All non-beta SIM card equipped Electrons offline today

Troubleshooting
21

Ok can you share more details like what is the system firmware and code if shareable?

22

You can add a watchdog timer to call a full power reset every 24 hours just to be safe.

There is an AT command that you can call that will reset the modem also if you want to reset that every so often. The Modem is not reset via pushing the reset button or calling the reset command.

23

@fishmastaflex,

I hope there is a software only solution but, if not I have shared a circuit that allows the Electron to bounce the power. Just a handful of cheap parts. I use this on my devices which are deployed in remote areas. I try the software set first and then, after three tries, power cycle the carrier board. This work for me during the outage.

Chip

24

All devices are on v0.6.2

Here is the basic jist of my main loop. If you want the whole code, PM me and Iā€™ll get it to you.

  • Check the time and do things if between a certain time frame
  • Retrieve sensor data
  • Generate a String payload with all data
  • Particle.connect() to cloud
  • Wait for particle to connect and send data. Give 60 seconds to connect, if not, disconnect and end.
  • System.sleep(D1, FALLING, SLEEP_NETWORK_STANDBY, 110);
  • Wake up and do this again.
  • Check if time is in Off Hours, then go straight into SLEEP_NETWORK_STANDBY every 20 minutes to save a handshake.
    ā€¦Repeat

@RWB If pressing the reset button fixed the issue for me, then maybe this is just an odd coincidence with the Electrons going offline today. Interesting.

@chipmc Wonderful! I definitely am a fan of hardware solutions, even if itā€™s just a few parts. Thank you

25

@fishmastaflex are they offline now?

26

@kennethlimcp, @rickkas7 and I have been chatting in another thread, but just for transparency, from looking at the logs @frlobo provided, it looks like this is a different issue than the widespread one we saw yesterday. The Electron is able to make a cellular (GSM) and a data (GPRS) connection, but for some reason canā€™t create a network socket and do DNS resolution. Weā€™ll keep working with you, @frlobo to get to the bottom of the issue. It might be a telephony issue, or it might be a hardware issue. Either way, weā€™ll help you figure it out.

3 Likes
27

@kennethlimcp Nope, still online.

@jtzemp I may have derailed this thread with that (thinking it was related). Please feel free to move my posts somewhere else if this isnā€™t the right place.

28

You asked if there is a way to software reset the Electron, and yes there is but it does not reset the modem. To reset the modem requires a special AT command.

If hitting the reset button fixed your problem then the software rest should also work.

1 Like
29

@kennethlimcp @jtzemp Still unsure of whether this offline event that happened affected my 6 Electrons (all at the same time!)?

But just in case, I started some tests today to try to isolate the issue to my code. Each Electron has some minor difference in firmware code that I thought may be causing the issue, so Iā€™ll get back to you with the results:

  1. Turned system threading off.
  2. Using a longer wait time during Particle.connect
  3. Using SLEEP_MODE_DEEP during off-hours (instead of normal SLEEP_NETWORK_STANDBY every 20min).
  4. Upgraded to 0.7.0-rc.4

Each device has one of these changes (not all) to the original code. Letā€™s see what happens over the next couple days.

1 Like