Electron Red Charging Status LED Flashing at 1Hz rate, not charging

Troubleshooting
3

Hi @claursen This looks like a different issue, so I'm going to break this out into a separate thread.

@RWB beat me to it while I was typing here, thanks!! I'll post mine as well...

When the charging status indicator blinks at a 1Hz rate, it indicates a Charge Suspend due to Charging Fault

Charge suspend (Input over-voltage, TS fault, timer fault, input or system over- voltage)

How high does the output voltage of your solar panels reach, unloaded?
Operating Temperature range?

When a fault occurs, the charger device sends out INT and keeps the fault state in REG09 until the host reads the fault register. Before the host reads REG09 and all the faults are cleared, the charger device would not send any INT upon new faults. In order to read the current fault status, the host has to read REG09 two times consecutively. The 1st reads fault register status from the last read and the 2nd reads the current fault register status.

If you can get your unit up and running by swapping batteries or input voltage sources, you can try this code to see what the fault is:

#include <math.h>
#include "application.h"

int pmicStatus(String args) {
    delay(3000); // build up some time for a 3-Publish burst (super hacky)

    PMIC power;
    power.begin();
    power.disableWatchdog();
    power.disableDPDM();
    // power.setInputVoltageLimit(4360); // default
    power.setInputCurrentLimit(900);     // 900mA
    power.setChargeCurrent(0,0,0,0,0,0); // 512mA
    power.setChargeVoltage(4208);        // 4.208V termination voltage
    FuelGauge fuel;
    bool LOWBATT = fuel.getAlert();
    float SOC = fuel.getSoC();
    if (LOWBATT) {
        fuel.clearAlert(); // Clear the Low Battery Alert flag if set
    }
        
    //https://github.com/spark/firmware/blob/develop/system/src/main.cpp#L287-L325
    uint8_t stat = power.getSystemStatus();
	// Read first time for previous fault
	uint8_t fault = power.getFault();
	uint8_t vbus_stat = stat >> 6; // 0 – Unknown (no input, or DPDM detection incomplete), 1 – USB host, 2 – Adapter port, 3 – OTG
	uint8_t chrg_stat = (stat >> 4) & 0x03; // 0 – Not Charging, 1 – Pre-charge (<VBATLOWV), 2 – Fast Charging, 3 – Charge Termination Done
	bool dpm_stat = stat & 0x08;   // 0 – Not DPM, 1 – VINDPM or IINDPM
	bool pg_stat = stat & 0x04;    // 0 – Not Power Good, 1 – Power Good
	bool therm_stat = stat & 0x02; // 0 – Normal, 1 – In Thermal Regulation
	bool vsys_stat = stat & 0x01;  // 0 – Not in VSYSMIN regulation (BAT > VSYSMIN), 1 – In VSYSMIN regulation (BAT < VSYSMIN)
	bool wd_fault = fault & 0x80;  // 0 – Normal, 1- Watchdog timer expiration
	uint8_t chrg_fault = (fault >> 4) & 0x03; // 0 – Normal, 1 – Input fault (VBUS OVP or VBAT < VBUS < 3.8 V),
											  // 2 - Thermal shutdown, 3 – Charge Safety Timer Expiration
	bool bat_fault = fault & 0x08;    // 0 – Normal, 1 – BATOVP
	uint8_t ntc_fault = fault & 0x07; // 0 – Normal, 5 – Cold, 6 – Hot

    String stat_str = String::format("VBUS:%d CHRG:%d DPM:%d PG:%d THERM:%d VSYS:%d", vbus_stat, chrg_stat, dpm_stat, pg_stat, therm_stat, vsys_stat);
    String fault_str = String::format("PREV - WATCHDOG:%d CHRG:%d BAT:%d NTC:%d", wd_fault, chrg_fault, bat_fault, ntc_fault);
    Particle.publish("STAT", stat_str);
    Particle.publish("PREV-FAULT", fault_str);
    
    // Read a second time for current fault
    fault = power.getFault();
    wd_fault = fault & 0x80;  // 0 – Normal, 1- Watchdog timer expiration
	chrg_fault = (fault >> 4) & 0x03; // 0 – Normal, 1 – Input fault (VBUS OVP or VBAT < VBUS < 3.8 V),
											  // 2 - Thermal shutdown, 3 – Charge Safety Timer Expiration
	bat_fault = fault & 0x08;    // 0 – Normal, 1 – BATOVP
	ntc_fault = fault & 0x07; // 0 – Normal, 5 – Cold, 6 – Hot
    fault_str = String::format("CURR - WATCHDOG:%d CHRG:%d BAT:%d NTC:%d", wd_fault, chrg_fault, bat_fault, ntc_fault);
    
    Particle.publish("CURR-FAULT", fault_str);
    
    return (int)round(SOC);
}

void setup() {
    Particle.function("stat", pmicStatus);
    
    pmicStatus("");
}

void loop() {

}
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