0_0
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Posts: 114
Raspberry Pi: Yes
Other Device: PC, Arduino, ESP32
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Post by 0_0 on Nov 8, 2021 4:27:49 GMT -8
Setup: RPi 4 WeatherRack2 1 Indoor Sensor 1 SkyCam (hardwired to the RPi) 1 Aftershock (wireless) 1 AQI Sensor (Wireless)
The AQI and Aftershock keep dropping off. They appear to be running, and if I wait long enough, one or both will sometimes come back, but if both come back they come back one-at-a-time.
Rebooting the RPi doesn't seem to help, unless I reboot the sensors as well.
The dashboard shows all green indicators, and I have full batteries on all (I got a charger to go with it).
When they are in their proper location, they are 12' from the RPi, and through 1 internal and 1 external wall.
This still happens when I have everything seated within 1' of everything else, and no walls between, so I'm pretty sure that it's not a signal TRAVEL issue, but I'm guessing that it's a signal issue since it's intermittent.
This cycle can happen 1 time in 5 hours, or 20 times in 1 hour.
Any ideas anyone? I'm baffled.
Thank you in advance, 0_0
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0_0
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Posts: 114
Raspberry Pi: Yes
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Post by 0_0 on Nov 8, 2021 6:02:52 GMT -8
I think I've found a possible answer: It is slightly different, in that I am losing connection entirely, and the batteries are fully charged when this is happening.
I'm in OR, which will have similar solar conditions to what was described of Washington in the above-listed post. I am about to get my 3rd solar panels for each unit (2 didn't change the issue and power is still slowly dropping though much more slowly), I am hoping this will work. If not, I have to replace all of my boards with the v.3 boards, (if "battery hysteresis" is the issue) Does anyone know if the "hysteresis symptoms diagnosis" is correct for conducting heuristic analysis?
I already have the Dual-Watchdog, and will have the USB Power Controller shortly; might this work as described in the post?
Thank you in advance, 0_0 |
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Post by SDL on Nov 8, 2021 13:10:20 GMT -8
First thing to do is move them back to 10 feet. These transmitter and receivers will saturate if they are too close. Then re run your experiments.
BP
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0_0
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Posts: 114
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Post by 0_0 on Nov 10, 2021 7:07:19 GMT -8
I have moved everything back to 12 measured-feet, and repeated all tests but the symptoms remain the same. I have even turned off the AQI to test the Aftershock alone (since it seems to connect more often than the AQI does), no change. Rebooting the RPi, the sensor, or both didn't force a connection. I got one connection at 6:34 am yesterday, but nothing since.
I will grab a refresher on radio comms today, but it has been forever since I diagnosed a radio signal.
If it is of value here, I have a Vector Network Analyzer, an OScope, and other hardware diag equipment. Is there anything that you think I should check? I have already verified that I'm getting a 433 MHz signal from only one direction, and nothing in any adjacent ranges, so no neighbors have any smarthome stuff on the same channel. (I'm in an appt, so neighbors are as close as the sensors.)
Anything you can think of that I should try? I am at a total loss.
Thank you again for the assistance,
0_0
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Post by SDL on Nov 11, 2021 15:34:08 GMT -8
It sounds like your antenna is not connected or your transmitter board is not connecting well. Check those out very, very carefully. if it works ONCE, the computer and software is working correctly. Does the MiniProPlus board in the AQI still flash periodically (and on power up). Look at the LED labeled TX.
Do you have a logic analyzer? If so, you can hook it up to the TX pin on the MInIProPlus board and look at the signal there.
Shut off everything, so you just have one device transmitting and fool with the antenna and transmission board.
BP
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0_0
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Posts: 114
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Post by 0_0 on Nov 12, 2021 10:32:07 GMT -8
Good call. I don't have a logic analyzer, but I have ordered one. Everything except the Aftershock and SkyWeather is off. I see the Aftershock for now, but that's not uncommon once I reboot everything. I will monitor it to see how long it stays trained for, but first I will reboot again to record the light sequences. I'll, of course, post my findings.
(Thank you very much and have a good weekend!) >  |
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0_0
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Posts: 114
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Post by 0_0 on Nov 12, 2021 10:33:25 GMT -8
Oh, and I will re-seat all antennas again to make certain that they are connected.
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Post by SDL on Nov 12, 2021 11:14:32 GMT -8
Looking forward to your results and then we can really start debugging!
BP
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0_0
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Posts: 114
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Post by 0_0 on Nov 14, 2021 4:23:22 GMT -8
So I let it run for 24 hours. The results:
I think that you were right about saturation, once I moved the Aftershock and the AQI sensors back, I was able to see both for a little bit, but the Aftershock sensor status was red, then it stopped transmitting entirely. I have rebooted the system and sensor numerous times, but no love. The AQI is stable though. They are both 12 feet away and through one internal and one external wall (1960's construction, internal gypsum drywall and external wooden shingles; so a little but not a lot of signal degradation).
I have tried to add a hardwired AQI sensor as well, but everything stopped communicating, so I removed it.
Q: Is it possible to add an internal AQI while using a wireless AQI as well? (I want to capture both indoor and outdoor AQIs if possible). If not, I will set up another pi and run the AQI sensor off of it. The software looks like it wants the sensor to be attached to D20 and D21, so it shouldn't be impossible if needed; I will just have to have the dash across two IPs then.
All four internal temp/hum sensors and the WeatherRack dropped when I had the AQI hardwired, but have been otherwise working fine.
Light sequences:
AQI: Yellow light blinks four times rapidly then nothing.
Aftershock: Blinks twice slowly then trains up, but with a Red indicator on the dashboard.
I have not attached the Watchdog yet, so it is currently not a factor.
Once it is light here, I will take pics of my layout and setup so that you can get a visual.
