Failing Device or Failing SD Card?

Support
1

What are the symptoms of a failing IoTaWatt?

One of my IoTaWatts is disconnecting from WiFi (possibly rebooting) every few seconds. Other devices connected to that access point and in the 2.4 GHz radio are stable - so I don’t think it is the access point.

IoTaWatt statistics shows runtime of less than a minute (usually <15 seconds) that makes me think it might be rebooting rather than a WiFi issue that I first suspected.

The IoTaWatt is a number of years old now (V4.x Ordered April 2019 currently running Firmware 02_08_02 ), I proactively replaced the SD card a few months ago with no issues following the replacement.

Is the device failing or could it be a problem with the SD card?

When it connects the signal strength is -48 (which I think is more than adequate - and has been OK for many years - with no change to the location of the AP or the IoTaWatt.

If it is the IoTaWatt reaching the end of life. Could I just pull the sd card from it (it is a V4.x device) and put it into a replacement V5 device (making sure that all the CT’s go into the same jacks as the original device)?

Pointers on the next action for troubleshooting would be appreciated.

2

What does the log say?
Iotawatt logs why it reboots. That might provide a clue.

I have a many years old Iotawatt. It still works fine, so I doubt that the Iotawatt is going bad.

3

Looks like a restart loop triggered by Software Watchdog

The Trace is different each time - What is the next step?

5/06/23 09:14:47z WiFi connected. SSID=NC2g, IP=192.168.1.124, channel=1, RSSI -45db
5/06/23 09:14:47z Grid: Started
5/06/23 09:14:47z Grid: Last log entry 05/06/23 09:14:35
5/06/23 09:14:48z historyLog: service started.
5/06/23 09:14:49z historyLog: Last log entry 05/06/23 09:14:00
5/06/23 09:14:50z influxDB_v2: Resume posting 04/11/23 16:54:45

** Restart **

SD initialized.
5/06/23 08:14:55z Real Time Clock is running. Unix time 1683360895 
5/06/23 08:14:55z Reset reason: Software Watchdog
5/06/23 08:14:55z Trace:  9:1, 8:4, 8:6, 8:8, 9:3, 9:5, 9:9, 1:3, 1:3, 1:1[2], 1:2[3], 9:0[3], 9:0, 9:1, 8:4, 8:6, 8:8, 9:3, 9:5, 9:9, 1:3, 1:3, 1:6[1], 1:6[3], 1:5[31], 1:6[4], 31:0, 31:1, 31:2[3], 29:60, 29:60, 29:60
5/06/23 08:14:55z ESP8266 ID: 2517700, RTC PCF8523 (68)
5/06/23 08:14:55z IoTaWatt 4.x, Firmware version 02_08_02
5/06/23 08:14:55z SPIFFS mounted.
5/06/23 09:14:55z Local time zone: +0:00, using DST/BST when in effect.
5/06/23 09:14:55z device name: IotaWatt
5/06/23 09:14:55z HTTP server started
5/06/23 09:14:55z influxDB_v2: Starting, interval:5, url:http://192.168.1.137:8086
5/06/23 09:14:55z timeSync: service started.
5/06/23 09:14:56z statService: started.
5/06/23 09:14:56z dataLog: service started.
5/06/23 09:14:57z dataLog: Last log entry 05/06/23 09:14:50
5/06/23 09:15:00z Updater: service started. Auto-update class is MINOR
5/06/23 09:15:00z WiFi connected. SSID=NC2g, IP=192.168.1.124, channel=1, RSSI -46db
5/06/23 09:15:00z Grid: Started
5/06/23 09:15:00z Grid: Last log entry 05/06/23 09:14:50
5/06/23 09:15:01z historyLog: service started.
5/06/23 09:15:02z historyLog: Last log entry 05/06/23 09:14:00
5/06/23 09:15:03z influxDB_v2: Resume posting 04/11/23 16:54:45

** Restart **

SD initialized.
5/06/23 08:15:08z Real Time Clock is running. Unix time 1683360908 
5/06/23 08:15:08z Reset reason: Software Watchdog
5/06/23 08:15:08z Trace:  29:64, 29:64, 29:65, 29:63, 29:64, 29:64, 29:65, 31:1, 1:6[6], 1:1[1], 1:2[2], 9:0[2], 9:0, 9:1, 8:4, 8:6, 8:8, 9:3, 9:5, 9:9, 1:3, 1:3, 1:6[1], 1:6[3], 1:5[31], 1:6[4], 31:0, 31:1, 31:2[3], 29:60, 29:60, 29:60
5/06/23 08:15:08z ESP8266 ID: 2517700, RTC PCF8523 (68)
5/06/23 08:15:08z IoTaWatt 4.x, Firmware version 02_08_02
5/06/23 08:15:08z SPIFFS mounted.
5/06/23 09:15:08z Local time zone: +0:00, using DST/BST when in effect.
5/06/23 09:15:08z device name: IotaWatt
5/06/23 09:15:08z HTTP server started
5/06/23 09:15:08z influxDB_v2: Starting, interval:5, url:http://192.168.1.137:8086
5/06/23 09:15:08z timeSync: service started.
5/06/23 09:15:09z statService: started.
5/06/23 09:15:09z dataLog: service started.
5/06/23 09:15:10z dataLog: Last log entry 05/06/23 09:15:00
5/06/23 09:15:13z Updater: service started. Auto-update class is MINOR
5/06/23 09:15:13z WiFi connected. SSID=NC2g, IP=192.168.1.124, channel=1, RSSI -45db
5/06/23 09:15:13z Grid: Started
5/06/23 09:15:13z Grid: Last log entry 05/06/23 09:15:00
5/06/23 09:15:14z historyLog: service started.
5/06/23 09:15:15z historyLog: Last log entry 05/06/23 09:15:00
5/06/23 09:15:17z influxDB_v2: Resume posting 04/11/23 16:54:45
5/06/23 09:15:17z Updater: Auto-update is current for class MINOR.
5/06/23 09:15:18z PVoutput: started

