[daver]

I am using WiFi to access it, yes, that’s true.

The sprinklers do run even when I can’t connect (thank goodness, otherwise my lawn would be toast)

[daver]

I guess I should have realized the finite write cycle problem but never really thought about it.

What is the rough duty time of an SD card? Mine has only been in service for 12 months and like I said, no logging.

When should I expect it to crap out?

Any thoughts on the sshd problem that started happening in May?

[daver]

Hi Dan,

Just to be clear:
– I was indeed following those exact instructions. I had updated my setup to 2.0.x last fall with the proper git clone.
– I did nothing more than a git pull, and everything went to hell as zkab noted above. I had not modified any files directly myself.
– Like zkab, I keep my OSPi up to date with the latest updates and the latest Wheezy updates. This problem did not happen until this Spring, when I pulled a new version of OSPi
– I have logging DISABLED, I don’t even use that option
– Recommending that I do a full replace of the SD card every so often is insane. That doesn’t even make sense if I have logging OFF.

I have tried a clean git clone but it hasn’t addressed the sshd going down randomly after 1 week or so. It must also take out httpd as well, since I can’t use the web app or get mobile app to connect either.

[daver]

I’ve been seeing this problem about being unable to ssh in or contact the app via mobile or (old) web interfaces for quite some time (most of the summer). It will run about 1 week, maybe 2, and then this problem manifests. I have to reboot the OSPi to get back to normal.

I’ve tried updating the rpi OS (operating system, not Open Sprinkler) multiple times via apt-get update/upgrade but this hasn’t changed behavior.

I feel vindicated that another user is finally reporting this issue. Are you running longer term tests on older boards with older firmware?

[daver]

I am seeing the EXACT same problem on my board, too. I have the same firmware version and last year’s OSPi hardware (July 2013)

After I got into the mess above, I tried re-pulling the code cleanly (copied over this merged mess to a separate directory and re-creating the OSPi from a git clone) and then dropping in snames.json and options.txt from my old install, but that failed miserably. Completely down now.

Help!

[daver]

So I tested this in a completely different way.

I had the app installed (native iOS) on my iPad (3rd gen). Never been connected before to my OSPi. Tried connecting it for the first time. Same behavior–with no configuration saved previously.

It seems suspicious that I was able to run the native iOS app just fine before I updated the OSPi to the latest version, doesn’t it?

[daver]

Where does the export save to? When I click Export, it just says that it exported, but I don’t know where it ended up.

Another bug I found: Clicking Rain Delay and putting in 86 hours (we’re about to get a snow storm today!) got me the error: Unable to communicate with OpenSprinkler. Check the password and try again.

Other operations on the HTML5 app work fine, just not this one.

[daver]

Neither helped. I did both. Still acts the same.

It definitely SEES my Pi and the settings on it. For example, last night I enabled Manual Mode via the HTML5 app. When I went in today to try your tests, I saw the Pi in Manual Mode from the iOS app before I even started.

[daver]

Thanks for that Dan–I pulled the latest changes and did your execution bit fix. After reboot of my Pi, I didn’t see any change in iOS app behavior.

Samer: Here’s what I see.

1) Open the iOS mobile app
2) Go to Manual Control
3) Tap on the Manual Mode toggle button.
4) Button flips quickly from Off to On and then immediately from On to Off
5) No matter how many times I tap on that toggle, it NEVER stays on

I tried some other operations, also without success:
– Change Rain Delay and then hit submit. Just spins indefinitely.
– Edit Program, disabled a program, tried to submit, again, spins indefinitely.

I can do the same operations from the HTML5 application on mobile Safari AND from my desktop browser just fine. Rebooting my iPhone does not change the behavior.

[daver]

UPDATE: After updating the web app (I hadn’t cloned the git repo in ages), /sprinklers now functions.

UPDATE2: Apparently, my browser had some cache issues. The Interval Program is FINE.

UPDATE3: The mobile iOS app is not functioning after the update. I can’t get it to turn on my zones manually. I can use the HTML5 version that is accessible from my iPhone and that works like a champ.

I have tried updating the connection several times, no change in behavior. Only the iOS app seems to be unable to communicate or respond to my OSpi. Ideas? Thoughts?

[daver]

Thanks for that Dan and Samer. Sounds like I need to wait to do the pull if there’s some missing commits in there. 🙂 Dan?

[daver]

Hi Dan,

Been awhile since I’ve updated–just want to see if there’s any gotchas I’ll run into if I do. First, I’m running 1.2 hardware (I think–clear case, bought it July 2013) with an expansion board.

Firmware version: 1.8.3

Just updated to Samer’s iOS app for front-end control which seems to be compatible with my existing setup. I last did an update to my OSPi directory on Sept 12, 2013.