Thank you so much for your assistance!
0_0
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0_0
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Posts: 114
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Post by 0_0 on Nov 16, 2021 8:34:55 GMT -8
So something strange has happened. I woke up yesterday, and got no response at all from the RPi. Legend: Card 1 = The one that I bought from SDL Card 2 = An identical card that I had laying around from buying an RPi. It is not an "Extreme", but it is still a SanDisk Class 10, U1, 32GB card. Card 3 & 4 = SandDisk Class 10, U3, Extreme 128 GB card, bought from BestBuy for this project Image 1 = An image that I made as soon as I unwrapped the card from SDL Image 2 = I was having problems getting Dash and SkyWeather2 to play nicely together. I got advice from this site, and troubleshot the rest myself to get it working. This is the image that I am primarily working from. Sequence of events: 1) When I got the preinstalled SDCard from SDL (Card 1) I make a copy using dd (Image 1) 2) I installed to an identical SDcard (Card 2, same size, speed and manufacturer) and used that one primarily. 3) I used that card for about a week while I got it working, then copied it again. (Image 2) 4) I used the card for another few weeks, and got two 128 GB U1 SanDisk SD Cards (Cards 3 & 4, same speed and manufacturer), and loaded one of them with the more recent image, and installed gparted to increase the partition size to use the full disk. 5) I used that for two weeks, then I woke up and there was no response. 6) Checking the RPi I showed no desktop, so I rebooted. Still no desktop, and nothing but the RPi "rainbow boot image". 7) I swapped cards back to Card 2 / Image 2, and it booted with no problems 8) I loaded the unused 128 (Card 4) with the Image 2, and tried to boot. Nothing but the rainbow boot image. 9) I put Card 2 / Image 2 back in and am running it, but having the same problem with radios dropping off. (WeatherRack and the Indoor Sensors not showing up until after 2nd reboot, AQI and Aftershock only showing up sporadically if at all. 10) I have charged both batteries (got the charger from Adafruit) to try to drop back to "only diagnosing the radio problem", and simply work with Card 2 / Image 2 until I can achieve stability. Once stability has been achieved, I will image it again and move back into Card 3. Notes: I am using two solar panels for each outdoor sensor. They are facing West, but I cannot get a South facing patch of sun. There are trees in the way. However, the Solar Voltage runs above the Load Voltage, and the batteries seem to be running at a reasonable charge/discharge cycle (I am only dropping from 3.7v to 3.39v after 24 hours, then recharging to a full 3.7v. Unfortunately, the cards which show this cycle are not booting. I will get into them later to see if I can reach the db to recover the data.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated, as I can diag this in Windows, but outside of network hardware OS's like Cisco, this will be the first Linux-based "ground-level OS recovery" that I will have undertaken. Is it the same as diag'ing a Catalyst Series? I've done "ground-level recovery" on those before without resorting to a "nuke & pave". Cisco uses "CBOS & IOS", but it sure looks like a specialized Linux distro to me.
Thank you again for all of the help. 0_0
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Post by doxidad on Nov 16, 2021 9:53:55 GMT -8
Just shooting in the dark here... How big is your Pi power supply? 3Amp is recommended for a Pi 4. SD cards don't like brown outs - especially when writing writing to them. I've given up running RPIs on SD cards for long term use - to many "it was working and now it isn't". Don't know how many SD cards I've tossed from hard failure. I've replaced all of the SDcards on my 2 always up PIs with SSDs. Here's an article that gives some insight to SD card corruption. Maybe there's something in it that may help. blog.robertelder.org/flash-memory-sd-card-corruption. |
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0_0
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Post by 0_0 on Nov 16, 2021 10:24:39 GMT -8
Nice! Thank you, doxidad!
That's a good call. I think I have some extra ssd's laying around, so I'll change today...
I had been wondering about the longevity of a Daily-use SDCard. Lol.
I found this: www.raspberrystreet.com/learn/how-to-boot-raspberrypi-from-usb-ssdAnd this: forum.switchdoc.com/thread/1861/rpi-os-bullseyeI presume that I should not run the "full-upgrade" portion until the bugs have been worked out of Bullseye? The weirdest part is that I imaged a brand new 128 GB card (Card 4) with Image 2, which had worked on Card 3 for a few weeks, but it wouldn't boot either. I had assumed that there was a problem with either the card or the RPi, but the RPi booted with Card 2/Image 2, and the SDCard passed all hardware tests.
I suppose that's a moot point if I move to SSD drives, but it's still an interesting symptom.
As an aside; I also had to fix my resolve.conf/dhcpcd.conf files as they were stuck on 127.0.0.1 for everything after falling back to Card 2/Image 2... But I'm not sure yet if that's related.
I'm guessing "No", but still can't rule it out yet. I'll rule it out once I try Image 2 on an SSD and it connects to the internet.
Thank you very much
0_0
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0_0
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Posts: 114
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Post by 0_0 on Nov 16, 2021 10:28:38 GMT -8
Oh, and my power supply is the one that came with the RPi, the CannaKit 3.5A.
I am reading the article now. Good call there as well. I hadn't thought about how common soft-errors would necessarily be on such a high-speed, high-density media under low impact but essentially constant-use conditions... like running a low-traffic LAMP stack.
I'll probably do that on my PiHole as well.
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Post by SDL on Nov 16, 2021 18:42:11 GMT -8
Yes, and the errors will happen more on the higher density card you use especially with off brand cards. Use SanDisk SD Cards. That's what we do. 32GB seems to be the sweet spot right now.
BP
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0_0
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Posts: 114
Raspberry Pi: Yes
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Post by 0_0 on Nov 18, 2021 14:31:20 GMT -8
I have moved to an SSD. Great call!
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