Photon goes offline at semi-regular intervals

Troubleshooting
1

Hey guys,

I’m pretty new to photon (and this kind of hardware environment in general). I have code written for some home automation stuff, but the problem is that my photon goes on and offline at semi-regular intervals. This is what I have in my console:

Screen Shot 2017-07-25 at 4.40.06 PM.png1354×540 62.6 KB

and my code:

// This #include statement was automatically added by the Particle IDE.
#include <MQTT.h>

// This #include statement was automatically added by the Particle IDE.
#include <FastLED.h>

#include "math.h"

FASTLED_USING_NAMESPACE;

#define PIXEL_COUNT 15
#define PIXEL_PIN D6
#define PIXEL_TYPE WS2812B

CRGB leds[PIXEL_COUNT];
float delta = 0.5f;
float t = 0;

boolean blinkStove = false;

boolean stoveOn = false;
boolean motionDetected = false;

int stoveStart = 0;
int waterStart = 5;
int doorStart = 10;
int numPixelsPerPanel = 5;

const int RED_HUE = 0;
const int GREEN_HUE = 96;

// Broker hosted on test.mosquitto.org
byte server[] = {37, 187, 106, 16};
MQTT client(server, 1883, 30, callback);

void callback(char* topic, byte* payload, unsigned int length) {
    char p[length + 1];
    memcpy(p, payload, length);
    p[length] = NULL;
    String message(p);
    handleMessage(message.toInt());
}

void setup() {
    FastLED.addLeds<NEOPIXEL, PIXEL_PIN>(leds, PIXEL_COUNT);
    client.connect("a");
    if (client.isConnected()) {
        Particle.publish("Connected to mqtt broker");
    } else {
        Particle.publish("Failed to connect to mqtt broker");
    }
    client.subscribe("xxxx");
    fill_solid(&(leds[0]), PIXEL_COUNT, CRGB::Black);
}

void loop() {
    if (client.isConnected()) {
        client.loop();
    } else {
        client.connect("a");
    }

    if (blinkStove) {
        if (motionDetected) {
            blinkPanel(stoveStart, GREEN_HUE);
        } else {
            blinkPanel(stoveStart, RED_HUE);
        }
    }
}

void blinkPanel(int start, int hue) {
    t += delta;
    int value = constrain((int) triwave8(abs(t)), 50, 255);
    fill_solid(&(leds[start]), numPixelsPerPanel, CHSV(hue, 255, value));
    FastLED.show(); 
}

void handleMessage(int message) {
    switch (message) {
        case 0:
            fill_solid(&leds[doorStart], numPixelsPerPanel, CRGB::Black);
            break;
        case 1:
            fill_solid(&leds[doorStart], numPixelsPerPanel, CRGB::Red);
            break;
        case 2:
            fill_solid(&leds[stoveStart], numPixelsPerPanel, CRGB::Black);
            stoveOn = false;
            break;
        case 3:
            fill_solid(&leds[stoveStart], numPixelsPerPanel, CRGB::Red);
            stoveOn = true;
            break;
        case 4:
            if (stoveOn) {
                fill_solid(&leds[stoveStart], numPixelsPerPanel, CRGB::Red);
            }
            motionDetected = false;
            break;
        case 5:
            if (stoveOn) {
                fill_solid(&leds[stoveStart], numPixelsPerPanel, CRGB::Green);
            }
            motionDetected = true;
            break;
        case 6:
            blinkStove = false;
            stoveOn = false;
            break;
        case 7:
            blinkStove = true;
            stoveOn = false;
            break;
        default:
            fill_solid(&leds[0], PIXEL_COUNT, CRGB::Black);
            break;
    }

    FastLED.show();
}

Any ideas what could be wrong? Input/help would be greatly appreciated.

2

You should watch the main LED on the Photon and see if it flashes in a colorful pattern when it fails. That will tell you how to proceed next.

https://docs.particle.io/faq/particle-devices/led-troubleshooting/photon/

In particular if you seeing a red flashing SOS pattern (dot-dot-dot dash-dash-dash dot-dot-dot) followed but a count of red flashes, that could help isolate the problem.

1 Like
3

I will check on it. Thanks for the quick reply!

4

@youn,

a) Theory 1 - poor WiFi: Perhaps retrieve the WiFi RSSI and log that to the cloud upon every reset - this way you can see if it is a simple case of a poor Wifi signal.

Here is the function to retrieve the RSSI:

https://docs.particle.io/reference/firmware/photon/#rssi-

b) Theory 2 - client.loop() (or other functions) reseting the Photon?? Comment out various calls - does this change the connection drop behaviour?