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I’ve had my OpenSprinkler hardware Since 2013 or slightly earlier. The date on the display board is Nov 2012.
In the past few weeks there have been times when I could not connect to OS. It lives outside the house in a box, and is connected by a AC Power Line Ethernet Adapter. I swapped out the PL Ethernet adapter and cable, without any real change. Since yesterday, I don’t get a DATA light on the PL adapter, and the orange LED on the Ethernet connector assy. on the OS board does not light, under any combination of power cycling or pressure on the board. The green LED on the Ethernet connector lights when a cable is connected. The board is executing irrigation programs as normal.Since it worked sometimes, I tried to flex things around the Ethernet connector assy, but that made no difference.
There are a few more things I can try, but I thought I should see if someone has seen something similar before I do anything that turns a working OS board into a paperweight. This board has lived through many years in a pretty tough environment, being outside during the Arizona summers, and I wouldn’t be surprised to find crystallized solder joint on some types of hardware submitted to the same conditions. But, the power dissipation is so low for this board it seems unlikely.
I’s appreciate hearing your thoughts and suggestions.
DougThe first thing to try is to bring the controller close to your router and use a wired Ethernet cable to directly connect the two. This will bypass the Ethernet adapter, and allow you to decouple issues of the controller vs. issues of the Ethernet adapter. If the problem is not solved, I suggest that you submit a support ticket.
Ray, Thanks for the suggestion. I plan to bring the controller in the house and hook it up as you suggest, in the next week or so. It is still running OK, so there isn’t a crisis. I have my doubts that it will do any good though. During the past winter, there were a couple of times that I thought it may have stopped operating, but the winter schedule is sparse, without the frequent operation as the summer. The power line adapters have more than once seemed unreliable, but I have the feeling that this time it is for real, because none of the swaps I made produced any results. I just took a laptop and cable out to the controller and hooked it up. The data light on the controller jack and the laptop both light, but I could not connect as I have done before. There is a lot of data flashes when I power up the controller, and the IP address is what I expect, but no connection. If what I reported gives you any kind of a hint, please pass it along.
I was pretty much resigned to ordering a new controller, but on a lark I looked on eBay and found a V2.3 DC, which I bought. It is what I would have likely have ordered anyway. I’m not giving up on my original OS though. I don’t know if I have the program settings recorded anywhere, and it will be a pain without them. I would like to get the old one working. Although I have plenty of old controllers here, I would like to have a backup OpenSprinkler rather than one of the antiques I have around here.
DougI’m writing this with a certain amount of egg on my face. It turns out that My OpenSprinkler Controller V 1.4X, in service since 2013, is alive and well. The connectivity problem was caused by a failing Trendnet Powerline Carrier Adapter, which went from intermittent to dead over several weeks. It should have been easy to isolate, but in my haste, I may have swapped out the adapter with another with a similar problem, or even worse, I may have put the same one back in. The troubleshooting was further complicated by trying to hook up a laptop, thinking it was just like connecting to one of my IP Cams, and not needing any special drivers or setup that I didn’t provide.
Once inside and connected to my router, as Ray suggested, it was immediately clear that things were working normally. It is back outside operating as before, and will probably again live through the 115+F temps that are coming again soon. The second good news it that I’ll have a backup that I can put in place with minimal effort.
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