Will it cause some problems if we cut the power of the Boron 404x when it still trying to connect to the Particle cloud? If yes, are we able to create a Particle App using Particle Web IDE to inform the Particle cloud of our connection or disconnection activities before we cut the power to avoid these issues? @Particle-Tech
Will Boron 404x try to connect different towers when the signal is bad? Will it cause some problems if we cut the power when they are switching the towers? @Particle-Tech
In general, you should avoid removing power external to the device.
Ideally, you should power down the device under software control and once it has successfully shut down, only then remove the power.
It doesn't particularly matter what the device is doing when you remove the power, though the cellular modem is the most likely to be affected. The BRN404X isn't particularly susceptible to being damaged from removing power. The older BRN402 and BRN404 are. But it is still best to avoid removing power indiscriminately.
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Thanks for your reply! I know the best practice is to power down the device under software before cut the power. But I would like to know if cutting the power during the signal tower disconnection and reconnection will cause some problem to the particle device.
There is a small danger of corrupting the MCU or external QSPI flash file system by removing power. It should not occur, but it can't be ruled out entirely.
The larger danger is that the cellular modem will corrupt its flash. The SARA-R410 modem is very susceptible to this. The R510 and Quectel modems are less susceptible. It's not the connecting state that's the issue, per se, but whether the modem is doing something dangerous when the power is removed.
During failed connection attempts removing power while the SIM IMSI is switching could possibly corrupt the SIM card. It's not particularly likely, but it can't be ruled out.