Has emonTH died?

Hello,

I've had my emonTH set up for a few days now, and I've configured the inputs and feeds OK; I'm using an RPi base to send data to emoncms.org.

Today I noticed that the feeds had stopped updating, so I decided to check the emonTH. I removed and reinserted the batteries, and now the LED stays on permanently.

Has it died?

Mike

Robert Wall's picture

Re: Has emonTH died?

Possibly not completely!

Have you checked the battery voltage, both out and especially when powering the emonTH? The RFM12B requires at least 2.2 V to operate.

If you look at the sketch, the LED is turned on at the very start of the setup procedure, and turned off at the very end. So it staying on indicates to me that the setup is not completing. Possible reasons are (in the order that they are done):

The RFM12B radio module is not responding. Do any of the soldered joints on it look suspect? Does it send the numbers 0 - 9 to the RPi when you insert the batteries?

Do you have a programmer? If so, what does it print? You should see some output to the serial port.

Are the connections to the DHT22 sensor OK? Does it say it's got the sensor (programmer required again).

Then the LED is turned off.

MikeF's picture

Re: Has emonTH died?

Thanks for your reply, Robbert.

Batteries are OK (new), reading 1.55V each both in and out.

I'll check the solder joints tomorrow. How do I check if it is sending 0 - 9 to the RPi?

I don't have a programmer, so can't do these checks. I've removed and reinserted the DHT22 in its socket; I also connected a DS18B20, made no difference.

Disappointing, as I only bought it from the shop about 1 week ago.

Mike

Robert Wall's picture

Re: Has emonTH died?

You'll need to turn on logging - debug level I think - to see that, but if the LED on your RPi used to flash with every transmission, you should see 10 rapid flashes as it sends the test digits.

If it still looks dead, email the shop (support@openenergymonitor.zendesk.com).

MikeF's picture

Re: Has emonTH died?

Well, something strange just happened!

I set loglevel to DEBUG in emonhub.conf, stopped and started the emonhub service, put the batteries into the emonTH, saw the flashes on the RPi, then the LED went out on the TH, and now it's sending data again!

A loose connection, or could it have locked up?

 

Robert Wall's picture

Re: Has emonTH died?

I pass on that. I've never noticed a report of an emonTH locking up, nor for that matter the emonHub (and I suspect it could be either). Maybe there is a suspect joint in there, a good inspection lamp and a moderately powerful hand lens are required.

MikeF's picture

Re: Has emonTH died?

Will check. Thanks for your help.

 

MikeF's picture

Re: Has emonTH died?

Well, I checked it out, and started it up again. It ran for a few hours, now I notice that feeds have stopped again.

I've set loglevel = DEBUG in emonhub.conf, and tail -f /var/log/emonhub/emonhub.log gives me this:

2015-01-11 22:32:06,399 DEBUG 2 NEW FRAME : 1421015526.4
2015-01-11 22:32:06,402 INFO 2 Ignoring frame consisting of SOH character
2015-01-11 22:32:06,606 DEBUG 3 NEW FRAME : 1421015526.61 > 210g
2015-01-11 22:32:06,608 WARNING 3 Discard RX frame 'information' : ['>', '210g']
2015-01-11 22:32:06,814 DEBUG 4 NEW FRAME : 1421015526.81
2015-01-11 22:32:06,816 INFO 4 Ignoring frame consisting of SOH character
2015-01-11 22:32:07,020 DEBUG 5 NEW FRAME : 1421015527.02 > 15i
2015-01-11 22:32:07,022 WARNING 5 Discard RX frame 'information' : ['>', '15i']
2015-01-11 22:32:07,238 DEBUG 6 NEW FRAME : 1421015527.24
2015-01-11 22:32:07,241 INFO 6 Ignoring frame consisting of SOH character

Any clues?
Mike

Robert Wall's picture

Re: Has emonTH died?

I'm no expert on the emonHub, but that seems to indicate that either the data is being corrupted in transmission, or it's not your data that's being received. Do you have anything else that uses the same RF band - or a neighbour who does?

MikeF's picture

Re: Has emonTH died?

Not that I know of.

I've been using it outdoors, under a porch (sheltered), about 5m away from my RPi (through 1 wall); I've reset it (by removing and reinserting one of the batteries), and it's now on my desk, about 1m away from my RPi, where I can keep an eye on it!

 

pb66's picture

Re: Has emonTH died?

The emonHub log doesn't show anything of concern the "warnings" are just a little "noisy" and are handled silently in the later version, they are just acknowledgements of the settings transmitted to the RFM2Pi at startup.

This actually suggests nothing is being received so the next time you notice the data has stopped reaching emoncms the best test would be to check the green led on the RFM2Pi is flashing to show a packet was recieved, I know 1 minute can seem like an eternity when you are watching for a led flash, especially when it only flashes for a fraction of a second and so easily missed if you look away. Probably a good idea to familiarize your self with the led's location and flash while its working.

Paul

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