Should I just do a git pull and reboot from the OSPi directory, or should I be doing other updates first? Just want to make sure I don’t completely hose my Pi server here and then spend hours trying to un-hose it.

Thanks,
-Dave

[daver]

Hey guys,

I did the update today but after doing so, I’m seeing this error in the output log:

pi@raspberrypi ~ $ tail -f error.log

File "ospi.py", line 644

for i in range(incr):

^

IndentationError: unexpected indent

Line 644 in ospi.py (with context) looks like this:

def update_scount(self, qdict):

"""Increase or decrease the number of stations shown when expansion boards are added in options."""

if int(qdict)+1 > gv.sd: # Lengthen lists

incr = int(qdict) - (gv.sd-1)

for i in range(incr):

gv.sd.append(0)

for i in range(incr):   <

Line 644

gv.sd.append(0)

snames = data('snames')

nlst = re.findall('['"].*?['"]', snames)

ln = len(nlst)

nlst.pop()

That line seems to have TABs instead of spaces on it, but trying to reset that to spaces didn’t fix this error for me.

This is a straight pull from the git repo you recently setup (thanks for doing that! Love the simpler updates now!).

[daver]

Hi Dan,

As someone who followed your install instructions in the exact order presented, I just wiped out my program and station data (DOH!) because the backup step is AFTER the tar xvf step.

Can I make a suggestion?

Put the data directory OUTSIDE of the regular OSPi, making upgrades a snap and allowing people to keep their data in tact without the extra step. I imagine as this gets more popular, this will be a more persistent problem. Seems easy enough to fix with an ENV variable to point to a well-known data location and have the program copy the data there on the first run if nothing is around, otherwise use the data files from that location and never copy them again.

I would also suggest a full reboot as part of those steps, because I noticed that my history logs weren’t displaying the web app after I upgraded, nor was I able to edit station data until I did this. Just FYI on what I saw.

Thanks as always for everything you guys are doing! I love showing this off to my friends and family. They’re all amazed when I start the sprinklers from my iPhone.

[daver]

Awesome! They look great, that’s going to be a big help.

[daver]

Donation complete! (as my business PP account) Thanks again!

[daver]

Where is the link to donate to you? I can’t seem to find it again (NOTE: You should make that SUPER easy to find on your site, Ray’s site and anywhere you can!) but I swear I saw it before.

[daver]

The preview thing disappeared once I made my Interval non-zero. Weird.

For the #1 issue, I tailed the log while I tried it on my iPhone. Can’t reproduce it now. Maybe the app/browser on my phone was in a bad communication state at the time. It’s not happening now. Ignore that one, and THANKS for being so responsive. I’m donating now, this is a great app!

[daver]

Perhaps this is related to why I’m not seeing anything in the preview program area? My interval is set to 0.

EDIT: When I update Interval to 600, per your suggestion, my preview works!

Definitely NOT intuitive on that parameter. 🙂

[daver]

1) I’ll need to re-run with a clear log to ensure I get you something valid.

2) Can you create a config for the slider range? 100 or 300 are just too high for residential use, and yes, I know I can tap the field. Doing that 10 times is a PITA. The point of the web app is to make things easier, so a configurable max range for the slider times would make everyone happy, no? 🙂

3) I just checked the internal program for the program preview and I see the exact same issue. When I update the Interval to non-zero, I get the preview working.

[daver]

So if I leave it at 0, it runs once, right?

If that’s true, I would suggest relabeling this Interval as Repeat Program Delay, which is much more clear IMO. That also means I need a tight stop on my stop times now 🙁 Getting back to my comment above, having a start/stop time is something most sprinkler controllers just don’t allow for. It’s start time + duration, so adding this interval stuff is really confusing and counterintuitive. Maybe I’m just not using complex enough sprinkler controllers, but I’m not getting why you need to run your program 6 times over the course of the day. Or if you do, why not put in a simple “Repeat Program Times” field? Eliminate end time altogether, or dynamically calculate it…

See what I’m saying?

[daver]

Actually, it doesn’t.

You describe the Interval as “number of times” but the Interval unit is “minutes” in the web app. How do you reconcile that difference?

Maybe I’m just not getting what you mean. Can you give an example?

[daver]

Another suggestion:

On the “Run once programs” section, it would be cool if you would allow me to run my preset program(s) manually, without having to enter all the times I already used. I have 10 zones, so that’s cumbersome.

[daver]

Yep, just found it poking around in the settings for something else. Thanks!

[daver]

Thanks for all your help Samer…the software looks great. I’m looking forward to diving in.

[Author]

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