Is Raspberry a Solid Controller?

[ewaldsreef]

I am new to this and have little experience compared to most. I am currently using Domoticz. I was using this first on windows and now I just got it up and running on my Raspberry Pi. I would like to use the pi however I am concerned about how reliable it is going to be. I plan on controlling important functions such as my hvac and sprinklers.
To sum it up and get advicefrom the more experienced builders on here.
Provided the software is installed correctly is the Raspberri pi a good reliable piece of hardware?
I am going to purchase the newer model B with a good quality SD card.

[AWI]

@ewaldsreef mine is stable for more than a year now. Running domoticz beta and serial gateway. Just make sure to backup the database (from within domoticz) and the SD card every few months.

[HenryWhite]

I can only speak from OpenHAB, but the New raspberry 2 should have enough computation power.
If you want to store the operating system on an sd card, be prepared to buy every few months (or year, depending on writing activity on the card) a new sd card.

It's way better to install the Controller Software on a hdd or ssd. You can modify the raspberry to use a hard drive instead of the sd card.

[Yveaux]

@HenryWhite I have a rpi collecting data from my weather station running solid for a few years now. Never had any issues with it, while being exposed to large temperature & humidity fluctuations.
It does run completely from Ram, to offload the SD card. Didn't have to replace the SD either.

[sundberg84]

Agree with above, but might add that when I have had power failures it has corrupted my sd-card. Also before i bought a better quality sd-card i had alot of troubles. If you are planning on running important functions you might wants to consider a UPS. There are several options, from expencive dedicated ups to usb power banks.

[fleinze]

I run domoticz on a Rpi 1 B+. At first I had some issues with a weak power supply, but never had any problems since.
Domoticz doesn't use more than a few percent of the cpu, I didn't even have problems running kodi on the same rpi or compiling large software packages at the same time as running domoticz.
I am sure it would even run on the new zero without problems, but this piece of hardware seems unavailable for a decent price.

[ewaldsreef]

Thank you for all of the input. I am going to take some advise above and purchase a ups for the pi. Also I will be buying a high quality sd card and going with the newest version of the pi. I am so excited for my upcoming projects and hope to have some stuff worthy of sharing.

[fleinze]

This site (in german) suggests to use a standard power-bank as a raspi-ups:
http://raspi-ups.appspot.com/de/index.jsp

[sundberg84]

@fleinze Yes - but you can not get any powerbank - you need to get one that charges AND delivers enough power at the same time.
There are several good tips around the www... google and you will find.

[jacikaas]

Hello,

I think it would be apropriate topic to give here a question to open discusion.

When I install Domoticz on my Raspberry 2, I found that Domotics offers already made image for raspberry already with included Domoticz server.

Now I saw that after ~30 hours after raspberry boot, DomoticZ server goes offline. That issue repeats.

Questions:

1. How others install Domoticz server? On same Domoticz made image, on Raspbian or maybe other OS (Linux Mint)?
2. Anybody had this type of issue how I described when Domoticz server goes offline?

Thank You!

[mfalkvidd]

1 I use the Domoticz image on my 4 controllers
2 I have not seen that problem. Are there any clues in the log files?

[sundberg84]

@jacikaas Might be a corrupt database.
I have seen this, when a specific node wrote to the db it crashed.

[jacikaas]

Hello,

I install MONIT on my RPI2 and set logging in Domoticz.

LOG:
2016-02-28 14:04:28.676 Incoming Domoticz connection from: 192.168.1.26
2016-02-28 14:04:28.680 Error: Domoticz received fatal signal 6 !...
2016-02-28 14:04:28.683 Error: /home/pi/domoticz/domoticz() [0x163978]
2016-02-28 14:04:28.683 Error: /home/pi/domoticz/domoticz(_Z14signal_handleri+0x4c) [0x163a24]
2016-02-28 14:04:28.683 Error: /lib/arm-linux-gnueabihf/libc.so.6(__default_sa_restorer_v2+0) [0x76b87b20]
2016-02-28 14:04:28.684 Error: /lib/arm-linux-gnueabihf/libc.so.6(gsignal+0x40) [0x76b868dc]

Domoticz server goes offline when he got connection from IP 192.168.1.26, which are my Android phone. Earlier in Android I was trying to install Domoticz Android app, but no matter what settings I enter - I can't connect to server via app.

So now Domoticz Android app try to connect regulary to server, but something goes wrong.

MONIT sees that server goes offline and then restart RPI2. But I think its not good solution here.

Does it looks like a bug on Domoticz?
What opinions here?

[AWI]

I suggest you try the Domoticz forum. Much more specific experience out there.