Wifi stability and old rpi2b + ospi1.3 + usb power available for dongles?

[Archades]

Few questions. I have a raspberry 2b and get wifi dropout issues lately, had it since 2014.
Is it time to upgrade to a ospi 2.0 + rpi v4? Or just run ethernet to it.

I tried running https://core-electronics.com.au/dual-band-usb-wifi-adapter-mt7612u.html but I think it browns out and reboots the ospi which is controlled via 24v from the ospi 1.3 hat. I’m guessing that dongle is too much power, Bus 001 Device 004: ID 0bda:8176 Realtek Semiconductor Corp. RTL8188CUS 802.11n WLAN Adapter is the older one I had and it liked to randomly drop. Is there a more stable but lower power dongle?

Kudos for a project that has been so stable, it still runs my irrigation fine. How much wattage is available for dongles and do you have any recommendations before I try the ethernet which will be fun to run?

[Ray]

To tell if it’s an OSPi related power issue, the easiest you can do is to: power off the controller, then separate RPi from OSPi, and power RPi directly using a USB cable. See if the WiFi issue still exists. If so, that’s your RPi’s issue, it has nothing to do with OSPi. Otherwise it’s possible that your RPi is drawing too much current (especially if you have many peripherals). In that case, just power RPi additionally using a USB cable.

Regarding whether to upgrade to OSPi 2.0: if you need OLED display and buttons, then go for it as only OSPi 2.0 has them. Otherwise, you existing OSPi should be able to work with any RPi versions.

[Archades]

It’s been a very long time since I set it up, atm I know it has a 24VAC running through the 1.3 ospi hat which delivers power and I’ve completely forgotten what pins are being used. I set it up in 2014 and ignoring network, it’s been perfect although i might replace sd card with something fresh. I don’t think the OSPI is at fault, in the last few years I get dropouts on the wifi. It’s recently this year updated to bookworm and above is the chipset of the microdongle it used. Do those dongles die over time and do this?

I can try the seperation, is it as simple as just pulling the hat directly off? and running 5v into the rpi via it’s microusb? And I have some electronics background but not electrical engineer like I believe you are, with the hat ON, powered via 24v + a decent PSU 5v input to the pi model 2b, is there any chance of backvoltage or issues? I know with leds I had to have a common ground for floating power supply issue.

We tested the new coreelectronics with an inline usb watt meter/voltage, etc and it seemed to stay at 120mah which is strange because I thought that’s what wifi dongles stay at max even the micro ones. Rebooting the PI seems to fix it for a while but it’s dropping daily so I’ve ordered a smaller and different chipset dongle to test but the eventual goal is running it via ethernet for stability. The new, bigger dongle could be spiking it’s use faster than my inline cheap usb tester but I don’t have a usb breakout board and not exactly sure on using my oscilloscope to measure current signlent sds1104x-e and shunt resistors or if my multimeter will pickup on the peaks.

Main question though, with the hat plugged in with 24vac to it, can i power the rpi via 5v at the RPI as well at the same time without modifications or do i need to do any modifcations?

Only accessory is a usb tiny flash drive I was going to use as a datalogger to save the SD card writes but never got around to it. Eventually I had wanted to add some form of flow meter to the piping but might use esphome and run it via home assistant just for curiosity (unless ospi has that built in?) but I never got around to it.

Also just out of curiosity is flow meter built in and MQTT reporting? Cliffnotes, the RPI2b itself runs ospi 1.3 hat stable and since 2014, just accessing it is a pain over wifi but I do plan on adding ethernet connection if the new mini dongle based on RTL8192 doesn’t work either. Also going to try a rpi 4 board probably i found lying around incase the pi is a problem but I’ll also try disconnect the hat and power usb if I can in the meantime. Ethernet will be the easiest way but I have to wait for that. I have read some people cron job a reboot script for wifi or the device. Basically I power it up and it’s on the wifi network and the next day it’s off with the mini dongle. The dongle is old though. Sprinklers still work.

I saw on the github the schematic for 1.3, I see on a ospi 1.4 pdf 500ma is available and the schematic I don’t see where it plugs into the rpi so i wont connect both psus yet as I can’t see (my limited knowledge) of if there’s backvoltage protection. GPT suggests cutting pins on the RPI which I don’t want to do either. So I’ll wait for your response. Thankyou again for an awesome product sorry to hassle you with this silly stuff.

https://opensprinkler.com/forums/topic/power-pi-and-ospi-separately/ I just found this. Is this just for someone NOT using the rpi’s usb cable and instead to bypass the onboard regulator which I think is 500ma going to the left side RPI 5v pins and I’m not sure from the posts I’ve read so far if I need to remove the f2 fuse if I go that route? From https://opensprinkler.com/forums/topic/safely-split-powering-pi-and-ospi-boards/ seems to suggest to me don’t plugin 5v usb AND the ospi without removing f1 but I think it’s gonna be easier in the long run just plugging in ethernet or hoping a new microwifi adaptor works.

Sorry for the annoying questions, worst case scenario, if I use a raspberrypi 4, does the latest ospi have enough power from 24v > 5v or do I dual power it?

thanks

[Author]

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