Iotawatt Slow, Rapid Flashing Green LED

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1

Two days ago I could not connect to my Iotawat hub via IotaWatt. I had to unplug/replug the hub to gain access but it didnt last more than a minute or two. I then rebooted the router and hub and it appeared all was good. Access via my browser was very slow to the point where I would often get “Page can’t be displayed” message. Even though it was slow data logging seemed to be working fine.

This morning, when I fired up my browser, once again the hub was inaccessible. I rebooted the hub (& router) to get back online. Once again, access was super slow and unreliable The Status page updates at times appeared to freeze/hiccup. However all my data appears to be intact.

I noticed that the green LED was flashing at least 2+ times per second. No idea what it looks like under normal conditions. Below is parts of todays message log. Let me know if you need any more info

** Restart **

SD initialized.
2/01/23 12:07:38z Real Time Clock is running. Unix time 1675253258 
2/01/23 12:07:38z Reset Reason: Power-fail restart.
2/01/23 12:07:38z ESP8266 ID: 499544, RTC M41T81 (68)
2/01/23 12:07:38z IoTaWatt 5.0, Firmware version 02_07_05
2/01/23 12:07:38z SPIFFS mounted.
2/01/23 07:07:38 Local time zone: -5:00, using DST/BST when in effect.
2/01/23 07:07:38 device name: IotaWatt
2/01/23 07:07:41 HTTP server started
2/01/23 07:07:41 WiFi connected. SSID=CKZ_2HA, IP=192.168.1.139, channel=11, RSSI -54db
2/01/23 07:07:41 MDNS responder started for hostname IotaWatt
2/01/23 07:07:41 LLMNR responder started for hostname IotaWatt
2/01/23 07:07:41 timeSync: service started.
2/01/23 07:07:41 statService: started.
2/01/23 07:07:41 Updater: service started. Auto-update class is MINOR
2/01/23 07:07:42 dataLog: service started.
2/01/23 07:07:43 dataLog: Last log entry 02/01/23 07:07:30
2/01/23 07:07:43 Updater: Auto-update is current for class MINOR.
2/01/23 07:07:46 historyLog: service started.
2/01/23 07:07:46 historyLog: Last log entry 02/01/23 07:07:00
2/01/23 07:45:44 WiFi disconnected.
2/01/23 07:47:38 WiFi connected. SSID=CKZ_2HA, IP=192.168.1.139, channel=11, RSSI -55db
2/01/23 07:59:25 WiFi disconnected.
2/01/23 08:01:18 WiFi connected. SSID=CKZ_2HA, IP=192.168.1.139, channel=11, RSSI -57db
2/01/23 08:03:38 Restart command received.

** Restart **

SD initialized.
2/01/23 13:03:40z Real Time Clock is running. Unix time 1675256620 
2/01/23 13:03:40z Reset reason: Software/System restart
2/01/23 13:03:40z Trace:  1:3, 1:3, 1:3, 1:3, 1:3, 1:3, 1:3, 1:3, 1:3, 1:3, 1:3, 1:3, 1:3, 1:3, 1:3, 1:3, 1:1[3], 1:2[4], 9:0[4], 9:0, 9:1, 8:4, 8:6, 8:8, 8:9, 9:3, 9:5, 9:9, 1:2, 1:3, 10:2, 10:3
2/01/23 13:03:40z ESP8266 ID: 499544, RTC M41T81 (68)
2/01/23 13:03:40z IoTaWatt 5.0, Firmware version 02_07_05
2/01/23 13:03:40z SPIFFS mounted.
2/01/23 08:03:40 Local time zone: -5:00, using DST/BST when in effect.
2/01/23 08:03:40 device name: IotaWatt
2/01/23 08:03:40 HTTP server started
2/01/23 08:03:40 timeSync: service started.
2/01/23 08:03:40 statService: started.
2/01/23 08:03:40 dataLog: service started.
2/01/23 08:03:41 dataLog: Last log entry 02/01/23 08:03:35
2/01/23 08:03:44 Restart command received.

