For the past three years, I’ve been building several units based on the open-source version of IoTaWatt and installing them in various locations. Fortunately, the devices generally work well, but most of the issues we’ve encountered are related to the SD cards. In fact, about 90% of the problems with these devices have been caused by SD card failures—not at the beginning, but after several weeks or even months of operation.
For example, in one project where five devices were installed, one of them started to hang or crash. Replacing the SD card resolved the issue. Interestingly, we were using the same brand and model of SD card in all units, yet only one of them had this issue.
It seems that some SD cards—regardless of brand, advertised speed, or class—have underlying reliability issues that only surface after extended use.
So I have a few questions:
- Has anyone with IoTaWatt experience encountered similar SD card issues? If so, I’d appreciate hearing your experiences or suggestions.
- Is there a recommended SD card brand, type, or read/write speed that works best with IoTaWatt? Are there any specs that should be avoided?
Given that most of the problems we’re facing are SD card-related, I believe we need a more robust solution to eliminate or minimize this issue altogether.
For example:
- Is there any software tool that can be used to test SD card health, integrity or endurance before deployment?
- Are there any specific brands that are known to be more reliable, even beyond those with advertised 80–100 MB/s read and 20 MB/s write speeds?
- Or maybe this issue isn’t related to speed at all, and is more about endurance or manufacturing quality?
For more info. I used some SD brands like sumsung, vicco, toshiba, trancend, …
about 2 out of 10 have probelms. somethimes they cause the device to crash. somethimes the device hangs or etc.
Any guidance would be greatly appreciated!