Iotawatt Slow, Rapid Flashing Green LED

Support
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.

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.

1 Like
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