** Restart **

SD initialized.
2/01/23 13:03:45z Real Time Clock is running. Unix time 1675256625 
2/01/23 13:03:45z Reset reason: Software/System restart
2/01/23 13:03:45z Trace:  1:3, 1:3, 1:3, 1:3, 1:3, 1:3, 1:3, 1:3, 1:3, 1:3, 1:3, 1:3, 1:3, 1:3, 1:3, 1:3, 1:1[8], 1:2[9], 9:0[9], 9:0, 9:1, 8:4, 8:6, 8:8, 8:9, 9:3, 9:5, 9:9, 1:2, 1:3, 10:2, 10:3
2/01/23 13:03:45z ESP8266 ID: 499544, RTC M41T81 (68)
2/01/23 13:03:45z IoTaWatt 5.0, Firmware version 02_07_05
2/01/23 13:03:45z SPIFFS mounted.
2/01/23 08:03:45 Local time zone: -5:00, using DST/BST when in effect.
2/01/23 08:03:45 device name: IotaWatt
2/01/23 08:03:45 HTTP server started
2/01/23 08:03:45 timeSync: service started.
2/01/23 08:03:45 statService: started.
2/01/23 08:03:45 dataLog: service started.
2/01/23 08:03:46 dataLog: Last log entry 02/01/23 08:03:40
2/01/23 08:03:53 historyLog: service started.
2/01/23 08:03:53 historyLog: Last log entry 02/01/23 08:03:00
2/01/23 08:03:53 WiFi connected. SSID=CKZ_2HA, IP=192.168.1.139, channel=11, RSSI -56db
2/01/23 08:03:53 MDNS responder started for hostname IotaWatt
2/01/23 08:03:53 LLMNR responder started for hostname IotaWatt
2/01/23 08:03:53 Updater: service started. Auto-update class is MINOR
2/01/23 08:03:55 Updater: Auto-update is current for class MINOR.
2

Nothing remarkable in the log except maybe that despite having a good RSSI, the WiFi disconnects and connects. WiFi quality is not just a function of signal strength. It is also affected by other routers using the same or nearby channels heavily and by interference from other devices using the 2.4GHz band. It would be worth trying a switch to another radio channel. I would suggest channel 1 or 6. You would need to do this in your router.

Green-Red-Red-Green LED Sequence
3

I may be on something that at first appears unrelated. My current Iotawatt setup hasnt changed since I started this last May. Same router, SSID, etc. Nothing else on this router.
I have had Home Assistant along with Iotawatt integration running for months without issue. HA was updated this weekend. Its the only change in my home environment in the past few days I am aware off so, as a long shot, I shut down HA and viola, Iotawatt/browers response times are normal.

It’s possible this is just a coincidence but I know that Iotawatts behaviour over the past few days was far from normal. Once I shutdown HA, all looks good. I will keep HA shutdown for a day or two to make sure Iotawatt continues to behave then restart HA and watch the impact if any. Sta tuned :grinning:

4

I don’t have anything to do with the HA integration. It was user contributed and also hacked up by the HA folks. I know that it is a “pull” type interface where HA uses a series of periodic queries to get the data. Initially I believe the queries were sent at one-minute intervals, but some have made it shorter. These queries are a little abusive in the way that they work and if too frequent could easily disrupt response times and even the integrity of energy monitoring.

