the Mini Pro Plus board. I reassembled the enclosure, replaced the waterproofing, and put it back outside. At 8:23 I noticed the Status page online indicator for the AQI sensor was green again - early on this overcast day - and I had received one new AQI reading. Since it was so cloudy, the solar current graph was flat from the last reading yesterday - but the battery current was back up to a level that would indicate normal operation for low solar current. But then the sensor went back offline, and stayed offline until a 12:00 noon check when I got another reading. It's nearly 3:00 pm now and it's been online since. It's still cloudy, but the solar current is still above a nighttime level and the battery is pulling most of the weight - see screencap excerpt, also attached. It seems to me what's going on is: the battery circuit isn't getting the message to activate and take over powering the sensor once the solar current drops below some level ("I need your help until you notice otherwise"). We're not seeing a drop in the battery voltage, or any change in the battery current - but I suppose that's because no data is being received from the sensor. But it looks roughly the same on the graph when the sensor comes back online. And the battery voltage and current appears to be just fine, when it needs to be, once the solar subsystem wakes up. (Would a low battery manifest itself some other way?) Now the question is...what caused the sensor to wake up for one reading at 8:23 - was it the powercycle, or the light from the desk lamp? I suspect the latter, only because it went offline again, only to return when it got bright enough outside. Maybe I'll try only giving it some bright light, without the powercycling, next time it goes offline. So where is the communication between the solar power and the battery breaking down? (Unless, of course, I'm on the wrong track here.) Thanks ncjay Wake Forest NC   Attachments:
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ncjay
Junior Member
Posts: 71
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Post by ncjay on Aug 3, 2021 16:37:15 GMT -8
A quick followup - we remained under heavy cloud cover today, and the AQI sensor took itself offline again sometime after its 2:20 pm reading. I brought it inside at 5:45, put it under the bright desk lamp, and began getting readings again. Once I put it back outside - it went offline again.
We're in for cloudy skies the rest of the week.
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Post by SDL on Aug 3, 2021 17:24:12 GMT -8
Do you have another battery you could change it with? The problem is either a bad battery or a bad sunairplus 2 board.
Also, when you put it under the light what do the LEDS on the solar power end of the SunAirPlus do?
BP
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ncjay
Junior Member
Posts: 71
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Post by ncjay on Aug 4, 2021 6:22:42 GMT -8
The only other battery I have is in the Lightning sensor, so at this point it's easy enough just to order a new battery, even as a spare. I've done that.
It went offline at about 7 pm this evening, so I'm charging the battery via USB (I was doing that before I did the low power mod) to see how long that lasts in use while waiting for the new battery to arrive. (**edit - hmmm. It took less than two hours to charge completely. When it was running out of juice before the low power mod it took around 14 hours to charge.....)
When I put it under the light, the only change was the red solar LED indicator lit.
ncjay
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Post by SDL on Aug 6, 2021 10:38:21 GMT -8
The red solar LED should light, so that is correct. Let's see what your battery test looks like. If it behaves the same, then it must be a bad sunairplus2 board.
BP
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ncjay
Junior Member
Posts: 71
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Post by ncjay on Aug 6, 2021 11:39:56 GMT -8
Thanks. The battery is here; I'll install it when the sensor goes offline around sundown.
ncjay
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Post by SDL on Aug 8, 2021 9:23:53 GMT -8
Excellent. Looking forward to more data!
BP
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ncjay
Junior Member
Posts: 71
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Post by ncjay on Aug 13, 2021 15:39:36 GMT -8
Excellent. Looking forward to more data! BP I'm not declaring success yet, but the sensor has been up continually since the morning of Monday, August 9, without going offline. |
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Post by SDL on Aug 13, 2021 15:43:39 GMT -8
I have had several Batteries go bad on my recently. Two of them cheap ones and one bad Adafruit battery (that one was in Palm Springs, so it was really, really hot).
BP
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Post by SDL on Aug 13, 2021 15:44:01 GMT -8
BTW, Show us the Solar graphs.
BP
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ncjay
Junior Member
Posts: 71
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Post by ncjay on Aug 14, 2021 15:59:36 GMT -8
It can get pretty hot here too! Here are the graphs from the last several days. Attachments:
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Post by SDL on Aug 15, 2021 17:59:51 GMT -8
See the spike in the solar voltage? that says your battery fully charged!
BP
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