Gateway stops sending data to controller...
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Hello,
I have been having a recurring problem where the GW simply does not seem to send data to the controller.
I have tried 3 different pro mini (3,3V 8MHz) as the GW (this serially connected to the pi with the mysensors 2.3.0 gateway sketch on), replaced all cables, built several 3.3V DC regulator boards (662k and ams1117), replaced the pi3, replaced the radio modules (all have caps fitted), replaced the SD card three times with the last 2 being brand new cards.
The other symptom I get is that the node ID is occasionally corrupted in the controller logs. It just contains junk characters (sometimes quite a few of them!). Again maybe part of the problem or another issue altogether.
Example is last night. At 21.30 GW was sending data from all nodes to controller, at 22:50 I get 1 'junk' node id and then at 23:45 no more data from any nodes for 10 hours. The junk node ID characters appear on the server logs of mycontroller.
It happens randomly, sometimes a reboot of the pi will cure it, other times I need to power off the pi completely and re-start before the data returns.
The only other thing running on the pi is a small python script to control fan speed via gpio pwm pin. It's only a small dc fan to keep the pi cool.
Has anyone any suggestions as to what to try next? It's really getting to me now!
Thanks.
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@skywatch A good starting point for troubleshooting is posting all relevant logs, i.e. from your controller and serial debug logs of affected nodes.
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@tekka Thanks for the reply - there was nothing at all in the mycontroller server log at the time the data simply stopped flowing - all nodes are affecte and all stopped at the same time. So I am guessing it is a GW problem, but I can't monitor that while it is plugged into the pi, can I?
Cheers!
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Did you try without the fan? Maybe that creates noise on the power supply causing strange effects.
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@electrik I can try that, but I have 6xpi with small fan and no problems at all. There are capacitors to help with any issues, but I will power down before bed tonight and remove fan connections and disable the python script and see how it goes....As you can see, I really have given it all a lot of thought and effort and that is why this mystery is bugging me!
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Disconnecting the fan made no difference.
The pi now has a huge heatsink as well. I even added a clip on ferrite choke on the usb power cable as well, but it still seems the gateway just stops sending data to the controller.
The controller still gets all pi internal data so not the controller hanging - and nothing in the controller logs either, which points toward the GW being the culprit.
Does a pro mini retain any log info when disconnected from the system and connected to a PC? THat's the only way to really get any idea I think.....
Anyone have any ideas?
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@skywatch Turns out that the Rpi 3B has a 'interesting' serial implementation. It seems that this was the issue with 99% of the problems I was experiencing.
