OS3 Reboots Randomly and eventually View logs fails and reboots.

[dun4cheap]

Ray, hopefully the uptime is mow available and hopefully samer has updated the interface to show this. It will help trouble shoot problems, like resets or power failures.

Also, since I have quite a few of these spread out in the field, hopefully when I update them they don’t reset making me have to go to them.

[Ray]

This particular firmware (2.1.8) will definitely trigger a full reset because it is compiled with new core parameters (using ESP8266 Arduino Core 2.4.1, doubled CPU frequency, doubled flash memory frequency, and flash memory layout has changed from 3M/1M split to 1M/3M split). Even WiFi configuration file will have to be erased because of the flash memory layout change.

[szaky]

Ray, for those who are a bit less experienced in flash memory layout, is it worth upgrading, will it be more stable, or faster or? I am quite ok with the current release, and happy that the OTA upgrade went well. 🙂

thx

[Ray]

We haven’t officially published firmware 2.1.8 yet (still finishing up documentation). The main changes in firmware 2.1.8 are focused on OpenSprinkler 3.0, including the integration of ESP8266 core library 2.4 (with improved WiFi), doubling microcontroller frequency, doubling flash frequency, making more flash memory space available for logging (was 1MB before and now it’s 3MB), increasing maximum number of expanded zones (to 72), increasing the maximum number of programs (to 35). Users who have issues with WiFi connection should consider upgrading. However, if you are ok with the current firmware, there is no need to upgrade. After firmware upgrade, there is always the hassle of importing configurations (well, that itself should be fixed soon, so that upgrading firmware no longer requires erasing everything).

[szaky]

Thanks Ray,

For me exporting and importing the config worked fine, so if was finally an easy upgrade to 2.1.7. I am convinced to move to 2.1.8, hoping it will be smooth as well.

Thanks for your feedback!

[szaky]

Upgrade went well without any problem. 🙂 thx

[szaky]

Hi Ray,

is it possible to check the uptime of the system in any way?

Thanks for your reply!

[Ray]

The uptime variable is already in the firmware (it’s a JSON variable called ‘lupt’). It hasn’t been hooked up to the UI/app yet. I’ve already communicated with Samer and we will add it very soon.

[szaky]

Thanks Ray,

I get it now. Having that checked, it seems that my Opensprinkler, did not reboot itself, but for some reason every morning it stops the station one, after unpredictable time (4min, 16min, 1min … ) without finishing the time set for that (20min) and without running the rest of the stations. I though it reboots itself, but it doesn’t.

In case I execute the same program manually, it is fine. Any idea, why it is happening? Why it could happen?

Asking before opening a ticket, maybe you have some idea.

thanks

[Ray]

Did you check the program preview to see if at least in the preview the program should run as expected? There could be many reasons why it stops after some unpredicted amount of time. For example, if rain sensor is enabled, it might be stopped due to rain sensor activation (could be false detection or false sensor triggering); it could be weather triggered if Use Weather flag is on for that program; it could be a solenoid problem (e.g. a shorted or near shorted solenoid); if you use an external script or service to interact with OpenSprinkler, the program run may be interrupted by the external script or service.

[szaky]

Hi,

Yes, program preview shows it as expected. And you are right, that rain detector is enabled. Rain detector is implemented by me, separate arduino using the VIN 5V of the Opensprinkler which closes the sensors pin with a relay in case it is raining. It seemed to work perfectly, but obviously there is a glitch. However there is no log about detecting the rain in the Opensprinkler. But when I disconnected the power from OS the program went through all the 4 stations.

Maybe I shall use separate charger for my rain detector instead of stealing the 5V from OS, which might cause the problem.

thx

[dun4cheap]

Szaky,

There is most definitely a problem with using the usb port to power devices from the controller. When the 3.0 controller came out I was hesitant to move to it because it was only wifi. Please note I am running 20 OS units. Mix of 2.2-3.0 units all spread out over 69 acres connected to ubiquity equipment that require lan. In any event, in working with Ray, he suggested a mini ap to get interface with it and to power it from the controller. Well I was seeing random failures that were difficult to trouble shoot. It ended up being multiple problems, one the controller would reset while pulling the logs due to a memory issue and the uptime api being added to the FW. While trouble shooting, I moved the mini AP router on to its own power source thinking that it was pulling to much power from the controller. This did not resolve the OS problem, but it did resolve the random problem with the mini AP resetting. After the firmware update which resolved the OS reset problem, I put the ap back on to the controller power and the AP random reset came back, but the controller did not seem to be resetting. So for some reason the OS usb port does a power cycle or something and causes weird behavior. So I do not recommend using it. I never further troubleshoot this any further, and I have not seen any other issues since.

[Ray]

@szaky: yes if possible I suggest that you use a separate power supply for the rain detector, to see if it make any difference. Generally rain sensor events are also logged so you can check the log to see if there have been rain events which resulted in the program stopping running.

[Author]

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