v5.2 Issues - SOLVED

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JohnH
Posts: 20
Joined: Sat Jan 09, 2021 1:14 pm

v5.2 Issues - SOLVED

Post by JohnH »

I installed the snek unit on a Renogy Wanderer yesterday, and it would not stay running long enough to configure the wifi to connect to my AP after trying for more than 10 minutes. I soldered a 3v programmer to the 3v3 and ground pins on the esp itself and was able to keep it running, and to configure the wifi. After removing the soldered wires it now connects to my AP and runs.

I have tried 2 Sandisk (16 and 32GB), 1 PNY 8GB, and one 8GB Kingston SD cards, and all result with the web interface saying there is an error and that I need to insert a Sandisk EVO. They were all formatted FAT32 with both PartitionWizard and Windows10 native formatter. I ordered a 32GB Samsung EVO card today. These messages go away when I power the unit without an SD card inserted. It is powered via the Wanderer for all of these tests.

Here is a sample of a log:
[sd_card]: No SD-card. 28-03-2021 01:25:02
[sd_card]: Error: SD Card malfunction, sample write failed 28-03-2021 01:25:02

The unit also won't send to MQTT unless the card is removed. The publish period is set to 10s, although it is intermittent and may only publish every several minutes with no SD card.

The unit reboots every few seconds to every several minutes, or once every few hours with the SD card inserted. It is now over 30 minutes running without the SD card inserted without rebooting.

Sometime last night the unit stopped updating

The unit shipped without an RTC battery, and the stores around here only sell 2023 or other large format coin cells. I guessed and purchased a pack of cr1120 batteries today off amazon since I could not find any documentation on the battery size required.

This unit uses a wroom-2u without a USB port as well and all of the forum posts mention a USB port that is missing from my device.


The unit is labelled as v5.2, and shipped with a firmware prior to 4.0-2d5693-2021-03-24-04-38 which it is currently running on.
Attachments
logs.txt
3-28-2021
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logs.txt
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Last edited by JohnH on Mon Mar 29, 2021 9:11 am, edited 1 time in total.
JohnH
Posts: 20
Joined: Sat Jan 09, 2021 1:14 pm

Re: v5.2 Issues - New Unit

Post by JohnH »

Just noticed the web interface is still updating live values and graph, but after hour, it is no longer publishing to MQTT. I am monitoring using Chronograf importing via Telegraf, MQTT explorer, and Grafana. PingPlotter shows only 1 dropped packet in 1 hour and a -60 signal strength.
Attachments
Snek.png
jonathan
Posts: 237
Joined: Thu Feb 01, 2018 1:12 am

Re: v5.2 Issues - New Unit

Post by jonathan »

Hi John, it sounds like a struggle.

Luckily you're technically inclined enough to get it running.

My thoughts:

Power issues:
The Renogy Model Solar Dashboard uses a buck converter to extract the maximum amount of power available from the Renogy unit. This is because the Renogy charge controllers put a 10ohm resistor on the power line going to RS232 port (at least on the rover line, probably the same on the wanderer). You can remove this on your wanderer it will likely solve the probelm.

The buck converter approach we use seems to work for MOST (90%+) Renogy RS232 units but there are variations between units of even the same model, sometimes it's just not enough power. In this case there are 3 options: Mod the 10ohm resistor, use a USB cable, and if your unit does not have the USB port like yours, provide an external 5-15 V input to the dashboard on pin 6 of the RJ-12. I would suggest this approach instead of your 3.3V solution as the RS232 converter requires a 5V source, provided by the onboard buck converter.


SD card issues
While you would think any reputable brand SD should work, we have found only certain cards work, and some work intermittently. We are looking at porting to another SD library in the software, but we have dependency on the espasyncwebserver library. So it's not trivial.
This is why we HIGHLY recommend the Samsung evo cards to avoid this struggle. Luckily they are readily available worldwide.

RTC battery:

Most applications do not need the RTC battery, size CR1220. This is why it's not included.
The RTC will be powered along with the solar dashboard from the charge controller, the battery is not in use. Only when the dashboard is unplugged does the clock lose time, however it will be synced with NTP if there's internet, and if not with user device.

MQTT

You should get the SD card working, then we can address any MQTT issues if they persist. Other users haven't reported any issues.

