TimeAlarms triggered on boot?

Firmware
1

I’m using the ported TimeAlarms library and noticed that my all of my alarms are triggered on boot. I’m not sure what the deal is, but it seems to happen sometime after setup(), and loop() is called for the first time since I added some logic there to force cancelCycle(), to no avail. See code and log below

BTW it was REALLY difficult to get the serial logs at the very beginning and took several tries to coordinate starting putty when windows discovered my core. Any one know of a better way to keep the serial connection open before I boot the core?

// This #include statement was automatically added by the Spark IDE.
//#include "SparkTime/SparkTime.h"

// This #include statement was automatically added by the Spark IDE.
#include "StationController.h"

// This #include statement was automatically added by the Spark IDE.
#include "TimeAlarms/TimeAlarms.h"

#undef now()

#include <application.h>

#define COMPILED_TIME __TIME__
#define COMPILED_DATE __DATE__

#define ON LOW
#define OFF HIGH

const uint8_t STATION1=D0;
const uint8_t STATION2=D1;
const uint8_t STATION3=D3;
const uint8_t STATION4=D4;

const bool debug = true;

SYSTEM_MODE(AUTOMATIC); //SEMIAUTOMATIC = no cloud conection by default, need to call Spark.connect();

class RunBeforeSetup {
public:
	RunBeforeSetup() {
	    pinMode(STATION1, OUTPUT);
	    pinMode(STATION2, OUTPUT);
	    pinMode(STATION3, OUTPUT);
	    pinMode(STATION4, OUTPUT);
	    
	    digitalWrite(STATION1, OFF);
	    digitalWrite(STATION2, OFF);
	    digitalWrite(STATION3, OFF);
	    digitalWrite(STATION4, OFF);
	}
};

RunBeforeSetup runBeforeSetup;

StationController controller(STATION1, STATION2, STATION3, STATION4);

int ALARM_CYCLE_TIME = 600;
char compiledDateTime[22] = COMPILED_DATE;
int stationStatus = 0;
int duration=10;
int signalStrength;
int cycleTimeSec = 600;
int currentStation;
uint8_t isRunning = false;
unsigned long int runTimer;

void setup() {
    if(debug){
        Serial.begin(9600);
    }
	
	Serial.println("Setting up UberCore");
    strcat(compiledDateTime, " - ");
    strcat(compiledDateTime, COMPILED_TIME);
    
    Spark.variable("compiled", &compiledDateTime, STRING);
    Spark.variable("signal", &signalStrength, INT);
    Spark.variable("station", &stationStatus, INT);
    Spark.function("station", toggleStation);
    Spark.function("cycle", cycleAPI);
	Spark.function("alarmTime",setAlarmTime);
	Spark.function("time", setTime);

    Time.zone(-7);
    //Daily sync time with cloud @ 1AM
    Alarm.alarmRepeat(1,00,0, syncTime);

	Alarm.alarmRepeat(dowTuesday,7,00,00,cycleAlarm); 
    Alarm.alarmRepeat(dowThursday,7,00,00,cycleAlarm); 
    Alarm.alarmRepeat(dowSaturday,7,00,00,cycleAlarm);
}

void syncTime(){
    Spark.syncTime();
    Serial.println("Alarm: - Syncing time with Spark Cloud");  
}

int setTime(String arg){
	Serial.println("setTime(): " + arg + " seconds");
	Time.setTime(arg.toInt()); // set time to Tuesday 6:59:00am Sept 23 2014, 1411480790
	return 1;
}

void loop() {
    stationStatus=controller.getStatus();
    Serial.println("stationStatus = " + String(stationStatus));
    signalStrength = WiFi.RSSI();
    Serial.println(Time.timeStr());
   
	if(isRunning){
		Serial.println("isRunning! time left = " + (String(runTimer-Time.now())));
		if(Time.now() > runTimer){
			Serial.println("Turning off sprinklers");
			controller.toggleStation("all,off");
			if(currentStation < 4 && currentStation > 0){
				currentStation++;
				runTimer = Time.now() + cycleTimeSec;
				controller.toggleStation(String(currentStation) + ",on");
			}else{ //last station reached
				Serial.println("Last Station reached, all sprinklers off");
				currentStation = 1;
				isRunning = false;
			}
		}
	}
	
	Alarm.delay(1000);
}

int toggleStation(String arg){
    return controller.toggleStation(arg);
}

void cycleAlarm(){
	Serial.println("cycleAlarm()");
    //check manual/auto
    //check rain delay
    
    //turn on sprinklers
    startCycle(ALARM_CYCLE_TIME);
}

int cycleAPI(String arg){
	Serial.println("cycleAPI(): " + arg + " seconds");
    cycleTimeSec = arg.toInt();
    if(cycleTimeSec > 0){
		startCycle(cycleTimeSec);
		return 1;
	}else{
		cancelCycle();
		return 0;
	}
}

int setAlarmTime(String arg){
	Serial.println("setAlarmTime(): " + arg + " seconds");
    ALARM_CYCLE_TIME = arg.toInt();
	return 1;
}

void startCycle(int cycleTimeSec){
    Serial.println("startCycle() - Station1 ON");
	isRunning = true;
	runTimer = Time.now() + cycleTimeSec;
	Serial.println(Time.now());
	Serial.println(runTimer);
	controller.toggleStation("1,on");
	currentStation = 1;
}

void runCycle(){

}

void cancelCycle(){
    Serial.println("cancelCycle()");
	controller.toggleStation("all,off");
	isRunning = false;
	currentStation = 0;
}

Serial output:

stationStatus = 0
Thu Sep 25 20:56:49 2014

Alarm: - Syncing time with Spark Cloud
cycleAlarm()
startCycle() - Station1 ON
1411703809
1411704409
1,on
1
ON
cycleAlarm()
startCycle() - Station1 ON
1411703809
1411704409
1,on
1
ON
cycleAlarm()
startCycle() - Station1 ON
1411703809
1411704409
1,on
1
ON
stationStatus = 8
Thu Sep 25 20:56:50 2014

isRunning! time left = 599
stationStatus = 8
Thu Sep 25 20:56:51 2014

isRunning! time left = 598
stationStatus = 8
Thu Sep 25 20:56:52 2014

isRunning! time left = 597
stationStatus = 8
Thu Sep 25 20:56:53 2014

isRunning! time left = 596
stationStatus = 8
Thu Sep 25 20:56:54 2014

isRunning! time left = 595
stationStatus = 8
Thu Sep 25 20:56:55 2014

isRunning! time left = 594

2

Can't help much with the TimeAlarms, but got a nice tip for serial debugging: add following line right after you do the Serial.begin():

while(!Serial.available()) SPARK_WLAN_Loop();

It will keep your Spark 'in waiting position' until you send it anything via your Serial connection - makes catching its first output much easier :wink: Good luck with the TimeAlarms!

3

Thanks for the tip @rastapasta!

I wonder if @bko has any insight into this issue, i’ll try poking around the TimeAlarms code a bit more to see what’s going on here.

Appreciate all the help!

4

Hi @ubergeek82

Could this be the fact that the digital pins are driven high at boot time? This has lots of folks who are controlling relays scrambling a bit.

5

@ubergeek82, the time may not be synced by the time you set your alarms at startup. This was discussed here:

:slight_smile:

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