** Restart **

SD initialized.
5/06/23 08:15:21z Real Time Clock is running. Unix time 1683360921 
5/06/23 08:15:21z Reset reason: Software Watchdog
5/06/23 08:15:21z Trace:  22:0, 22:1, 22:0, 22:110, 21:100[7], 21:101, 22:2, 1:6[6], 1:1[2], 1:2[3], 9:0[3], 9:0, 9:1, 8:4, 8:6, 8:8, 9:3, 9:5, 9:9, 1:3, 1:3, 1:6[1], 1:6[2], 1:6[3], 1:5[31], 1:6[4], 31:0, 31:1, 31:2[3], 29:60, 29:60, 29:60
5/06/23 08:15:21z ESP8266 ID: 2517700, RTC PCF8523 (68)
5/06/23 08:15:21z IoTaWatt 4.x, Firmware version 02_08_02
5/06/23 08:15:21z SPIFFS mounted.
5/06/23 09:15:21z Local time zone: +0:00, using DST/BST when in effect.
5/06/23 09:15:21z device name: IotaWatt
5/06/23 09:15:21z HTTP server started
5/06/23 09:15:21z influxDB_v2: Starting, interval:5, url:http://192.168.1.137:8086
5/06/23 09:15:22z timeSync: service started.
5/06/23 09:15:22z statService: started.
5/06/23 09:15:22z dataLog: service started.
5/06/23 09:15:23z dataLog: Last log entry 05/06/23 09:15:15
5/06/23 09:15:26z WiFi connected. SSID=NC2g, IP=192.168.1.124, channel=1, RSSI -45db
5/06/23 09:15:26z Updater: service started. Auto-update class is MINOR
5/06/23 09:15:26z Grid: Started
5/06/23 09:15:26z Grid: Last log entry 05/06/23 09:15:15
5/06/23 09:15:27z historyLog: service started.
5/06/23 09:15:28z historyLog: Last log entry 05/06/23 09:15:00
5/06/23 09:15:29z influxDB_v2: Resume posting 04/11/23 16:54:45

** Restart **

SD initialized.
5/06/23 08:15:34z Real Time Clock is running. Unix time 1683360934 
5/06/23 08:15:34z Reset reason: Software Watchdog
5/06/23 08:15:34z Trace:  9:1, 8:4, 8:6, 8:8, 9:3, 9:5, 9:9, 1:3, 1:3, 1:1[2], 1:2[3], 9:0[3], 9:0, 9:1, 8:4, 8:6, 8:8, 9:3, 9:5, 9:9, 1:3, 1:3, 1:6[1], 1:6[3], 1:5[31], 1:6[4], 31:0, 31:1, 31:2[3], 29:60, 29:60, 29:60
5/06/23 08:15:34z ESP8266 ID: 2517700, RTC PCF8523 (68)
5/06/23 08:15:34z IoTaWatt 4.x, Firmware version 02_08_02
5/06/23 08:15:34z SPIFFS mounted.
5/06/23 09:15:34z Local time zone: +0:00, using DST/BST when in effect.
5/06/23 09:15:34z device name: IotaWatt
5/06/23 09:15:34z HTTP server started
5/06/23 09:15:34z influxDB_v2: Starting, interval:5, url:http://192.168.1.137:8086
5/06/23 09:15:35z timeSync: service started.
5/06/23 09:15:35z statService: started.
5/06/23 09:15:35z dataLog: service started.
5/06/23 09:15:36z dataLog: Last log entry 05/06/23 09:15:30
5/06/23 09:15:39z WiFi connected. SSID=NC2g, IP=192.168.1.124, channel=1, RSSI -45db
5/06/23 09:15:39z Updater: service started. Auto-update class is MINOR
5/06/23 09:15:39z Grid: Started
5/06/23 09:15:39z Grid: Last log entry 05/06/23 09:15:30
5/06/23 09:15:40z historyLog: service started.
5/06/23 09:15:41z historyLog: Last log entry 05/06/23 09:15:00
5/06/23 09:15:42z influxDB_v2: Resume posting 04/11/23 16:54:45

** Restart **

SD initialized.
5/06/23 08:15:47z Real Time Clock is running. Unix time 1683360947 
5/06/23 08:15:47z Reset reason: Software Watchdog
5/06/23 08:15:47z Trace:  29:64, 29:64, 29:65, 29:63, 29:64, 29:64, 29:65, 31:1
4

Looks like it was a SD card issue - possibly log corruption in April (as that was when the influx2 upload stopped).

I had been uploading historic data into a new instance of InfluxDB - the instability started a couple of days ago.

Built new SD card, copied over the config but not the history or current log - it booted fine and has been stable for 10 mins now.

Will monitor. Next challenge is recovering history (if possible)

1 Like
5

Not possible. The good news is that there were a lot of changes to the datalog update algorithms since those early days and current firmware is much more robust and doesn’t wear the SD nearly as much.