Sudden extreme battery drain [SOLVED]

[Strixx]

@sundberg84 Yes. I think I will have to do that.
I changed the test code above a little bit and added a delay for 5 seconds before sleep. And now I got better readings from my meter. It is about 48 mA when not sleeping and 28 mA when sleeping. So it does go to sleep but it is leaking somewhere.

To bad I don't have time this week for changing the arduino. I will have to get back next week about the progress.

[Strixx]

So. Forgot to get back.
But it was the Arduino it self that had gone bad. I switched the Arduino to a new, and everything was back to normal.

[gohan]

I had reports about switching to a different bootloader (like minicore) solved similar issues, as the stock bootloader sometimes doesn't like the sleep state

[bjacobse]

@strixx
so did you change the IC ATmega328P or was it the whole Arduino board?
if it's the whole Arduino board, then Sundbergs suggestion that a cap is faulty quite likely the error

quote Sundber84: "
sundberg84 Hardware Contributor 2 months ago

@strixx if you removed sensors like suggested above and you still have a high mA you should try to change the pro-mini. It could be a failing capacitor leaking."

[Strixx]

@bjacobse
Changed the whole board. I have it laying here in my workshop, but haven't got the time yet to investigate more.
It's shore sounds like @sundberg84 was right about a leaking capacitor.

[Strixx]

@gohan Well. I could try that. But it sounds strange to me that it will all the sudden change behavior. It was running fine without battery drain for a couple of weeks, and then all the sudden started draining the batteries.

[gohan]

I had a pro mini running fine for months in my outdoor solar sensor but I had to replace it as it was no longer working, with led flashing all the time. Later I managed to recover it by replashing bootloader and sketch again.

[Strixx]

@gohan Ok. Then I will try your suggestion. I will first have to learn how to replace the bootloader.. :-)

[bjacobse]

@strixx
Yes please try to update the bootloader first- I think it's quite interesting for the rest of us what is the actual rootcause
I don't use the stock bootlader in any Arduino codes, but instead an optiboot from GertSanders (as optiboot have enabled the WTD/watchdog)
https://forum.mysensors.org/topic/3261/various-bootloader-files-based-on-optiboot-6-2

[Strixx]

@bjacobse So it's time for a new raid with this project. I have been trying to read up on how to change bootloader. And if I understand it correct I need a programmer. And I only have a FTDI for uploading my code to my arduinos.
But somewhere I found that I can use a Arduino Uno instead.

So is this correct? If I buy a Uno will I be able to change to the new bootloader?

[mfalkvidd]

@strixx you can use almost any Arduino. Instructions are available at https://www.arduino.cc/en/Tutorial/ArduinoISP

[Strixx]

@mfalkvidd Thanks! Don't think I found that page before. Found a lot of pages about this subject but not this page. But if I understand it correct I still need to buy a new Arduino. I only have a big supply of Pro Minis. No other models.

[mfalkvidd]

@strixx a Pro Mini should work. It has the same mcu (atmega328) as the Uno, and pins 10-13 are available.

[Strixx]

So I have been reading up alot. And yesterday I finally managed to upload a new bootloader to this ProMini. It was the optiboot that @bjacobse linked to. All worked fine without any errors.

But I must have been doing something wrong, because I am not able to upload any sketch to the Arduino after that. I only get not in sync errors.

Unfortunately I don't have time to continue on this until late next week...

[Yveaux]

@strixx make sure you flash the correct bootloader for the crystal frequency of your pro mini (3.3V 8Mhz vs 5V 16MHz) and select the correct pro mini target in the Arduino IDE. Any errors will cause baudrate deviation in the serial bootloader communication, causing sync errors.