Hi,
In our setup, we’re using a Power Bank as an uninterrupted power supply for the IoTaWatt as we’re facing many power cuts. For this, we’re using a RAVpower but it switches off from time to time.
I was in contact with their customer support and they think it’s because the power bank will switch off once the load is under 80mA.
Does somebody know how to solve this problem?
No experience with these but it makes sense that they would try to shut down when it appears a charge is complete as the device is a charger, not a power supply. Have you looked at similar units that are designed as USB UPS systems like this? Might work better.
Is this related to your logging gap problem? I didn’t see any power fail restarts in the log for that. It all seemed related to poor WiFi signal. Has that been resolved?
It’s not related to the WiFi problem. This also is solved now. Thanks for the advice on this.
The power bank we use has “pass-through” meaning it can charge the power bank while powering another device simultaneously. What’s the minimum current the IoTaWatt consumes? Maybe when there is no WiFi the current is to low and the power bank thinks the device is full.
Hello @overeasy
Regarding this issue on powerbank, we kindly follow-up on the question above:
The power bank we use has “pass-through” meaning it can charge the power bank while powering another device simultaneously. What’s the minimum current the IoTaWatt consumes? Maybe when there is no WiFi the current is too low and the power bank thinks the device is full?
Also, did you ever consider integrating this in the next version of the IoTaWatt? For example including some parts from a product like this: Amazon.com
Hello @zem.bo ,
I’ve never measured the current draw of an IoTaWatt with no WiFi. I can do that and get back to you. It will be very small. It’s basically just that of the the ESP8266 MCU. The other circuitry probably amounts to less than a mA. But I’ll measure it.
In the larger picture, IoTaWatt is an electricity monitor, so when there’s no electricity, it’s usually OK if it shuts down. When power resumes, it only tales several seconds to start up and get back to work.
I realize that you are in a remote corner of the world where power interruptions are much more freequent. A UPS is probably needed for stability. But that’s a very unique requirement in the big picture and not anything I would consider modifications for, especially when just about any external line voltage UPS will do the job.
Notwithstanding that your existing device doesn’t perform as needed, it should be very easy to come up with a reliable 5V DC supply. I did suggest the type of product that I thought would work. Have you tried something like that?