Jon
jonathan
Posts: 237
Joined: Thu Feb 01, 2018 1:12 am

Re: v5.2 Issues - New Unit

Post by jonathan »

JohnH wrote:
Sun Mar 28, 2021 4:06 pm

The unit is labelled as v5.2, and shipped with a firmware prior to 4.0-2d5693-2021-03-24-04-38 which it is currently running on.
The firmware got updated automatically, this can take 2-3 minutes and the dashboard can seem to behaving strangely. This time will extend if it's interrupted by power loss.
jonathan
Posts: 237
Joined: Thu Feb 01, 2018 1:12 am

Re: v5.2 Issues - New Unit

Post by jonathan »

JohnH wrote:
Sun Mar 28, 2021 4:06 pm

This unit uses a wroom-2u without a USB port as well and all of the forum posts mention a USB port that is missing from my device.
This is because you ordered a unit with external antenna option. For this we use the wroom-2u instead of the node-mcu-v3
jonathan
Posts: 237
Joined: Thu Feb 01, 2018 1:12 am

Re: v5.2 Issues - New Unit

Post by jonathan »

I PM'd you a cloud access code, if you set that up I can keep an eye on your unit as well.
JohnH
Posts: 20
Joined: Sat Jan 09, 2021 1:14 pm

Re: v5.2 Issues - New Unit

Post by JohnH »

Thank you for the quick reply. It was running fine until the battery voltage got to 13.1v, then started rebooting and missing MQTT.

Ran a modified USB cable V+ to pin 6 and the Wanderer USB output, installed an SD card, and now I don't get SD card errors on the web page, the unit is publishing MQTT every 10s, the SD card is logging and accessible via web page...

No errors in the web log either!! Great product and support! I entered the API key into the config but the progress circle just keeps spinning. I left the username blank since it wasn't supplied.
JohnH
Posts: 20
Joined: Sat Jan 09, 2021 1:14 pm

Re: v5.2 Issues - SOLVED

Post by JohnH »

Unit ran perfectly overnight. No errors in web log, web graph is perfect and finally have an indication of when the chicken coop light and automatic door run based on the load current! Not a single reboot either. MariaDB/InfluxDB VM crashed this morning so I lost a few hours of Grafana logs but that's not related to the snek dashboard.

Surprising how powering an electronic device with the correct power will make things work. Sorry for the noise since it wasn't an issue with the snek unit, and thanks again for the help.

Side note: I do not know how accurate the Renogy BT module is, but it was always showing a 100mA draw without the coop light or automatic door running, and I assume most if not all of that 0.1A was for the BT unit. The coop light just turned off and now the dashboard is showing 10mA!! Wow, good on you all for making a device that uses significantly less power than, AND provides significantly more functionality than a multi-million dollar OEM!
jonathan
Posts: 237
Joined: Thu Feb 01, 2018 1:12 am

Re: v5.2 Issues - SOLVED

Post by jonathan »

Thank you John for sticking with it, glad it's running well now. What brand SD card did you end up using? Always good to have the information for other users to try.

To use the cloud, make an account here: https://mysolardashboard.snektek.com/signup
Then enter the voucher I sent you into the virtual "device" where it says activate.
cloud_activate.PNG
cloud_activate_2.PNG
Then use the API key that it shows and enter that in the dashboard locally. Use your username from the cloud account.
cloud_button.PNG
local_device_cloud_connection.PNG
Then head back over to the https://mysolardashboard.snektek.com and you should see this:
cloud_card_running.PNG
Push the arrows to expand to full dashboard.
jonathan
Posts: 237
Joined: Thu Feb 01, 2018 1:12 am

Re: v5.2 Issues - SOLVED

Post by jonathan »

JohnH wrote:
Mon Mar 29, 2021 9:22 am
Side note: I do not know how accurate the Renogy BT module is, but it was always showing a 100mA draw without the coop light or automatic door running, and I assume most if not all of that 0.1A was for the BT unit. The coop light just turned off and now the dashboard is showing 10mA!! Wow, good on you all for making a device that uses significantly less power than, AND provides significantly more functionality than a multi-million dollar OEM!
Thanks, we made the Renogy unit extra efficient with the DC/DC converter. We will add an external power pads on the PCB in light of your experience, and improve the documenation about the power supply. The Snektek Dashboard does not draw much power, but it needs bursts of power to write to SD card and power the WiFi radio (which is more powerful than bluetooth). Luckily Renogy seems to be moving toward their Elite line, which has a 5V power supply that works great.
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