Particle Keys keep getting lost

Troubleshooting
1

I have had to re flash the keys using the particle server doctor 3 times now. Is there something i’m doing to cause this. The last two times have been during my battery testing phase of running the particle on a battery for a couple of weeks with putting the particle to sleep for 5 minutes waking up taking some readings and going back to sleep.

2

Give 0.7.0-rc.3 a try - this should take care of most lost keys issues.
If you still find problems, more detailed error reports with code and some context (e.g. LiPo SoC trend, actions prior the issue, …) would help Particle to find a cure for your issue too - before 0.7.0 gets locked down for release.

3

Hi @pl0333,

When you undervolt the photon you can run the risk of corrupting the flash. Try not to let your battery / power supply get below the minimum voltage on the photon. And / or check the voltage when your MCU wakes up, and don’t power on the modem if you’re below a safe voltage, which might help reduce high draws when you have insufficient power.

Thanks,
David

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4

I was using the battery shield for the photon assuming that it should take care of powering the photon. I guess i’ll have to work on watching the battery then.

5

It DOES take care of powering the Photon but it doesn't make decisions on when the Photon should sleep!

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6

This is a rather critical piece of information, from a hardware design perspective. Are you saying the photon can't handle a dying battery? If that's the case, then that's a pretty major flaw.

7

Hi @twospoons,

You can find the minimum supply voltage documented for the photon here ( https://docs.particle.io/datasheets/photon-datasheet/#recommended-operating-conditions ). Although the Photon power shield attempts to cover a wide range of input voltages and conditions, sometimes special considerations need to be made and tested while making and using a power supply with a battery.

Thanks,
David

8

Yes, I’m aware of that. But that’s not the same as saying there’s a likelihood of flash corruption if the supply sits below that range. I’d normally expect the device to sit harmlessly in reset when undervolted, unless specifically told to avoid certain voltage ranges due to a risk of damage.

Certainly, I would have put a step-up between the battery and the photon in my version 1 hardware if I’d known this was an issue. Luckily I do have a step-up in version 2, but the reason was to extract more life out of my batteries.

1 Like
9

Hi @twospoons,

Totally, I understand where you’re coming from. I appreciate your feedback and I’ll share it with the team to see how we can improve on that.

Thanks,
David