Can I use a Particle Photon without internet access?

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1

Hi

This may be a strange question for a typical Particle user. But my sensor network normally is not connected to the internet. It is based on a WLAN Router/HotSpot that is normally disconnected from the WAN modem.
I can connect it to the internet modem for development, and did so to program the Particle Photon.
With internet connected, the Photon happily starts up on power up, blinking green and then “breathing”, and then starts the application, my e-paper test example.
But when I start it up with internet disconnected, it starts blinking green on power up, then blinking red shortly, then blinking green long, red shortly repeatedly, but never starting the application.

Can I tell the Particle Photon to start the application also when internet access is unavailable?

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2

Yes.

You can use SYSTEM_THREAD(ENABLED);

https://docs.particle.io/reference/device-os/firmware/photon/#system-thread

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While @nrobinson2000 has provided one (but not the primary IMO) answer a forum search (e.g. for "photon without internet") would have provided multiple results - so we always encourage people to search first before asking :wink:

Search results for 'photon without internet' - Particle

SYSTEM_MODE() would be the first topic to investigate when your project is meant to be running without internet connection. SYSTEM_THREAD() would be an additional feature that helps overcome short term outages while connected.

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