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5

Well, I am pretty sure my issues were HA related. Disabling the integration seemed to “fix” the problem. I have since restarted HA and re-enabled integration. So far (18hrs) so good.
BTW: HA polls/queries every 30 seconds. Can’t see anyway to change that. Oh well, at least now I know if iotawatt acts up again I know ehere to look :smirk:

2 Likes
6

I am having similar issues

I have my iotawatt setup as per the picture below, ie its directly under a TP Link Deco x50 mesh system.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1w-CArAhwAq8jnOmMxLGO59JZcN5WH288/view?usp=drive_link

Stats

Connected to 2.4Ghz IoT Wifi setup, RRSI is -21db from Iotawatt logs. Have set radio channel to be fixed on channel 6 so it dosent change channels and also turned of any mesh feature for the iotawatt in the x50 interface. The box it is in is just plastic to keep the dust off and its powered by a Raspberri Pi power supply.

The green LED seems to constantly be flashing green as per video below and I am not sure what else I can do to improve the networking. Also I have tried to disable the home assistant integration to see if that was causing issues and it made no difference. At the moment it goes online and offline a lot and its making it hard to use the data reliability when it keeps going offline.

Thanks

Ben

7

The LED indicates that the unit is connected to WiFi and sampling. This appears to be a WiFi issue, but if you want to post the message log, there may be more information available there.

8

This is the log

The connects/disconnects alert me from my Wifi system but for some reason dont show in the iotawatt log. When the disconnects happen I cant access the iotawatt

Ben

SD initialized.
2/19/26 04:44:54z Real Time Clock is running. Unix time 1771476294 
2/19/26 04:44:54z Reset reason: Software/System restart
2/19/26 04:44:54z Trace:  1:3, 1:3, 1:3, 1:3, 1:3, 1:3, 1:3, 1:3, 1:3, 1:3, 1:3, 1:3, 1:3, 1:3, 1:3, 1:3, 1:3, 1:3, 1:1[11], 1:2[12], 9:0[12], 9:0, 9:1, 8:4, 8:6, 8:8, 9:3, 9:5, 9:9, 1:3, 10:2, 10:3
2/19/26 04:44:54z ESP8266 ID: 15159939, RTC PCF8523 (68)
2/19/26 04:44:54z IoTaWatt 6.4, Firmware version 02_08_03
2/19/26 04:44:54z SPIFFS mounted.
2/19/26 14:44:54 Local time zone: +10:00
2/19/26 14:44:54 device name: IotaWatt
2/19/26 14:44:54 HTTP server started
2/19/26 14:44:54 timeSync: service started.
2/19/26 14:44:54 statService: started.
2/19/26 14:44:54 dataLog: service started.
2/19/26 14:44:54 dataLog: Last log entry 02/19/26 14:44:50
2/19/26 14:44:59 historyLog: service started.
2/19/26 14:44:59 historyLog: Last log entry 02/19/26 14:44:00
2/19/26 14:44:59 WiFi connected. SSID=, IP=, channel=6, RSSI -27db
2/19/26 14:44:59 Updater: service started. Auto-update class is MINOR
2/19/26 14:44:59 Mains_Power: Started
2/19/26 14:44:59 Mains_Power: Last log entry 02/19/26 14:44:50
2/19/26 14:45:01 Updater: Auto-update is current for class MINOR.
9

The IoTaWatt is not disconnecting from the AP. In the picture it looks like you have some sort of AP on top of the IoTaWatt box and that it is connected to something via ethernet. I don’t see a power cable so it might be POE? In any event, perhaps what you are seeing is some sort of disconnect between that AP and whatever its connected to.

Probably not the cause, but an RSSI of -27 indicates a huge signal strength. In fact, I don’t ever recall seeing such an RSSI in user posts or in my own multi IoTaWatt environment with several Ubiquiti APs in close proximity. If you can dial it down to an RSSI maybe in the -60s that should be fine.

If you know the IP address assigned (You have it edited out of the log), have you tried to get to it using the IP address rather than iotawatt.local?

Lastly, to be clear, this appears to be a purely WiFi issue external to the IoTaWatt.

10

Thanks

I have looked into this more and it seems to be a common issue with TP Link Deco Mesh units and ESP32/ESP8266 devices and constant drop outs and reconnects.

Thanks

Ben